Laura C.
Yelp
From the number of stars given to Olives Mediterranean Grill, I had high hopes for some refreshing Mediterranean food on a hot July day. The restaurant itself was empty at 2 on a Saturday afternoon so we could clearly see all of its charm. Unusual in design with stained glass and retro lighting, it had a long skinny interior and tall sloped ceilings. Sage green walls gave it an actual "olive green" look.
My first challenge was finding a comfortable place to sit. The cute booths had back breaking boards to lean up against and a number of the very comfortable chairs at tables were in line with forcefully blowing cold air vents.
We finally landed at a table by the door and just as we settled in, a loud chatty woman and her son came in, placed a to go order and sat on a bench two feet behind my eardrums.
I wish I could say it was all five stars after that but it just wasn't. The server did say, in response to one of my questions, that the boss was on vacation. Hmmm.
The menu was as expected and I decided on the Moussaka ($15) a "Casserole made by layering eggplants and spiced ground beef, topped with creamy béchamel sauce; served with Basmati Saffron rice and Greek salad" per the menu. My spouse opted for the gyro platter with two sides and he chose the Baba Ghanouj and a Greek Salad. ($13)
They had a number of terrific sounding appetizers; but I wanted a dip of my own so we ordered some Hummus. Our server was sweet; but couldn't seem to estimate the difference between a small and a large hummus. She talked scoops, but the photos I'd seen weren't scoops, so I had no idea what she meant. We decided on a large with the addition of some veggies. ($10)
The hummus was delicious - wonderfully creamy - with hot and crispy pita bread. However, our Greek Salads were unwieldy and had mounded up romaine pieces too large for such a small bowl. The feta cheese tuned out to be just specks and I had only one kalamata olive. The dressing was all at the bottom, of course, and cutting up the romaine caused some of it to fly out of the bowl taking the oily dressing with it.
Our entrees arrived and I was a little perplexed. Later, I would Google and discover I had an Arabic or Lebanese version of Moussaka. At that moment, though, I was wondering why my Moussaka was laying in a pool of tomato sauce. I assumed it had something to do with the plate of Saffron rice that came with it; but this was something I'd never seen.
The description never said anything about potatoes, either, and it definitely had under done potatoes. The eggplant was difficult to taste or see; but some thin slices eventually showed up. The béchamel was good. The tomato sauce was also good.
Although I know Moussaka can present in different ways and also with potatoes; the portion was oddly long and short, the ground meat layer was meager, the potatoes were not soft, and the eggplant was practically non-existent. Even if this was inconsistent with my expectations, it could certainly have been better for $15.
My husband's Baba Ghanouj was excellent - chunky and lemony - and the flavor of the gyro meat was terrific, although some of it was over charred. His main complaints lie with the pita bread which he says had walls that were too thin for stuffing - his favorite thing to do with the gyro meat.
We struck out. We packed up the leftovers, paid up and went home. Excellent dips. We've just had better Mediterranean/Middle Eastern food elsewhere.
