Zorba’s Mediterranean Cuisine

6014 N. May Ave.
Oklahoma City, OK
(405) 947-7788

Zorba’s

Since Zorba’s opened in 1991 it has been one of the city’s most popular restaurants for Mediterranean food. With recipes “from Cyprus to Spain” (according to Zorba’s menu), the name “Mediterranean” is very descriptive.

Zorba’s began in a small building near the Mayfair shopping center (where Sheesh Mahal is now located), and moved to the present location in 2007. The new building is much larger, with a bar and some big screen TV’s that are usually tuned to sports or news (at a low enough volume, though, so it does not disturb the conversation). Additional cooks at Zorba’s can serve a larger number of customers, and I think the menu now offers more items.

At the old restaurant I met the owner, got recommendations about what to order, and observed him cooking. I really enjoyed the quality and consistency of the food, and it was easy to know what to order (the owner would give me recommendations).

I thought when the new restaurant opened it got off to a rocky start–with the additional cooks hired to operate the new restaurant and larger menu there were inconsistencies in the food that were not there before. Some of the new items were a “miss,” but mostly I just didn’t know what was the best thing to order any more.

My current thinking is that if you want Middle Eastern food there are other restaurants in town that do it better, and there is a Moroccan restaurant a couple of blocks north of Zorba (so that is a logical place to go for that type of cuisine). Having said that, there are a number of items that I really like at Zorba’s (including a Moroccan dish), and Zorba’s also excels as a place to bring a large group who want to order different types of food. I have raised the rating of Zorba’s from my earlier reviews because I want to highlight what it does well rather than things I have found to be disappointing (many of which I am now attributing to the “growing pains” it had when it first opened).

Salads and Appetizers
Since salads are one of the better items I will start here. Several choices are available, and a salad or soup comes free with most dinners. Unlike Mexican restaurants where queso and sopapillas are usually served “free” (but built into the prices charged), the “free” appetizers here are definite enhancements and really do not jack up the prices to levels that are too high.

Tabouli at Zorba’s

Tabouli is one of the choices available as a free appetizer, but the one here is not my favorite in town. I found it to be rather skimpy on the green vegetables, and even though the flavor was good I would prefer one with less bulgar and more vegetables and herbs.

The Greek Salad (another one of the free salads) was very good when I ordered it several years ago. I have heard from readers, though, that Zorba’s is now including fewer olives and other enhancements to the lettuce.

Persian salad

The Persian Salad seemed rather simple, but it was fresh and flavorful. I would say this is a good choice, and is my favorite of the three free salad choices.

Zorba’s signature salad

Zorba’s Signature Salad is not one of the ones that comes free with the dinners, but I think is the best one I have tried (and ranks among the best in OKC). The photo shows that it has just about every ingredient imaginable, but also it is very fresh with a good flavor.

Soups

Lentil soup

Soups are also one of the free appetizer choices with some of the dinners, and there are three choices on the menu. The menu describes the lentil soup as “seasoned to perfection and cooked with the freshest ingredients.” I would say they are correct on the second part but I disputed whether it was seasoned to perfection (I think the soups at Nunu’s and Camilya’s are better).

Vegetable Sampler

Vegetable sampler

On an early visit I ordered a Vegetable Sampler that includes dolma, falafel, spanakopita, tiropita, hummus, baba ghannouj, asparagus, and salad. I thought this plate was not filling enough to make a meal, but it is now served as the “Hospitality Sampler” with some additional items. Mainly I wanted to see which of the vegetable side dishes were the best.

Dolma, or grape leaves, was one of the best items on the vegetable platter. It had a fresh, mild flavor, and was even better when dipped in the yogurt sauce that was provided.

The Falafel was the only fried food on the platter that I thought was at the level of quality I usually find in good Mediterranean restaurants. I could not tell if it was made from scratch or from a mix, but it had a good flavor. Again, the yogurt sauce helped.

The Tiropita (cheese pie) and Spanakopita (spinach pie) were fried, and somewhat of a disappointment. The spinach pie had a fried crust that I thought was too greasy, and the spinach was not spiced as well as I have had in other places. The cheese pie seemed lacking in flavor (in the photo the spinach pies are on the lower left and the cheese pies are to the right of the falafel).

The Pita was very good, and I think is something for which Zorba’s is known.

Hummus was very good and possibly one of the better ones I have eaten (although a pretty small sample came on the vegetable platter).

Shish Kabob Platter

Shish kabob platter

The Shish Kabob Platter seemed to be one of the few meat dishes that contained a balanced amount of vegetables along with the meat. This is good if you like rice, since it comes on a large bed of white rice. The vegetables on the skewer, though, seemed rather flavorless compared to most shish kabobs I have tried. Out of the tomato, onion, potato, squash, and mushroom, I cannot think of anything that really stood out. I really think Zorba’s could do better with their vegetables.

