BRAZOS RESTAURANT — Restaurant in Guntersville

Maaan, I really wanted to love it here but sadly I had very mixed feelings about my food. There's definitely a lot of potential, though! I wish I could give 3.5 stars.

This seems to be a fairly new restaurant in Guntersville. The restaurant is on the smaller side but the inside is absolutely lovely and not at all what you'd expect from the location. The decor is really very beautiful and looks expensive -- modern and chic! Everything was spotless, including the women's restroom.

Service was also fantastic! Unfortunately I'm a few weeks removed from my visit as I've been too busy to write super prompt reviews, but whoever my waitress was, she was such a sweetheart. She took great care of me, anticipating my needs and offering up useful information about the menu and items served. An owner or manager type also came by and spoke to me briefly, quite polite and genuine.

On to the food...

A complimentary sampler-type platter was brought out to start. It consisted of some bread, feta, olive oil, and an herb/spice blend (to dip the bread in before dipping in olive oil), along with one other small item that I don't remember -- think it was something pickled or similar. The items on the platter were on par with what you'd hope for, but the bread was unfortunately not warm and quite hard. I didn't eat much of it.

I got the hibiscus specialty drink to sip on and that was actually quite lovely. Pretty color, not too sweet, very slightly tart. I was surprised to get a free refill on a drink like that one, but I certainly appreciated it!

For my entree, I ordered the shawarma supreme wrap with a side of Brazos fries. This was the major letdown of the experience.

So, I picked this item because it was on the cheaper side. Lots of the other entrees look good but were quite pricy for lunch. Therefore, I chose a smaller option. The menu said it came with marinated chicken and a garlic sauce, so I scratched my head when my waitress asked if I'd like my onions grilled on the wrap. I didn't know onions came on the wrap. I figured we were probably talking small slivers or cubes of onions, so I agreed. However, when I took a bite of my wrap, I found quite large pieces of onions -- maybe an inch or two in length and diameter both. This really hampered the experience for me because I don't like large pieces of onions at all, and it was impossible to eat even a bite without encountering a hunk of onion. I pulled them out or ate around them. It's a shame, cause the chicken and wrap and garlic sauce were all very flavorful. I agree with other reviewers that the menu is very flowery but doesn't accurately convey what to expect from the dishes. Still, flavor potential! Just gotta clear up what I'm actually ordering. The dish came with a few pickled peppers and vegetables to enhance the flavor, which I enjoyed.

The fries were...not good. I should've stuck to a more traditional side dish like rice as that's where they excel. They had the consistency and shape of frozen fries. They were jazzed up by some sort of seasoning mixture on top, but unfortunately I really didn't like the flavor. The owner/manager caught me sniffing the fries (lol) and came over to assure me they were cooked fresh and all the way. I wasn't worried about either of those things; I just wanted to figure out what the spices were! It honestly reminded me of Old Bay seasoning but I doubt that's right. I wound up dunking my fries in the garlic sauce and tzatziki sauce to drown out the flavor.

Last, I couldn't help but order some rice pudding for dessert. I love desserts from this cuisine so I had to! It was my favorite thing that I ate -- nice and creamy, lots of delicious chopped nuts and golden raisins. Good stuff! Would definitely order again but would also love to try the baklava.

I'm being extra critical because I see the vision for something extra special! I'd love to return to try some of the larger, more expensive dishes, hopefully with my husband so we can share. I love this type of food and would love to have more of it in the area so I really hope...

I enjoy Mediterranean food and have dined at more than a half dozen different Mediterranean restaurants across the country. This place was not impressive. It was not terrible and it was not great.

The service was excellent! The atmosphere was nice. The food was fine. For the price, I would definitely not return. I was thankful I tried it during their end of January FB special where we received 20% off the bill.

The pita was not homemade or even a high quality store bought, and it was served cold. It’s the same dry bread from your regular grocery store. The $9.99 Zucchini appetizer was literally 1 small/medium zucchini sliced into maybe 7-8 slices and very soggy with oil. $10 for 1 little zucchini! The “sauces” the zucchini comes with was only 1 sauce and it was interesting, different than any other sauce I’ve had. It may have been a pickled herb veggie sauce in a watered down oil? It was tasty overall.

This is the first time I’ve had chili flakes in the falafels. They were a tiny bit spicy but edible. They were however not served with the traditional yogurt cucumber sauce. Instead it was a very watered down tahini sauce. The sauce probably would have been ok if it wasn’t so watered down. In fact my partner got a dish that included the cucumber yogurt sauce and it was also the thinnest sauce I’ve seen at a Mediterranean eatery.

My partner had the chicken shawarma wrap for $19.99. He said it was dry. The flavor was fine. The sauce was also too thin as mentioned above. He didn’t want to pour something so watery on the wrap for fear of making it soggy.

I really wanted to like this place, but...

Updated response to the restaurant- I shouldn’t have to season my own food at a restaurant. I’m surprised with such bland food at high prices this place is still in business.

Service and atmosphere was good. Food was ok but not what I was expecting. The pita with oil herbs feta and olives was very good but such a tiny amount we really couldn’t enjoy it. Cheese dream was not what I was expecting at all and very salty. Husband said lamb was good, I didn’t try it because I don’t care for lamb. Filet mignon had no seasoning and was slightly overdone. I really wasn’t sure how to eat it the way it came on my plate. Was assuming the sauces would give it flavor but they did very little. Rice was pretty but very bland. You won’t have leftovers but dinner portion was enough. No one wants to eat a whole grilled jalapeño so that’s a waste. No stuffed grape leaves on the menu was disappointing. We don’t go out to eat much anymore because we usually drop $100 with tip so we expect it to be worth it. This falls very short compared to my favorite Mediterranean restaurant in my hometown plus much more expensive. I feel like they’re trying to make it gourmet but should just stick to a basic affordable Mediterranean menu and they would have so much more business in my opinion. Glad we tried it but we most likely...