Taziki’s Mediterranean Café

When Dawn Marie’s visit ended in early December, she flew home via the Chattanooga Tennessee airport.  The air fares are quite a bit less expensive for several markets if you fly in and out of Chattanooga vs. Knoxville’s McGhee Tyson airport.

In any case, we wanted to have lunch before she flew home to Miami Florida…

We discovered that it isn’t all that easy to find a place open for lunch in downtown Chattanooga on a Sunday in December… Our first choice was the Maple Street Biscuit Company but we discovered that they aren’t open on Sundays. (Note: Checking that company’s website, it appears that the downtown location for Maple Street Biscuit is now closed)

We passed a couple of other places that weren’t open and then we spotted Taziki’s Mediterranean Café.  We’d seen one of these in the Knoxville area but hadn’t had a chance to try it out yet…so this was an easy choice for us!

Taziki’s Mediterranean Café is another entrée in the burgeoning fast casual dining business.  Customers order at the counter and they bring the food to the table.    

The dining area has that industrial look…with lots of metal, wood and stone with concrete floors. 

Taziki’s Mediterranean Café is on a fast track growth-wise.  They are primarily located in the South and Southeast but they are branching out across the USA.  The company either has or is opening locations in 17 states.  The company’s first restaurant opened in 1998 in Birmingham Alabama where the company is headquartered.  As of this past November, this franchise based operation had 82 locations…

That industrial look carries over to the clever use of space with a balcony seating area above the entrance into the main area of the restaurant…

Now onto the food… We were very hopeful as we love quality Greek cuisine.  I don’t recall, but this bowl of red sauce with goat cheese and pita must have been gratis as it didn’t show up on my bill.  It was tastier than the appetizer we did order.

This is the Taziki Dip appetizer. ($5.49) It was OK…but not very distinctive.  We had expected Tzatziki Sauce with the pita chips…but this combination of cucumber, dill and lemon just didn’t have any zing…or the expected garlic either!  We should have read the menu more closely…

We all ordered the Lamb Gyros with chips and fresh fruit or a salad. ($9.99)  The lamb gyros came with taziki sauce (not tzatziki sauce!), tomatoes, mixed lettuce and grilled onions. (I skipped the onions)

Once again we were disappointed!  We should have noted that the menu item was called “Lamb” gyros.  I should have learned by now to ask about the ‘gyros’ before ordering them.  We love what is termed gyros in the Chicago area based on our long tenure in that market.  In reality, what we love is a mixed lamb and beef version which is cooked in loaf form on a spit and then sliced off as needed.  It can be called doner kebab (Turkish) or Shawarma (Levantine preparation).

Gyros, strictly defined, can be pork or chicken (Greece) as well as beef or lamb in other Mediterranean locales…not usually the mixed meat version that we are used to and love.  However, we do like lamb but we thought that this lamb was overcooked.  The restaurant’s ‘taziki’ sauce just didn’t help these gyros by providing any flavor ‘pop’.   

Dawn Marie did opt for a piece of Dark Chocolate Cake which she said was pretty good… ($2.75)

The employees at Taziki’s Mediterranean Café were very nice and the service was fine.  All the food was fresh and since one of the themes of this chain is a healthy Mediterranean diet, they probably hit that mark right on the money.  Perhaps we’ll give it another try in the Knoxville area as the menu is much broader than just gyros to included sandwiches, roll-ups, soups, salads, and complete entrees.   

The Taziki’s Mediterranean Café in downtown Chattanooga Tennessee is located at 432 Market Street.  Phone: 423-779-3100.  The company’s website with all their locations and the full menu can be found at http://tazikiscafe.com/.

Our search for good Chicago style gyros continues!

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave