Maza on Lincoln Ave

So, after dropping Thing 2 at a church youth group event at 5, and having to pick him up at 7, we had a reasonable amount of time for an early dinner. Since I didn't get many suggestions before I left (sorry, Shannon, I didn't catch your extensive list before I left), I tried Metromix, and was intrigued by Maza. We walked from St. Paul's (just east of Children's Memorial), to just south of Lincoln & Diversey:

Maza
2748 N. Lincoln Ave.
773-929-9600

I knew I was off to a good start when the iced tea I ordered really tasted of tea: strong, not too astringent and flavorful.

It's name means appetizer, like the Greek "meze" -- but we only ordered one of the about 20 to choose from, the artichoke salad. A very pleasant lemon dressing had nearly bleached the artichokes white, along with slices of olive, red pepper, green onions and lots of parsley. Absolutely delicious, and not too sour. $5 -- a little pricey for only four quarters of 'choke, but very tasty. A platter of pickled turnip, peperoncini, olives and radishes, and fresh soft pita also came out at this time.

Entrees include soup. Mrs. F had the lentil: good chicken soup flavor with soft lentil puree, mildly flavored. I had the carrot: a kind of pumpkin-pie-like puree, thought the Mrs, with ginger and cinnamon, although there was also cumin. I liked it a lot, although the lentil was better.

Mrs. F had the lamb special, $14. The closest way to describe this would be Lebanese Biryani: a layer of sliced roast lamb, rich with delicious spices, over rice with minced beef, pine nuts, more spices, and topped with sliced almonds. Sides were a single large roasted mushroom, raw sliced red cabbage dressed nicely, and spinach with a very lemony garlic dressing.

I had the baked kibbeh: lamb, beef and bulghur baked, served as a pie wedge (Mmmmmm, Beef Pie). A little heavy, Mrs. F's spinach helped to lighten it after I ran out of my cabbage. Also topped with sliced almonds, and served with lemon. Rich and delicious. I suspect it was baked earlier and reheated, though.

Desserts were terrific. Mrs. F had the creme caramel -- a nice piece of flan, very good but not remarkable, $2. I had the Halawat al-jabn, which was fresh cheese mixed with semolina, warmed tableside, flamed with VSOP brandy, then served with rose-scented syrup, on a plate with poached figs and dollops of raspberry and apricot coulis. The alchohol combined with the cheese and semolina was very reminiscent of sneaking raw sweet yeast dough from a recipe, making it seem like a rare treat. Absolutely terrific at $4.

We were there at about 10 after five and they hadn't unlocked yet. While we were there (until about 6:30), a few other couples arrived, but they were hardly full. I hope a crowd arrived later, because this place was great. Service was attentive and friendly, prices reasonable. The decor is almost all white except for the large number of paintings.

Hi,

I was trying to recall the address of this restaurant tonight.

Last week's Culinary Historians guest speaker was Maureen Abood, who is a Lebanese-American. She recommended Maza for the raw lamb kibbeh, which I am interested in trying.

Another time!

Maza's usually good and has been around for years (it used to be on Halsted near Itto Sushi). There's some risk in trying the Lebanese red wine, but some vintages have been pretty good and it's always reasonably priced.

I agree that the wine is hit at miss at Meze. I've been there numerous times over the years and it has never disappointed. My favorite dish is the lamb brochettes, which is easily one of the best lamb dishes I've had in the city. One note: you can get a dinner of basically all the meze, which I did once. While for the most part it was delicious and a ton of food, there were several meze that were rather funky to my taste, so I would recommend ordering them al a carte to avoid this. Of course, I cannot remember which were not good, so this might not help.

I just had a very disappointing meal at Maza. The food was quite good, but the service was horrible. Tonight was the last night their groupon was valid and they were clearly unprepared for the number of people that came in. I feel somewhat bad judging them on what must be an atypical night, but at the same time, if they can't deal with the crowds from a groupon, they shouldn't participate. And even apart from the serious timing issues, the service was horrible.

