When I think about food court meals, I usually think of chain restaurants serving burgers or pizza—nothing special. Until last year, that seemed to be the case. Mediterranean Grill in the Gateway Mall, located on 6100 O St., serves Mediterranean food ranging from gyros to Greek salads to baklava, and is able to accommodate Nebraskans with more adventurous taste buds.
With the quick service of a fast food restaurant, but healthier options available, I found it easy to order and ask questions of the employees working behind the counter.
The menu includes options to order a meal of a kebab or gyro with sides of greek fries, rice, a salad or a combination of sorts. I went with a lamb and beef gyro with rice and a Greek salad for my side. For my choice of salad, I could have either an arugula and spinach based mix or a mix of cabbage and lettuce that makes their “Greek mix,” which I chose to pair with a light Greek dressing.
The process of ordering is line-based, starting on the left and moving toward the right, and you personalize your order as you go along. In the back, they tossed some gyro meat and naan bread onto the grill to warm them up. Though I do love watching the process of shaving the schwarma off the spit in similar restaurants, this process makes this quick-service food court restaurant that much quicker.
Once the protein of my meal was on the grill, I watched them add a few scoops of rice, my salad and finally my fresh, warm gyro to my plate. On top of my gyro, I got tzatziki sauce, lettuce, sliced tomatoes and feta cheese, and I had a hard time not drooling on the glass as I completed my order. At just $6.99, I could already tell this meal would fill me up until a late dinner.
I brought my tray of food to a nearby table and immediately dug in.
My gyro was still pretty warm off the grill and the flavors on the meat weren’t missing anything. I had my doubts about it, but I was pleasantly surprised. Though the meat may have been sitting for a bit after they shaved it off the spit, it still tasted pretty fresh.
My side of rice was topped with a scoop of tomato sauce and half a roasted potato. With the first bite of rice, there was a hint of cardamom spice, something I wasn’t quite expecting. If you have never tasted cardamom, it’s somewhat of an acquired taste that stems from the family of ginger root, but also has traces of smokey lemon and mint. Cardamom isn’t my favorite flavor, so if I would’ve known that the rice would taste of it, I probably would’ve gotten their Greek fries or another side.
My salad was a salad. Nothing too exciting, but still very tasty. It was nice to have a colder side to go along with the other two-thirds of my meal that were warm. Overall, the Mediterranean Grill exceeded my expectations of foot court Greek food. I will definitely recommend this place to anyone and everyone who wants to step out of the box of typical burgers and fries fast food.
DN Rating: 3.5/5
arts@dailynebraskan.com