Gus' Place - Review

Intro
Gus' Place - Recommended
192 Bleecker St, New York 10012
At Macdougal St
Phone: 212-777-1660

After binge eating on Thursday and Friday, I felt like some healthy food in the West or East Village. Settled on Gus' Place since Greek food generally is relatively light feeling/clean tasting and a good bet for seafood. Food was exactly what I wanted for the price point I was looking for. Overall, I give the restaurant an 77/100.

My Menu
1) Octapodi Salata - Grilled Octopus *
2) Tsipoura - Royal Dorado *
3) Trout Stuffed with Eggplant, Tomatoes, Feta (special of the day) *

Rating System
--- What the F - in a bad way * Good ** Great *** What the F – in a good way

Dish Comments
1) Grilled octopus with roasted peppers, capers, and onions. Maybe the best dish of the night. Octopus had a nice char, good flavor, and was very tender.
2) A whole dorado butterflied opened with capers, lemon, oregano, and olive oil. Nicely cooked - crispy skin and very moist fresh fish. Capers and herb made the dish pop nicely. Very satisfying. There was also a great spinach dish - simple with garlic and olive oil.
3) Whole trout stuffed with roasted eggplant, tomato, feta and cucumber. The fish again was cooked nicely - crispy skin and relatively moist fish. The stuffing was good, but the wife wasn't a big fan. Served with lemony potatoes that may have been spiced with cinnamon.

Overall Restaurant Experience (77/100)

• Food 7.7/10 – Simple cooking done well with some very fresh fish. The pita bread that served at the start of the meal was great.
  
• Service 7.5/10 – Very friendly servers. Gus the owner is actually there and asks how things are which adds to the experience. My only irritation point was the place was 100% empty and we asked to sit in a bigger booth and they declined. Made sense sorta - since an hour later the place was full.
  
• Atmosphere 6.0/10 – Nothing special looking to this tiny place (maybe 40 total seats). The only thing distinct were pictures on the wall of the old country - I'm assuming Gus and or/his family are in the picture. My point of irritation was the tables for 2 sucked. They had this antique stand for the table that splayed out where it was impossible to sit down in. Once you got situated it was fine, but I had to practice some jiu-jitsu hip escapes to get in. Had reservations which are not necessary for early Saturday, but would be better later in the day. The place got packed around 7pm.
  
• Price 8.3/10 – Price was solid for the quality in NYC. Fish entrees were $19-23 which is a great price for a whole fish (not a very large fish). Octopus app was $13 and a great size for the price.
  

Closing Comments
Barring the crappy tables, I had a good time and the food delivered - solid clean flavors that have you feeling energized and not sleepy afterwards. I would definitely go back to check out some of the more traditional dishes like mousaka or any lamb dish.