Absolutely loved my experience at Zaytinya. The atmosphere is beautiful, the music sets the perfect mood, and the food was just as impressive as the space itself. It's one of those places where you can settle in, relax, and genuinely enjoy the whole evening. The service really stood out to me. Everyone was incredibly attentive, but never in an overwhelming way - you simply never get that feeling that your table has been forgotten. That balance is not always easy to find. A huge thank you to our server as well. I basically put myself completely in her hands and trusted her recommendations for the evening, and she absolutely nailed it. Everything she suggested was delicious, beautifully presented, and made the dinner feel even more special. And a special thank you to manager Alejandro for being so attentive and making sure everything was going smoothly throughout the evening. You can really feel when a restaurant has strong hospitality behind it, and that definitely came through here. I had such a great time that I was already recommending Zaytinya to friends afterward. Beautiful atmosphere, delicious food, great music, and truly excellent service - definitely a place I'll be coming back to. read more

We wanted a nice dinner out that was something a little fresh and new and chose Zaytinya. I had been to the one in DC years ago and had a great experience. Patrick was our waiter and he was fantastic; welcoming, helpful with menu choices, and always there at the right time for beverage refills and next courses. The food was AWESOME! We had a few plates to share and Patrick's recs were spot on. This will definitely be a repeat place for us and a great place to meet up with friends. read more

First time in Cali and stayed in Culver City for a "reset" after Japan, and then on home to Miami. Our last night we decided to do a final dinner together and chose Zaytinya since it was close by. Really great experience overall. We sat the in the patio, we had nice weather for it. They had a sampling menu available and took advantage, which our server highly recommended (Kory?), and he was on point the whole time. He called out the Magic Carpet drink and it was exactly what I was in the mood for. Lamb Chops also great, Brussel Sprouts my friend got also stood out. Was curious about an olive based dish (was a kind of salad) so I went for it as one of my courses but it was a little much for me. Cleared my Salmon dish real quick, and loved the Turkish Coffee Cake with pistachios and scoop of Vanilla, rich taste with chocolate and not overbearing. Big thanks to them for great evening! read more

Zaytinya - SEARED SALMON - Greek Near Me - Culver City, California

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Zaytinya absolutely delivered. I showed up a little late for my brother's birthday dinner, but apparently I arrived right on time for the star of the night: the lamb shoulder. When I first saw the $125 price tag, I'm not going to lie--I thought that was excessive for lamb shoulder. Then I tasted it and immediately shut right up. It was breathtaking. The flavor, tenderness, and texture were incredible, and the three sauces served with it somehow made an already amazing dish even better. It was absolutely worth it. The Brussels sprouts were another surprise. I don't even know exactly what they had going on with them, but whatever it was, KEEP DOING IT. They were amazing. The margaritas were also tasty, balanced, and really well prepared. I arrived after my mom and brother had already eaten some of the other dishes, so unfortunately I didn't get to try everything they ordered. But judging by the fact that their plates had been absolutely OBLITERATED by the time I got there, I think it's safe to say they were pretty happy too. A special shoutout to the manager, Mosin (and I hope I'm spelling his name correctly), who helped make the experience even better. Great food, great drinks, great birthday dinner, and one lamb shoulder that completely changed my opinion about spending $125 on lamb shoulder. I'd absolutely come back to Zaytinya. read more

Zaytinya - THE LAMB SHOULDER - Greek Near Me - Culver City, California

Service was great. Atmosphere was really good , nice staff and people. Food was mediocre at best. As a middle eastern I was very disappointed. Nothing stood out , Fatoush was bland and bread was not toasted which is criminal, Brussels sprouts were lacking flavor , Haloumy cheese was nothing special , chicken skewer ordinary. Nothing stood out and the food made the experience underwhelming. read more

Had such a great dinner at Zaytinya at The Shay! I came in with a friend because I was craving Mediterranean and everything we ordered was packed with flavor. We tried the halloumi, baked eggplant, and lamb chops to name a few and each dish was delicious in its own way. Our waiter was also incredibly knowledgeable about the cocktail and drink pairings and made great recommendations to complement each dish. The cocktails themselves were beautifully crafted and really high quality including the deconstructed martini. The atmosphere was just as enjoyable as the food, upscale without feeling stuffy and a great setting whether you're coming for dinner or just drinks. Biggest downside is the lack of parking options/validation. Definitely a spot I'd come back to! read more

