Ala Mediterranean Grill & Mezzes

wow, the best meal I've ever had!
service was awesome and friendly
I definitely recommend it!

My friend Erin L. and I had dinner plans on a Monday night. The place we originally wanted to go to ended up being closed, so I'm grateful we found this place on Yelp.

We shared one appetizer and two entrees. The beets salad was refreshing and delicious. I liked the nuttiness flavor. For our entrees, we got the lamb kebab and chicken kebab. The lamb kebab was amazing. The meat was very tender and not gamy at all. I'm not sure what they put in the rice, but it was so tasty. The chicken kebab was a bit overdone and not as tender as I hoped for, but still good. We loved our food, and finished every last bite. Portions were a bit smaller than I expected. I wanted more kebabs!!

Service was good. We were indecisive with our two entrees so I'm appreciative that our server helped us decide. The interior is cute and quaint.

Would go back for the lamb kebab :)

We chose this establishment based on its reviews, but unfortunately, we were slightly disappointed with the service. Throughout our visit, we had to remind the staff a few times that our party needed attention. However, the food was excellent, although the prices were high. Despite this, it was still worth it. Our dining experience for three people totaled over $200, including appetizers and wine. I highly recommend trying the Istanbul Trio, falafel, and lamb kebab as main courses. The house Cabernet Sauvignon was also enjoyable.

The service was lacking, and the staff's attire could have been sharper; they seemed like they had just stepped in from the street. On Thursday night, the restaurant ran out of baklava. Towards the end of our meal, a strong smell of smoke emanated from the kitchen, forcing us to leave quickly as our clothes began to absorb the odor.

Overall, I would recommend giving it a try, but perhaps only once.

Randomly picked this place, and so glad we did! It is a lil pricey but worth the tasty goodness! The interior is small but cute!

Cigar Borek - 4/5 stars - the flavor is so delicious with that feta in the middle, the outside is not consistently crunchy like other ones I've tried (like the ends are nice and crunchy, but the middle is soft)

Beets Salad - 10/5 stars - absolutely recommend this!!!!! It's so refreshing and full of flavor, the beets covered in that sauce is perfection

Hallumi - 5/5 stars - I wasn't sure the proper way to eat these so I made little sandwiches with the pita and put a little of each thing then dip it all in the oil, it was perfect combination of cheese to refreshing cucumber to pita

Overall, you have to try the Beets Salad! But everything is delicious.

What a great Mediterranean spot! They had a large selection and everything came out tasting so good! The service was fast and friendly, I will definitely be coming back.

I'm so glad to have had a chance to come try Ala Mediterranean because it did not disappoint! My party of 2 came on a Friday night and it was seated right away, which is always nice.

We started with the Istanbul Trio, which included hummus, muhamarra, and the Heidari. However, we subbed the Heidari with the eggplant salad. This was one of my favorite items! The hummus and the eggplant salad tasted refreshing and was very flavorful. But, for me, the star of the trio was the muhamarra. I loved the the roasted pepper flavor with nuttiness from the walnut! All of these paired with warm pita bread was a great appetizer to start our meal.

I had an chicken kebab for my entree, which also came with rice and salad, and pita bread for sides. I was pleasantly surprised by the juiciness and flavor of the chicken. It was cooked perfectly and was definitely the star of the plate. I only wish there were more chicken on the plate! My partner had the lamb burger, which he also loved and said the lamb was so juicy and tender.

We finished our meal with baklava. This was a flaky dessert with a dense bottom and sweetened with honey. It was absolutely delicious and wasn't overly sweet. The warmed baklava was a nice finish to the meal.

Overall, my party enjoyed our meal at Ala Mediterranean Grill! We'll definitely come again for our Mediterranean food fix!

This is a great place to enjoy some Greek food. It's a little pricey ($20 for a burger), but the food is excellent.

What we had...
+ Imam Fainted - not sure about the name, but this is a vegetarian stuffed eggplant, and it is delicious. The eggplant is soft and stuffed with peppers, mushrooms and tomatoes, and then topped with melty cheese. It's actually quite large.
+ Lamb burger - juicy and delicious. The bun was a bit average though.
+ Hummus and pita - wow, this hummus is so good.
+ Beet salad - the beets are juicy and sweet. The lettuce and cheese complimented the beets so well. I had considered getting this as an entree, but glad I didn't. It's small - definitely side salad size.

