"2014-03-06T00:00:00"^^ . "2"^^ . "4"^^ . "My first and so far only time to Baladie Cafe was a good trial run. I ordered thte Greek Platter that comes with lamb/beef gyro, tzatziki sauce, feta cheese, dolmas, kalamata olives, a small greek salad, spanikopita and mousaka. It was the best way I knew to try everything I wanted. A brilliant idea in my mind. I was mostly pleased with the experience. The dolmas were very good and very briney. And thankfully the leaves were tender. The last time I had dolmas from Whole Foods the leaves were so tough and woody. The ones from Baladie were quite good. I know where to go when I get a craving now. The olives were spot on too. On their own I don't have a problem with the kalamata olives containing a pit. At least it is expected. I did not appreciate that they were unpitted in the salad. I almost broke a tooth. I suppose I just need to be more careful in the future. Moving onto the gyro I would have to say not bad but not wonderful. The meat had more lamb flavor than what I am accustomed to. That is not a problem though. It really was quite good. But in all honesty the meat was a little on the dry side. And the pita was not all too fresh either. It was also kind of dry and was served in a store bought pita package. It could have been better. Where Baladie really shined in my mind was with the mousaka and spanikopita. I've had spanikopita other places before and really did not like it despite my love for spinach. This was good and the pastry was ultra flakey. Right on. The mousaka I was surprised with. I had never tried it before and did not know quite what to expect. The eggplant, potato and meat combination of it was awesome. It was rich and creamy and just plain good. I'm kind of drooling right now just thinking of it. I could easily make a meal out of mousaka as it is very heavy and filling. Beyond the food service was great. The older gentelman (owner?) was great. He was very friendly and curious as to how I heard about them. I told him Yelp led me there and he started telling me about how a lot of his customers mention Yelp and also Urban Spoon. He was asking me about some of the other review sites like Trip Advisor but I showed some Yelp love and brought the conversation back around. I'm not that familiar with the other sites anyhow. He was a nice man and happy for me to be there. I'll be back sometime."^^ . . "1"^^ . "1"^^ . . .