Bodrum Cafe

SAd to see this place go, but they’re locatin, customer relations, and ambiance did them in. The food was GERAT. Hopefully the principals will do another place and fix all the mostly minor but fatal flaws.

Yuck. Yuck. Did I say yuck?
This place was awful! My friend and I had high hopes as we browsed down Castro for a place to eat.
The host was very short and impatient. He seated us but seemed rushed or upset.
Our waiter came with «bread» and «olive oil». The bread was stale and subpar to even Wonder bread standards. And the «olive oil» was far from even Canola Oil. I didn’t know such a thing existed.
After we ordered, we waited restlessly for at least 45 minutes. The waiter didn’t even check in once.
Between the two of us, we had the lamb and beef kabobs. They just couldn’t seem to get anything right. The beef was incinerated and the lamb was so raw blood spewed out as I cut into a chunk.
The dishes came with very mediocre rice and flavorless precut vegetables.

Went at 2pm on a Sunday, and waited a few minutes to see any staff. Place was empty except one group. It was pleasant to sip our wine outside, but there several tables uncleared. After taking our order, the waiter went over to one of them but only picked up check, leaving the plates of half eaten food out in the sun. Kind of gross. He did clear them maybe thirty minutes after we’d been there.
We got our usual Mediterranean vegetarian dishes: falafel, hummus and what not. There was like 8 veggie options, but they were out of three of them. The food was «meh». A bit bland, and the bread (no pita) was oddly doughy. Ephesus up the street has much better food.
Food was maybe 3 stars, and the waiter was quite nice to us but dropping a star for dirty plates.

This is a beautiful Mediterranean restaurant right on California and Castro. During the summer they frequently have Spanish guitar player on the patio. The patio is covered with vine laden overhangs and has beautiful red tile floors. They are very willing to accommodate large groups and the patio has heaters so it has never been hard to get a seat. The food was delicious. The jasmine rice was so good and the vegetables were perfectly cooked. At Bodrum, I was so thankful that the food was good because the ambiance and the way it made you feel like you were in a little Mediterranean village definitely made me want to come back.

The service from the moment I walked in was impeccable. Diving into the grilled veggie platter actually made me think about becoming a vegetarian for about 1.2 seconds… it’s THAT good. I topped it off with some wonderful Turkish Tea and was quite satisfied.
Make it a point to visit the Bodrum Café next time you are perusing Castro Street in Mountain View.

There are very few restaurants in downtown mountain view that I am fond of but this one is a gem! I almost don’t want to share it with you so that you won’t ruin my quite date night restaurant! But alas credit needs to be given.
So alas let us begin: The service is impeccable, not rude or pretentious, they are always willing to accomidate within reason. They are attentive but not to the point of being pesky, like a true server they anticipate your needs without being seen. My favorite thing to do is ask how the Chef is preparing the fish that night and usually that’s what I order.
My favorite dish so far is his Whole Branzino!!! The whole fish has been seasoned with fresh herbs almost to a point where you would think it has been marinated, the flavors are that deep. It has been lightly grilled to give the skin crisp, yet the fish is moist and tender. My fiancé and I love the mussels in the saffron infused broth, we usually always start with them. To end the meal we had a crisp greek salad with a twist, we love the Chef’s tzatziki sauce. Sum that up with a crisp and dry Pinot grigio and it makes for a great meal.
Since the restaurant is still a local gem it’s nice that even on a Friday evening at 8:30 you can get a table and not be crowded and you can actually hear your dinner partner!

My husband and I really enjoyed our visit here. We had dinner here for the first time tonight.
After walking by a few times and seeing that there weren’t a whole bunch of people in the restaurant, we decided to give it a try. The restaurant itself felt clean and inviting, and definitely less claustrophobic than the other option for Turkish/​Mediterranean down the street, Café Baklava (which I also happen to enjoy).
We started with a baked prawn appetizer, which was really rich — so careful about what you order if you start with that and don’t share it with someone. I ordered the kofta kabob, which was very good, and my husband had the red snapper, which he also liked (although I suspect he liked mine more). We finished with a rose-​water custard with pistachio, which was excellent.
The service was great, and I thought that the servers really tried their best to make sure we had a nice experience. Also a very good value. We had a starter, two entrees, two beers and a dessert for about $ 60 (before tip).
We look forward to our next visit!

Came here on a super sunny afternoon and I loved it!
The service was amazing and the food was so yummy.
$ 5.95 appetizer for crispy calamari with marinara sauce? Yes please!