We started off by standing, along with a few other couples also waiting for tables, in the small (maybe 3'x3') entryway waiting for someone to come seat us. We stood there at least 10 minutes before anyone came over to acknowledge we were there, then were brusquely told it would be a few minutes, even though there were more than enough empty tables at this point in the evening for all of us to sit down. Once we were given a table, it was another 15 or so minutes before they took our appetizer order (and refused to take our entree order at that time.) We ordered two appetizers and a soup. We were told "No soup" and the waiter turned and left the table without waiting for a response or to see if we wanted something else instead. We got one appetizer reasonably quickly after that, then a few minutes later they brought a bowl of soup (which I guess they had afterall? No explanation was given.) 20 minutes after the first appetizer, we finally got the second appetizer, then maybe 20 minutes after that they took our entree order. We had been there an hour and a half (and sitting at the table more than an hour) before they took our entree order. Every time the waiter said anything at all to us, it was very very brusque to the point of rudeness (and we overheard other tables commenting on this as well, so it wasn't just us.) The waiters also seemed to stay in the kitchen unless they were bringing food to a table, so it was impossible to catch their attention for anything. All in all we left after 2.5 hours (for just appetizers and entrees, no dessert) feeling very frustrated and upset. We actually enjoyed the food quite a bit, but the experience was unpleasant enough that we won't be back.

So you liked the food and got it at half price, but you're upset that they were crowded because you waited until the last possible day to use your groupon, and this is unforgivable. Makes sense to me.

Ideal Machine wrote:So you liked the food and got it at half price, but you're upset that they were crowded because you waited until the last possible day to use your groupon, and this is unforgivable. Makes sense to me.

Yes, I was unhappy that service was extremely slow, but I'm aware that is likely to happen (although I would expect generally not to this degree) when waiting until the last minute to use a groupon. What I was very displeased about was the rudeness. If the dinner had taken the same amount of time, but the waitstaff had been pleasant during that time, I would have come away from the dinner thinking "Wow, that took a long time, but it was obviously due to circumstances not entirely within their control and the food was really good. I should come back here when they're less busy." After the service I received last night, I came away thinking "Wow, the food was really good but the service was probably the worst I have ever had at a restaurant. The food doesn't make up for that." Maybe I should give them another chance and hope the waitstaff are less surly on other nights, but when there are so many other places I know I can get equally good food, why should I take that chance?

At the end of the day, promotions like groupons are ways for restaurants to (hopefully) attract new customers, which I was. I would think that given a room full almost entirely of new customers, they would try not to be actively rude. When I go to a restaurant, I care that the food is good, yes. But I also care that the experience is pleasant. This was one of the most unpleasant experiences I've had at a restaurant and to me, that's a very valid reason not to return.

I had previously enjoyed a lovely meal at Maza with the maza spread and incredible hospitality, some years ago. Unfortunately, when I returned a few months ago, I had a similar problem with the service. Mr. lemoneater is a vegetarian, so we were planning on getting the maza sampler and one of the veg entrees (there aren't so many to choose from). The server - strangely rude and angry from the get go - told us we couldn't have the sampler and instead brusquely pointed at the lamb dishes. Then he walked away. We actually walked out without ordering anything. It takes a lot to get me to that point. I hope they get it together soon, but I won't be back either.

I was pleasantly surprised to see the new storefront on Ashland--I thought they'd closed for good. I was a big fan of the Lincoln location, both for the food and the service--the gentleman who always served us was so gracious and accommodating--I assumed he was an/the owner. I was looking forward to returning but it sounds like maybe they've changed more than just their location...too bad.

I've had both experiences at Maza -- some nights, the server was gregarious and helpful in picking out dishes; other nights, he seemed almost frustrated with his diners. I don't know what explains the changes in demeanor.

Here's the new address (perhaps the headline should be changed from Lincoln to Ashland?):

2415 North Ashland Avenue Chicago, IL 60614
(773) 929-9600

We found the owner to be thoroughly hospitable (although he is capable of irony), and we enjoyed our meal very much. Try the couscous. I had the lamb, and it was an excellent combination of flavors, and at $13, a bargain. We didn't indulge, but it's probably one of the few places around where you can experience Lebanese wines.

Note of caution: feedback from other sites indicates this may not be the best restaurant to visit when a groupon is about to expire; that seems to be true of several of my favorite storefronts.