Levantes

This restaurant was recommended by the same friend that introduced me to Zaytinya, so I really wanted to try it! Zaytinya’s in DC though, and now that I live in Bethesda… Yay! Right? Sadly sadly, I was kind of disappointed…
The food is decent but not outstanding. I also felt that it was rather pricey for what you get. I got a lamb kabob over a bit of rice for about $ 20. I felt that I could probably get something comparable at Moby Dick for less! I don’t eat very much, and I don’t think the portions were particularly huge. I think that if they dropped the price a bit, it would be much more reasonable. I think my favorite was definitely the bread, which was quite tasty!
On a side note, though I’m not a huge stickler for service, our waitress also took a rather long time to take our order and wasn’t particularly helpful when we asked for her recommendations; she named the entire menu!
Sorry Zaytinya, I’ll make the trek! :)

This place is amazing. Maybe the erratic reviews this place has been getting lately caused people to clear out because when we came to eat here, we were the only people in the restaurant (Sunday night). The service was fast and great. We ordered the babaganoush appetizer and it came with two HUGE pieces of pita. We were even asked by the server if we wanted more bread (we declined).
We each got pides as our main course (the lamb and the sucuk) and they were each delicious in their own way. The lamb was plentiful and fresh. I will definitely be coming back here at some time, especially because I need to try the hummus.
Also, for ethnic food in Bethesda, it is not that expensive… always a plus for my wallet. I had leftovers to take home which I am going to eat at work in a few minutes and make all my co-​workers jealous!

The staff were helpful and patient. The option for outside dining is really nice on a beautiful day.
The food was really fresh and came out really fast. We had the levante plate for an appetizer. The cigars were really good. The cheese would have been better without the breading because there was too much of the fried food (eggplant and zucchini). The fried food was a bit heavy, so I wouldn’t recommend it. The grape leaves were good and different from ones I’ve had before.
For entrees, the Adana Yogurt was really good and unique. It was really moist tender slices of lamb on a yogurt sauce with chunks of bread. I would get it again. My boyfriend got Souvlaki, and he said it was amazing. Tender lamb skewered with green peppers and served with fresh grilled vegetables. For cocktails, I drank «The Levante». It was very lemon-​y and fresh. I liked it. High quality of food and service, and nice location.

Sometimes, after a particularly good meal, I forget that restaurants are most often, and legitimately, conceived of as businesses first, with food being only a vehicle to profitable enterprise.
But then, sometime, I make a serious error in judgement, and I am forcibly reminded that some restaurants do not care about food; have found some way to stay in business in spite of the food; and are either immensely cynical or jaw droppingly careless.
My serious error was to go to Levantes for Sunday brunch. I know better, I really do.
But, dear god, if your buffet food has congealed, please at least throw it out. No one will eat it, and it reminds all of us that you don’t give a damn about your food.
And if your falafel has dried into inedible pucks, throw it out. And if your french toast has wilted, throw it out. And if your waffles are terrible, don’t serve them. And if your omelet fillings are insipid and fit for a Denny’s, think of something more interesting. And if your olives, your OLIVES, you pretend Mediterranean theme restaurant, aren’t good, don’t serve them.
But fine, my mistake, I should have known better: a Sunday buffet is a sop to the idiot customer.
But the food ordered off the menu was at best passable. The spinach pie for instance. Overly rich with flaccid pastry, as if it had been microwaved, or steam-​tabled or something. Maybe the flavor was good, but the texture was awful.
Please, if you are going to take such a large chunk of real estate on Woodmont, show us you care, show us and your staff that bad food at your restaurant makes you embarrassed and angry and will not be tolerated.
Otherwise, get out.

