Every time I walk down Columbus Avenue into Hell’s Kitchen I pass by a sign that advertises $10 Greek tapas sampler plates at a restaurant called Kashkaval. At first glance Kashkaval looks like a run-down wine and cheese shop, so I was deterred from entering. However, I looked the restaurant up on Yelp and to my great surprise, it received rave reviews. I decided to see for myself if the restaurant lived up to its online accolades.

Inside it looked like a tavern with a takeout section up front. Since I had been curious about their sign outside, I asked how the sampler plate worked. Without looking up the man pointed to a sign which read, “Tapas Platter: Choose any four sides, comes with pita. Chicken is an extra dollar.”

The diplay case held an assortment of about 25 tapas ranging from olive hummus to chicken curry kebabs. When I decided what four sides I wanted, I asked the man to help me. Casually he grabbed for a takeout container and gestured at the tapas. I asked for the cold sautéed spinach with feta salad, taramosalata, dolmas and baba ganoush. Since the seating in the back was for customers ordering from their main menu, I took my food back to my dorm.

Excited for a good Greek meal, I ripped the top off the container and tore off a chunk of pita. Unfortunately, the pita was nothing special. It was just a whole wheat bread roundel, which served as a good vehicle for the tapas.

The spinach salad was tasty and seasoned with garlic and pepper and tossed with olive oil. The greens were still slightly tender and had not wilted completely, adding a slight crunch to the dish. The salad also had large cubes of feta cheese, which was nice in comparison to the miniscule amount of crumbles usually included in pre-packed Whole Foods salads.

Taramosalata is a creamy pink tapas that has salted fish roe folded into a mixture of mashed potatoes, bread crumbs, vinegar, lemon juice and olive oil. I had never tried this before, but it tasted almost like lox and cream cheese. The reason I say almost was because it was extremely salty and had a fishier taste. It was good in small doses, but it had to be eaten with another less salty side or the pita bread.

The dolmas, which are stuffed grape leaves, tasted great. Unlike other restaurants I have visited, where the dolmas are saturated in their own juices and are soggy and slightly slimy, these were firm and had a slight pop as I bit through the grape leaf. It was nice and tart, and served as a good counter balance to the intense taste of the taramosalata.

Finally, the baba ganoush was a little lemonier than I was expecting, but still had a nice smooth consistency with small chunks of eggplant. Baba ganoush is one of those delicious dishes where it does not look appetizing because it is lumpy and beige. This tapas is essentially an eggplant hummus, but has a looser consistency than the traditional chickpea hummus.

Overall the food was tasty and I am glad I finally ventured into this rustic restaurant. They advertise Gruyere fondue, which I am interested in trying in a later visit. Reviewers on Yelp gave that a great review as well. Despite the restaurant’s uninviting appearance, it still served up a decent meal.