I have been there recently for lunch with ex-​coworkers. I made reservation through Open Table and was happy to get the time slot I wanted for party of 5. It was easy to find the restaurant but Mountain View is famous for lack of parking especially during lunch hour. I was surprised that it is almost empty at lunch time. The service was good and we have to ask the owner/​waiter to switch on the AC since it was heatwave that week. I ordered the fish special and it was just ok. Maybe I was expecting too much.

There’s nothing that jumps out and says AWESOME, but there’s plenty to be happy about. Definitely one of the better choices in MV for greek food.
The wine selection is OK, and make sure to try the economically priced sangria. I could drink that for days!
Their falafel were good, the hummus was chunky. The wifey enjoyed the salmon.
Great patio, nice to sit on a sunny day and enjoy the ambience.

I love the patio seating! I thought the dishes were OK. I got a calamari sandwich and it was just OK. The calamari steak was not fishy — but the sandwich just didn’t work.
The chicken shish kebab was really good. But we only wish there are more meat though. Hunkar Begendi (chicken dish with eggplant purée) was very interesting. We can’t tell if it’s authentic but we definitely enjoyed the flavor!
We were there on a Sunday afternoon and it was not packed at all. But the service was still very slow. We just did not get why it would take a good 25 minutes for our food to be served. A part of 2 came in later than us and ordered later than us still got the food 10 minutes earlier than us. (We were a party of 3).
Our dining experience is just mediocre. But I will come back just to have that Hunkar Begendi.

I was having a Friday night outting, with hopes of going to Palo Alto, when the knarled traffic on 101 forced me to divert after a painful 45 minute crawl from 237. We ended up on Castro, a familiar haunt for us, and took a walk around.
I wasn’t looking for anything in particular and was quite disturbed by the number of new Indian restaurants in town. The pool of acceptable places to eat on Castro was small enough as it was. So, spying a nice looking and well-​occupied patio at Bodrum, I decided to give it a shot, since I’m always up for good Mediterranean food.
Upon entering though, the mood immediately took a turn. While the patio was welcoming and had a flamenco guitar player entertaining, the inside was empty except for two tables. Since the weather had been unseasonably cool, the temperature on the patio was dropping as fast as the sun. So, we sat inside.
When I checked out the menu, I found very little Mediterranean food. The food was definitely skewed to something ethic Turkish. We decided to try their fried cheese sticks and hummus platter appetizers. When those came out, the cheese sticks were as expected, just fried dough-​wrapped feta cheese and quite plain. The hummus was greasy, as it looked like it came out of a tub from the fridge. Then, there were four rock-​hard fried disks of some very dry and bland vegetable patties. Those weren’t pleasant at all. Thankfully, they brought us some hot bread to compensate.
As for the entrees, we got an eggplant and beef stew and a chicken kabob. The eggplant looked ok and came with a nice side of rice. My chicken kabob was decent as the 5 chicken chunks were moist and juicy. Unfortunately, there were only 5 chunks along with my own side of rice.
Overall, the quality is quite mediocre for the price, typical of most places on Castro. The waiter was attentive and seemed earnest about executing his job, but I have to agree with other reviewers that he also gave off an odd vibe. I felt rather uncomfortable whenever he came by to deliver food, pick up plates or bring us our check. Then again, it’s always uncomfortable to sitting in a virtually empty restaurant all night when Castro was buzzing.
In any case, we tabbed out at $ 54 including tax and tip. While the meal was filling, it was not satisfying. If I went back, it would definitely not be for the food.

I got the eggplant purée and chicken dish. I thoroughly enjoyed it! The mash potatoey substance was the purée. It was quite tasty! I am a big fan of eggplant: D
I must say the service is verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry SLOW. About half an hour, waiting for our food. But it’s a good thing that my office is right adjacent from the restaurant. But STILL !
They have outdoor seating, where you can laugh outside and people watch. (: w/​an umbrella for shade !

Came here today with a friend who’s been here several times — I really enjoyed the food. We had the mixed appetizer platter, the lamb kebob plate, and the moussaka. The lavash was standard good. There was one dip on the appetizer platter that I didn’t care for, but I’m not sure what it was called — the rest were delicious. The lamb kebob was a little tough, but I really liked the rice that it came with. The moussaka was standard good. The restaurant was clean, service was polite and attentive, and parking is easy in downtown Mountain View. Prices are about normal for a place like this in Mountain View. I would definitely come back if I were in the neighborhood.

When I see restaurants such as this get above 3 stars on Unilocal,it makes me wonder who exactly are giving these places good reviews? Does the owner have a bunch of monkeys who give this place 5 stars?
I went with a bunch of co-​workers and no-​one was impressed. We ordered 6 falafel sandwiches/​wrap, one swordfish sandwich/​wrap and one Turkish version of the Baba Ghanoosh (I don’t know what it was called). The restaurant was pretty empty (that should have warned us) but it still took them over 30 minutes — close to 40 minutes to get our order done. My swordfish sandwich/​wrap was cold and seemed like it was cooked the night before. I would never go back.