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Had an amazing dinner tonight! The hospitality and service were exceptional, and every dish was made to perfection. Zaytina at The Shay in Culver City exceeded my expectations. A special thank you to Mr. Muñoz, Mr. Moss, my bartender Ozzy, and my wonderful server Jacobo for taking such great care of me. The ambience was very welcoming as well. I'll definitely be back soon with friends and family! Thank you to all who made my dinner, a warm, welcoming, Experience! read more

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We came here to celebrate our anniversary and had a great time! The service was truly impeccable. Our waiter was so attentive, and the manager even came by several times throughout the night to check on us and even gave us a free turkish coffee chocolate cake to end our meal with (absolutely delicious, BTW). They are attached to The Shay Hotel, so you can easily park at the hotel or right next door at the shopping and Metro complex. Between the two of us, we ordered way too much food, but never a complaint of mine because that just means I get to have leftovers! The menu is meant for sharing, so most dishes are on the smaller side with the exception of some larger dishes. They recommend about 3-5 small dishes per per person. First off, I need to take a moment to note their complimentary pita bread. It was honesty some of the best I've had; Light, fluffy, the perfect thing to eat all your dishes with. I fell in love with it and would come back just for that bread alone. Some of our absolute favorites of the night: - Mushroom & Labneh Dish (I forget the name of it): This was my ultimate favorite dish of the entire evening. It had dates mixed in with the mushrooms and was served over a bed of labneh. The sweet and savory combination was my favorite. - Celebration Rice: I've always wanted to try tahdig rice, and it was everything I was hoping for. It had texture from the crisp edges on the top, tons of mix ins, and filled with flavor. You could also add mushrooms or chicken as an a mix in so we opted for the chicken. - Chicken Skewer: Tender and flavorful. The toum (garlic spread) that it came with and the roasted tomato was the perfect pairing. - Hummus: Creamy, and the added chili crunch and peas gave this the perfect texture to eat with their soft pita bread. Loved our time here and would recommend! read more

Where should you celebrate a special occasion? Zaytinya should be at the top of your list. We finally made it out to check this restaurant out and to be honest I kept holding off because a 4 star review for a celebrity chef restaurant seemed a bit low. I thought maybe they had some kinks to work out and finally decided our 10 year anniversary is going to be a special dinner here. Best of all they have a pet friendly patio so our mini golden doodle joined us and loved all the attention she got.. Ambience: the interior is gorgeous and the exterior is so cozy and green. Five star. Food: I'm not sure why there are patrons who don't seem to like the food, but we absolutely loved it. It's Mediterranean - Turkish, Greek and Lebanese. We did the tasting menu which was so reasonably priced & had plenty of food for both of us to feel full. The lamb was absolutely to die for. I could eat 10 chops myself. We also tried the beet salad, hummus, meatballs, salmon and Brussels sprout. I enjoyed everything. Service: our server Alex was fantastic. He gave us the perfect amount of attention without being intrusive, check on us regularly and made our special day extra nice. My most important quality for a good restaurant is good management and their manager. Alejandro was amazing. The entire staff made sure to wish us a happy anniversary, made us feel extra special and appreciated. Alejandro went above and beyond. Not only did he have the best personality, he made sure we had the best possible experience and we did! We've already told so many of our friends about it and I'm not sure if it's because of the location that people aren't aware of it, but I'll be telling everyone about my experience. The one thing I should mention is since the restaurant is part of the hotel (The Shay) they have valet parking and no validation. If you're like me and hate valet, there are plenty of street parking if you're willing to walk 5 - 7 minutes. Otherwise, you can park at the Ivy station lot but you'll have to get a validation at one of their stores (2 hrs). Taking the metro is also super convenient as it stops right next to the hotel. Oh, and after dinner, you should head upstairs to the rooftop bar and grab a drink and enjoy the beautiful view. I'm sure you can tell by reading my review that I love this place and looking forward to going back again soon. Thank you for making our special day even more special. read more

