By Liz Gunn || When I was a junior in college I lived just around the corner from Mediterranean Tea Room. I never even considered eating there. What the heck is a Tea Room anyway?
I imagined it full of little old blue-hairs sipping tea and enjoying baklava. If I had only known what I was missing.
It wasn’t until my mid-twenties that I finally gave it a shot. At the time I was dating a Catholic guy, and it was a Friday night during Lent. If you’re Catholic I’m sure you know where I’m headed with this. On Fridays, we had to go somewhere with meat-free options, due to Lenten restrictions.
He suggested Devine Foods or Mediterranean Tea Room. I am not a big fan of Devine Foods (I know I’m in the minority) so I said “let’s try the tea room.” I’m an adventurous eater, but I was still hung up on the misleading name.
I officially had my mind blown that night, by the most delicious, fresh authentic Middle Eastern dinner and forgot all about my little tea room reverie. It’s now one of our go to choices when we’re having trouble deciding what to do for lunch or dinner.
It’s a casual joint on the corner of Devine Street and King Street in Columbia, S.C., where it has been for at least fifteen years. The people are friendly and the service is more than efficient. A lovely woman named Mandy has been working there for as long as I’ve been eating there, and she’s about the friendliest waitress one could ask for.
When I think of Middle Eastern food, I think of feta cheese. I associate a lot of ethnic foods by the cheeses they’re famous for. Anyway…the feta is so fresh that I imagine they make it daily, in-house. It’s soft and tangy and everything you want in a feta cheese.
The Greek chicken is so tender that it must be marinated in olive oil, but somehow the finished product manages not to have even a hint of greasiness. In the middle of winter they somehow manage to have the reddest, ripest tomatoes in their salad. That, to me, is the biggest mystery of all.
For starters here I strongly recommend the baba ghanoush. It’s the best I’ve ever had. The hummus is good, but to me hummus is usually just hummus – never bad, never outstanding. Their pita bread is good, but there isn’t anything noteworthy about it.
You could also order a vegetarian plate to share, if you like a little more variety. It comes with tabbouleh, hummus, falafel, pickles, olives, feta cheese and is served with pita bread. It’s a great way to taste a little bit of everything or maybe try something new.
I never order chicken at restaurant. Ever. Chicken is something I make at home, three times a week. It’s boring.
I make an exception here though, because MTR’s chicken doesn’t taste like chicken I would make at home. I wish! I’ve tried many times to recreate it, but I can’t figure out their secret. Their grilled, marinated chicken is my favorite entree.
The chicken entree comes with yellow rice and a Greek salad. The rice is always perfect and fluffy, and the salad is overflowing with feta cheese and precisely three olives. I can’t put my finger on what it is – I mean it sounds basic enough – but the combination is a flavor fantasy for your taste buds.
They almost always have a seafood special of some kind, too. Sometimes it’s grilled shrimp, other times they will feature a fish like salmon or tilapia. It’s usually served with the same accoutrements as the grilled chicken, and it has never failed me either. Other entrees of note are the Eggplant Pita Pizza and the Broiled Shrimp -both are spicy and include plenty of the aforementioned feta cheese.
For dessert you should really get the Baklava. I never even cared for Baklava until I ordered it at MTR. It’s clearly homemade in small batches, not pre-frozen or mass produced like the ones you may have had in the past.
They do have a limited dessert menu, and none of them really stand out to be honest. The Mamuul tastes like a homemade Fig Newton, if that tempts your tummy. The beer and wine list is just average, but better it’s better than most Mediterranean restaurants I’ve visited.
All in all you can’t beat MTR, or Mediterranean Tea Room, for a solid Middle Eastern meal; the best in Columbia, in my opinion.
Liz Gunn is a wife, mom, author, businesswoman, travel enthusiast, food snob, fashionista, lover of great wine and the No. 1 Gamecock football fan … ever. A graduate of the University of South Carolina, she lives in Columbia, S.C. with her husband and daughter.
69 comments
What. The. Fug.
Everyday I wake up and am thankful I don’t have to live in Columbia.
EVERY. DAY.
Columbia residents are forever grateful you don’t live there as well. How bout that cop shooting last night? Oh my – guns and thugs in lovely ole Chaaaalston??? Well I nevah.
There’s no worry in me ever moving back..you can have that paradise. It’s as if you people never leave from the bubble and just learn to live in and accept the crap up there as “good enough”.
I’ll take a cop shooting 15 miles away from me, in a place I never go, over living in an armpit any day.
Amen! Reading this site and the comments always remind me of how ass fucking backwards Columbia is. I guess if you don’t expect much out of life it’s a good place to be.
