Mezza Westwood
“There is plenty of street parking and also a lot near the movie theater which usually has a ton of space.”
“I love the seafood rice entree (don't remember the name) with quinoa to be a little more specific, and the hummus is so smooth and flavorful!”
“After putting in our order, our waiter uncorked our (BYOB) wine and brought us fresh pita to get our palates going.”
Mezza Westwood
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Outdoor Seating: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$$$ Price range $31-60
8 reviews
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So I've ordered take-out here a few times ever since new ownership took over. The staff is still very nice, but the portion size of the food appears to be smaller. I ordered the mediterranean shish kebab and the pieces of meat were on the small side from what I recall in the past. I was still hungry afterwards, so I had to go into my fridge and grill some chicken for myself.
Not sure how they're coordinating in the kitchen and prepping for meals beforehand, but I ordered on a Sunday night and they said they had to check with the kitchen to see if they can accommodate a take-out order. (Apparently, they don't do take-out orders on the weekends from previous yelp reviews that I read?) They eventually took my order, and when I stopped to pick up my food, I was expecting the restaurant to be busy, but more than 1/3 of the restaurant was empty.
Also, this isn't a big deal, but when I saw how little pita I was given for the size of my order a few times, I asked for extra pita. They said they would have to charge me extra. I understand it's still a 'cost' for the restaurant to give bread, but the old ownership would gladly throw in a generous amount of pita at no cost, while 'extra pita' now for a buck or two gets you 2 extra pitas.
I probably won't be coming back here. While there aren't many mediterranean options in this area; with the changes from the new owners, I can see myself spending $40-$50/person at many other places in Ridgewood or around the area.
It was nice. We went on a Monday evening, with no reservation, and although they were quite busy they were able to accommodate is very quickly. Service was good, could have used a refill on the waters and a steak knife with the steak we ordered, but apart from that service was friendly and professional. The hummus and babaganoush were absolutely delicious, highly recommend! The decor is gorgeous, absolutely beautiful! It is quite small and noisy but that just goes to show how much people love this place to fill it up in a Monday evening! Btw it's a byob!
My Beb brought me here for our 2 year anniversary. This is a really cute place with nice dim lighting and romantic atmosphere. The service was great, we were greeted as soon as we walked in and promptly seated. We went on a Tuesday and had reservations, but it was not that busy we would of been fine without them.
We started off with our appetizer of Crispy Falafel Tzatziki and tomato relish. Best falafel I ever had, hands down! Perfect crispiness on the outside with explosive flavor on the inside and the tomato relish was fresh and tasty too.
For dinner I had the Seafood Couscous which had vegetable couscous, shrimp, calamari, mussels, Fish Du Jour, vegetables & seafood broth. This is the dish to get! It taste like nothing I ever had. This dish taste like a healthier version of Jambalaya, it's light yet filling. The flavor is explosive and broth from the mussels is perfect with the couscous. I highly recommend this entrée. My husband had the grilled skirt steak with potato puree and sautéed snow peas. The steak was cooked to perfection, well done on the outside and bloody on the inside.
For dessert we shared the chocolate souffle with chambord cream. This dessert takes about 20 minutes to make, but it is well worth the wait. Delish! Oh and before I forget this place is BYOB.
What is Mediterranean food anyway? I always think of Mediterranean as code for Turkish or Greek, but dozens of other food cultures claim the Mediterranean appellation e.g. Morocco, Albania, France, Italy, Croatia, Israel and Libya to name but a few. The Sea is, after all, surrounded on all sides by Europe, the Balkans, North Africa and the Middle East, and the range of cuisine among these cultures is so vast that about the only thing they share in common, mostly, is olive oil.
Based on its menu offerings, Mezza (a play on mezze — or small plates) wants to be all of these food cultures, suggests an Israeli affiliation based on the frequent use of that descriptive in the menu, but commits to none. I'm not so sure Mezza knows the answer to itself for certain, and simply calling it mediterranean further dilutes the concept rather than crystallizing it. More about the food later.
