ilona — Restaurant in Boston

Went here last night out of the blue to try it for the first time. Sat at the bar and instantly got treated with respect. Had the one of the most delicious espresso martini’s I’ve had at any location. Felipe and Edwin are amazing bartenders.

Started the night with date bites, crispy eggplant, and halloumi. The date bites were amazing. 2 dates with a small piece of a soft creamy cheese wrapped in crispy bacon.

Then the crispy eggplant, thinly sliced and fried to perfection with a light layer of pomegranate yogurt under it and what seems to be a feta cheese crumble on top. A single bite of that and your taste buds are singing a symphony for another bite.

Then came the halloumi. This was absolutely my favorite appetizer. Pan seared halloumi cheese with a light topping of tomato jam and sesame seeds to provide a minor crunch to the dish.

Then we started on the entrees to share between 3 people. Ordered the beef shish kebab, chicken kebab, lamb souvlaki, and the roasted cauliflower.

All 3 kebabs were extremely juicy.

Let’s start with the beef shish kebab. 2 skewers of beef with a minor hint of a smoky harissa marinade. Along with it comes a fantastic spicy schug sauce. This sauce was truly something else. Provided a great feeling of heat and flavor combo that can be used for any other meat based dish.

Next we got the lamb shish kebab. 2 skewers of a lamb kebab with a light layer of taziki sauce under it. The taziki is not over powering and compliments the lamb kebab extremely well.

Now comes the chicken kebab. Juicy and flavorful full chicken kebab in a fantastic turmeric yogurt marinade with a casik dip next to it. A light dip that helps balance out the flavors immensely.

And finally comes the roast cauliflower. This was absolutely delightful. A bowl of roasted cauliflower covered an a based of turmeric yogurt sauce, thin slices of celery and pine nuts. Let me tell you this could’ve been a dessert on its own just from how flavorful and perfectly seasoned it was. The hints of turmeric in this yogurt sauce was out of this world. The celery provided the extra crunch that was needed(in my personal opinion).

Then we go to dessert. A scrumptious slice of an in-house almond cake with a scoop of a halva ice cream. Next to it was a cup of halva ice cream with halva crumble on top. The almond cake tasted like it was fresh out of the oven and the ice cream on top complimented it extremely well.

This restaurant I would highly recommend to any patron that wants to get treated to some amazing meals and the most incredible flavored drinks. I want to also compliment the bartenders Felipe and Edwin along with their manager Isvena. They provided my friends and myself with such respect and care that we felt like we were home. 1000% we will be returning here for another...

DINNER REVIEW

This place was hovering between a 4 and a 5 in my mind but I'm ultimately giving it a 4 because of the value for the portions at this place.

Ilona is one of the newest additions to the South End small plate scene. From the same owners as Kava, one of my favorites, I had high expectations. I had already been to Sarma and Oleana so this place has some tough competition when it comes to Middle Eastern small plates when it comes to Boston.

I made a reservation for 6 at 8:45 PM on a Saturday the week of which I was really surprised to get given that this is the type of place that wouldn't have many 6-person tables available at all. We were lucky to get the one of the few.

DECOR/SETTING: The place has a very unique setting for a middle eastern restaurant. The windows all opened garage door style which I loved so you felt like you were outside even if you were inside. The chairs and couches (yes, some diners sat on couches) were multi-colored/plush but all had a very modern, minimalist design to them all.

FOOD: With a group of 6, we ordered a lot. I'm not going to go in-depth on each but the top 2 are must-gets and the rest are good but I'm sure you can find whatever appeals to you on the menu.

Whatever you get from the small plates, also get a Home Style Meat to share. We got the chicken (Musakhan) which comes with a whole chicken and it was my absolute favorite thing we got. It came served on top of a freshly-made pita as well.

Imeruli Khachapuri - this is the other thing you must get. It's like a Georgian grilled cheese. YUMMMY!

Pikilia - this was a plate of 3 different dips (including a hummus and a beet tzatziki) all of which were delicious. I just wish they gave you more bread for it.

Crispy Eggplant - one of my favorite dishes. Came out tempura style

Grilled shrimp - Very delicious but you literally get one large shrimp for $18. Really not a good value.

Octopus - same as the grilled shrimp. Delicious, not great value

Shish Barak - also very good and unique. A Phyllo dough pastry stuffed with lamb.

Adana Lamb Kebab - good but really not a good value for $14. You got one log (you got a better word for it) of kebab.

Halloumi - good but nothing to write home about

We also ordered the only dessert they had which isn't on the menu but they said it comes in a cast-iron skillet so we assumed it would be big but it was absolutely tiny. It had good cheese and pistachios in it but not worth whatever we paid for it. Go out for ice cream instead.

I get that this place is just opening but I would recommend slightly larger portions for what is being charged (especially on the Tiger Shrimp), especially compared to other small plates restaurants in the city. I probably won't rush to come back but I did have an overall...

tl;dr - An almost perfect experience and my new favorite spot in Boston

So one may ask, if it was an almost perfect experience, why not 5 stars? I'm glad you asked and I am hoping that the management/ownership takes a moment to read this review because if they tweak this one thing, Ilona is truly a perfect restaurant.

Let's start from the beginning. Ilona takes a unique approach to reservations, opening them 1 day in advance. I LOVE this. It allows you to have stand a chance at getting a reservation and not needing to do so months in advance.

The space is small and busy but it does not detract, it's lively without being overwhelming.

Service is on point. The servers know the menu well and time out the experience perfectly. The bartenders are quick, support staff delivers food while it is still piping hot and fresh and clean plates efficiently without being intrusive.

The food. My God, the food. So. freaking. good! Ilona is mainly small plates which is great because there are so many amazing things to choose from. We had the fried eggplant, halloumi, octopus, ribs, roasted cauliflower, lamb souvlaki, and khachapuri, plus some buck a shuck oysters. A buck for the absolute best east coast oyster I've ever had?! Amazing - get the 1620 if they have it. Rarely do you get lamb souvlaki that is cooked anything but well done. It was medium rare, tender, and flavorful. The ribs were unlike anything I've had, drizzled with honey over a tzatziki sauce. Who thinks of this because I want to congratulate them in person. Don't take my not calling out each dish as a slight, I just don't have the characters left to do so. Seriously all was amazing. I can't wait to visit again!

Ok so let's get to why this is an overall 4 stars. First, I'd rate this 4.5 stars but Google doesn't give that option. The half star docking is for the 90 minute time limit on the table. Look, I get it. Some people are rude and linger at a small place like Ilona and it screws up the reservations all night. But from my time in the industry, those are the exception. Don't set a negative tone with every table because of the outliers especially at the onset of the night. Handle this either through the reservation system, printed on the menu, or on an exception basis and Ilona becomes quite honestly a...