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| - I was in the mood to go out for dinner after work instead of going home, and I was getting hungry, so took out my cell, fired up my Yelp app, and scouted for a good local restaurant. I found one promising tasty Mediterranean fare among other things, less than a mile away, so I made my way over there. Good thing I didn't "check in" before I got to the door--they were closed for "summer hours". Note to newer people in Phoenix--make sure the restaurant you want to go to is open in the evening before beginning the trek!
So I went back to Yelp for another restaurant and now, in the mood for Greek, found another one nearby--practically around the corner. Crazy Jim's. Sorry, people. Despite all the other rave reviews, I can not concur.
I went in and was seated pretty quickly. The waitress was pleasant and set me up with some water. I liked the tables with a design and "Crazy Jim" carved into them. The other diners were real casually dressed with t-shirts and shorts--I felt dressed up with my dress shirt from work!
Since other Yelpers didn't rave about the hummus, I didn't order that as an appetizer, as it was also several dollars anyway. There were two calamari salads, one with or without lettuce. I went with the "Crazy Calamari Salad" with shredded cabbage instead of lettuce to try something different.
The good: the pita. A nice hot basketful of the slightly charred pita came out, which was great, as many places seem to microwave it and then it gets hard.
The not so good: The calamari salad. I have had a lot of calamari, so I consider myself a pretty good judge of quality calamari. This was not it. The calamari was heavily breaded, which may be why it seemed on the greasy side. The breading wasn't very flavorful, and the calamari could have been a wee bit more tender. The cabbage was good, the onions plentiful and somewhat sweet. There was some feta, olives, and pepperoncini, but it was buried under the cabbage and cucumber, so you really had to excavate to find it. Disclaimer: I'm not a big cucumber fan, so I left a lot of that on my plate. The oil and vinegar dressing that is on the salad isn't too flavorful--I added some balsamic vinegar that is on the table for extra zip.
Since I really hadn't eaten that much, I had room for dessert. I inquired about them, and found they don't make their own, but decided to chance it anyway. The main choices the waitress suggested were a "capuccino and chocolate mousse cake" (the menu said tiramisu--was this it?) and baklava. I decided to try the cake. A nice moderate-sized piece came out with a blob of white next to it. The waitress explained that they were trying to serve it with whipped cream, but "it wouldn't keep its shape, so that kind of ruined the presentation." Uh-huh. Well, the cake was actually pretty good, but after I finished it, I realized I hadn't noticed much of a coffee taste. But when I got to the parking lot, I burped, and I tasted it. And that happened again. And again. What?!?! Did they use coffee flavor or something?
Okay, so the verdict? I've been to some other Greek places within a 2 mile radius of this place, as well as elsewhere in Greater Phoenix. Do yourself a favor and try them--better atmosphere and food. Unless their specialty is chicken, as some other reviewers seem to be saying.
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