At first blush Mezza sports an impressive room. Spacious and upscale, tastefully decorated and modern — it was filled with a trendy young crowd when we arrived at 8:30 on a Friday night. These were encouraging signs, but there was little parity between the quality of service and food as compared to the vibe of the space itself.
Service: The wait staff is eager, but they seemed overcome and distracted by the crowds. This is a BYO, so you would think servers would sort your beverage of choice straight away, but ours missed the ice bucket to chill our wine, our water glasses were unfilled and forgotten was the obligatory pita and dipping oil. In other words, they omitted our basic starters and got to them only after being reminded. That said, the pita and what looked like za'atar and a bit of olive oil with a few olives to go with was fine and refilled as often as we wished.
The most annoying distraction to our meal was being seated next to a gaggle of about a dozen honking, geese-like middle aged Jersey girls, whose yammering made our wine glasses vibrate. Loud rooms are fine by me — but these gals were painful. The front of house could have made a better choice with our seating arrangements; offering a couple of walk-ins preferred seating in a quiet corner ahead of us (we had reservations), but oh well.
Food: We ordered the "moroccan" cigar special (i.e. Turkish sigara boregi – deep fried phyllo stuffed with lamb) and grilled octopus for appetizers. The boregi at $18 was mostly phyllo with only a tease of cinnamon flavored ground lamb inside, accompanied by an unseasoned tahini sauce, served over a few sprigs of arugula. This was NOT an auspicious start and most any pedestrian Turkish joint in Cliffside Park does it better. The octopus was an improvement (tender and well seasoned if under charred for my taste) — but quite a skimpy portion for an $18 appetizer (3 – 4 bites, maybe), served with a lemony buerre blanc.
For dinner we split a branzino, at $34, which came with two smallish pan sautéed filets, over some wilted greens and maybe 2 small fingerling potato's, aside a couple of olives and capers, forming a nice briny/citrusy broth. The fish was cooked to a good crisp, but the texture of the type of fingerlings used here was wrong — not creamy/waxy enough – too "al dente". Overall this selection was fine, if underwhelming at fine dining prices. We dipped our pita in the briny broth long after the fish was gone and had to fight off the itinerant wait staff from removing our plates and the bread before we were done.
For dessert, we had the ricotta fritter, at $12 – nicely presented on a gilded tree limb sculpture (see pic), accompanied by chocolate sauce and lemon curd. These delicate fritters paired perfectly with citrus — which cut their sweetness and richness, but the cloyingly sweet chocolate sauce detracted from the dish. This whimsical finish was the star of the meal for me.
I part company with many of my fellow Yelpers and overall, Mezza was a three star experience, at best, marred by service flaws and underwhelming food. Still, the vibe and trendiness of the room counts in the calculus. To be fair, we will return on a less frenetic weeknight to sample other offerings to better judge whether the staff and kitchen simply had an off night, or whether what we experienced is as good as it gets. TBC.
Ooooh Mezza Westwood! You gave Yelper Jill P. and me a nice warm hug with your cozy atmosphere and your fantastic cuisine on Friday night. We're hugging you right back!
Apps: House-made Hummus and the softest pita bread ever. It's bread of a caliber that makes me feel bad for people on low-carb diets. I want to make a pillow out of that pita bread and rest my wee head upon it every night!
Entrees: Braised Short Ribs for her and Grilled Skirt Steak for me. My steak was cooked perfectly (medium rare) and seasoned beautifully. The Brussel Sprouts were damn amazing also. Imagine that?! Jill was digging on her short ribs…tender as all get-out and an ample serving size.
Dessert: Chocolate Soufflé. This takes about 20-25 minutes to make but it is worth every second. House-made Chambord whipped cream for accompaniment. Yumtastic. Even the cappuccino was excellent.
Everyone we encountered (Kevin the Manager, as well as the wait staff) were all super friendly. They take pride in their food and their service. We felt very welcome there.
Street parking is tight but there is municipal lot by the CVS. I accidentally parked in the Fireman Only parking lot. Whoops! In my defense, it was teeming rain and dark out 🙂
Romantic enough for a date, yet relaxed enough to bring your parents/family. Make a reservation and get yourself and someone you love to Mezza now!