I’ve dined at Levantes at least four times. I prefer it over the other restaurants in that area that I have also been to (Jaleo, Austin Grill, etc). They have some interesting martinis, decent food, and hit or miss service like most places do these days.
MOOD: Sets itself as some kind of modernistic bar, not really Turkish at all except for the bread oven in the restaurant. I think all the employees are Turkish or at least look Turk, maybe that is to let people know this place has the slightest bit to do with Turkey.
SERVICE: If they are busy, it will be slow. If they are not, it will be faster. They don’t seem to triage things to handle peak hours, so I avoid going at those times.
FOOD: I’ve tried quite a few things so I’ll give a lay-​out of what I think are good. On the appetizer sampler, the turkish cigars are the best. They are basically phillo dough wrapped and baked goat cheese, and goat cheese + anything pretty much tastes awesome. The hummus was ok, but I didn’t like the salads. If you’re not too hungry, you can skip the appetizer and just get the baked bread and eat it with the olive oil and black pepper you have at the table.
The adana sandwich is a pretty good option for lunch, I prefer the sandwich over the kabob. The minced meat used to make it is seasoned to be fairly spicy, but the kabob is weak compared to what you can get at Moby Dick nearby. I’m not sure if it really is Turkish, but Persian kabobs are the best in that category.
The pides (pizza boats) are also good. My favorite was the sucuk pide (sausage), but there’s also something unsettling about ordering pizza at a Turkish restaurant. They are light on sauce, but heavy on cheese and carry interesting flavors.
The other stuff was less interesting. The Moussaka entrée is basically another word for eggplant lasagna, I didn’t find anything different or Turkish about it. It seems that is the problem, it is set to be a Turkish restaurant but somehow fails to deliver the authenticity. It’s a good place, but you have lots of options in this range nearby.

We ended up at Levanates because the wait at Raku next door was so ridiculous. I was a little worried because the place was practically empty on a Friday night while Raku was bursting at the seams.
We were seated immediately and chose to sit outside which was nice despite the fact that my date was practically sitting in the street. Service was excellent. I had the spinach pie which was HUGE and had great flavors (I’m an expert on spinach pie.) It was loaded up with feta while many places hold back in this area. The only issue I had was that it was drowning in a large puddle of tzaziki which was making the filo on half of my pie quite soggy.
My date had the Kaser Pide which is like a pizza boat with cheese, tomatoes and baked-​in seasonings. It was also huge. I would have loved to take our leftovers but we were headed to a movie across the street afterward and nobody likes to sit next to the couple with the bags full of Turkish food.
It was quick and the flavors were good; with the two entrees and two beers, our meal still came in at under $ 40 which was awesome.

After having good meals at the Woodley Park location, i decided to check out the Bethesda location. Unfortunately the meal was pretty meh.
First ordering a sampler appetizer which was good, but took about 20 minutes to arrive. It was very good., including some fried feta cheese, cheese sticks, humos and fried eggplant.
For my main course I ordered the lamb Kabobs. It came out looking great but was cold. The meat was cooked WELL DONE and the veggies were also cold. I sent it back and took the replacement home. After the 12 min drive home, the food was still hot. The replacement was quite good.
I wouldn’t go back to this location, ever. IN addition to the above issues, my GF felt sick after the appetizer and wouldn’t go back. Maybe to the woodley park location, but never to the Bethesda one.

Levante’s is a pretty good Turkish restaurant. I’m no expert on Turkish cuisine, but I do know a bit about whether something is tasty or not.
The chicken yogurt is what I usually get here. It’s a big dish, but unfortunately there isn’t much chicken. It’s mostly a sea of yogurt with little ships of bread and a few buoys of chicken. It does fill you up though. The falafels are great, as is the baklava.
My complaint is that the service can be very slow some times. It can take ages to even get a drink or to get your check.

Five minutes in I dubbed our server Mr. Mumbles. It took all my skills of contextraction to figure out that I was allowed a salad with my sandwich-​and-​soup deal (for $ 10, killer), and that later in the meal when he was chatting us up about the weather, he was talking about the patio and not a party. The man gave me forehead wrinkles, but I’m trying hard not to rate the place down for making me feel stupid.
The pre-​lunch bread was a little too fantastic — warm, golden brown, soft loaves, accompanied by olive oil until the delicious hummus I had ordered arrived. By the time my co-​worker had finished her salad and I my soup (an unimpressive cream of broccoli), I had zero interest in food. It didn’t help that my sandwich, when it arrived, was made of the exact same bread I had just been mauling. I picked at the curried chicken on the inside, and it was tasty, but it could have been filet mignon and I would have pushed it around the plate with my fork.
Points for the adorable pizza boat someone else ordered, the swift timing of food delivery, and the super attentive service of our incomprehensible waiter. I will return for brunch and stuff myself with mimosas instead of bread next time.

Nice ambiance and the outdoor seating is nice. The pizza boats and sandwiches are generous and worth the price, but I am not so sure about the rest of the menu.
In case you’re wondering what a pizza boat is, it is a Turkish pide and basically a large slice of pizza shaped like a boat with the edges curled up.

