Tis Me Michelle

I’ve been waiting to try this restaurant since it opened. I finally took myself to lunch the other day. It is just as picturesque as I’d seen online. Very clean, vibey, and Instagrammable. I was happy to be able to be seated right away, surprisingly not super busy for a Saturday afternoon. The kitchen was only open for another half an hour for lunch by the time I got there before they closed for their dinner period, which was plenty of time for me. I appreciated they let me know as soon as I got there.

I got seated by the open doors on a comfy seat. The weather was super nice and I would have loved to sit outside, but if you are familiar with Park Ave, it’s kind of awkward to sit outside, cause you’re right on the main road where folks are constantly walking by on. Therefore, I was happy I was by the window/doors, but still inside. The staff was super friendly and attentive.

Now the main event… The food and drink. I will start off by saying, this is definitely a more pricey spot. There were a few interesting-sounding lattes on the menu, but unfortunately, they were all not available. I can only assume they ran out of ingredients as I came in at the tail end of brunch. But I had my eye on a cocktail, I thought I’d save myself some $$$ as the lattes were half the price of the cocktail. I opted for the Temptation of Orpheus, which I enjoyed.

What immediately caught my eye on the food menu was the Grilled Cyprus Haloumi Cheese. And just like that, $25 later, I had 4 slices of Haloumi with a tiny bit of sesame seeds and honey. It was set on fire, so I suppose some of the price was for the show. Now I can’t say it was bad, it’s just that I could have gotten several blocks of Haloumi from the grocery store for that price. If there was a unique flavor or even simply more of the honey and sesame seeds, then I’d be up for the experience, but it just was not special enough for that price.

I wasn’t totally sure what I wanted for my actual meal. There were a few items that caught my eye, so I asked my waitress for her recommendations. She gave me plenty of options and I went for her original recommendation which was one of the items I was thinking about, the Egg Shakshuka. Now… This could totally be a me thing. I’ve never had Shakshuka out. I’ve made it at home before, but it isn’t a dish I grew up on or anything. I just stumbled on it before and gave it a go. All to say, I’m not sure that I made the ‘real’ or ‘authentic’ version of it. What I can say though is… I preferred mine to the one at the restaurant. I actually took half of it home and ended up jeujing it up and enjoying it more. I felt like it lacked flavor.

And yet still… I ordered dessert. Because I have no self-control. I of course went for the Baklava. I love Baklava and I remember it being a thing with a friend of mine and me in middle school. We were randomly obsessed with it. I liked this more than the main dish, and similarly to the Haloumi, I can’t say it was bad. I think it’s unique. The description on the menu was: Layers of crispy phyllo dough, honey, nuts, pistachio orange blossom ice cream. I liked the ice cream, the orange blossom part wasn’t my favorite, but that’s my personal preference. There was some kind of a kick in the nut mixture that threw me off. I wasn’t a fan of whatever the flavor was, and since it wasn’t in the description, I wasn’t expecting it.

Again the vibes of the restaurant are so nice, especially for a friend’s brunch or date. I was, unsurprisingly, the only one alone. But I thoroughly enjoyed laxing on the comfy seat and reading my book. I went and read some Google reviews afterward, and I primarily saw great reviews. I want to say this is all personal preference issues. I would go back and try some different dishes, maybe some of the ones I saw highlighted in the reviews I read. The things I ordered didn’t really come up in the good reviews. There was a mandatory 18% service charge, which I wasn’t mad at because of the great service, but I was not aware of it ahead of time. And again, for the overall price, I felt like everything should have been much better.

Rating: 6/10