Baladi Mediterranean Cafe — Restaurant in Virginia Beach

I went into Baladi Mediterranean Cafe for a late lunch and found a very attentive and kind staff. The menu had many vegetarian options, great for chickpea lovers! Having lived in Greece for a while, I consider this more of a Turkish or Middle Eastern restaurant, than a Greek restaurant, so if you are looking for Mediterranean “Greek” food, this isn’t the best place. The menu was full of amazing looking dishes. Everyone dining seemed to be very happy with their choices and most chose vegetarian dishes. I went in craving a Gyro, which they didn’t have. So, The server helped me and recommended a Shawarma Wrap. So, I ordered a Lamb Shawarma “Wrap” expecting shaved meat from a Rotisserie (since that is the definition of Shawarma) like the donner kebabs we enjoyed at the Turkish restaurants while living in Europe. I was served 2 halves of a wrap with ground lamb, lettuce, rather large chunks of cucumber and tomato in one half with very little meat. The spices in the ground lamb were perfect and it tasted good but again, there was very little meat in the half wrap that I ate and some of it was dried and hard. The other half, which I took home, had much more meat, still ground not sliced but did have sliced veggies which were easier to eat than the chunks on the other half. Since it was ground lamb, it really should be called a ground lamb wrap instead of a Shawarma. I didn’t realize until I ate the second half the next day that two very different halves were maybe made separately, earlier in the day since they offer a half wrap with soup or salad for lunch. So maybe I wasn’t served a freshly made wrap? I don’t know, just an after thought. The tortilla-like wrap itself was very dry but the leftover half of wrap that I ate the next day had absorbed the moisture from the tahini sauce so it was perfectly to eat. The tahini sauce was bland and would have tasted better in some hummus spread slathered on the wrap with the lamb and an acidic vinaigrette on the veggies but hey, that’s just me! The potatoes were very good but were not one of the sides offered with the wrap so they cost $2.00 extra. My meal came to $18 with my 10oz lemonade( no refills). That didn’t include the tip so I thought that was a lot for a late lunch of a mediocre ground lamb wrap with mostly lettuce and a side of sliced potatoes. But that little piece of pickled purple...

A cozy, charming fine dining restaurant with lots of vegan and gluten-free options. It was such a wonderful experience that I know we are going to talk about this place for many years. The food is fresh, organic, seasonal, healthy (cold-pressed unfiltered canola and olive oil; turbinado sugar and clover honey), delicious, and beautifully presented. 40% of their ingredients (e.g. tahini, spices) are imported from the Middle East. The vegan wine comes from Mendoza, Argentina. Every Wednesday is vegan night. We started with a sample platter of hummus, spicy-jalapeno-cilantro hummus, baba ganoush, crispy falafels, tahini sauce, hand-rolled grape leaves (stuffed with chickpeas, brown rice, and tomatoes), parsley tabbouleh topped with almonds, and muhammara served with home-made pita bread. Everything was so delicious and unique in taste. Muhammara is a roasted red pepper dip with walnuts, pistachios, and pomegranate molasses. It was my first time eating it and I absolutely loved it. So happy we got to try it. Next we enjoyed Moussaka (11 USD). Roasted eggplants over Moroccan couscous. Topped with chickpeas, tomatoes with a hint of cinnamon and cloves in an onion and garlic sauce, garnished with toasted pine nuts. And we were served a grilled, red lentil and quinoa patty over grilled bell pepper, onions, zucchini, and roasted eggplant puree (12 USD). The portions were generous. We were already full after the sample platter. But our waiter was adamant that we should also try all their vegan deserts. He brought us one of each. First, a homemade baklava with almonds, cardamom, rose-water syrup, and vegan butter. It has 75% less butter than the traditional baklava. Second, halawa. A ground sesame seed, whole pistachio confection with a crumbly, rich texture that melts in the mouth. Served with a drizzle of chocolate and crushed pistachios. Last, Mammal. A pastry made from semolina flour filled with dates and topped with powered sugar. The mammal was my favourite. It was served with a Turkish coffee that had a hint of cardamom. Our waiter was excellent at describing the menu. He refilled our cups with a delicious herbal tea (sage, fennel, rose paddles, camomile, anise, and lavender) every time before the cup was empty. At the end we could wash our hands with rose water. We had outstanding, fast, and...

Unfortunately, I had a disappointing experience with Baladi. My wife and I were in Virginia Beach last weekend and ordered takeout from them. I had the meze platter and lentil soup and my wife ordered the falafel. While the falafel was fine, the meze platter and lentil soup were not all that good. I eat a lot of Mediterranean food and cook a lot of it at home, and by comparison the food on my meze platter and the soup were bland and just not very well done. I also found the bread that came with the meze platter to be quite thick and odd. Another thing that caught my eye was the difference between the website I read and my brief experience picking up the food. I really enjoyed reading about the owner's origins, his family's food traditions, his adventure coming to America, the restaurant's commitment to locally grown food and local civic organizations. It's impressive and you get a very warm and sincere feeling from the website. By contrast, when I walked in to pick up my food, there were several staff milling about and there was a bit of a pause until one of the more junior staff (I'm guessing on that) met me and got my order in a quick and perfunctory manner. This may be a small thing and a one-off experience, but I did not feel welcome when I walked in and I expected to have a better experience based on the website and that's a concern for any retail organization, whether it's a restaurant, a church or anything else that depends on people coming back. In fairness, we didn't have any of the entrees or any of the specials which sounded great and the other reviews which are also very recent are excellent, so we might give Baladi one more try if we come back to Virginia Beach. But I recommend that the owner of Baladi, who sounds like a very accomplished and sincere person who is committed to their food and community, take a look at least at the meze platter and lentil soup and spend a little time on teaching your team about greeting customers. Again, this was just my experience and others sound like they had great ones, but I came away thinking the food was not worth the expense and that's a risk that should...