For the first time, I will have two restaurant reviews in the same week! My last review, Edo, was done after going with nibaq and purgatory72. This time, since nibaq is out of the country, I went with purg and his brother, who is a really cool guy! Our restaurant of choice this time was Zorba’s Greek Taverna, in Salmiya above the Dana restaurant on blaajaat street.

At first, I asked purg if we should go and review Hard Rock Cafe since it just opened and Jackie requested it, he shot that idea down (not me Jackie, blame purg ;P) and suggested Zorba’s. Since I’ve never been there before, I thought it would be a great idea.

We all got there at 8 pm sharp, when I first entered, I was impressed and surprised that I’ve never been recommended this place before. It actually looks Greek, they put some effort in making the place seem Greek to an extent. Well, actually, when we first got it, the guy at the door was spraying something on the Christmas tree, it turned out to be snow I guess! Anyway, he asked if we came for dinner or sheesha, we said both, so he took us to the smoking area, which really changes everything. The place loses any sense of being Greek, its just a sheesha place, but they did have a nice big screen tv and showed the Gulf Cup final game, which was enjoyable.

They had a choice of a buffet or ala carte. The buffet included chow mein and qoozy, which automatically took the place down in my opinion, I thought it was Greek!! Apparently, only the menu was Greek, the buffet was a normal international buffet. The menu arrived, with pages falling apart, and the ceiling was leaking right next to our table. The waiter was really nice but for some reason his answer was always “ok” no matter what we said, sometime even before requesting something, and an ‘ok’ doesnt necessarily mean it will happen.

We ordered our starters and main course, and it took forever for the food to come, but we honestly didnt feel time pass bcz of the game and bcz of our chatting. When it did arrive, the stuffed grape leaves were good, an eggplant with cheese dish was very good, but the chicken liver pastry thingie wasn’t that good! There was also a yogurt and cucumber dish, which was really good with other stuff.

My main course was some kind of lamb stew with rice. It was the first time I ever had to cut the rice with a knife, that is how sticky it was! the lamb was decent, nothing special, but not bad. There was also something that I mistaked for potatoes, and it turned out to be something else totaly, purg found out what it was, but I forgot. Even my diet coke tasted very watered down!

As for desserts, I went with purg’s bro to check out the desserts, which had to be chosen from the selection in the buffet! I went for the Um Ali, and that was really good I have to admit!

The sheesha was excellent, we had that with tea while watching the penalties (Oman shouldve won, everyone there was cheering for Oman!), and they had problems with service in bringing the tea! Where pricing is concerned, I dont really know, purg was kind enough to invite me tonight.

All in all, its not like any Greek restaurant Ive been to when I was in the US, and there is no other Greek restaurant here to compare it to. It didnt really feel authentic, and the food definitely wasnt as Greek as i expected! As a restaurant, I do not recommend it, as a sheesha place, it will definitely be a place I will come to more often. I really think the place has potential if something radical is done to it, and I dont mean in terms of furniture or look, I mean something about the service, the food quality, and atmosphere altogether! It really did feel like a sheesha place alot more than a restaurant, with the quality of service that usually accompanies sheesha places!

Final grade -
As a restaurant - 52/100
As a sheesha place - 73/100