We all enjoyed our food and will definitely be ordering from them again.

My partner and I knew we were going to grab dinner today, but we weren't sure what exactly. We did some Yelp surfing and ALA Mediterranean Grill happen to call to the both of us. I had it on my Yelp bookmarks for a bit too, so today was the day to satisfy that curiosity!

ALA is located on Webster street so it can take a little bit to find parking. They do not have their own parking lot, but you may just get lucky with finding a spot in the residential area, like we did! Since we came mid-week, it wasn't that busy at the restaurant, but there were small parties here and there.

Between the two of us, we got 1) Istanbul Trio (option to replace one of the three dips with an Eggplant Salad. We swapped out the Haydari for the Eggplant Salad), 2) Lamb Kebab, and 3) Karniyarik.

The Istanbul Trio is definitely one not to be missed! Aside from the Eggplant Salad, the trio included Muhammara and hummus. This trio dip was such a great appetizer. Both the eggplant salad and Muhammara had a deep smokey flavor to it, but the Muhammara is creamy, whereas the eggplant salad was on the lighter side. I'm not sure what's included inside of the dips, but the eggplant salad comes with just a hint of spiciness. As for the hummus, it's hard to mess up, but the hummus here tasted more "green" and fresh. I'm not sure how to describe it, but it tastes slightly different from other hummus I've tried. All very good dips. We completely cleared this plate, haha.

As for my Karniyarik, I opted for no cheese. I haven't tried this dish before, but this was a eggplant stuffed with beef, peppers, onions, served on top of a cauliflower soup. The eggplant was easy to slice through and it went nicely with the ingredients mixed in there. The cauliflower soup was delicious too. Pretty flavorful. While I enjoyed this dish, I'm not sure I'll get it again for that price point, but everyone places different values on different things.

I also sampled my partner's lamb kebabs and these were made so well! It's not well done, and it's tender and just slightly chewy, in a good way. Next time I'm interested in trying the chicken kebabs!

Lastly, we were debating between the baklava or choc-ALA. Baklava was a popular pick on Yelp, but I also thought the choc-ALA may be more unique. Since we had trouble deciding, we asked for a recommendation from what I assume to be the owner! He's so entertaining, he ended up flipping a coin for us and so Baklava it was! And this baklava was delicious. 2 pieces for $7 was a pretty good deal! The top of the baklava was flakey, while the bottom was dense. It was a little hard to cut into because there were 40 layers of filo. You can see the honey oozing out when you cut into it. This baklava definitely did not disappoint!

I think we found another top Mediterranean shop that we both enjoy. Service was great. We were checked on multiple times and the owner was really nice. 10/10 would recommend!

Staff and Service:
- The first time I came here, the service was average. I thought it would be a little faster considering we were only one of three tables filled at the restaurant. The second time I came here, the service was pretty slow. It took about 10 minutes to be seated at a table that was empty when we walked in. And it took a lot of eye contact and flagging down to get things like water, the bill, etc.

Food:
- Pide: tasty flatbread with lots of cheese and herbs
- Shepperd Salad: fresh tasting small salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, feta, etc.
- Chicken Kebab: the chicken was pretty dry in this dish, so I did not order it the second time I came here
- Butcher Kofte: flavorful dish, especially with the sauce the dish comes with. The garbanzo beans were a little grainy and didn't do much for the dish
- Lamb Kebab: my friend ate this the first time we came here and got sick afterwards. He seemed fine the second time he ordered it.
- Olive and Feta: fair warning that these olives still have pits in them

Miscellaneous:
- Street parking available
- Try to come during off hours if you want faster service

Our first visit as we explore our new hometown of Alameda. From start to finish everything was perfect. Nice menu selection, friendly and attentive service, good vibe all around, and of course , delightful food! Each dish was elevated and just tasted better than most Mediterranean meals I've had other places. The attention to quality is apparent. However, I'd rather have fresh brewed iced tea instead of the bottled tea we were given. Still, we Can't wait to come back.