4.5
I can’t believe I haven’t reviewed this place yet. This was actually the first restaurant I ate at in the DC metro area when I first came to scope out the area to move. Since then Jacob, our server, has remembered both my boyfriend and me by name. And even when we are not eating at his section he will go out of his way to say hi and see if everything is okay. I admit there are some slow servers but I’m usually not in a rush. Oh and the other server that we like is the «grouchy old man,» Ali, at first he seemed grouchy hence his nickname, but he was actually really friendly and a little bit jokey. He has great recommendations on food and sharing.
The food is pretty damn good as long as you order the right thing. (Disclaimer: this is coming from a person who has no clue what «real» Mediterranean food tastes like) I admit there were some dishes that I didn’t care for but my favorites are:
–The complementary hot bread: It comes hot, toasty, and slightly doughy-​soft. My boyfriend and I love it so much we start stealing it for each other’s plates.
–Lentil soup– good hearty thick soup really complements the bread. Dip dip dip!
— Cold Mezze Plate– comes with an assortment of appetizers for your bread dipping pleasure! There’s hummus, babaganoj, Shepherd Salad, ezme salad, tsatziki, dolma and feta cheese. ALSO COMES IN DOUBLE! But for two people single is enough.
–Fried Calamari– Nothing special but very crispy on the outside, and it’s pretty big that you can eat it as an entrée!
–Anada Yogurt– yummy ground spiced lamb (slightly chewy) with yogurt (a great combination of spicy and tangy) and you guessed it… on a bed of BREAD!

I’ll keep this short, as I’m mostly echoing what a few others have said about this restaurant.
I ate at Levante’s for the first time this evening with friends, and we had a lovely table on the patio. Food was great, location was great, and my company was fantastic. And the service SUCKED. Our waiter was fine (if a bit slow and inconsistent) for the duration of our meal, and as soon as we asked for the check, he started snapping at us to hurry up and leave. NICE. After the check had been signed and we were wrapping things up, he came over again and got all worked-​up and told us how we needed to leave RIGHT NOW and «they’re rushing us for a reason».
It’s unfortunate, because I really did enjoy the meal, but the whole «hurry your ass up and leave» vibe really did rain on my parade a bit. I don’t think I’ll be back — there are too many fantastic restaurants in Bethesda to waste time being yelled at by the wait staff at Levante’s!

Went here for a friend’s graduation. We split a couple Double Levante Plates of appetizers, and I ordered the Kofte… then quickly went home and vomited all over Connecticut Avenue before I could make it home. Listen, maybe it wasn’t the food — it all tasted good at the time, and they have amazing pita bread, too — but I can’t get around the post-​meal experience, as I cannot convince myself it was a result of anything else. I will not be back to Levante’s.
That said, I should also note a couple more things.
A) The glass of white wine I had was incredible.
B) Our server was incredibly friendly & attentive with our food & our water refills.
C) Although our server was friendly & attentive, she let us sit for FAR too long toward the end. We finally had to ask for the check to move it all along. Yes, I was with a chatty group, but the check would’ve been nice.

Lentil soup.
Greek salad with grilled chicken on top (note, this is NOT the grilled chicken salad), but comes with 2 yummy dolmades to boot. Enough to share.
Bread. If it comes out hot but is chewy, it’s not the fresh stuff. If you ask, they’ll get you the stuff right out of the oven. Ask.

I’m an eggs Benedict fiend. If it’s on the menu, I’ll almost always order it. That’s part of why I love brunch buffets so much – nearly all of them include eggs Benedict, and given how much it usually costs by itself, I KNOW that I’ll get my money’s worth from the buffet. I haven’t yet managed to take out an entire pan of them in one morning by myself, but I consider it a worthy goal.
With that craving in mind, I made a point of locating a good Sunday brunch buffet while on vacation here in DC. (Thanks Unilocal!) Not only was Levantes good for brunch, they’re grrrr-​eat! They have 2 main points that make them stand out–
1) Timing: Most brunches seem to run until about 1pm, 2 at the latest, and are almost empty for the last half hour. Levantes, by contrast serves until 3:00pm! We arrived at about 2:50, desperately hoping to still get in on it. The staff were perfectly friendly and happy about that, though they did warn us about the closing time. The cooks at the fresh omelette and waffle station were perfectly cheerful about serving us even at that late time. Knowing we couldn’t go back for seconds, each of us loaded up 2 full plates, basically trying a little of everything on the buffet, plus waffles, plus a shared plate of desserts. Bonus points to the waiter who cheerfully helped us carry our bounty to our lovely sidewalk table.
2) Price: Even in smaller towns, I’m used to paying $ 20 – 25 for brunch buffet, and in cities I consider $ 30 to be reasonable, especially if champagne is included. Levantes offers theirs for a mere $ 21, including 3 mimosas! [blink, blink] You can opt out of the mimosas and save $ 2, but really, what’s the point in doing that?
Food quality was good, though a few items were understandably less than perfectly fresh given how late we were. No complaint there. Nothing on the buffet was empty, and we most certainly did not go hungry.
Atmosphere was light and airy, with a centralized bar island and an open kitchen with a beautiful brick oven. As noted above, the staff were friendly and attentive, and certainly made me want to come back again to try the eastern Mediterranean food on the regular menu.
Oh, and the eggs Benedict were deliciously tangy!

