Mezza Mediterranean Grill

I’ve been feeling the salads a lot here lately. I think I got the chickpea salad twice this week. Definitely check it out if you’re in the mood for something fresh and flavorful.

Two words: steak wrap!
After getting bored of your typical lunch-​time-​loop food (Jimmy Johns, Cosi, etc.), I decided to give Mezza a shot at the recommendation of one of my co-​workers. Five months later, I am hooked!
My go-​to food is the steak wrap on white. The protein serving sizes are large (much more than Chipotle) and similar to Chiptole, there are a variety of tomatoes, onions, to put on your wrap, pita, or salad including sauces — my personal favorite is mixing Tahini with a little bit of hot sauce.
Highly recommend this location especially because of the speed of the line at the height of lunchtime.

This place doesn’t deserve your business.
When you order a salad, they ask you «Everything on it?» Meaning, is there anything you would not want to eat that normally comes on the salad? I reply «no goat cheese.» What comes on top of my salad in a big white glob? F****** goat cheese! This has happened more than once.
If you expect me to pay $ 10 for a salad, your customer service better be on point. If you’re not even gonna listen to me, then you deserve a 1 star Unilocal review and you don’t deserve my business. There are plenty of other salad places in the loop that will gladly hold the goat cheese.

Wasn’t a fan of this location at all. I’ll stick to their Jackson location in the future. I ordered a chicken plate with a side of falafel. The chicken was cold and the falafel was super soggy. You can also tell that the pita that comes with the plate was far from fresh, sad really. Their other location gives them to you nice and warm. I also felt rushed while ordering which was funny since there wasn’t even a line at the time, it took me longer than normal because they didn’t have the same selection out as the Jackson normally does.

At first when I started going to Mezza Mediterranean Grill I was hooked. I’d go there for a salad a couple times a week. Expense habit? Indeed. But any place that gets me hooked on a salad must be doing something right. Unfortunately, my most recent visits have been epic fails. How does one mess up a salad, you ask. Apparently, it is a problem when you want them to deviate from the norm. It appears asking them to keep certain items off the salad messes them up — in my case croutons and cheese. I don’t blame the woman who is the first person I talk to for these issues. She knows who I am, the things I DON’T want on my salad and communicates them to the others helping prepare salads. It’s more those farther down the assembly line. Either they didn’t hear the message or are on autopilot. I’ve even gone as far to mention to each and every person assembling the salad the items I don’t want on it in an attempt to make sure it doesn’t get messed up; however, it still gets messed up along the way resulting with them having to make a new salad for me.
An addition to the above, no one has apologized for these messed up salads even though they see it happening right in front of them. I went to the main website for this chain, but nowhere on there is an email address you can write to with comments, concerns and/​or questions. Thus, I’m writing this review (rant).
In my mind, this all boils down to this: If you’re not going to deviate from what’s normally in a salad you’re most likely golden and will have a good experience. But if you request they not include things in your salad, beware for issues.

I only came here because I was too lazy to walk 3 blocks to Naf Naf. Well I learned to not come again.
Ordered a chicken bowl with 3 extra falafels. Not impressed with their food, chicken was really dry and not many flavors. And they are really cheap with the vegetables. I asked for tomatoes, cabbage salad, and some other chopped salad, got a tiny scoop of each. The cabbage was the saddest, the server gave me 3 shreds of cabbage. ugh… really?
I found an interesting glitch in their pricing system. Apparently a chicken bowl with 3 extra falafels has the same stuff as a falafel bowl with extra chicken but it’s priced lower. Interesting right?

This is place has healthy options! If you like a salad go for it — good portion with reasonably priced and good food!

Bleh. A 3 seems too generous but a 2 seems a little harsh.
I was in a lunch hurry today and Mezza was the closest restaurant to my building, and since I’ve been on a Mediterranean kick lately, I decided to give it a go. First thing I noticed walking in was that this particular location only had one other person in line at 1130 (first red flag for downtowners) but I decided to still continue on because maybe people are turned off at this smaller location.
Even though there was only one other person in front of me, I felt the employee was in a rush and totally cheated me out on some toppings when she quickly threw tiny half scoop of everything in a bowl. The overall breakdown was this: chicken was way too dry, lacked in flavor, and small in portion while everything else other than the rice was just bland. A few bites in I felt like I was eating a Wendy’s salad (no shade, Wendy’s). Also, hummus isn’t one of the toppings that comes with the bowl but is extra, which is just mean. Check out was $ 8 something, which is a great price compared to what’s around but honestly, unless I’m trapped in the building during the next snowmageddon, I am going to spend the extra buck and pay a visit to their competitors.

Good fast Mediterranean food in a food court no less. Staff was helpful, in heloping me decide from their offerings.
Food was great.

Came to Chicago for 2 days and ate here twice. Its that good. They have reasonable prices, friendly staff, and simple menus. I would recommend the steak pita.

As far as the felafel plate goes, which I don’t think a Mediterranean restaurant should get wrong (just like the refritos at a Mexican place should be muy delicioso), the felafel were tasteless and almost burned, and the side cucumber and tomato salad was so salty it was inedible. So I had the side rice for lunch. $ 10 for rice.

