Mirage Mediterranean Grill

Monday, November 2, 2015

Joined a few people for dinner tonight at a place in Bixby Knolls. They feel the food it is better than Baba Ghanouj which is a few blocks down the street. To me it was a yes and no. We ordered some appetizers to start, Stuffed Grape Leaves, Falafal, Arayes which is Pita stuffed with beef, lamb, onions a few other things then heated. It was good. Also had the Cauliflower which was loaded with garlic.

I ordered the Beef Shawarma. Marinated skirt steak sliced  horizontally. The meat was a decent thickness and was moist. Dinner came with rice and  a non descript salad with very little dressing, I took some Tahini sauce and poured it on. Dessert was a scoop of cheesecake with Rosewater and Pistachio sprinkles. This was really good. Not overly sweet. Just the right touch for the end of the meal.

This restaurant serves no alcohol and none is allowed to be brought in. They also have a Hooka lounge in front if you are so inclined.

Would I go back to the Mirage ? Probably not unless it was with this group of people.  I did find the beef much better  at Mirage. But I thought that Baba Ghanouj's pita bread was superior along with the rice. But the biggest reason was service. Took forever to get a menu then forever to take our order. We started with some appetizers, slow out of the kitchen. Pita bread was set down just after the appetizers. You would think that would be the first thing on the table. The Hummus was good. After dinner orders were taken again it took time to even get the salads set down. The waitresses had two speeds,  slow and stop. Plus they could not get the bill right. Everything is hand written. I found the atmosphere strange and just on the verge of seedy looking.  It was clean but something I would expect to find in a more ethnic area of town. It seemed out of place.