AJ’s Mediterranean & Tanuki Cakes is a great lunch spot conveniently close to campus with friendly service, authentic Mediterranean dishes and unique desserts.
My suitemate and I decided to try AJ’s Mediterranean with the hope of eating something different than we had been, as most of our meals had been pizza and pasta at the MUC. The first thing I liked about the restaurant was its location, right around the corner from the SIUE campus, making it an easy trip for lunch.
The restaurant is fairly small but clean and cute with several tables and booths. We came in around 4 p.m. and no one else was there, but soon after, more people arrived.
When we walked in, we were greeted by the cashier, who told us how to order since we were new to the restaurant and answered all of our questions about what food to get.
Along with serving Mediterranean sandwiches, salads, soups and other dishes, the restaurant also has a Tanuki cakes counter. The cashier said the Tanuki cakes counter had Japanese-style cakes as well as Lebanese desserts.
We were able to get our food within 10 minutes of waiting. I ordered a gyro sandwich and their deluxe hummus with flatbread and my suitemate ordered sujuk.
The hummus and flatbread was exactly what I wanted, with the gyro meat in the hummus adding to its flavor while also making the dish quite filling. My gyro was also pretty good, but I would have liked a more even ratio of gyro meat to vegetables, as I could only really taste the meat.
When we had finished, we both ordered a pastry to go from the Tanuki cakes counter.
I ordered choclava, a chocolate and peanut butter version of baklava, which was flakey and a perfect mix of the two flavours.
For my gyro, hummus and choclava I spent a total of $33. For all of the food I got, I felt the price was reasonable but a bit pricey.
Though some dishes were more expensive, AJ’s Mediterranean is a great place for a tasty Mediterranean meal and delicious dessert.
Taste: 4/5
Service:5/5
Price: 3/5