Dining Review: Estiatorio Fili in Providence

Garrides (shrimp) with an Ouzo Sting cocktail. Photo by Angel Tucker

Psari (branzino) with an Aegean Breeze cocktail. Photo by Angel Tucker

Providence has had a Greece-shaped hole in its heart since the shuttering of both Kleos and Yoleni’s in the last two years. But in the wake of those closings, George Potsidis quietly opened Estiatorio Fili off Wayland Square, spending a year with very little marketing and a lot of effort in capturing both an entire country and a single woman. Potsidis’ mother, Emorfily — who grew up in the Greek village of Xirolimni — raised him in the spirit of communal cuisine, a mantra that grew more pronounced in him with her passing in 2021. 

Long involved in real estate, he built and developed a residential building on Waterman Avenue that same year, leaving its retail space empty as he considered a proper homage to his late mother. When that ode finally took shape in 2024, it became Fili, a forty-person restaurant designed to manifest Greek hospitality. 

The space itself is serene and slender, modern in white with clean lines and light wood finishes, and flanked by black and white photographs of Mediterranean landscapes and the people (famous and otherwise) who have populated it. Potsidis relies on a young staff both in the back of the house and the front, and they’re the ones bridging the distance between ages-old family recipes and a modern translation. Most of the time, there are walking tours of Mykonos streets and seascapes on the large overhead television, but the regular staff plays a soundtrack that shifts between Puccini, Led Zeppelin and Buena Vista Social Club. (“Trust me, George,” one young server says to an antsy-looking Potsidis, “the vibe is good.”)

The Mediterranean-inspired interior. Photo by Angel Tucker

Though the bar takes up a third of the restaurant, Fili always manages to hit its mark, which is tranquility on a collective scale. Rather than creating chaos, cocktails — mixed with everything from cool cucumber to rich fig — make a mellow crowd that tends to linger over small plates. 

Melitsanosalata and taramasalata with pita bread. Photo by Angel Tucker

Though the menu was initially separated into appetizers and entrees, the kitchen has abbreviated the larger dishes just enough to allow diners to try several plates in an evening. There’s a coastal thread that runs through the menu (one that assures that you can eat this meal and still live your life in a bathing suit), and yet there are a variety of ingredients and textures that mimic the diversity of the islands themselves. 

On paper, dishes look familiar, but the chasm between Americanized Greek food and its progenitor is in the herbs. In the States, they may be barely more than garnish but, in Greece, they’re foundational. Tomato and feta salad is a summer staple, but in this horiatiki, the salty cheese plays second fiddle to copious amounts of oregano and sea fennel, making the dish deeply herbaceous. Even better is the maroulosalata, a Cretan chiffonade of romaine tossed with manouri cheese and boulders of crisp barley croutons. 

In a sense, much of the menu could be considered bar food, though very little of it is fried. (One notable exception is the spring roll-style spanakopita, full of fresh spinach leaves with a crackling shell.) But there are plenty of pikilia, traditional dips served with freshly baked pita and pureed incarnations of eggplant, feta, cucumber, yogurt and carp roe — all of which bring different elements of island agriculture into focus. Even the tuna ceviche is a vast departure from the ubiquitous dish: This one is earthy rather than acidic, the fish mixed with white beans, micro sprouts, cucumber and a sprinkle of manouri cheese. It’s a good match for a glass of red wine, all of which show off Greek varietals. 

If the smaller plates are geared toward noshing though, larger dishes bring more intensity and demand more attention. Garrides (roasted shrimp) are brought out in hot olive oil, steeped with soft garlic and melting tomatoes — an almost-stew that can be eaten straight through summer. 

Maroulosalata with an Aphrodite’s Kiss cocktail. Photo by Angel Tucker

Keftedes (pork and beef meatballs) with an Aphrodite’s Kiss cocktail. Photo by Angel Tucker

In fact, several recipes offer a cold counterpart to hot food, like a glass of ice water on the beach. Braised green beans and tomatoes are topped with a cold slice of feta and lemony branzino is served alongside a salad of pickles that bites with acidity. But if the majority of the menu channels a day overlooking the Aegean, it’s the lamb and orzo that reveals the soulfulness of this endeavor. Full of warm, fragrant spices, the unctuous meat is entirely Greek and yet recognizable to anyone who’s been comforted by a warm meal with family.

Brunch — which nearly extends into dinner on Sundays — is just another offshoot of this communal gathering. Dishes bear some resemblance to an American brunch (eggs, sausage and pancakes), but they’re Mediterranean to the core. Smoked salmon is served on koulouri bread, kefalotiri cheese is paired with prosciutto and housemade quince jam, and sausage is seasoned with orange zest. Not surprisingly, everything sweet has a bit of phyllo or yogurt in it, often infused with citrus and honey. The only enduring mystery in eating through a dense catalogue of Greek cuisine is that it incorporates so much dairy and still manages to eat like a light breeze.

If the food is deeply focused though, the crowd has become increasingly varied over the past year. An older set in golf shirts and sheath dresses still shows up nightly but younger diners are taking up more tables and it’s not uncommon to hear tales of Monty Python and microdosing as often as the day’s golf scores. 

Potsidis may not be a seasoned restauranteur and perhaps Fili didn’t open wholly manifesting its intended identity. But it’s fully evolved into itself since last spring: Potsidis’ dogged determination to make this space not a representation of Greek life but the thing itself is what draws people back in. He sits at the bar each night, surveilling the dining room with an analytic eye — but it’s when a regular stops to shake his hand on the way out and says, “I extend my thanks again to your mother and her mother for this food,” that his critical stance softens. 

No doubt New England always offers a dazzling autumn but a weekly sojourn to Greece is more likely than ever.

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Estiatorio Fili

Giouvetsi (slow-roasted lamb shank with orzo). Photo by Angel Tucker

225 Waterman Ave., Providence, 642-8880, estiatoriofili.com 

Open for dinner Thursday–Sunday as well as brunch on Sunday. 

Reservations recommended. Wheelchair accessible. Street parking.  

CUISINE: Greek all the way. 

CAPACITY: Forty with the bar. 

VIBE: Zorba, if he were at his most mellow. 

PRICES: Small plates: $12–$28; dessert: $12. 

KAREN’S PICKS: Horiatiki, maroulosalata, keftedes (meatballs), garrides (shrimp), psari (branzino), giouvetsi (braised lamb).