Cafe Mediterranean

Closed.

Holy crap. What did we miss the first time?!
We visited Café Mediterranean a couple of years ago, before I signed up for Unilocal,and came away thinking it was pretty good, if a bit pricey. At present, we can’t even remember what we ate that time.
But we went back the other night and had what I thought was a straight-​up five-​star experience. I don’t know if we just ordered poorly the first time, or whether the restaurant has improved dramatically, or both.
Anyway, if you’re an omnivore, grab your wife, husband, main squeeze, BFFF, or whomever – just grab anybody – and get down to the Café Mediterranean and order up the appetizer combo and the mixed grill to share between yourselves. The appetizer combo for two ($ 10.95) features a generous serving of hummus, babaghanoush, ezme, and a pinto-​bean item, and the mixed grill ($ 24.95) offers a huge portion of shish kebab, chicken kebab, doner kebab, kofte, and gyro. (The mixed grill is listed as a regular entrée, but only a rabid beast is going to be able to polish this thing off by him– or herself.) All of this stuff was absolutely superb, quite a bit better than the average Middle Eastern fare. All of the appetizers were more complex than the average, and all of the meats were nicely seasoned and cooked to absolute perfection.
Supposedly, Café Mediterranean has a Turkish focus, and maybe this is true because I’m not familiar with a couple of the menu’s items, such as lamb tandoori, cacik (a diced-​cucumber-​in-​yogurt appetizer), and kisir (a tabbouli-​like salad with lettuce).
Service is polished and professional. The mostly deep-​red décor is rather dark and formal and maybe even a little dated (I was surprised to learn that Café Meditteranean is only about three years old), but entirely pleasant. The shopping center location and boring restaurant name may be a little uninspiring, but who cares when the food is this good?
Wine list is a little odd – it even includes a few Turkish wines – but has a nice range and balance to it.
I figure Café Mediterranean has to be the best restaurant in Anderson Township by a country mile, and it may well be the best Middle Eastern restaurant in the Cincinnati area (easily better than places like Andy’s and Pera).
Another trip like this and I will definitely bump this score up to five stars.

Café Mediterranean is our favorite middle eastern restaurants in Cincinnati.
the ppl working there are super friendly which really encourage you to come back more often. so we usually go there once-​twice a month…
the food is amazing which reminds me a lot of the food back home (Syria)
as for appetizers: stuffed grape leaves and borak are excellent… their salads are good as well but somehow taboleh doesn’t look or taste exactly as the original middle eastern taboleh!
All their main dishes are so tasty and healthy at the same time. I recommend the Adana kebab and Iskender kebab
desserts are great too.
the atmosphere inside is elegant and cozy and the Turkish music they play is very nice.
Café Mediterranean is a must visit if you wana have authentic middle eastern food in Cincinnati

This restaurant is starting to come into its own. Although it is fairly new, the service staff is attentive, the décor is nice, and the selection good. They can get busy so on a popular night, during dinner rush, you may want to call in a reservation.
They have a nice private room in the back with a low table and floor cushions. The bar is a good size if you want a drink and appetizer while waiting on a table or just to hang out.
They will offer to bring you a taste of any wine on their menu before you order which is nice.
There are some really good menu items and there are a few that I wasn’t as thrilled with. The spicy vegetable side dish, (acili something) is very good. The salads are HUGE, so keep that in mind if you are ordering dinner as well. Their bread is decent but they are in the process of getting their own special oven to cook the bread on site which I think will be a big improvement. I was not particularly fond of the way they prepare the baklava, however all the gooey honey does appeal to some. The Borak (phyllo, cheese and spinach if you like) was excellent and the falafel was good although different from what I am used to. The tahini sauce is more like a mustard which is interesting.
I would recommend this place and I think they may even deserve a 3.5, which is sure to advance to a 4 with time.

Café Med is easily one of my favorite restaurants around here, and I think it’s something of a shame that it ended it up in bland old Anderson township. Its unassuming façade and strip mall location belies the fact that this restaurant offers fantastic Mediterranean food with style to boot.
Stepping inside, the quiet elegance of the décor is a striking alternative to what sits outside, and the wait staff is almost obsequiously courteous. For larger dinner parties, there’s even a Turkish-​themed room to gather in, replete with a hookah on the wall — good luck using something like that indoors, however, what with Ohio’s ban on indoor smoking.
As a vegetarian, I can’t speak to some of the meat courses on the menu. When I eat with friends, it’s usually enjoyed, though a couple of complained that the lamb was a bit dry from time to time. I typically order a bowl of lentil soup (fantastic!) or fried dough for a shared appetizer, then eat hummus or the acili ezme (chopped tomatoes and walnuts with olive oil, basil, etc — it’s delicious) with warm pita bread for the main course. There are a couple of vegetarian dinner options on the menu, but they seem a little boring compared to their carnivorous alternatives; I’m usually happy to order the hummus, which is perfectly spiced with a little cumin and sometimes stop on the way home from work to get some dinner to go.
Café Mediterranean is definitely worth a try if you live anywhere on the east side of Cincinnati; even if you don’t, and want some laid back Turkish grub, it’s hard to go wrong.