Eh, just ok now. Their chicken is dryer and not as flavorful. Their staff is not super friendly. Their «homemade pitas» are dry and what I would call a FAIL. Boo.

Definitely the low man on the pole with regards to Mediterranean in the Loop.
I picked up a chicken kabob plate for lunch here. I opted for brown rice, tomatoes and falafel as sides, with tahini as the sauce.
In general everything was pretty bland. The chicken leaned a bit dry, though the bell peppers on the kabob were cooked well. The rice was unseasoned and could’ve been mistaken for instant brown rice, assuming such a product exists.
The worst offender was the tahini sauce, which honest to God tasted like sour cream. Creamy, I suppose, but sour cream is not tahini and shouldn’t go around masquerading as tahini sauce.
The falafel was OK as well; right taste, wrong texture. Even though it came from somewhere in the back, it still wasn’t that crunchy or distinctive.
Overall Mezza is the kind of Mediterranean food that is least offensive to the most amount of people. Which doesn’t make it particularly memorable or somewhere I’m like to return to in the future, and reminds me uncomfortably of the local food court in the mall.

My coworkers and I are obsessed with the Shepard’s Salad! It is so delicious — goat cheese, chicken, avocado, almonds, etc. Highly recommend.
The other rice plates, pitas, hummus, etc are also delicious.
This a great, healthy, and affordable lunch spot in the Loop.

Meza is assembly line Mediterranean wraps, salads, and rice bowls. It’s kind of like Roti, if you’ve been there, but the portions aren’t as huge. I almost always go for a chicken shwarma wrap and get a lot of toppings. They even have pickles!
There are only like two tables and this place gets busy at lunch. The line moves very quickly and that’s not a problem, but you’ll probably need to go elsewhere to sit and eat.

I stopped by Mezza after an appointment in the downtown area. I was going to just head to the Ogilvie food court, but I walked in on the East side door and spotted the place. There was a decent line but they were knockin’ them out quick.
This is similar to Roti and Naf Naf; to go Mediterranean food. They offer wraps and pitas, salads, and plates. I decided to go with the Chicken Kebob Plate sans rice (should have gone with the rice). The plates come with choice of brown or white rice.
After that, you can decide if you want a cucumber salad and your choice of 3 sauces. I went with the Tahina. I added Romaine lettuce, hummus, and corn.
Looking back, I basically ordered a salad. The price was 8 bucks; but I wasn’t too satisfied.
You pick if you want a salad, plate, or wrap. You pick your protein. You pick your sides/​toppings. I thought it was okay; although I waited 10 minutes for the Kebob, which was 4 pieces of chicken, 2 pieces of onion, and 2 pieces of mushroom.
Nothing spectacular, but definitely an upgrade over McD, Arby’s, or Sbarro. Easy on the wallet and waistline if you are careful

Small little restaurant so it gets busy and packed during lunch. They have outdoor seating on the side which is so nice.
I had a falafel wrap. It was messy but good. Not my favorite falafel in the loop but very conveniently located and decently priced.

I used to come here semi-​frequently and today’s visit reminded me why I stopped going.
The food is only so-​so. The chicken is of good quality, but the wrap was too thick and tasted «raw». Yes they grill in for a couple seconds (think Chipotle) but not long enough to take away the breadiness.
More importantly, when you serve a wrap, you shouldn’t fold it like it was a gyros. The toppings don’t stay in the wrap and end up spilling everywhere, leaving a goopy mess behind.
Most likely the under-​griddled bread and lousy wrap job were a result of being busy, but when I’m paying $ 8 for a wrap with no sides, at very least it should be made properly.

A little bit of Unilocal and google maps and voila — Mezza! I was trying to find a convenient place to have lunch with a friend and I see this place. I look up the reviews and I’m like let’s give it a whirl.
Now the address says 181 W Madison, but if you enter from Madison, you may get a little lost. I take a chance walk in and ask for Mezza, they point me straight to the back. This place is cozy and well lit and inviting. I hop in a line that seems pretty long, but it moves pretty fast. The lady at the front was SUPER friendly considering I had no idea of what I wanted.
I get her recommendation and opt for the Shepherd Salad with all the fixings (avocados, corn, cheese, mixed salad, dates, goat cheese, and tomatoes) with chicken. It did not disappoint. It was a great size and oh so fresh. I would recommend you have the salad dressing on the side. It would make for good later because it’s pretty sizeable.
Heads up. the pita is thick and not that tasty as other reviewers have mentioned, so iono how quickly I’ll be trying the pita!

Dig it! Quick, quality pitas and wraps in the Merch Mart food court. Of all the spots inside this is the one you can pretty much always guarantee will be fast and fresh.
I love the kabob meal with 2 skewers of generous meat and veggie portions. At just over $ 10 it’s great for a relatively healthy meal without breaking the bank.
The staff is always extremely friendly and will even give you a free pita bread now and then if you ask nicely.