Cava Mezze, Washington, District of Columbia Restaurant Details

Food:

Loved the scallop rizzoto!! The spanakopita was delicious!! Best place to go in DC for lunch!! Service was excellent! !

Food:

If I could give the restaurant 0 stars I would because I don't think I can even put into words the experience I had here. Went here with a friend for a late brunch on the 4th of July and we both walked in with a fairly lenient attitude. It was one of the busiest holidays of the year in one of the busiest parts of town. We both worked as servers for over 6 years so we generally cut people a lot of slack but this experience was beyond the patience of Mother Theresa.

Oh where to begin. Well, they seated us and our server came to get our drink order. Literally 15 minutes later she finally brings us our glasses of orange juice which I will at this point, stop and say, was the only edible item that ended up at our table.

The place is mediterranean so they do a tapas style for brunch dishes which in theory is awesome and inventive. We ordered the following: eggs benedict, pork belly and eggs, banana fritters, and the chicken sage sausage.

15 minutes after ordering our fritters arrived. The bananas were beneath what was probably a solid 3/4 inch of batter. The center was gooey and cold. The honey and powdered sugar that was supposed to be drizzled on top was nowhere to be found. Nonetheless, we were starving and felt certain that it was just a minor misstep.

Another 20 minutes goes by and finally our chicken sage sauage arrives. The sausage is severely burnt but flavorful so we enjoy it anyway - especially now that we're nearly an hour into our meal and have received two tiny plates of food.

Here's where we started noticing a few intesting trends: 1. Our server only takes our order and checks on us. She doesn't bring the food, refill our water, or clear up are dishes. Instead people are in this really awesome caste system whereby someone brings out a giant platter of dishes but servers ignore it until the other guy that's supposed to bring the dishes to your table arrives to do that. This means that anything with eggs in comes off the skillet onto the serving platter and then gets brought out to sit for give or take a minute or two to cool down. So thoughtful of them. I prefer my egg yolks congealed after a cooling period anyway. Who wants fresh hot food? Not this girl.And I really hate having to flag down my waiter to get my dishes clean up anyway. I prefer having to quickly identify the employee that is dedicated this task and this task only. I love that Cava gives their employees the opportunity to really hone in on one skill. 2. Because it's tapas style, the kitchen is evidently receives 10 tickets and sees that eggs benny is on say 6 of the tickets and instead of preparing the food ticket by tickets so people receive their food in one cohesive meal everyone gets a lovely 15 min break in between dishes. I've heard this is really great for digestion so I appreciate Cava doing this. 3. The people who drop off your food and clean up your plates? They can't do so by stepping closer to the table. Instead they must reach at awkward angles around you and only insist on putting the plate of food on one side of your table. If you have a glass or empty plate in their way, you'd better quickly move it or you end up in a brief awkward staring contest with the employee whereby you can't decide if you're the one paying for the meal or if they're paying to serve you. Couldn't tell. Honestly. Also, the plate can only go on side of the table and on side only! The empty space is for your viewing pleasure. I think.

Also if you don't like hollandaise sauce on your eggs benedict, THIS IS THE PLACE FOR YOU. I personally prefer to pay $10 for what essentially tasted like a McDonald's Egg McMuffin with Canadian Bacon as opposed to expecting a nice creamy touch of hollandaise. Overrated.

If you want to do tapas, do it right and staff your restaurant in a format that makes sense. I could not fathom which genius came up with the entire concept of this restaurant. I frankly would have rather paid the $40 dollars to have brunch at McDonalds. Should have stuck with barrel.

Food:

I called ahead and sent an email earlier in the week, when we thought the party would be bigger. No return phone call. I called the DAY of and someone did finally return my call and said they would accommodate us the best they could with the original number. Hmmm....

I ended up with a group of 5. We were seated upstairs. We asked the waiter for food suggestions since it was a first time. VERY thorough in going through EVERY section of the menu and suggesting his faves. We ordered several items and shared them all. The eggplant was probably one of the best I've ever tasted. The squash was firm, yet tender and very tasty.

Parking is a joke, though. The valet is ACROSS the street and SLOW as molasses!!!

We WILL be returning to "clear out" the rest of the menu (which is extensive.....something for everyone). Not sure for large groups (over 6), though. The place is small and really doesn't have the space for large parties.

Food:

Great Mediterranean tapas. The saganki (a type of pan seared Greek cheese) is amazing. They bring it to the table on a cast iron plate and light it on fire. It's delicious.

All dips and pita are excellent. The chicken Lollipops and scallops were also awesome. The lamb meatballs were not as good. Dessert was not that impressive either.

Drinks were good and house white was nice.

Also notable was their HH menu. Drinks/food were around $5 and bigger portions.

I have heard the brunch is great too.

Food:

Nice little place for a get together. Had a group of 14 and we tried a variety of the dishes, they were all very good. The price though is a bit high for the size of the portions, so don't expect a great value.