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Came here for a dine la special and it was very good! Loved every dish and all the different dips and spreads that came with it. The environment is also very chic and very aesthetic which makes sense cause they also have a location in Vegas. Think high end Mediterranean food! Service was also really nice and accommodating with a baby at the table read more

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Tasty food and great atmosphere! The restaurant has great ambiance and service was great. Our group had never been so our waiter took the time to walk us through the menu and some of his favorites. We ordered a few dishes to share and everything was super tasty. We really enjoyed the kabob plate, the hummus, Brussels sprouts and the flatbread. Great spot for a group dinner! read more

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My hubby and I went here for the first time. We decided to do the tasting menu. It was a lot of food but great to sample a number of great dishes.i loved the Greens. The wines were very good too! read more

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Zaytinya is a Greek/Mediterranean restaurant inside a hotel, and overall it felt pretty quiet and relaxed. I went with a big group of friends and we were by far the largest table there. The food was great for sharing, especially the dips. I really liked the brussels sprout too. The only downside was the service. Our waiter kept pushing us to order around four dishes per person and made a few snarky comments when we didn't. You definitely do not need that much food. After we ordered less than he suggested, the service noticeably dropped off and our waters stopped getting refilled. Still, it's a solid option for a group dinner and it was easy to get a reservation for a larger party. Pro tip: Don't feel pressured to order four dishes per person. Start with less since the plates are meant for sharing, and you can always add more. read more

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Finally got a chance to eat here during a stay at The Shay hotel which it's connected to. The $70 tasting menu is a terrific option. 1 - We got the hummus and baba ghanoush. It comes with the most delicious pita. The pita alone is worth a visit, and they will bring out more if you eat it all! Both appetizers were delicious and the portion size is generous. 2 - Next we had the brussel sprouts and olives. The brussels were great. Olives are good too but not worth getting for this option IMO (the S.O. chose it). 3 - Then, falafel and meatballs. Meatballs were great. Falafel was good but not the best I've had. 4 - Lamb chop and halloumi. The lamb chop was delicious but it is just 1 chop. We were pretty full by now so not a big deal but just know it's only 1 chop. Unfortunately I was not a fan of the halloumi. I would've rather had another lamb chop. 5 - Olive oil cake and Turkish coffee chocolate cake. Surprisingly the least favorite parts of our meal. Kinda disappointed by the desserts. There was a graininess to the coffee cake that I didn't enjoy and overall both were underwhelming. Overall I'd give the food a solid 4/4.5, and the service and ambiance get the 5th star. Beautiful restaurant, lovely staff, and wonderful meal. We are also big fans of Jose Andreas and have been to many of his restaurants. Just happy to have the chance to try yet another of his places, and while a couple items surpassed expectations and a couple did not, overall we had an excellent meal and would highly recommend. read more

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Absolutely obsessed with this restaurant, an incredible selection with very knowledgeable staff read more

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Zaytinya is a Jose Andres restaurant located in the Shay hotel in Culver City. We went for date night, but it seems like a lot of big groups dine there for company meetings or just family get togethers. Our servers were super attentive throughout and always happy to answer questions. It's a tapas style restaurant, so they recommended getting a few plates to share. They also start you off with complimentary house-made pita and olive oil with a pomegranate reduction. Delicious olive oil! The pita is great because it's fresh, but in general I wouldn't say it's my preferred type of pita. We started with the baba ghannouge which was perfectly creamy with a nice, fire-roasted flavor. It went well with the pita bread. Next, we had the seared halloumi. The portion was pretty small but the texture of the halloumi was perfect and the dates were delicious; I'm not sure if they were soaked in mint, but the flavor was perfect. The cauliflower tiganites had beautiful preserved lemon. The crispy Brussels afelia had good flavor as well with coriander seeds and barberries. The Adana kebab was very delicious but was much smaller than we anticipated. Overall, delicious food but nothing that blew me away. Everything was presented beautifully and service was great. read more