Levantes is a three star restaurant with a five star Sunday brunch buffet.
There are a lot of restaurants in Bethesda and this one is decent for 6 and a half days a week. Sunday they put out a full spread including most of their appetizers and some of their entrees. They have a cook behind the buffet for made to order waffles and omlettes and I wished i could eat more food in a sitting.
This place is a destination Sunday and a fall back during the week.

2.5 stars
The service was friendly and attentive. The food was good but really nothing to get excited about. We ordered the Levantes plate for an appetizer — it had 2 fried pieces of eggplant and 2 zucchini — pretty greasy and not much flavor. One grape leaf, 2 turkish flautas (cigars) and piece of fried cheese. Seems as though it is was intended to share — but not very easy to share.
The pides were ok – again, nothing to complain about (except the sausage is a bit more expensive than the others and I couldn’t understand why) — and just not something I would ever crave.
Spanakopita was ok…
Really wish this place would be worth getting excited about — the menu looks great — but it just doesn’t make much of an impression.
Not sure if I will return…

Very professional service, if a little mumbled (literally hard to understand waiter). Overall this place is great with this related caveat: they need to get something to control the cacophony of sound that emerges when they are full. I had a little bit of trouble hearing my dinner companion and also understanding the waiter because of the noise. Maybe a tapestry or something would help, or acoustical panels on the ceiling. For those with background noise issues you might have problems in this place depending on where you sit.
Hummous: excellent and flavorful, not your costco garden variety.
Kofte: very authentic, just like you get on the west coast of Turkey
Chicken Yogurt: huge portions, excellent flavor.
Wine list: pretty good, lower end wines were not amazing, but not terrible either.
The seats are reasonably close together and the crowd is friendly.
The bread was super fresh — to me this was one of the highlights of an already fine meal.
Recommended.

***3.5 Stars***
In a word: Delicious.
Best calamari app I’ve had in a long time. My spanakopita was alright — the edges were a bit dry but it got better towards the middle. Not as flaky as I prefer though.
The bread they served was really good — warm, soft and chewy. My colleagues had the pides (Pizza boat-​ish) and they really enjoyed them also.
Great place… need to come back here and try other stuff on their menu. Their happy hour looks like it’s a great deal too!

Holy Toledo — this place is good! Haha.
My friend and I randomly chose to eat here because the menu posted on the door didn’t seem particularly expensive and the restaurant itself wasn’t too busy. It’s a bit odd because the restaurant itself APPEARS snobby and expensive. Clean, white tablecloths. A round, modern bar in the middle of the restaurant. Bright lighting and refreshing color scheme. And FREE boxes of matches. The hostess told my friend and I to take as many as we wanted; she informed us that the restaurant had a full warehouse of them. I took two. :)
I ordered the lahmacun, which was advertised as a «famous» Turkish «pizza.» I didn’t know exactly what to expect, but it turned out to be a thin-​crust pizza (the best kind of pizza, I think) with chopped lamb and freshly dressed greens and red onions on top. The «pizza» was slightly spicy and incredible with a sprinkle of fresh lemon juice. I accompanied my entrée with a Castle Rock Pinot Noir, which was also deliciously earthy. My eating partner had the lamb kebabs (adana kebab), which were SOO good. Spicy, juicy, and tender. The amount of char on the kebab provided a wonderful texture and flavor. And the accompanying flat-​bread and roasted potatoes were similarly delicious.
Lastly, the service was attentive (i.e., great!). Given that the restaurant was fairly busy, I doubly appreciated the attention.
This is a great place for any occasion — you can easily dress it up or put a casual spin on your visit. I don’t know why it’s neighbor, Raku, is ALWAYS so much more packed. Well… all the more incentive to go a door down for some wonderful mediterranean!