Mediterranean Grill

We went to meet my sister and brother-in-law the other day for dinner at the Mediterranean Grill in Avon. Sadly, they gave us a gift certificate for Christmas and we are only now getting around to using it. Crazy.

Anyway, it’s a little family-run place in a strip mall. Everyone who was working there was very friendly—they all recognized my sister and her family as regulars. There were quite a few of us, so we tried several appetizers. We had the hummus ($5.45 for small, $8.95 for large), the spanakopita ($6.50) and the tiropita ($6.50).  I think the appetizer portion of the meal was probably my favorite—they were all quite good. My favorite was the hummus. It’s hard to tell what makes one hummus so much better than others, but this one had it. It had just the right consistency—enough creaminess without being watery at all or overly oily. But also not too dense. I liked that they seasoned it a bit with spices and olive oil and added some olives. More olives are always better. The tiropita and spanakopita were also quite good. One is just a cheese pie and one is spinach and cheese. I probably liked the spinach one better just because there was more going on there, but you get a bigger portion with the cheese one. They were nicely wrapped in phyllo, something I absolutely adore, although I would have probably made them a little browner, and therefore crisper, if I were in the kitchen. We also had the saganaki (opa!), or flaming cheese. They put the flame out with lemon, so the cheese has an acidic edge to it, which naturally I like. It was tasty—and one of hubby’s favorites.

The entrées come with a soup or salad—hubby and I shared the Greek salad. It had a decent vinaigrette, a pretty classic Greek restaurant salad. The soup was really quite tasty though (my daughter ordered it). It was avgolemono soup, which is also a typical Greek dish. It was a super thick and creamy version. It was filled with bits of chicken and orzo that was very soft and pillowy. It is a lemon soup, and has a distinct lemon edge, but it also has a lot of creaminess here, and there is egg in there as well. It’s a dense soup. This bowl would probably fill me up if I ate the whole thing, but it tasted good.

Hubby went with an order of falafel (appetizer) ($6.95), I had the eggplant casserole ($14.95), my son had lamb chops ($24.95), and my daughter the tuna steak (she’s currently addicted to tuna) ($15.95). I had a bite of my sister’s beef souvlaki as well. Mine was probably the best entrée—soft, creamy eggplant cooked in a tomato sauce and mixed with ground beef. It had a nice homey taste to it—and was seasoned nicely. The rice that came alongside was more filler as far as I was concerned—I just pretty much skipped it. The lamb chops were also seasoned very well and weren’t terribly overcooked. My son may have thought they were a little too seasoned for him, but they were tasty. My daughter’s tuna was way overcooked unfortunately (we had to have a talk about this with her, that she needs to tell people she wants it rare, that not every place does it that way). She was pretty disappointed in it. My sister’s beef was a little more cooked that I would have liked, but that’s a matter of preference. It also had a nice flavor—I would consider ordering it again, but would ask it to be cooked medium rare and see if they could do it that way. The falafel was quite strange. Like nothing we had had before. And to be perfectly honest, neither of us cared for it. These were almost like little dense mini muffins made out of garbanzo bean flour. Very dry and not a lot of flavor. I would take a skip on these. 

I think if I eat here again, I would make a very nice dinner out of appetizers and be content. Oh! And dessert. We had both of the desserts offered—baklava ($2.49) and the loukoumadis ($4.99). I am not sure which I liked better. I am normally not a huge baklava fan, but this one was super delicious—super crisp and just the right amount of honey sweetness. I am not sure what made it so good, but it truly was. This is a good size for only one or maybe 2 if you aren’t that hungry. If you want to share a dessert, I would go for the loukoumadis because they are basically little balls of pastry—almost like littler doughnut holes and they were sitting in a sweet but thin honey syrup and sprinkled with a bit of cinnamon. I liked the syrup, although I preferred the balls on the top of the pile, because they stayed crispier since they weren’t sitting in the sauce. As you can see, there are a lot of them, so they are very easy to share with a large group.  But seriously, both were super tasty.

The wine selection is pretty minimal—I think they only had one or two white wines available and the one we had was kind of funky, so don’t go expecting a large selection on this front. Again, it’s a nice family-run place with friendly people and good food-particularly appetizers and desserts. My sister tells me a new Mediterranean place has opened in Avon since then and she wants to try that one with us too. So I’ll let you know.

Mediterranean Grille

10230 US Hwy 36

Avon, IN 46123

317/273-8570

www.themedgrillavon.com