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I highly recommend ordering the octopus! Very cute inside, service is ok but dishes come out very fast and portions are decent. read more

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Zaytinya is a very decent restaurant with standout dishes and also some "good but not mind-blowing" dishes. We were a party of 2 and wanted to try as much as we could, so we went with the 5-course Mezze Tasting Dinner ($70 per person and the whole table has to do it). There were 2 standouts for me: h'tipiti (course 1 - marinated roasted red peppers, feta, thyme) and the grilled lamb chops (course 5 - served with smoked labneh, tzatziki, harissa chili crisp). Now THE GRILLED LAMB CHOPS!! Wow. This dish was perfect. The lamb could melt in your mouth! It was tender and juicy, and incredibly seasoned. I am not always a lamb person - I don't like it when it's gamey. And everything on the plate is delicious. The smoked labneh, which also goes really well with the pita (more on that next), and the tzatziki were fresh and delicious. Course 1 was served with their house-made pita, which is puffed! There is also olive oil with balsamic on the table. The h'tipiti was super flavorful. We also got the hummus, which was good but honestly nothing special. I know hummus is hummus to an extent, but I HAVE had really incredible hummus, so I'm definitely comparing it! Everything else: crispy brussels afelia (these were okay, relatively large portion), fattoush (very nice and fresh), soutzoukakia (very good, small dish with 3 meatballs and kind of a marinara sauce), soujouk pide (good, it's served like a flatbread and the sausage is tasty), olive oil cake (delicious, a small bite, served with citrus), and Turkish coffee chocolate cake (okay, this almost had the texture of a brownie). It's a beautiful and clean restaurant, and it's attached to The Shay Hotel. The bathroom is by the lobby and is also clean. The service was great. The cost is definitely on the high end - nearly $100 with tax and tip, and we did not have any beverages. Of course we didn't have to get the tasting menu, but it seemed like we would end up spending that amount anyway. But the portions were more generous than we expected, and we both had enough to take home. The ingredients taste fresh and the dishes are thoughtfully prepared. Parking options are limited - valet for $18 up to 3 hours. We found street parking nearby, but there isn't a lot available. All in all, I would return to Zaytinya for a treat meal. The grilled lamb chops alone are enough to bring me back! read more

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Treated my mom here for her birthday and had a really terrific meal! Each dish was so flavorful and the plating was gorgeous. We did valet parking which was super easy. The restaurant itself attached the hotel, large and beautiful interior but very loud. Our waiter was very charming and gave great recommendations since it was our first time. There were four of us with a variety of preferences, dietary restrictions and allergies and we had no problem getting the perfect amount of dishes that we all loved. I was really impressed by the drinks as well. My favorite dishes were the baba ganoush, grilled halloumi (probably my #1), cauliflower and the olive oil cake. Do not skip on the dessert! read more

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Parking: We found free street parking on Venice Blvd, but I believe you can get validation if you park at Ivy Station? Experience: We walked in on a Friday night around 8pm and were seated immediately although the restaurant was fairly full! I loved all the booth seating. It was dark and pretty loud outside. The outdoor patio appeared to be closed. The pita bread was delicious and the waiters made sure the basket was replenished throughout the night. You order family-style. We got the baba ghannouge, cauliflower, scallops, fattoush, and labneh pide flatbread. For dessert, we got the chocolate cake. Everything was solid, nothing outstanding, but I'd come back to try other items on the menu! read more

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Got a chance to visit Zaytinya in Culver City again. I've always been a fan of their Shish Taouk and the best way to eat it is to make small pita wraps with everything they serve on the plate. The Za'atar margarita was quite alright, but the Sidecar to Tangier is my personal favorite. The balance they have going with Ras el hanout, saffron and metaxa is just beautiful. The service was prompt and friendly. Do check them out if you are in the area. read more

