I'm a sucker for good authentic food, especially if I've been to the country of origin (spent 20 years in the Navy and visited Crete three times). The food here is spectacular, and very authentic. The owners are extremely warm and welcoming, as is their staff. I've been here three times in the first of two weeks visiting the town, and I'll definitely come back during my second week at least three more times. Highly recommend this place for a good dinner. Great way to wind down a long day or week in a warm atmosphere with excellent food and good drinks with a warm and welcoming owners and staff. read more

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I feel bad writing a negative review but I see I'm not the only one. And I just expect more from a Jay McSharry establishment. Here are some of the items that we had on a recent visit: Stuffed grape leaves. This was incredibly disappointing. First off, they came out ice cold from the refrigerator. Secondly, there was absolutely no flavor in them. No herbs, basically just rice inside an incredibly chewy grape leaf. I took the rest home and ended up throwing them away. This is something I rarely ever do with food. Another item that I feel could've been done much better was the spanakopita. It just didn't seem very fresh. I doubt it is something that they make every day. And so it is reheated because of that. And then, consequently it gets overcooked and dried out. The main flavor takeaway was salt. It just wasn't great. Sorry to say the rest of this got put into the garbage as well. I just feel this restaurant was hastily put together to supply a replacement for Greek food after the closure of Cafe Nostimo, which everybody loved. I feel that they could be putting a lot more attention into making the food taste better. I'm sure there are other things on the menu that people are loving. But I just did not have those obviously. Anyway, I went in there, hoping that this was going to be a regular go-to and I hesitate to even go back another time. read more

the good: cute atmosphere..nice and clean..small and intimate the bad: food is bland, lacks authentic greek flavors, overpriced high hopes for a new greek restaurant sadly were not met here..just does not have any greek zing to the food..tastes like we are eating at bobs chicken which occupied the space prior minus the white and blue paint..sorry, this is a miss! read more

Atmosphere was really nice. Food was good. Best thing was the lamb we got the drink special (Dancing Queen), dolmas, lemon chicken soup, chicken gyro, and the lamb Souvlaki. Would recommend the lamb read more

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The decor is bright, blue and white. The hostess and waitstaff are super friendly and efficient. The food was okay. To call it Greek is inaccurate. We had chicken kabobs. The chicken was grilled with a spicy rub not in a Greek style. Couscous was served which I've never seen in Greece. Greek flavors are simple, olive oil, garlic, lemon oregano. Fresh tomatoes and feta. Not this. read more

Underwhelming but passable. The seating is tight, so tight that I witnessed patrons seating back-to-back bang heads. The ambiance is pleasing, a huge change from Bob's Chicken, the former tenant. The tap water is gross, but you can blame Portsmouth for that. The meze platter was good, not great. When compared to Bar 25, Evo, and Anatolia, Nisi comes in a distant fourth place. The gyro basket was satisfying, although awkward to eat. Some pieces of meat were unreasonably dry considering the huge turnover. The lemon soup (avgolimono) was a disappointment. No rice, muted flavor, just boring. We used to have a place in Hampton called "Brothers" that made this soup the right way. Dessert was OK but it didn't seem much better than Market Basket. The tiramisu was so dry that we struggled to slice it with a fork. The service was fine and parking is free, easy, and abundant. We were disappointed to see how dirty our seating area was. Hairs everywhere and food on the floor and window sill. read more

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Solid new Greek spot in the former Bob's Broiled Chicken spot off Islington. The decor is great - bright and airy with coastal vibes, accented by shades of blue. The flaming cheese was heaven. Crispy on the outside, chewy interior topped with jam, capers and pickled red onion. Do not skip this! The savory meat pie (kreatopita) was divine - crispy phyllo dough with warmly spiced ground lamb and beef. The pork gyro was the least strong of the three dishes. I would have appreciated more meat and feta and less fries. The pillowy fresh pita was excellent. We will be back for the dips and bread, and probably the kreatopita and pistachio tiramisu. read more

