Cava Mezze, Arlington #2

Cava Mezze is best known in DC for its fast casual Cava Mezze Grill concept, but they actually have restaurants as well. There are five locations and I had previously only been to the one in NE DC. This time I ended up in Clarendon (Virginia).

Inside, the restaurant appeared relatively small. It was noon on a weekday and there were just two of us--we were seated immediately. They gave us the lunch menu, but when I asked what was vegan, they brought me the mezze menu of all vegan mezzes that is available for lunch or dinner.  Very nice.

Our server brought some complimentary pita, harissa, and olive oil to the table. Yummy.

There was a rustic feel to this restaurant. It was dark with dark tables and chairs and exposed ductwork painted black. The booths had high walls, which left the bar basically hidden behind the booths.

We started with an order of hummus. It was good hummus, but there wasn't much of it. They took the hummus and spread it along the edges of the bowl so it barely covered the edges and there was nothing in the middle. So, we had to take the bread and run it along the bowl. We found it a bit odd.

Our favorite dish by far was the Baby Beets, which had roasted red and golden beets, tangerines, candied pistachios, and lemon. For some reason, this dish normally has a honey aleppo dressing that is listed on the vegan menu so be sure to request it vegan without honey.

Next up was the Roasted Cauliflower made with crispy chickpeas and spicy dill vinaigrette. This was pretty good, but a little too sweet for me.

The Spicy Mushrooms were weird. They were button mushrooms covered in warm harissa and beet sauce.

The Broccolini was probably my least favorite. The menu said it was grilled, but I'm sure it was steamed. So steamed broccolini covered in dates, olive oil hummus, and scallions is what the menu said. I didn't see any hummus. This dish was clearly missing something.

The service was okay. We had to hunt the server down to get our check. The mezzes are the typical high price you get in this area of $8 to $12 each. And the atmosphere was okay. In the end, I have mixed feelings about this place--a few dishes were good, a few were not, and they have a non-vegan ingredient on their vegan menu, which isn't right.

Previous review
February 28, 2017

Cava Mezze
2940 Clarendon Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22201
(703) 276-9090