The Symposium Restaurant

The Symposium Restaurant of the Upper Westside of New York offers the best Greek food in the Columbia University area and perhaps all of New York. A favorite spot of the locals, it is definitely worth going there to dine.

The Upper Westside Voice
Presents
The Symposium
Restaurant

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      A fixture of the Columbia University/Morningside Heights neighborhood for more than 30 years, the Symposium is a family-style Greek restaurant that is often overlooked due to its off-Broadway location. Ordained with offbeat but beautiful artwork, the restaurant offers a wide variety of tasty food in a pleasant setting.
      Begin with The Symposium Salad, a platter of appetizers (olives, feta cheese, stuffed grape leaves, olives, cucumbers and other goodies adorned with yogurt, and garlic dips). For your main dish, try Spankotiropita (spinach and feta cheese wrapped in flaky dough), the traditional Mousaka (an eggplant, potato and meat pie), Souvlaki (baby lamb chunks, spiced, marinated and skew broiled), Keftedes (spicy Greek meatballs), or the famous Exhohiko (tender chunks of lamb baked as a pie with peas, carrots and artichoke hearts). If you can't make up your mind, choose the Potpouri, a selection of five different dishes. The prices of these plates range from $7 to $13. Meals come with warmed pita or hearty wheat bread. Top off your dinner with a mouth watering Greek dessert such as Galaktoboureko (a delectable pastry filled with a custard), Baklava (a honey soaked pastry), Kadaifi (looks like shredded wheat rolled with nuts) or Creme Karamele (a sweat custard). Besides the usual beverages, the Symposium serves wine and sangria.
      Unlike many restaurants in New York City, the ethnicity of the food and the owners match: The Symposium is indeed owned by Greeks. The name of the restaurant comes from Plato's "The Symposium" suggesting that friends gather to eat, drink, and discuss issues of great importance. While the latter might apply to Columbia University intellectuals, most people simply come to eat good food in a relaxed setting. The main dining room contains a long table that is able to seat 20, which is great for group luncheons, and it is able to host parties up to 50 people. When the weather is good, go to the gardenlike patio in the back to enjoy your food in a covered, but open air environment. In the main dining room, original work by the artist, Yanni Posnakoff, adorns the walls and ceilings with motifs from Greek mythology. Almost as much as an art gallery as a restaurant, the Symposium is definitely worth a visit.

Symposium
544 West 113th Street
(between Broadway and Amsterdam)
New York, NY 10025
212-865-1011

	What Others Say About the Symposium
The Main Dining Room	"A wonderful restaurant that offers a huge menu of authentic Greek food." – The Columbia Spectator "A Greek gem." – Time Out New York "A colorful, offbeat and fascinating Greek restaurant. What's more, the food is as good as any other Greek restaurant in town." – The New York Times "[The food] is well prepared and inexpensive." – NYPress "A restaurant that can give you food for thought." – Daily News "The best restaurant in the neighborhood." David Baisley, a student at Columbia University (in The Spectator).

Also of interest is the Hungarian Pastry Shop serving coffee and baked goods. It is located around the corner on Amerstam Avenue at West 111th Street.

If you are interested in having a webpage for your upper westside business or organization, send an email message to stuartsamuel@hotmail.com at the Upper Westside Voice.