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Nisi Greek Kitchen + Bar opened in Portsmouth in January 2026, located at Gallagher's Place in the former Bob's Broiled Chicken space. This full service Greek restaurant & bar has a cozy atmosphere with booths seating along the wall, table seating and seating at the full service corner bar. Greek background music plays over the speakers. At the time of this posting, they were open for dinner service with lunch service offered soon. I stopped by Nisi for dinner on opening night. The place was fairly busy with every booth and table occupied around 7pm. I took a seat up at the bar as I looked at the menu choices. The food menu offerings include a selection of appetizers, salads, soups, flatbreads, spinach pie, meat pies, souvlaki plates, moussaka, gyros, lamb shank, kalamata shrimp, and desserts. The bar offers beers, wine, cocktails, and mocktails. For a starter, the Saganaki ($10 plus tax) was a square fried cheese flatbeed with ouzo and topped with fig jam served in a 6"x6" iron skillet. This starter was a big hit! For dinner the Lemon Grilled Chicken Souvlaki ($18 plus tax) served with two sides choices (roasted potatoes & small Greek salad) had tender pieces of boneless grilled chicken, although texture was a bit dry. The roasted potatoes in oil was pretty good and the small Greek salad with greens, tomato, pepperoncini, kalamata olives & feta cheese was decent. For dessert, the Portokalopita ($12 plus tax), orange cake piece soaked in orange syrup topped with orange zest and a scoop of kalmaki ice cream. The check with Toast QR code was $43.40 with tax and before tip. Overall, the staff did a pretty good job on opening night. The service was very prompt. The bartender refilled my ice water during dinner. I also mentioned that I spotted a few price differences on Toast compared to the printed restaurant menu. The price of one of my items was corrected before my check was issued. I will come back again tp try other offerings on the menu including the Moussaka and Pistachio Tiramisu. read more

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Downgraded to 3 stars. In a nutshell, I believe service can be improved and can be managed better. read more

Nisi - Attractive wall art - Bars Near Me - Portsmouth, New Hampshire

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I had lunch, no entree but with a few small plates instead. Service was fantastic, and food was really yummy (good enough to promise myself that I'd be back for more). Depending on what time you're planning parking could be tricky but there are plenty of spots across the street. Just be super careful about crossing Islington. Tip: It's a small space so go online to make reservations. It's so lovely having this option! read more

When you walk in you immediately feel transported to Greece! The decor, the service ware and the aroma are unmistakable!! Then you get your food!! I enjoyed the lemon herb hummus if the day and the tapinade was spectacular. Then we enjoyed gyros (lamb kofta and lemon herb chicken). Both were excellent!! We will definitely be back!! I highly suggest making reservations. read more

Anticipation was high as we walked into this lovely room that evoked the look and feel of the Greek Islands. The food, sadly, disappointed. Greek food is known for being so flavorful. Whoever is cooking seems to be using virtually no seasoning. The chicken lemon soup had zero flavor. The spinach in the spinach pie had the brown color of spinach that had sat out a while and the phyllo pastry was completely soggy. Fried eggplant was ok but lacked any zip, but the tzatziki served with it was fresh and good. Greek salad had very little dressing. Biting into an olive in the salad reminded me of the Greek flavor that was missing in the rest of the meal. Portions were fine. The bar looked promising. They just need to get someone who knows how to cook Greek food. read more

Nothing uber special. Sort of like a diner with less options but with a nice bar. Hththth

What a nice new place for Portsmouth to get, was excited to try out the first Greek place in this area and it didn't disappoint! The ambiance was cozy and dark lit, with light music, our server Theresa was so nice and pleasant and the food was excellent! Love leaving a dinner without feeling bloated and overwhelmed with portions, here the portions sizes were perfect like they should be! Saganaki was soooo good as well as the village salad, light dishes for the star of the show - lamb shoulder as a Greek Easter special, the meat was so juicy and flavorful! But what I liked even the most was the dessert- the orange cake with ice cream - so simple yet so nostalgic, and flavorful, was a perfect cherry on top to the amazing experience we had at Nisi! Can't wait to go back! read more

