Meze Estiatorio

From the Boston Globe:
«Meze is morphing into Copia, now that chef and co-​owner Paul Delios has left and Anthony Caturano of Prezza in the North End is taking charge. Caturano and Prezza manager David Petrilli are coming in as majority shareholders of the 200-​seat Charlestown restaurant, where they plan a pan-​Mediterranean menu (some Greek, some Spanish, and some Portuguese, but “very little Italian») and a new name (for the goddess of abundance). Outside the kitchen, they’ll undertake mostly cosmetic renovations without closing the restaurant, which has a stunning view of the Zakim Bridge. “One day, you’ll drive by and there’ll be a new sign,” hopefully by Sept. 1, Caturano said. The team also is taking over the smaller Paolo’s Trattoria but plans only “subtle” changes. Delios left the restaurants to take time off and regroup after what he called “creative differences” with co-​owner Bill Galatis, who’s reducing his stake in the businesses.”

I really wanted to love this place. We came on valentine’s day but made reservations for 9 pm in order to avoid couplish couples. Bad plan! They were out of three dishes already, including the two I had planned on ordering from looking at the menu ahead of time. I’m semi-​vegetarian so this was a huge loss. I don’t understand… how can you be out of zucchini? I’ll bring my own zucchini and you can cook it! The waitress wasn’t particularly helpful in offering alternative options, so we ended up just getting wine and two appetizers… one of which was a chicken avoglemeno (sp?) soup that was just so-​so, and then going to Punjabi Dhaba for dinner :)

The food here is all very good. I would not say it’s excellent or phenomenal or that the entrees are worth the exorbitant prices, but the food is very good. Personally, I don’t think a restaurant should be charging this much for Greek food. It’s not expensive to make and to charge over $ 25 for some of the entrees is just crazy, IMO. You can have a fairly decent meal here sticking with the meze (Greek appetizers/​tapas). Order four of them and share. The dessert of fried dough balls in honey was orgasmic. This is the only place I know in Boston (outside of area Greek festivals) where you can get this. Also, JAMN 94.5 and affiliated radio stations often work with Meze offering the «half price hookup». Through the radio station you can get a gift certificate to Meze for $ 50 for $ 25. This is the way to go. Check JAMN’s website to get on the mailing list.

stick to the appetizers/​tapas, the lemon soup was amazing!
pass on the entrees not worth it!

Now, I’m a Greek, I don’t know what upscale/​high-​class/​expencive Greek food is… as far as I know, it doesn’t exist. However, as a Greek resturaunt I wouldn’t give it a great review, but as a place with great food, and a fun atmosphere… loved it. I went the week they opened, and they had a few flaws, the lighting wasn’t right, the music was too loud, but they have fixed it. This is a great place to take a date for dinner, then walk down the street to tangierino’s for a drink afterwards. All in all, great place, check it out, spending hundreds on a meal in charlestown, tell that to my parents and they would be affraid of getting their car jacked… but this isn’t 30 years ago!

There aren’t too many Greek places in Boston. Meze offers upscale greek food in the Charlestown Navy Yard neighborhood.
The dining room has a modern look but unfortunately not enough noise-​dampers. I often felt I had to shout to be heard by my companion or the servers.
The menu offers a selection of meze, Greek small plates (the Greek version of tapas). But, don’t let the term «small plates» fool you. These mezes are generously proportioned. The PIKILIA is a platter with a selection of cold spreads that includes tzatziki (cucumber & yogurt), a fava bean & garlic spread, an eggplant spread, and a couple of other spreads, along with olives, feta cheese, dolmades (stuffed grape leaves) and fresh pita bread. All of the offerings on this platter are delicious! And we’ve never been able to finish it, and usually end up taking at least half of it home to enjoy later.
They offer a great wine list with a fine selection of Hellenic wines. I’ve tried several of their white wine offerings and they were great. I keep meaning to seek out the bottles and buy some for at home.
The service here is VERY friendly! On our most recent visit, our waitress from our previous visit came over to our table and said hi and that she was glad to see us back again.

You know why this place has such great reviews? It is the only one in town and they market it really well. I am not saying is bad but there other more interesting places in Charlestown… how about Tangierino?