Only a dipshit South Carolinian would act like Charleston is a step up.
lol..I hear of people coming from all over the world to vacation in Columbia ALL THE TIME.
And it seems almost anyone’s house I visit from the beach, to the midlands, to the upstate ALWAYS has a picture of downtown Columbia on the wall. Hell, I visited a friend’s friend in California a few months ago and I’ll be damned if there wasn’t a streetscape of Two Notch road on his wall.
Yeah..Columbia is a BEAUTIFUL place. Filled with culture, history, and completely safe nightlife. It’s paradise!!
It even has a zoo!
Tell us again about all those moral, upstanding public servants that y’all produce down there. Let’s see there’s Mark Sanford,
Thomas Ravenel, Robert Ford, etc., etc. Heck, even the only one worth a damn, Joe Riley, tried to leave in 1994 and move to Columbia as Governor.
Is that what its down to? Judging a town or city on the politicians it has?
Good luck finding anywhere worth a damn.
Who you choose to represent you and make your laws tells an awful lot about your own morals, judgment, and knowledge, or lack thereof.
Maybe we can just arrange to have you shot and left in that horseshit smelling streets of chucktown.. What a town full of douchebags
I haven;t been downtown in years..why bother putting up with tourons like you?
Enjoy “Shandon”.
you’re on your high horse about charleston but havent been downtown in “years”? gimme a break. so what are you so jazzed about, the fucking beach? yeah the rest of the east coast has that too. so what. youre not in florida. keep driving to greenville when you evacuate during the next hurricane. or do humanity and favor and ride it out.
HA! well lucky for you Liz will be taking her show on the road ;)
BRAVO…..bravo….BRAVO….!!!!
Great job Liz………BRAVO (standing ovation…)
I hope to GOD there is a photo of Lindsey Graham outside this joint to be run in a campaign commercial for Ravenel…!!!
Liz Gunn………..your might just make a great partner for Jack Sparrow….!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-xImaQga30
{Boomerang 101, 404, 901……….}
This inane drivel never ceases to amaze me. Yet, as Will would point out, I still clicked on it so I guess I’m part of the problem.
Well……..”Lick-a”
Your not part of a problem………..you just do not understand HOW to use an article to make a point about something that is not written….
Do you not feel certain that Diq Harpootlian would not get a chuckle out of watching US Senator Lindsey Graham strolling out of a Middle Eastern TEA ROOM…!?
{Boomerang 101, 404, 901…….}
And you don’t have the basic grammar skills to property use the word YOUR. Furthermore, your blind references and choppy format are weird.
Remember, you started this: “…basic grammar skills to property use the word…”.
Yes Col. but what you caught was a typo. Thanks.
It’s not so much that it was “a typo” that’s funny – it’s “the typo” that’s funny.
t and l aren’t even close on the keyboard.
Auto correct – gets me all the time.
Way to og …….”Stop”…..
+5 points and a puzzle novice badge…
{Boomerang 101, 404, 901…….}
It’s easier to just cut and paste http://www.theshoptart.com/
kan u teech me how 2 cut n paste? ur so much smarter thin errbody here. plz help. PLEeeeaaaASE.
Anne and I are friends, and I hardly think she cares (or even knows?) that I am writing an occasional restaurant review. You know the Free Times prints them on the regular. So do quite a few other blogs. It’s about as novel an idea for posting as most of your comments.
I gotta say, I like the restaurant reviews. Even if most here don’t. But then again, I love food…so there’s that.
Well we have that in common! More to come. Let me know if you have any recommendations or requests.
Well, if we are talking downtown, I’d recommend you try some of these if you’ve haven’t:
Mojitos (very fresh Cuban)
I think everyone has been to Gervais & Vine, service seems to have gone downhill but food is good.
116 State street is excellent
Hunter-Gatherer
If you’re taking requests, I’ve been curious as to how good The Oak Table is and Goat Feathers are/are not.
I’ve visited a ton of places, but this is just off the top of my head and in Columbia.
If we are talking good food without regard to ambiance and further outside downtown, Egg Roll Chen has a killer Taiwanese Beef Noodle soup with handmade noodles and big bits of ginger & meat.
Also, Bombay Grill has very good/authentic Indian. Sakura out in Forest Acres, buried behind a storefront is very underrated…authentic in some ways…but being a soup lover they have a killer Nabayaki Udon, once again with handemade noodles(rice) and they drop an egg into when mixed with the soup is VERY good…and it’s served super hot so it cooks once you break the center.
Saky right near the Fort Jackson entrance gate is also very good with a slightly better ambiance. They have an interesting red bean ice cream.
I’ll think over some more maybe and get back to you.