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The restaurant at first glance appears clean and delivers on what one might consider attentive service. Unfortunately, I was unable to leave the restaurant with the same feeling as another patron elected to change their child's dirty diaper in the booth, in plain view, as I was in the midst of a mouthful of hummus. The staff did nothing to perturb this obvious health violation and subsequently did not properly sanitize the booth. Human beings are animals. Let's just say the poo filled diaper was a just a subtle nod to the rest of my dining experience. Appetizers: Bean dip and Hummus. Both were freezing cold as they had clearly been prepared the day prior and stuffed in a refrigerator- definitley not made to order as many good Greek restaurants do. Hallmark additions to any Greek dip, smear, or sauce are GARLIC and SALT. These dips had neither and in fact were completely indistinguishable from one another. Bland, cold, and puréed beyond recognition. Extremely disappointing. Entree: Classic Gyro As the title of the dish eludes to, this is a CLASSIC. In other words, the backbone of any good Greek restaurant is their gyro. It MUST be the one dish they can execute. It's supposed to be simple, tasty, and served hot in a warm pita that is capable of being lifted under its own strength and devoured. That was not the case here. The waitress remarked upon delivery of this masterpiece that, "it just came out of the kitchen." That was likely true however it had to have come off of the line about 15 minutes prior. The tomato, lettuce, red onion, zucchini, and feta were fine but don't expect any extra salt, pepper, garlic or other seasonings to accompany the hallmark ingredients. The pita (obviously not made in house) was room temperature and absorbed a large portion of the tzatziki turning it into a soggy frisbee that the remainder of the ensemble slouched upon. The fries were passable. The worst part of the dish, by far, was the pork. It was lukewarm, encompassed in fat, and lacking all semblance of Greco flavor. When will these restaurant learn that biting into a big hunk of luke warm pork fat IS DISGUSTING? Trim your meat AND season it. A Greek classic turned terrible. I couldn't finish eating it and neither could my wife who ordered the same dish. Yuck. If a Greek place can't do a gyro then I have zero hope for the rest of its menu. Greek food is supposed to be simple, vibrant, clean, fresh, and served hot. Nisi missed the mark on all of the above and instead delivered a tepid experience topped off with a health code violation. We won't be back. I would be shocked if the restaurant is around by the end of the year. It shouldn't be. read more

I had a better experience than some. We didn't order that much so I can only expound on what we had. I had the lamb meatballs plate and the lamb was not dry! So many restaurants give you dry meatballs! We had some feta dip to start with veggies ( i prefer bread but I'm gluten free) and my husband had a gyro flatbread which he really enjoyed. The prices are reasonable and it's not a fancy place, but comfortable. I would try again and let them work out some kinks. read more

Just open and it's great to have Greek cuisine back in Portsmouth. Excellent service. Patience is a must do to popularity and smaller size. Solid dining experience. read more

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When a restaurant with a cuisine long missing from a community joins the dining scene, there are some basics that make it successful. First, if you're replacing a locally loved icon, don't try to replace it, and second, keep your menu limited to what you do well. Too many places have come and gone because they try to be everything to everyone. Visiting our newest venue today was a treat. A small, exceptionally well-designed space, with about a dozen tables, plus a well-stocked bar with a similar number of seats. Any place this new had better be immaculate, and they were from entry to restrooms. Offering Greek cuisine, Nisi, located in the former Bob's Broiled Chicken on Islington Street was comfortable, welcoming, moderately accessible, and hospitable. I say moderately accessible because the entryway could be a challenge to anyone using a wheelchair. Trying a variety of dishes, we found each to be prepared to perfection, with an outstanding rating for the batter/coating used on their fried eggplant with tzatziki. Their Hummus was both unique, and delicious as were the fingerling potatoes. The Kreatopita "pie" was authentic, light, flavorful and quite good. It's a quirk of mine that if you're going to sell carbonated soda, tell people you charge for refills. Especially when the initial serving is small, but that's just my own thing. Overall, 9.3 out of 10. No doubt Nisi will require more space soon. It was full at lunch on a Friday, so people are already finding this little treasure. To have something this good, that did not try to replace Café Nostimo, but has created an identity for itself, in a place with free, off-street parking is a really positive addition to the Portsmouth dining scene. We look forward to our next visit. read more