Mezza: Nightlife and Lebanese fare

Mezza late night

We went to Mezza's on Elmwood for a late dinner on a weeknight.  The atmosphere was lively in the bar area and the sidewalk cafe was hopping with hookah smokers.

(The inside wasn't smoky though, so this was good.)

The service was friendly and accommodating, though our waitress couldn't answer all the questions we had about the chicken shawarma.

Mezza's menu

The food took a while to come out and we were starting to wonder, but this could have been because the nightlife was more the focus at this time of the evening.

I ordered falafel, but sadly they were out.  This did tarnish my experience initially, but I selected the Chicken Shawarma Wrap with a side salad of their Traditional salad with feta.  They make their own dressings for their salads including the Pomegranate that I had on the House salad and the lemon, sumac and mint that my husband had on the Traditional Fattoush (salad).  The lemon dressing on the Traditional salad was quite lemony and acidic, as the waitress warned us.  I preferred the pomegranate dressing.

The Chicken Shawarma Wrap was in a grilled pita and was quite tasty and very well priced at only $8 (including the salad), and I had enough to bring home the other half for lunch the next day.  There was a pickle tucked inside which was a surprise!  The chicken was grilled chunks not the shaved shawarma off of a spit that I became accustomed to at Baton Rouge Lebanese restaurants and as I had recently in Cairo.

Riding camels in Giza

Oh, did I mention my trip to Cairo?  Yes, I was in Cairo in June, please see my pawannabe.com blog for more photos, and had some delicious street side chicken shawarma that was carved off of the spit right outside and the chicken was juicy and full of herbs, garlic and spices.  It was messy and wonderful as street food should be.

Mezza's was a good experience, our food was tasty and well prepared.  We enjoyed it and will probably return.
I would like to try their falafel next time.