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| - Okay. I'm a huge fan of Greek and other Mediterranean foods. When I saw this place and all the five star reviews, of course I figured it was worth checking out (despite it being next door to Chino Bandido - I still shudder when I think about how severe the food poisoning was that my wife and I got from that place a couple of years ago). Before I begin, this review started at 3 stars in my mind, went up to four and then back down to three. Explanation follows.
As with so many other Yelpers, I was immediately greeted upon entering the (empty at the time) establishment by a man who I assume was Ninos - and so for the rest of this review that's what I'll call him (even if it wasn't actually Ninos). Because this week I returned to my as-vegetarian-and-low-carb-as-possible diet, I was after something like falafels or dolmas for lunch. Ninos saw me looking at the menu and offered some suggestions. I asked for some sort of vegetarian type thing, like perhaps a platter, and he said he could actually design something for me - falafel on a bed of hummus. I thought of perhaps a little tabbouleh to go with it and he said it might not be able to do that, then ducked into the kitchen briefly - seconds later he reappeared with another dude and they both greenlighted the tabbouleh. The dolmas could have been part of my meal too, but I was advised that these are made to order and I figured I didn't need them that bad. We went with a custom order of falafel, tabbouleh and hummus. Ninos also asked if I liked eggplant, then said he could offer me a small sample of eggplant and potato on the house, which I gratefully accepted.
Finally, while I was waiting, Ninos offered me a bowl of lentil soup. At this point, despite the fact that I'm not really into soup (especially in the Phoenix summertime) I mentally raised my rating of Good Fellas to 4 stars. The soup was hot as hell, and not too bad (as lentil soups go). Seems to me that it's more of a wintertime dish, but I'm no soup connoisseur.
Several other people started arriving at the lunch hour and then my food was ready. Ninos opened the container to show me. A standard flat square takeout container with the main course, and a housebrick-sized one with tabbouleh (which was pretty much enough tabbouleh to feed at least four people - way more than I was after). Main here (http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/CV0knwCFA-x-8jJHot6Few?select=VXmx9i2VaxpYwg5k795Tmg), tabbouleh here (http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/CV0knwCFA-x-8jJHot6Few?select=iTuZQ7AB-acpYIbdxaFCrA).
The total price came to just over $16. Later on, mulling over this fact is what reduced my final rating. Very much overpriced for what I was after - double my typical lunch cost.
Taste-wise: the hummus was very nice and creamy, better than most I've had. The falafels, as you can see from the photo, looked like mini donuts. Strange, but also very nice - did not taste like the store-mix stuff (reminiscent of wet beach sand) that you find in falafels from places like Chicago Gyros or JT Gyros. Tabbouleh was good, but there was simply too much of it. This was supposed to be lunch for one person; I had to discard more than 3/4 of the T. Finally, the eggplant and potato was nice and reminded me of the ep/spicy potato/tzatziki/lettuce/tomato/cheese kebabs that I used to get from Saidoun in North Sydney Shoppingworld's food court. Back when it existed, that is.
The price was somewhat my fault, I suppose, for not ordering directly from the menu nor indicating my desired quantity. Breaking it down: Greek Wraps give you two falafels for a buck; six would have been three bucks. Hummus; I can get almost double the amount for about $3.99 from Fry's, albeit perhaps not as fresh. Tabbouleh is cilantro, parsley, bulgur wheat and a coupla other cheap things. I would have been happy with far less of it and a price of perhaps $8-9 all up. Ninos rang up several items on the register so I think he may have believed that I got multiple full-size entrees items but my photos show what I received (minus the eggplant).
Whatever. I'll return for sure and next time I'll bring a few workmates. Props to Ninos for being personable and willing to cater for his customers, and for the above average flavor of the food. And thanks to Google I now know why the falafels are shaped like donuts - to prevent getting mealy in the middle. Neat idea. I'll try a meat dish next time; there could well be a fourth star yet in Good Fellas' future..
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