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Had prix fixe dinner during LA Dining week in Aug '26. Five course meal with selection of three plates on each. Two of us for dinner selected two of each course to try and share the excellent menu. Servings were excellent size - share a little of each but just enough of each plate to fill up entire meal (stomach!). Cocktails very good - good choices with margarita a creamy start with a nice tequila finish - Mediterranean gin and tonic had flavorful liqueurs with a delicious gin to finish a sip. Appetizers. Labneh, creamy smooth light flavor yogurt with a touch of olive oil and spice - accompanied with incredibly light pita bread - fantastic. Pastirima Apricot, thin slices of tangy salted beef with a topping of fresh apricot and pine nuts - amazingly good sweet and savory, perfect spice. Looked artistically delicious and was deliciously beautiful art. First course. Smoked Beet Salad, interesting and unusual, sweet and savory, cold unique smokey chunks of beets with outstanding flavor along with sweet strawberries and fresh green salad. Reusing the word delicious. Crispy Brussels Afelia, beautifully roasted Brussel sprouts with a tangy cream sauce - exceptionally tasty. Second course. Falafel, delicious chickpea pastry with flavorful sauce and light tangy pickled onions cucumbers and mild peppers. Soutzoukakia, cumin spiced meatballs in a delicious red tomato pepper honey(like) sauce, really enjoyable, and again sweet and savory. Entrees. We ended up ordering all three because the menu looked so good. Halloumi, crispy grilled cheese with really tasty mint fruit and nuts, again sweet and savory with a beautiful display on the plate. Shish Taouk, crispy chicken with great taste and moist inside - a really favorite piece of chicken with roast tomato and a fantastic garlic toum. Garides Me Anthio, large grilled shrimp with an amazing cream butter olive oil sauce - again sweet and savory. Dessert. Olive oil cake. Good but a little dry. Nice whipped cream top with very fresh blueberries. Greek yogurt and apricots, included pear olive oil sorbet. Big problem it was so good but way too small. After first taste I wanted a bucket of it. The whole cup was pure flavor that was sweet and delicious but completely different and complimentary at each level. The sorbet was tangy and sweet. The yogurt was creamy and light. The apricots were dense sweet and flavorful compote. The price of each five course meal was $65. It was very well worth it - each serving was delicious and, as before, the sizing filled you up with an excellent different flavor off each plate. The service was fast and extremely polite. Definitely added as a restaurant on our come again list. Excellent restaurant, excellent staff, excellent drinks, excellent wine, excellent food. read more

I'll be saying Zaytinya over and over in my dreams tonight!!! Hidden away in Culver City is some of the best, most flavorful, wholesome, fine cooking on the planet. We ordered the baba ghannouge, falafel, spanakoriso, scallops and shrimps, and topped it off with olive oil cake. Every sauce was wipeable until the plate shined and tears formed in our eyes. I think Zaytinya is a pan near eastern cuisine like I have experienced in London, NY and Chicago, but for some reason the LA Zaytinya is a step above. Maybe its the good California produce? Parking in the near by lot is a little tough, but you'll appreciate a bit of a walk to work off the crazy feast that is Zaytinya!!! read more

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My anniversary was Incredible. My experience at Zaytinya was Fantastic, hummus and prime steak. Fresh feta salad and easily one of the best Espresso, Martinis 3 pm cocktails around. Definitely coming back! Ahhh!! Thanks to: Erika, Melis, Erik and the new GM read more

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Stick a fork in me, I'm done ! Food is delicious. At the hands of Jose Andres, Zaytinya is hitting it out of the park with these amazing culinary creations. Staff members are kind and friendly. They really care about their customers. The first time, we came to Zaytinya the waiter gave us a cup of French fries by mistake and they let us keep it at no charge. They are on point every time with good quality and ambiance. read more

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We had such a great experience at Zaytina tonight!! The food is so good, and coming from middle eastern, the flavors were authentic with a little twist. Our server Isaiah was amazing, sweet, and attentive. Celebrated an early mother's day and he was generous enough to bring out dessert! Really cute spot for dinner! read more

