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| - I have been three times to this place that so many seem to love. From start to finish, my three visits have always been the same.
Staff is good, friendly and generally smiling, but never anything outstanding (which is fine).
The food is, as is the menu, a complete shit-show of things. The bread on the table and three dips are wonderful snack while you scour the Mediterranean inspired menu. Now scour is not a word I use often, but I don't eat at a lot of restaurants with menus resembling novellas.
The menu is ridonkulously big, well actually it's the size and shape of a textbook. Laminated, spiral bound, pages for salads, sandwiches, starters, pastas, stir fries, entrees, specials...probably a dessert and drink one or two as well.
Well intentioned as it is to try to be all things to all people, the menu lost me, the description of the German influenced schnitzel won me over (no clue how), beating out the Asian stir fry and "American" tenderloin salad....in this Mediterranean gem.
Anyways, menu size is a little bit snotty, i should have ordered the Mediterranean meals, obviously, but didn't find that page. The special, vegan and spicy meals are identified on the menu with the same symbol in different colours, i was challenged to see the colours and I'm not colour blind as far as I know.
We ordered and very quickly my accompanying salad arrived, nice and fresh, followed by the table entrees, all presented in a large plate look, no nouveau cuisine here, a great thing, so size wise we were all happy.
To a person there were no complaints, everything got was hot, cold was cold and everyone's order was as described in the menu (to my original comment, three trips here and other than menu choices all trips same as others). But that's really all it does, the food resembles the description we read, but that's really all it does. I don't want to sell them short, the food isn't bland, but it is always just "okay", a salad which is good, a chicken that is decent, a pasta that is lacking flavour.
I don't doubt that they are trying to please, my feeling is trying to please everyone takes the focus off what they do best, the Mediterranean food.
Running a business in the Beach is brutally challenging, so prices are going to be typically high, but we go out for meals knowing this. Our only want is give us something for our buck. Green Eggplant has always delivered, for me at least, food that is just "okay", service that equals the food, in an environment that mirrors the average family restaurant. For me, that's worth an average review.
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