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| - I really wanted to love this place. Mediterranean is my favorite cuisine, and this place was highly recommended to me, so I saved this spot for a special occasion and made a reservation for my birthday. The decorative touches of the dining room are thoughtful well put together, but most of the dishes were not. The tapas dishes we started with were great, but instead of escalating to a crescendo with great entrees and dessert, those dishes disappointed.
FALAFEL: Heralded in other reviews as one of the best versions in town, I had high hopes for this dish and I was not disappointed. Small, crisp balls with a nutty, soft interior plated on flawlessly creamy hummus and a nicely acidic tabouli salad. Simple but solid.
GRILLED EGGPLANT WITH FENNEL AND CHILI: Great! So many flavors in this mix of vegetables, but considering it's placed in the "wood fired" category of the menu, I would have liked a bit of char to the eggplant or onion. Regardless, this was tasty and the eggplant itself was tender.
KIBBEH NAYEH: I love a good tartare but have never had lamb this way. It's wonderful! I found it a touch tough but flavorful; I enjoyed how the dish incorporated mint and lebaneh. Highly recommend!
HOUSE PICKLES: Misleading name. This is a dish of house-pickled cauliflower, celery, and carrots. These got spicier as we got deeper into the dish. BF loves pickled foods but we both found this combination of vegetables odd and unsatisfying. Remove from the menu.
CHICKEN TAGINE: Here's where things started to head south. Rice was a touch overcooked and almost mushy, chicken was flavorful and well-seasoned but a bit overcooked and dry. Small mistakes, but ordering this dish felt like a big mistake.
GRILLED OCTOPUS: Probably the most-recommended dish in other reviews, this fell completely flat for me. The actual octopus was overshadowed by the giant cloud of shredded celery atop the dish, and the portion size was small (even compared to others in town) and lacked flavor. The octopus was only slightly charred but had little to no seasoning. I enjoyed the potatoes and lemon vinaigrette more than the actual octopus. The version at Bazaar Meats is miles better, and it's not even the best version in town (Jaleo holds that honor). This can't possibly be the same octopus dish others raved about unless they've never had it before.
SCALLOPS: Another case of small mistakes. The scallops were slightly rubbery and did not have an adequate sear, indicating that they were not cooked on high enough heat. The piquillo-almond puree and brown butter accents were wonderfully harmonious, but not enough to make up for the star of the dish falling flat.
FIG & ALMOND PANACOTTA: I love a good custard, and this was nicely creamy and paired well with the figs... but the delicate, balanced flavors were overshadowed by the harsh amaretto poured on top. Cooked down into a more mellow syrup, this would have been much better but instead it was borderline offensive. We did not finish this.
It soured my mood a bit that I made note of my birthday when making my reservation and not once was it acknowledged or mentioned in any way- not even when the information was pulled up as we were greeted. Our server was nice, but the dishes she recommended to us were the most expensive ones we ordered and the most underwhelming. At the end of our meal, she never came back after dropping off the bill; eventually a manager stepped in to check us out.
It's a gorgeous space and I might consider coming back for a few of the smaller dishes, but I was extremely disappointed with my overall experience- we enjoyed less than half of what we ordered and were virtually forgotten by our own server.
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