Aya's Cafe - Mediterranean Cuisine @ 2129 Arch Street, Phila, PA 19103

I have a hate and love relationship with Meditterranean restaurants. The thing I hate is the price and what I like are their falafel sandwichs at some carts in center city. Like any ethnic food Mediterranean restaurants tend to be expensive and food at some places I found them to be average at best. But everytime I have a nice falafel sandwich I get tempted to try a new Mediterranean Restaurant in hope of finding a delicious and cheap place to eat.

Aya's cafe located at 22nd and Arch St intersection almost makes my cut of the above mentioned criteria - delicious and cheap food. I have been to this restuarant before couple more times. But this time, I found it to be darker than usual. I guess the soaring Gas costs and inflation all around have hit them as well.

I walk past this restaurant on my way home and have noticed the sign Lunch specials for $5.99 which was very alluring. I mentioned this to my friends at work and they were willing to join me over lunch. So we decided to walk to the restuarant on wednesday that took us about 5-10 minutes from work on an odd chilly June Noon.

We found the place to be unusually dark as we entered. We were seated at a table at about the center of the restaurant. We took the table adjacent to the wall and I sat on the wall side of the table that had some comfortable diwans(throw pillows) for supporting the back. Having felt comfortable, I asked for water with lemon on the waiter's request.

We ordered Lamb Schwarma, Lamb Schwarma with no tahini sauce, Calamari, Chicken Kabob sandwich and Grilled Slamon Entree. The portions were approprtiate. The only lunch special was Pasta Primavera. I did not want to eat an Italian dish at a Meditteranean restuarant and that in the name of a special. I was disappointed on hearing the special. But I perused the menu several times. I was tempted to take my usual Mediterranean - Falafel Sandwich or Calamari Salad. My colleague had been recommending Schwarma since a long time. So I decided to give it a try this time.

It took about 20 minutes before our food was brought to our table. I liked my Schwarma with Tahini sauce. It had a subtle flavor of tahini with the minced Lamb. My colleagues also liked the food they ordered.

To conclude, I liked the restaurant but the food was a bit expensive. The ambience needed some more light and service could be a little faster. I would go back if I was in mood for a good schwarma for dinner but not when I am looking for an inexpensive lunch.

Byblos - Mediterranean @ 114 S 18th St.

History of my Discovery: My colleague took us to a team lunch about 2 years ago in 2006. That was my first experinece of a Greek(Mediterranean) cuisine.

Location: Located on the 18th st and Chestnut St intersection, to restuarant is on 18th St and south of Chestnut St to the right while going south on 18th St.

Ambiance: It resembles a bar lounge that is converted to a restaurant in the day. The tables are comfortable and lighting is good enough. The restaurant is really busy all the time. More busy for dinner sometimes than for lunch. I had to wait 45 minutes to be seated for dinner.

Food I had: I have had lamb kabobs, falafel sandwich at a very low price of $6.5. 

Price: The average lunch menu is priced $6 and the item is priced considerably more for dinner.

Customer Service: The service is excellent. The waiters are very courteous and willing to offer advice when needed. 

Rating 3.5/5.