King Tut Mediterranean Restaurant has relocated from Lynnwood to the North Seattle/Bitter Lake neighborhood. Clearly it was fairly established for a decade as a family run, indie restaurant. My former work site was in Lynnwood for 5.5 years and somehow this was missed on my radar screen. Looks like they were displaced due to the light rail construction in Lynnwood and just opened about two weeks ago.
This is in the same strip mall as several other businesses such as Friendship BBQ, proximate to KFC and Ivar's, located along Aurora/Hwy 99 and the Metro Rapid Ride E route. This had been the location of three previous restaurants: two Chinese, one Ethiopian. Hoping being fairly established earlier, they will be as successful at this current location.
I stopped in for a late lunch (4/15/22). This was my first step towards normalcy: no masks and attempting solids after a major dental procedure earlier in the week. Friendly and welcoming greeting upon entering. Nice
interior where you have the choice of tables or booths. I was provided water and a menu to peruse. Nice background music. While onsite for an hour, aside from myself, there was a two top and then followed by a party of five. Again, all tables including mine were well attended and food ordered came out fairly promptly.
Mediterranean is often used as a blanket, all encompassing adjective. However, it can represent a whole host of different regional cuisines. I will use as benchmarks: Petra (Belltown), Caspian Grill (UDistrict), and recently revisited Harissa (Ravenna) to see where King Tut stacks up.
I ordered the hummus and pita appetizer ($7.99), Kofta entree ($20.99) and Turkish coffee ($6.99). Clearly I was being ambitious, because the appetizer and entree portions were very generous.
I was able to only consume a fourth of the hummus, clearly this is shareable. I enjoyed the pillowy soft pita.
The Kofta entree, comprised of three grilled ground beef, lamb, onion, and tomato kebabs, placed atop a generous serving of yellow tumeric flavored rice, and with a nice dressed side salad with lettuce, tomato, red onion, cucumber, and an olive. Tzaziki sauce was also provided in a ramekin. This can easily feed up to two to three people. I really enjoyed the presentation and flavors.
I wrapped up my late lunch with the Turkish Coffee service which came with an accompanying sweet, a split date filled with chopped nuts. I was too full, so this was packed up with my other leftovers. However, I did savor my Turkish Coffee. After letting the grounds settle, the coffee had a fragrant cardamon scent.
I've only had this type of coffee service at other cafes/restaurants: Coffeemind (Queen Anne), Cafe Turko (Fremont), and Urban Luxe Cafe (Roosevelt) neighborhoods and Tov, an Egyptian cafe/double decker bus in Portland, OR.
With tax and tip, my late lunch totaled under $48, but note, I ended up with a lot of packed up leftovers. Takes a lot to open at a new location after being established elsewhere, plus dealing with the new normal of pandemic and inflation challenges.
As of today, there were 18 other Yelp posts that didn't pass the algorithm and were relegated to the Not Recommended reviews abyss. So I join the two remaining Yelp posts to recommend King Tut Mediterranean Restaurant.
A welcomed addition to the growing North Seattle/Bitter Lake neighborhood! read more