To start, the decor of this place will draw you in, even from the outside. Mezza is on one of my running routes, and I've ran by countless times, mentally bookmarking that it's a place that's a must try. The lighting is low, the decor is chic and tasteful and the seating is spaced out perfectly so you're not on top of people, which leads to a more intimate feel.
I made a reservation on Open Table for 8 pm, and we were instantly seated upon entering (which is a bigger deal than you may realize on a Friday night). Mezza is BYOB, which is always a huge plus, and after we were seated, our wine was instantly opened (also a huge plus). There is plenty of street parking and also a lot near the movie theater which usually has a ton of space.
The warm pita that's brought to the table is delicious (as in, we completely finished the basket of it – in our defense, it was on the later side and we were HUNGRY) before ordering an appetizer of hummus – which luckily comes with MORE warm pita, and as it's been pointed out, they'll continue bringing as much pita as you need. The bowl of hummus is enormous and delicious – for only $8, it could easily feed four hungry people.
The menu is varied and large enough that there are options for everyone, but isn't overwhelming. I ordered the baked eggplant parm and my boyfriend ordered the grilled skirt steak. Portions are BIG, and the meat/seafood based dishes have great sides (steak came with brussel sprouts and potato). The eggplant was thinly sliced and incredibly cooked, with a great red sauce on it and LOTS of cheese (I'm very particular about eggplant, hate the huge slabs of it that sometimes make up an eggplant parm). My boyfriend was also thrilled with his steak and said it was perfectly cooked. Neither of us could finish our entrees (which maybe had something to do with the copious amounts of pita that was eaten previously, but I wouldn't change a thing). For the amount of food and quality of the food that you are given, the price point is perfect (and again, it's BYO).
Service at Mezza is excellent without being overboard, which is a very fine line to walk. Our waiter was fantastic, checking in with each course that was brought, but not being a helicopter waiter, constantly circling around. The manager also came by twice to check in – again, the perfect amount to let you enjoy the dining experience and food, but to also show good customer service and care.
We left with no room for dessert (though the menu looked great), and walked out talking about how we will be adding Mezza onto our rotation of Westwood area restaurants. In the summer, there is outdoor seating added, which is always a fun option.
This was my 2nd time here and well – I'm still not impressed.
After living in Montclair for so many years and having access to so many Mediterranean restaurants – I find that this one is just eh.
Like my first visit I find it hard to be interested in anything on the menu. Where's the lamb? How about some kafka?
After about 20 minutes scanning through the menu we decided on the hummus and the grape leaves.
Hummus was a little too silky for my taste and I thought it might have had some tahini in it (making each bite 600 calories more)
Pita was terribly thick and top was not even slightly crispy.
Grape leaves I didn't touch just because I've never liked them – had nothing to do with Mezza.
Entree I ended up with the Morrocan Chicken Tagine. I only had about 2 bites. Chicken was very dry – which is a shame as the spices were good.
My bf took mine and insisted that I eat his dish – Seafood Couscous. It was good but the shrimp was overcooked and i'm not too sure why potatoes were thrown into it. Potatoes mixed with couscous = no no.
The other person in our party had the Summer Cavatelli. Said it was good and was finished a good 30 minutes before us.
We never got dessert but I would have had halva ice cream.
I can't say I'd give it a 3rd try.
One of my favorite places to dine – such yummy & tasty food! Ambience is warm & inviting, sometimes a little loud but just dive into that creamy hummus or scoop up some of the tabbouleu – with pomegranates & you won't even notice the noise! Really, the menu offers a lot to choose from – crab cake appetizer – moist & full of crab, the cauliflower w/tahini sauce – really unique! Sometimes it's fun to just get a bunch of small plates so that you can taste a little of everything. Their falafel is to die for! If you are in an entree mood, the salmon is a great choice or the skirt steak or any of the specials that featured. The only entree I didn't care for was the kebab – only because it seemed to have a lot of cumin on it. The lunch menu is fabulous – I swear there are like 7 things on there that I want & it takes me forever to choose! The hummus bowls at lunch are a great value & excellent! Service is always spot-on. Go ahead try this place – I know you'll love it!!!