A diner from Pryor, OK
Jul 25, 2009
We had some great Hummus on our trip to Denver and I had an urge to try a new dining experience in Tulsa. So we decided to give this place a try. When we arrived there was a sign outside that said it was voted best restaurant by Tulsa 2007 - 2008 so we had high hopes.
We found out about this specific place from Restaurant.com. I purchased a $25 gift certificate to it only to find out that you can't use it until 5 pm. The coupon stated that it was for dinner only and dinner goes into effect at 3 pm (We arrived at 3) so I didn't understand why I couldn't use the gift certificate that I purchased. The waiter (I’m assuming it was the owner) was sure to let me know that they lose out on that money anyway which doesn't matter to me when I am trying a new place on a budget. (Fail #1)
But we were hungry and wanted to see if it was worth it.
I ordered a Spinach Pie as an appetizer. As soon as the order was placed you can see from the open kitchen that the “freshly baked spinach pie” was popped into the microwave (Fail #2). When I received it, the pie was so hot that I couldn’t even touch it for a while. When I finally got to bite into it I could taste the canned spinach inside. (Fail #3) It wasn’t satisfying at all.
I ordered a Gyro Dinner with Hummus and babaganoush. My wife ordered the chicken Kabob Lunch. My daughter got a cheese pizza and fries.
My Gyro meat was alright, but I could have had better meat from a Gyro stand in the mall. It was hard like it was shaved earlier and sitting in a hot box (Fail #4). The rice it was sitting on was extremely bland with no taste at all.
I have had good Hummus and this hummus was not good. I have never had babaganoush, but the hummus and babaganoush looked exactly the same - tasted completely different and the babaganoush was just gross. Having never tried it before, I can’t say that I can give an honest opinion on it. However, the Hummus that I liked was from a place that made it fresh daily. We found as we were leaving that their Hummus and babaganoush were sitting in large vats inside of a deli fridge and it looked like they had been there a long time (Fail #5). In fact, we later realized that this is where the odor was coming from in the place (Fail #6) which my 6 year old remarked upon as soon as we entered.
My wife’s chicken kabob (not on a skewer) tasted so smoky and burnt that she was spitting it out (Fail #7). She also was not impressed with the Hummus. My daughter’s cheese pizza was the exact same kind you would expect to get out of a vending machine (Fail #8) only it cost me $6. Toward the end we were all eating her fries.
The waiter knew a lot about what was on the menu and the rules of this and that. I felt that as soon as he knew we didn’t like it he really didn’t seem to care (Fail #9). I honestly don’t think that I saw the “chef” cook anything (Fail #10).
I am not one to give bad reviews. In fact, if I have a bad time at a restaurant I tend to just forget it and move on, but this place will be a memorably bad place for me. If you are looking for Mediterranean food in Tulsa, this is not the place to go. When you find a good place, please let me know.
If you own this place: As a marketing professional myself, I know that marketing is an investment. That’s the whole point of offering these gift certificates. You want to find new repeat customers. Don’t use them as a tool to get people to come in and not honor the gift certificates. That’s the best way to prevent any repeat business. Because of that you steered me wrong to begin with.
It was stated that the intent was to drive traffic from 5 to close. You hardly had any traffic at 3. And you close at 8. People on a budget are looking to save money and don’t want to find out after driving in from out of town that they only have a 3 hour window to use it. I had to pay money to get this gift certificate too. I invested in the gift certificate, my fuel to get there, and my time to try your food. In two words: Epic Fail.
We found out about this specific place from Restaurant.com. I purchased a $25 gift certificate to it only to find out that you can't use it until 5 pm. The coupon stated that it was for dinner only and dinner goes into effect at 3 pm (We arrived at 3) so I didn't understand why I couldn't use the gift certificate that I purchased. The waiter (I’m assuming it was the owner) was sure to let me know that they lose out on that money anyway which doesn't matter to me when I am trying a new place on a budget. (Fail #1)
But we were hungry and wanted to see if it was worth it.
I ordered a Spinach Pie as an appetizer. As soon as the order was placed you can see from the open kitchen that the “freshly baked spinach pie” was popped into the microwave (Fail #2). When I received it, the pie was so hot that I couldn’t even touch it for a while. When I finally got to bite into it I could taste the canned spinach inside. (Fail #3) It wasn’t satisfying at all.
I ordered a Gyro Dinner with Hummus and babaganoush. My wife ordered the chicken Kabob Lunch. My daughter got a cheese pizza and fries.
My Gyro meat was alright, but I could have had better meat from a Gyro stand in the mall. It was hard like it was shaved earlier and sitting in a hot box (Fail #4). The rice it was sitting on was extremely bland with no taste at all.
I have had good Hummus and this hummus was not good. I have never had babaganoush, but the hummus and babaganoush looked exactly the same - tasted completely different and the babaganoush was just gross. Having never tried it before, I can’t say that I can give an honest opinion on it. However, the Hummus that I liked was from a place that made it fresh daily. We found as we were leaving that their Hummus and babaganoush were sitting in large vats inside of a deli fridge and it looked like they had been there a long time (Fail #5). In fact, we later realized that this is where the odor was coming from in the place (Fail #6) which my 6 year old remarked upon as soon as we entered.
My wife’s chicken kabob (not on a skewer) tasted so smoky and burnt that she was spitting it out (Fail #7). She also was not impressed with the Hummus. My daughter’s cheese pizza was the exact same kind you would expect to get out of a vending machine (Fail #8) only it cost me $6. Toward the end we were all eating her fries.
The waiter knew a lot about what was on the menu and the rules of this and that. I felt that as soon as he knew we didn’t like it he really didn’t seem to care (Fail #9). I honestly don’t think that I saw the “chef” cook anything (Fail #10).
I am not one to give bad reviews. In fact, if I have a bad time at a restaurant I tend to just forget it and move on, but this place will be a memorably bad place for me. If you are looking for Mediterranean food in Tulsa, this is not the place to go. When you find a good place, please let me know.
If you own this place: As a marketing professional myself, I know that marketing is an investment. That’s the whole point of offering these gift certificates. You want to find new repeat customers. Don’t use them as a tool to get people to come in and not honor the gift certificates. That’s the best way to prevent any repeat business. Because of that you steered me wrong to begin with.
It was stated that the intent was to drive traffic from 5 to close. You hardly had any traffic at 3. And you close at 8. People on a budget are looking to save money and don’t want to find out after driving in from out of town that they only have a 3 hour window to use it. I had to pay money to get this gift certificate too. I invested in the gift certificate, my fuel to get there, and my time to try your food. In two words: Epic Fail.