I’ve gotten some of the worst service at Goat Feathers. It seems like if you’re not sporting some retarded looking facial hair, a busted pair of brogans, suspenders and smoking hand rolled cigarettes out front, you’re not “cool” enough to get good service.
Ah…thank you…middle aged me and my wife probably wouldn’t be welcome there.
On the other hand, I did get really good food & service at The Whig even though we were surrounded by youngsters. They had a good burger & gouda mac N cheese…interesting music and nice beer selection.
I only bring it up because I remember seeing some types you describe there…but they didn’t necessary get to go to the front of the line.
Never eaten at the Whig, but I do appreciate their beer selection and jukebox. Alternatively, World of Beer has about the best beer selection to go along with the worst bar food in town. Won’t be back there, paid $8.75 for a run of the mill IPA and $7 for about 5 onion rings. There are clearly some that think the Vista is a little slice of NYC or something.
Agreed – the food was decent, service was meh. The people were a little too hipster/ goth for me. It’s closed now!
Goatfeathers is closed – so forget about that one. Oak Table is really great, but some people find the menu limited. Best not to take a picky eater. Saky is my favorite sushi place in town, and if I want “dirty Chinese” Egg Roll Chen is legit! I like Sakura, too, but I always forget about it.
Egg Roll Chen is disgusting. What respectable Chinese restaurant serves wet rice? Furthermore, their wings look like they were grown on weightlifting chickens. Sure it’s good if you’re a glutton that likes a 5 pound box of Nastytown for $6. The best place for “dirty Chinese” is China Hut 2 at the intersection of Gervais and Millwood.
OMG – you’ve eaten there and lived to tell about it? Impressive. Main Moon at the Rosewood Publix Shopping Center would be my 2nd choice. This 2 for 1 sushi is intriguing.
Is that a rub on the thug demographic that tends to migrate there or the cuisine? I’ve gotten food from there literally dozens and dozens of time and never gotten sick, something I cannot say for my experiences with Egg Roll Chen. You should try the BOGO Sushi 2 Go. Like I said, zero ambiance but the sushi is better than most.
I’ve never had anything there but the Tawainese Beef Noodle soup, nothing much else there seems special and I wouldn’t waste me time.
And yes, Saky and Sakura are acceptable sushi bars, but the best place for value/quality is BOGO Sushi 2 Go on Elmwood. It’s not really somewhere you’d go to sit down and eat (zero ambiance), but it’s an amazing take out choice. I’ve never spent more than about $25 and had more food than 2 people could finish. They have the best spicy tuna rolls I’ve ever had.
“…The beer and wine list is just average, but better it’s better than most Mediterranean restaurants I’ve visited….”
You think the Tea Room’s beer and wine list is limited, you ought to try the “tea rooms” I’ve eaten in in Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait…
With a few exceptions (Mr. Friendly’s, Motor Supply), Columbia’s restaurant scene is as appalling as one would expect for arguably the shittiest dump of a city in the entire South. Charleston is a tourist town and Greenville has a few actual bucks flowing around so it’s unfair to compare, but even Aiken has better food. MTR is fine and all, but it’s sad that it would rightly be celebrated as one of Cola’s BEST.
Let me guess, you are a Clemson fan?
He just knows what everyone who doesn’t live in the armpit already knows.
Look, I understand why Columbia has the inferiority complex it does. But the sooner you realize that the best part of Columbia is that it’s 2 hours from some really cool places, the better off you’ll be.
Much like places it snows 4 months a year, I’ve yet to figure out why anyone lives there.
And Charleston is much better? It an over priced, tourist trap that morons from Columbia go to act like they’ve made a step up. Lateral move at best, Honey.
Honey? I don’t think I know you well enough for you to be calling me that. Are you from Asheville?
Not from anywhere near SC or Asheville (home of the incredibly tacky Biltmore). Just find a pissing contest between Columbia and Charleston incredibly funny. What a bunch of bumpkins you guys are!
Again, learn something about Columbia before you write… have you ever ridden the high level rapids on the Saluda River following a water release at Lake Murray?, or rowed the tranquil waters of the Broad River at the Columbia Rowing Club?, or visited the Congaree NP swamp which looks like something out of Africa?. or, spent a day sailing on the inland ocean that is Lake Murray?.. seriously, if you’re bored here, than your’re likely just a boring person who would be bored, and eventually whine about, anywhere.
“the inland ocean that is Lake Murray”
I had to stop at that one. I’ve never been 60 off and seen “islands” with pontoon boats pulled up on them in a real ocean.
I’m glad you like it there, really. I feel sad for you though, because obviously, you just don’t know any better.
