Upscale Greek Restaurant Group Opens Massive Outpost in Rockefeller Center

Image: Avra Estiatorio Rockefeller Center

All Greek restaurants in New York aspire to capture the experience of dining in the Greek Isles, but this may be the first to attempt to mimic Greece in terms of square footage. The recently opened Avra Estiatorio Rockefeller Center, a sister to two Avra restaurants in midtown and a third in Beverly Hills, occupies three floors of the Time-Life Building, totaling 16,500 square feet. The space, designed with 30-foot, floor-to-ceiling windows that wrap around the building, will seat 500.

For those for whom size doesn’t matter, the restaurant offers several heretofore unencountered edible attractions such as whole-fish sashimi and a 32-ounce bone-in American Wagyu cote de boeuf that’s aged for 30 days. The latter doesn’t sound terribly Greek, but the main thrust is freshly caught seafood, flown in daily and presented in grand abundance.

Avra Estiatorio Rockefeller Center, 1271 Sixth Avenue (at 50th St.), 212-430-8888.