Tannourine Restaurant — Restaurant in San Mateo

Everyone said the lamb shank was amazing, but I found it pretty meh... The meat was well-cooked, but not really fall-off-the-bone soft. The sauce just had limp bell peppers and onions, and a one-dimensional bell pepper flavour with a hint of tomato. My wife had the eggplant stuffed with mince thing. Dense mince standing sullenly separate from the rest of the dish, paired with a soft-as-a-baby's-bottom eggplant, sitting in a red tomato sauce.

There was a single waiter, which is okay because it was a slow late afternoon, but he took a godawful amount of time to do anything even though there were only 3 tables occupied. He even brought out the complimentary yogurt and pita, set it on the neighboring empty table, and only came back to serve it to us ten minutes later. We were seriously hungry and wondering how to ask for a complimentary dish without getting embarrassed. Every. Single. Thing. Was. So. Slow. God.

The cheese bourek and the complimentary yogurt and pita were damn good thanks to the cheese and the za'atar, which is why this place gets a second star. But we're not...

I tried to go here a few times in the past. They first time we went there on a weeknight they were closed, even though it was during normal business hours. The second time we tried to make a reservation for a small group dinner on the weekend, but they were completely booked. The third time we managed to reserve a table for a group lunch on a Saturday. Third times a charm I guess. Besides our party, there were only a couple of occupied tables.

We really wanted to love this place since there aren't that many Mediterranean restaurants with table service around San Mateo. We had a cheese burak starter which was quite good. I had the veggie combo which was good, but nothing special. My partner was excited about the Mjadra which she ordered, but it was fairly bland.

Overall, I would say Tannourine was good, but not great. Unless I really want table service, I'll probably stick with one of the many better and cheaper counter service options...

We went as a group. Before the main course was served, they brought tasty thick yogurt with spices and olive oil and warm pita bread. FANTASTIC.

I ordered beef kebobs. They did not ask me how they want it done. They brought the kebob rare. I like rare, so I am happy, but I was thinking "what if someone likes it well done?"

A friend asked for their house specialty. I don't know what the name was, but it was basically meatballs in a watery yogurt soup. I had a taste. It was average.

Another friend ordered a spicy fish. I tried that one, and liked it.

Nobody in the group was crazy about the decor. But I guess that is just a matter of taste.

Service was not the best. Took them a long time to bring the food, and when they brought it out, they did not bring them all together. But we didn't really mind, because we were drinking wine and having fun.

The overall experience was good, but it sure could of...