Zaytinya - Chocolate Cale - Greek Near Me - Culver City, California

I went here for the Dine-LA menu and it was really fun to get a taste of what this restaurant is all about. This is a mediterranean spot serving elevated small plates that are perfect for sharing. The standouts on this Dine LA menu for me was the babaganoush dip (perfect smokiness to it), the falafel were crispy and full of flavor, the chicken with the garlic and tomato was very tasty and I loved the shrimp in this rich buttery sauce, I could drink that sauce it was so good! They give you pitas in each round of your meal and they are warm and fresh and perfect for all the sauces that are part of all these unique dishes. The service is excellent! Very attentive and helpful in deciding what to order. We parked in a lot across the street, there is not really parking directly along the restaurant. read more

Went here for Dine LA dinner, the portion sizes overall were pretty good. I like the free pitas that they keep refilling with the olive oil dip. But it's really good with the hummus and babaganoush. Inside is very cute and a nice date night vibe. Parking is valet only read more

Great service and staffing. Food was all well prepared and vibrant. Interior decour is just the typical beige-wood slats-minimalist modern, but the entire restaurant is incredibly clean. The unlimited fresh bread was the best and most essential part of the meal. Go with larger groups to try as much of the menu as possible read more

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We were a party of 6. We ordered a variety of items and shared. They bring you lots of food and we could have ordered just 1 dish per person. They suggested we order 2 per person but we are not big eaters so I think that 1 different dish for all six of us would have been plenty. We thought about ordering the Chef's experience but it really is too much food and we have some picky eaters. The service was top notch at the beginning. However, once we determined not to do the experience, the service was still good but not as white glove service as when we first sat down. read more

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Let me start with the good stuff...drinks & dessert were amazing. The food is ok. The chicken tawoosh was just 4 tiny pieces and barely had seasoning. The lamb chops were ok, 2 tiny pieces for $50 is wild. They need to step it up. Also, this is Jose Andres's restaurant so tell me why there are Israhelli wines on the menu after what they did to him and his staff?? read more

I'm a big fan of Jose Andres and would give him five stars for his work with World Central Kitchen but we're talking about Zaytinya. The Space is attractive but too big and awkward. It definitely gives off hotel restaurant vibes. Four of us dined here. Our waiter was awesome. He called himself Steven Schpielburg - his spiel was great and we each had the tasting menu, described (spot on), like Dine LA. It was a ton of food. A few standouts were the dips (baba ganoush, hummus), fetiush salad, the salmon, lamb chops. Shrimp was the least good, grilled halloumi was cold. For dessert, the chocolate (and I'm a chocolate girl) was the weakest. Drinks were also tasty. I had one that had gin, yogurt and apricot. I was curious how it would be with the yogurt but couldn't really taste it or see it. Overall, the food and dining experience is good but nothing like his old restaurant the Bazaar which was innovative and memorable. read more

Great delicious food with simple ingredients. Usually we eat in Beverly Hills and it is so refreshing to come to this restaurant and eat delicious food and not be overcharged. We had the $70 prefix menu each and every course came out delicious full of flavor. Brussel sprouts are the best I've had in LA- crispy and just the right amount. Overall, lots of food, great flavors and service. read more

Zaytinya - Falafel and half eaten bushel sprouts. In front is the soutzoukakia - Greek Near Me - Culver City, California

I gave it a low rating because the staff service was bad.... The manager was friendly sweet and engaging but everyone else looked dead in the eyes. The waiter explained recommendations as if he was reading a boring script. The only reason why I won't come back is because of the staff. The food was absolutely AMAZING and looked beautiful. Every dish was cooked to perfection. If only the service was good, it would've been my favorite new spot. read more

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Had my first dining experience here about ~3-4 months ago for a corporate event with about 10-12 people We ordered pretty much everything from the menu and the food was fantastic! Great service, knowledgeable and fun staff, lovely ambience...would definitely return! read more

The best of times for my first Valentine's Day with my boyfriend. He chose well, as always, when taking me out, and everything was perfect Excellent service and food--no complaints. We will definitely come back soon! The setting was nice; not too loud or quiet, with beautiful decor. read more