The meat on the shish kabob was all right but I thought it was not very tender. The flavor was OK but I have had better at other Mediterranean restaurants.

Moussaka

Moussaka

Moussaka seemed to be one of the better dinners served at Zorba’s, being a Greek dish I have not found even at some of the city’s Greek restaurants. I enjoyed the one here, and thought it had a good flavor. I am not saying Zorba would be proud of this dish but I think he would at least be happy.

Chicken Dishes

Chicken bandarri

The chicken dishes point out both my enjoyment and frustration with the food at Zorba’s. Chicken Bandarri was a serving of three stewed chicken thighs with a tomato garlic sauce over a bed of basmati rice. The highlight was the chicken, and I really ordered it because so few restaurants offer dark meat chicken by itself. The sauce was not quite as flavorful as I had expected, based on experiences at a number of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean restaurants. The rice came in a quantity that was way more than I could eat, and in fact I thought the entire dinner was too big and I had to take one of the chicken thighs home. The rice was also dry (but I really would not say the same thing about the chicken).

Moroccan chicken

Moroccan Chicken is another chicken dinner available, and this one provides slow cooked chicken with Moroccan seasonings, a lemon olive sauce, and basmati rice. This was the opposite of the chicken bandarri in that the Moroccan chicken had an excellent sauce but I thought the meat was a little dry. Cous Cous Cafe a couple of blocks from Zorba’s specializes in Moroccan cuisine, and normally I would not think to order this type of food at Zorba’s, but in this case I think the Moroccan chicken is something that is quite good. The fresh raisins and olives added flavor, and I thought the sauce was done very well. This was certainly one of the “hits” I have found at Zorba’s (and the meat was not dry enough to really make a difference).

Catalan chicken

The Catalan Chicken was served with a flavorful basil butter sauce, and I thought the garlic mashed potatoes were flavorful. This stuck in my memory as being one of the two best meals I have had at Zorba’s (along with the Moroccan chicken).

Desserts

Mediterranean style dessert

The Baklava was not the best I have tried, but several types of Mediterranean style desserts are offered. I liked everything I tried, including the baklava.

The original Zorba’s offered Persian tea (either hot or cold) on the house, and I thought this was a very nice touch to the meal. The tea was discontinued at the new restaurant, but now hot tea is available at an additional price. This is not the same tea served at Cous Cous Cafe with sweetener mixed in, but it is good enough for me to enjoy (and is a lot better than the drinks that were offered when Zorba’s first moved to its new location).

There seem to be more items on the menu than previously, and even though I have been disappointed in some items I usually find others that I like. The prices are a little high at Zorba’s but not outrageous compared to other restaurants. It is a good family restaurant with lots of tables and something on the menu for everybody.

RATING: 22

Cuisine: Mediterranean
Cost: $$
Hours: Open Daily
Accessible: Yes
Smoking: No smoking
Alcohol: Beer, wine

Most Recent Visit: Jun. 22, 2016
Number of Visits: 9
Best Items: Moroccan Chicken, Catalan Chicken, Dolma, Zorba’s Signature Salad

Special Ratings

	Moroccan Chicken
	Chicken Bandarri
	Catalan Chicken
	Shish Kabob
	Moussaka
	Dolma
	Falafel
	Hummus
	Spinach Pie
	Cheese Pie
	Tabouli
	Greek Salad
	Persian Salad
	Zorba’s Signature Salad
	Pita
	Baklava

Menu (Jun. 2016):

Blue Donkey food truck

I am somewhat new to the food truck craze, mainly because I do not often make snap decisions to have a meal as I pass by something that looks interesting, but rather I am already going to a predetermined location.

Food trucks in Oklahoma City seem to travel quite a bit, although the ones I think are luckiest find a home location and only occasionally have to travel to other spots. In examining Blue Donkey’s Facebook page it lists a number of locations where the truck will be located at certain times. Its home base is the Arts District in downtown Oklahoma City (near the Oklahoma City Museum of Art). There is quite a bit of downtown traffic at lunch on weekdays, but the down times at evening and weekends afford Blue Donkey ample opportunities to travel elsewhere in the Metro where likely customers can be found.

One of these excursions was at N.W. 122nd Street and Rockwell, where the Blue Donkey truck showed up several weeks in a row, establishing enough of a pattern that I could predict when and where I could find it. This afforded me the opportunity to try all three of its menu items (tacos and two side dishes), and also gave me the desire to go back and try it again (which I did until I no longer found the truck at that location).

The Food

Tacos with donkey poo and black beans

Information on the truck indicated that this is Guatemalan food. I have been to Guatemala and did not really recognize the food they were serving as being from that country, especially considering the very high spice levels of the food that somewhat approached those of Hatch, New Mexico, the “chile capital” of the United States.

