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| - I'm torn on the rating for my review. Let me explain...
Al Pita takes over the Fresco Mexican restaurant space in Rocky River (this space seems to have a high turnover). Staff was pleasant and from talking to the owner I learned that he is Lebanese, his family runs Falafel Xpress in Lakewood, and he knows everyone in the Mediterranean restaurant business. He seemed excited and passionate about this new venture and explained that while there are a bunch of "fast casual" Mediterranean spots around town, he wanted his place to be more of a sit down experience.
Since I had a guest visiting me for the weekend we decided to hit up Al Pita and get a sampling of their menu:
*Kibbeh $8 - 3 pieces
*Non-Vegetarian Grape Leaves $9 - dozen
*Vegetarian Sampler $17 - regular hummus, baba, avocado hummus, falafel, taboulah
*Mediterranean Mix Grill $26 - beef and chicken shawarma, half a chicken, rice, side.
*Baklava $6 - two pieces
*Knafa Mabromeh $5
Total $71
Let's start with the good stuff. Right off the bat, the food smelled amazing! They also allowed me to do a special request for one of the sides which I really appreciate. The regular hummus is pretty good, as was the kibbeh which seemed to have some cinnamon in it? Taboulah was lemony and fresh.The half-chicken/Farroj was so juicy with lots of herbs/spices and some nice bits of crispy skin. The falafel is definitely crunchy, no worry about them getting soggy. Baklava was A-Ok as well (still like my mom's the best though).
Now time for the not so great. I could not taste garlic in the garlic paste/sauce. To me a good garlic paste has a nice bite to it, a little goes a long way to enhance your meal. This stuff was too bland, more like regular mayo. I also did not like the rice, it was cooked al dente, so too hard for me, but my dining companion didn't mind it. The grape leaves were disappointing since they had the hard rice and no flavor. The non-vegetarian version is supposed to have meat and tomatoes mixed in but I could not see or taste them. Neither of us thought the avocado hummus was anything special so just stick with the regular hummus. With the beef shawarma I had to spit out a couple of pieces because they were just chewy gristle. Lastly, the knafa was missing the sugar syrup that makes it a sweet dessert.
So to wrap it up, Al Pita is a clean sit down restaurant with pleasant staff. They have some pretty good meal items and they have some items I would not order again. While prices are similar to The Fountain in Westlake, they are still higher than any fast casual Mediterranean/Middle Eastern place in the area which is somewhat deterring. I might get the mixed grill (mmm half chicken) one more time if I can do hummus and taboulah for my sides because overall those things were the tastiest, and with the portion size you can get at least two meals out of this dish (you better for $26), but other than that, I don't see myself going back to Al Pita. I get take-out more than I dine-in so them being a sit down restaurant gets no points from me. There are just too many tasty cheap places out there (Oasis, Dolce Wraps, Sittoo's, Ferris Deli, Boaz Cafe, Naf Naf Grill, Falafel Xpress, etc).
I rate them 3.5 stars.
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