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Came by for dinner last night, just a party of 3. I parked at the ivy lot which was pretty pricey (ended up being over $18) and they sadly don't validate. Really big space inside, nice ambiance. They serve ballooned pita and olive oil with pomegranate molasses to the table. They refill the pita which is nice! We ordered a few dishes. Oddly, they all came out together instead of the starter coming out first. Baba Ghannouge: We're all big fans of baba and 2/3 girls liked it. The reason why one of the girls didn't like it is because it was too smoky. I didn't mind it so much but it wasn't a standout baba dish. It was topped with pomegranate. Octopus Santorini: Loved this dish the most out of everything. Really flavorful. I do feel like they skimp out on portion. It's cubed up which does make it easy for sharing but it doesn't seem like a lot of fish is on the plate and it's not a cheap dish. Lamb Baharat: This was pretty good, comes with a small dollop of tahini on the side and some tabbouleh. But again, very tiny piece of meat. We each got a single bite of it. We were still quite hungry so added on another dish... Black Cod: This was good but again, small portion. Overall, food is decent but it does feel overpriced for the very small portion you get. I liked the octopus and the black cod best. Biggest reason why I've docked them in the stars is because of their service. Service was painfully slow and inattentive. The waiter rarely checked on us. We had to flag someone down to get our waiter so that we could order food. We then had to flag him down when we needed to order another dish because we were still hungry, and flag him down yet again when we were ready to pay. Really unimpressive and frankly bad service. read more

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This gem is located off the Culver Expo Line at Ivy Station. We went for my sisters birthday and we had an amazing time. To begin, our server was amazing. She explained everything to us and got us started with the option of still or sparkling water. (We went sparkling) We were giving some suggestion for how to order for the four of us, as we were told the portion was sized for sharing. All of us started with the margarita which packed a punch. Classic margarita with a twist of a sour like cloud on top. My sister has the 3pm in Istanbul which is a perfect pick for those who love more fruity drinks. Ours apps were perfect and quick, fresh salad and baba gnnoush served with the lightest pita made to man. Super yummy. NOW YALL I'm not lying when I tell you the meat here is the SOFTED JUICIEST meat I've had in a while. You do not even have to chew it. It's that soft!! It's plated with three dips and some yummy charred veggies. The place was gorgeous and everything was so wonderful. My only minor thing is that the music could be slightly lowered. Not a huge deal when you're having this amazing deal but if that a deal breaking, there is that to note. Will be back to try the rest of the menu as there were so many good option that we just couldn't choose. Recommend for a nice classy dinner such as the birthday occasion. read more

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I haven't been to many upscale Mediterranean restaurants, but I can confidently say Zaytinya is not just the best Mediterranean spot I've tried, it's easily one of the best restaurants I've ever been to, period. Our server let us know that most of the plates are small and recommended we go with the chef's tasting menu. We took his advice and wow, what an experience! Twelve dishes and two desserts later, our taste buds were completely in a surprise! I've never been a big fan of tasting menus, but this one totally changed my mind. The meal started off light, built up to the main proteins, and wrapped up with more veggie dishes. And the desserts? Mind-blowingly good. No joke, I'd go back just for the coffee and dessert. Bonus points for their heated patio, which means my furry buddy can join me too. Can't recommend this place enough! read more

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Zaytinya is my ideal kind of restaurant - I love any menu that encourages you to try as many dishes as possible. I ordered the ancient olive martini and had no idea it would come as a deconstructed martini! I think it should be a little more clearly labeled on the menu, but regardless I loved it! You have to really enjoy olives to order this since it comes with an olive infused gin martini, juiced olives (almost like an olive smoothie), and gin oil olives on the side. As pretty much every review here mentions, the pita is thin, puffy, warm, and plentiful! At first, I was saving a piece for the hummus we ordered but by the time the hummus came around, it was cold and hard so it was quickly replaced with a fresh batch. Lesson learned, no reason to hold onto the pita! We ordered a little bit of everything. The lamb hummus was the perfect way to start things off, and the tabbouleh was exceptional. The bone marrow kibbeh were a little forgettable, especially when combined with such flavorful alternatives. I loved the cauliflower (with a sprinkle of preserved lemon, it was exceptional) and the cod as well. The biggest bummer was we ordered the lamb baharat, and it took forever to come out. All of our other dishes had already been long cleared away before it arrived, and at that point we were to stuffed to enjoy it. read more

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