There are two types of Tacos, chicken and beef (I only ordered the chicken ones). These were quite good and whether they are actually Guatemalan or Mexican does not matter very much because I enjoyed the end result.

One of the side dishes is called “Donkey Poo” and consists of guacamole and cucumbers. Also in abundance is a very spicy chile that I was not expecting in a Guatemalan food truck, but it was good.

I thought the Black Beans were more flavorful than the guacamole, and would be my preference except for the fact that they were even more spicy. The problem with this is that it is in a food truck setting where the selection of drinks is limited, and I cannot get my usual iced tea to quench my mouth with this type of spicy food (as I recall Blue Donkey did not have iced tea, much less the refills that I would have required). I was able to take the food home and provide my own drinks, but absent this I am not sure Blue Donkey would have been an enjoyable experience.

Black bean soup

The Black Beans also come as a large side order that is in the form of a soup (but these are the same beans served as a side dish on taco orders).

Additional Comments
I am still at somewhat of a preliminary stage in evaluating the food because there were a lot of factors that entered into my experience, the main one being that this is not a regular restaurant where they could serve the drinks I would want to have with spicy food.

The tacos were certainly good, and probably better than at Big Truck Tacos (another food truck which was formerly located at this intersection). Big Truck had a much larger selection of tacos, though, so I am not sure how the two trucks really compare to each other.

RATING: 20

Cuisine: Guatemalan
Cost: $
Hours: N/A
Accessible: N/A
Smoking: N/A
Alcohol: N/A

Most Recent Visit: Oct. 4, 2016

Number of Visits: 2

Best Item: Tacos

 

Special Ratings

	Chicken Tacos
	Donkey Poo (Guacamole)
	Black Bean Soup

Jerusalem Mediterranean Cuisine

I made my first visit to Jerusalem Restaurant in July 2016, but I was already very familiar with the food served here. This is because the owner Alex was formerly the chef at Camilya’s in Oklahoma City, probably my favorite restaurant in OKC specializing in Lebanese style cuisine. I started seeing consistently excellent reviews of Jerusalem, and now I know that there is good reason for people’s high opinions.

The menu at Jerusalem looked exactly the same as the one at Camilya’s (because I think it is the same). Jerusalem has added some items that are not on the menu such as a couple of kinds of special Middle Eastern style lemonade. In fact, the “bar” area is devoted to preparing the special drinks including a mint tea that I think is a step above the tea I get at Camilya’s.

Jerusalem follows the custom of many Middle Eastern restaurants by serving Halal meat and no alcohol (I know that Camilya’s allows customers to bring their own wine, but I do not know the policy at Jerusalem). For those who are not familiar with Halal, you should think of it as being similar to Kosher (it is not only acceptable to many people’s religious practices, but it also gives a more flavorful and better quality meat in my opinion).

I thought the hummous was better than at Camilya’s (although the one at Camilya’s was already very good), and so far it appears that Jerusalem is like eating at Camilya’s, only better.

Chicken Tawook

Chicken tawook

Chicken Tawook is the name used for the grilled chicken (this is cooked like a shish kabob with vegetables cooked on the grill along with the meat). I am very impressed with the flavor of the chicken tawook, and they manage to cook the meat well without cooking the juices out of it. This was my favorite meat item at Camiya’s, and I was glad to find out that at Jerusalem it tastes the same.

Hummous

Hummous, salad, and pita

I chose Hummous as a side dish (technically an appetizer), although these should be thought of as “family style” dishes, serving at least two or three people. The hummous here had a better flavor than I have experienced at other restaurants, including Camilya’s, and I thought this was the best I have found in the OKC area. I did mention that it is quite large, meaning be careful of what you order here unless you can share or take home the leftovers.

Lunch
There is no lunch menu at Jerusalem, but they do have several sandwiches that are about the right size and price for most people. At Camilya’s I particularly like the lamb kabob and the falafel sandwiches, and I assume they would be good at Jerusalem as well.

Other Items

There are several other items I would recommend based on my experience at Camilya’s, led by the keftah skewer, gyros, spinach pie, labaneh, and mojadara.

The Salad I tried at Jerusalem was as good as the ones I have had at Camilya’s, and these are among my favorite items as well.

Additional Information
The dining room is a little larger than at Camilya’s, but this is still a fairly small restaurant. It is open daily, and is located in a large strip shopping mall (so there is plenty of parking).

RATING: 25

Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Cost: $$
Hours: Open Daily
Accessible: Yes
Smoking: No smoking
Special Features: Halal

Most Recent Visit: Jul. 13, 2016

Number of Visits: 1

Best Items: Chicken Tawook, Hummous, Salad (and probably several others based on my experience at Camilya’s).

 

Special Ratings

	Chicken Tawook
	Hummous
	Salad