Whatever, there is a great chance that I’ve been a hell of a lot more places than you, and thus know and have seen a lot more than you. Anyway, sure, I like Seattle, LA, and San Francisco better than Columbia, but seriously, don’t fool yourself into thinking that your beloved city of Charleston is as topographically and geographically complex as those places. All those cities have elevation and an ocean. Columbia has surprisingly decent elevation mixed with the traits of the coastal region, east of the fall line. Greenville obviously has nice elevation in places, but no coastal traits or much water. Charleston obviously has coastal traits and water, but no elevation. Thus, it would be very easy to argue that Greenville is utterly boring for people who like water and that Charleston is utterly boring who for people who like to climb up things. Columbia would not be boring for either group.
You don’t know crap about where I’ve lived and haven’t. Seattle? 226 cloudy days a year? Better get a prescription of cymbalta for your 3 beach days a year.
Heh..but its funny you mention Greenville. It would take me less time to drive from downtown Greenville and be in lake Keowee then it to drive from five points..to lexington.
And what do I give a shit about “climbing things”? I’m not a monkey. Look, if you’re happy living in the hottest and coldest part of the state, more power to you. Its nasty, gang ridden, dirty and downtown smells like bum piss and diesel.
Enjoy.
The fact that you just said “coldest part of the state” removes all credibility. The upstate and the Peidmont are sometimes 10 degrees or more colder than Columbia in the winter and get three times as much snow and ice.
I dare say *most* people live where they want to live, not where they have to. If you have to constantly attack another city and try to fluff up your own, it’s clearly because you have personal issues…most likely unrelated to this thread in any way.
I’ve lived in Columbia for 20+ years, by choice. I like Charleston a lot. Greenville is okay. But I like LIVING in Columbia. Charleston is obviously a travel to destination. Beaches, history, dining and shopping. It’s also known for high crime, flooding, awful smells, terrible public schools and pretentious “old-money” assholes.
Every city has it’s pros and cons. You two need to move on.
Yeah well, f@ck you, I still have probably been/seen more places than you…. but anyway, I’ll bet you a thousand dollars to the charity of one’s choice that I can go from Five Points to Lake Murray faster than you can get from Greenville to Lake Keowee… so seriously, either put up or shut up, Dick!
Bumpkin Fight!!! Keep it up, guys. This is beyond hilarious!
Says the all knowing pseudo-intellectual from Iowa, New Jersey, and your momma’s basement
Don’t we all know plenty of self-important, condescending people like “norma” who are obsessed with attempting to point out how they’re somehow better than those who live in places they believe should be looked down upon?
And don’t we all know how glad we are that we’re not laboring under that same misconception?
“norma,” you’re so transparent.
It’s so easy to see how insecure you are about your life.
Good luck with that. It looks like a life sentence of holding your nose in the air. Remember to go inside when it rains or you might drown, darlin.’
Heh heh. What an ass.
Nope. Gamecocks. I developed an enormous hatred for the city: concrete for miles, nothing to do, it’s ugly, it’s weather sucks virtually year-round, it’s horribly run, and its cesspool Statehouse stands as a gleaming middle finger to thinking people everywhere.
“Weather sucks virtually year round”.. you are a bonafide idiot if you believe that. It sucks relative to where?! Spring and Fall are pretty incredible here. Winters are are mild and then there’s 3-4 months of a brutal summer. But guess what? If you truly lived well in the area, you’d be living under a lush canopy of trees/shrubs on Lake Murray during that time of year. Yep, Mungo-style tract housing is pretty nasty in the Summer. Also, Columbia’s rivers/topography are gateways to both the Appalachians and the Coast, pretty spectacular in its own right if you ask me. Anyway, I’ll give you the crappy local and state government thing.
“it’s horribly run”
You got that right jack.
You are a complete dumbshit.. Yeah Pelham Rd fast food chains, charleston’s bubba gumps and Aiken horse food are all 5 star!!
Columbia is a dump, granted, but even Alton Brown has favorable things to say about the interesting selection of restaurants Columbia has to offer.
Holy fuck. This dumb even for this site.
My favorite comment is one that seeks to put down the author for being dumb while actually BEING dumb. Typos are a bitch, aren’t they?
Hahaha! Dumb bitch dont rite good!
“When I was a junior in college I lived just around the corner from Mediterranean Tea Room.”
BS! It wasn’t even there in 1983!
I can’t tell if that was your attempt at humor or an insult -but either way, fail.
Both!
I just ate a falafel and now I feel awful.
Agree! LOVE MTR… We did a Food Friday with Mediterranean Cafe, located on Main Street in Lexington (who’s owner is the brother of MTR) and it was just as awesome and fresh there too! Loving these reviews! :)