We were the only ones in the entire restaurant for a good hour on a Wednesday evening (8:30pm). For comparison, Shiva’s, Cascal and Café Baklava on all 3 sides of this restaurant were full.
That being said, service was courteous, but almost eerily so. The waiter would wait by our table until we finished our conversation or we deliberately stopped it in order to end the awkwardness every time he took our order/​gave out menu/​cleaned the table/​brought the check.
Food was bland and pricey. Not to mention they were out of one of their classic desserts (who could have ordered that many when the tables were all empty??) and the chocolate cake we ordered came straight out of the freezer. Kid you not, we could not dig into the cake and when we sliced it, we saw frozen ice crystals inside. Café Baklava next door is much better.

Hmmm, mixed feelings on this one. The lunch menu was pretty pricey compared to the other restaurants on Castro. $ 14 for a plate of ravioli was not what I was expecting to pay when I went in here. Definitely does not look like a place that would charge $ 14 for a plate for ravioli, so bit of a disconnect there.
Ended up getting a meatball wrap for $ 8 which came with some salad as well. Pretty good, took a little longer than I expected though. Looked at the dessert menu and decided to pass on the $ 6 baklava. My recommendation is to head over a couple of doors and eat at Café Baklava Mediterranean which is a better option.

This place is a bit too «white tablecloth» for every day lunch. Lunch entrees are $ 13-​$ 16. Wraps are offered for less ($ 7-​$ 9). I’ve eaten here twice so far:
– Lamb kabob plate (name?): Perfectly executed, with chunks of savory lamb in a light mushroom sauce, cooked veggies on the side, and perfectly done rice. Preceded by a delicious, fresh, mini-​loaf of bread that was great for dipping in the sauce. My only nits: the lamb was slightly tough and the bread would’ve been a homerun with some kind of herb-​infused dip, like some other places offer. Service was good at first, if a tad pushy. They asked me about drinks several times. I can’t blame them, since drinks are such profit machines, but I do blame them for ignoring me the last half of the meal so that I had to find someone to bring the check. 4 stars.
– Falafel plate: ($ 9.95) On the appetizer daily special list. Four freshly-​made, small falafel balls smothered in tahini; also included salad, hummus and a dill/​yogurt spread; No pita bread included, but the aforementioned bread was included, and did the trick. Though it was beautifully presented, this meal was a miss for me; Overpriced too. The falafel crust was so thick/​tough I had to bear down hard with a knife, and the interior was far too dense, not flaky. The garlicky hummus was the best thing on the plate. 2.5 stars.
One thing Bodrum Café really has going for its great patio. For bustling downtown Mountain View, you can’t beat it with a stick: there’s plentiful outside seating, complete with shade trees, trellis, and burbling fountain. (A good spot to bring clients or business associates). Almost worth an extra star.

I thought my experience here would be better. I was disappointed that they did not offer any meats that were not kabob or grounded. I was looking for more thin sliced, schwarma type cuisine. The waiter was a bit rude with replying that they dont serve mediterranean food here. Only Turkish cuisine. Then tell me why do you advertise as a Mediterranean restaurant? Its boldly written under the restaurant name.
The ambience was nice, outdoor patio with heat lamps. Sangria was quite good, tart not overly sweet, just how I like it. Dessert was good, baklava with vanilla gelato. The maincourse, was so so, tasted Italian to me. Eggplant with ground meat. Ground meat which I despise, was a bit slight pink.
I definitely liked the ambience, I will just have to come here when I crave kabobs only. Because for Mediterranean food, Im headed to the Mediterranean Grill House or DishDash!

My friend and I loved our lunch here, and days after, we still rave about how delicious the food was! When we walked in, we were created with really good smells emanating from the kitchen — a good sign! We were seated right away, and the host was very nice.
I wanted the doner kabob, but the menu said it was only offered Fri-​Sun, which made me sad, but the host said not to worry, they’d make it for me that day if I wanted it. I lit up and was happy! This dish was lovely — rice, grilled veggies that were popping with color and flavor (bell peppers, tomatoes), and lamb and beef kabob — the best I’ve had so far! I ate my entire dish, and at lunch I usually eat ¼ of what I ate there.
My friend had the kabob alexander, and she liked hers too! We also started with the cigar roll appetizer, which is feta cheese deep fried and shaped to look like cigars. So good!
Our service was attentive, not hovering, brought out bread and our drinks quickly, along with our food.
I’m still drooling thinking of this place.