The lure of a fresh, fast, relatively cheap dinner brought us in. Going in, I wasn't exactly hungry. In fact, I was pretty much just accompanying my husband, to kill some time before the start of our tour.
But, once inside, I figured I should try to eat something light, since I'd only had one meal that day (the donuts don't count.) After browsing the menu, I ordered the small Vegetable Shish. My husband got the regular chicken shish, and we added an order of hummus to share.
The restaurant, it should be noted, was incredibly crowded when we walked in. There were no tables open when we placed our order, so we had to hover near the entrance, keeping an eye on the parties in the dining room down below, ready to break and swoop in on any open space we could find. We stood like that for several minutes before one group of 3 got up and left the long bench seating.
As mentioned, they were busy, so we expected to have a bit of wait before our buzzer went off, alerting us to a ready meal. Thing is, it took a bit of time, yes, but they also weren't using the buzzers that were handed out after people ordered. Instead, one guy with the quietest voice in the universe was calling out numbers over the din of sizzling food, banging pots and the general din of the assembled masses.
Our buzzer never actually went off. I told my husband that they seemed to be yelling out numbers, and made to go stand by the counter to make sure we heard when our food was ready, but he went up, instead. Maybe 3 minutes later he came back with two trays laden down with our shish meals, and went back to grab our hummus.
If I have nothing good to say about this place, at least I can say that they will fill you up on a budget. My "small shish" was just as big as my husband's "regular". It's just unfortunate that the vegetables themselves weren't good. I love roasted vegetables, and these should have been perfect. But they somehow found a way to make roasted vegetables bland, even after they'd been unevenly drenched in a dill sauce.
I picked at as much as I could, but it was no use. I was put off by the red sauce - almost like a marinara, though I know that's not what it was supposed to be - and by the unevenly cooked vegetables. If they'd all been raw, that would have been fine. Had they all been roasted, that would have been perfect. But half of it was raw, half of it was roasted, and there was nothing cohesive about the shish. I ended up barely touching that.
Thank goodness the hummus was good, otherwise I would have walked out having not eaten anything (and I would have wasted 9 euro.) The hummus had a smooth texture, and a noticeable tart from what I think was lemon juice. I made a meal out of the hummus and pita, which worked for my husband, who was filling up fast on his own chicken shish. He did say it had good flavor, but that it was a mess to eat.
All in all, I wish we had stopped elsewhere, or that I had ordered something different. They get the 3 stars for the hummus, budget-friendly menu and large portions, but we would not go back.
