Mezza Mediterranean Grill

Mezza fills a void at The Mart — the void being a healthy and quick option that doesn’t include a biz that focuses on juices or smoothies. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but sometimes I need a little spice in my workday but don’t want to leave the giant expanse that is The Mart.
I’ve gotten the same thing during both my trips to Mezza’s counter — the Shepherd’s salad. Expect tons of fresh romaine, bits of dates, avocado, a handful of corn, goat cheese, and I add chicken for a bit of protein. They toss it in front of you, where I ask for easy dressing (they oblige). The salad is plentiful and fills me up for the right price and my meal leans on the healthy side (even with a side of pita).
Areas for improvement would include: more flavorful chicken, more variety in general, and if the pita was more substantial (or hell, even made in house), this place would sky rocket in my book.

Great lunch option in the Merchandise Mart!
On a Wednesday at like 1:45 pm there was absolutely no line, but I can only image the scene at noon.
I ordered the falafel plate with yellow rice, hummus, tahini, tomatoes and cucumbers accompanied by a root beer fountain drink. I was a little confused as to what the side options were, and what exactly was included in the different meal options, so I asked the guy a lot of questions (and was probably really annoying).
When all was said and done it was about a $ 10 lunch, which honestly is no shocker for the area.
My meal was really good though! I’m not sure what it was that made the hummus stand out to me, but it was delicious. The rice was tasty and the veggies were fresh. As far as the falafel goes, it had a pretty good consistency — crispy, but not overdone. It unfortunately wasn’t the best falafel I’ve ever had, but still pretty dang good.
I think next time I’ll try one of their salads or the chicken kabob!

This place is very good. The chicken shawarma is really well flavored, everything is really fresh. The yellow rice is a nice touch and I was shocked to see that falafel is included in the plate — most places charge wayyy too much for good falafel, but not this place.
I’ve never had a problem with the service or price of this place as many others have alluded to. Definitely try it if you work in or around the Merchandise Mart.
My one complaint — the line here is always crazy! Definitely don’t go if you’re in a rush and they should add 1 – 2 people on the assembly line.

Best mediterranean restaurant in the Merchandise Mart food court. That’s not saying much. However, it is a OK spot for when Chicago turns to Chiberia and you don’t want to go outside. It’s no Taza, nor even Roti. But it works.
They’ve got a sampling of the usual stuff: kabobs, shawarma, and falafel — all used in a variety of salads, wraps and plates. The staff is friendly and quick. The prices are slightly high for food court fare, but are still reasonable. The portions are solid.
My go to item: the Shepherd’s salad with spicy chicken and splash of hot sauce. Its a delicious salad that comes in just south of $ 10.

Decent salad, but they «nickel & dime» you at the registrar. If it were inexpensive, that would be one thing, but it is fairly pricey. Service is unenthusiastic, at best.

I work in the Mart. This place is terrible. I love Mediterranean cuisine and this place does that type of food ZERO justice. I just tried it for a second time thinking perhaps the last time was just a bad day. Nope. Got a wrap that was the most bland, soggy, sorry excuse for lunch I’ve experienced in a long time. I’ll never get that 10 minutes of my life back. Never again.

I’m so sad that some of these reviews have been trash-​talking this place. Whenever I come here, I always get really good food and service. And I come here pretty often because I’m a student at TCSPP. Their shawarma and red pepper hummus is pretty deelish. The food can get a little pricey for a broke student like myself, but the plus side is you get pretty filling portions. Ignore the haters and eat here!

The service was not bad for a lunch rush. The food was not super impressive. The chicken was little dry and not all that flavorful. I would probably go back since it is so convenient if you are meeting up with folks in the Merchandise Mart; nonetheless, if the like is long I that day I would skip it antogether.

I have worked next to the Merchandise Mart for months now and had tried just about every healthy options place there and around except for Mezza. I’m so sad I waited! They have the nicest employees of all the places at the Merchandise Mart! The first time I tried a salad which was fantastic! Very large, super fresh ingredients, light but flavorful dressing! I couldn’t finish it because it was so big, but it was SO good! Today I got a side platter where you get 3 large helpings of the side items of your choice. Again, extremely fresh and large portions! Not to mention how delish their warmed pita bread is! I am going to end up stopping by this place ALL the time! The only reason for my 4 stars instead of 5 is the service is definitely a bit slow — it takes a while to get through even though both times I was second in line. Then the other reason is its definitely a bit over priced. I’m not upset at that because I think its due to how fresh the ingredients are! Definitely give it a try!!!

So I WAS excited to have a semi healthy and veggie friendly option for lunch among the sea of fried food court.
Too bad it’s not good, at all! The Jerusalem salad had the rough basic ingredients correct, but ick it’s bland bland bland. I think the major culprit here is the hummus, it’s so watered down it was dripping out of my wrap and I can only assume this is what they use for the salad.
I won’t event comment on the lack of organization in the line. Just go down the hall, look at Potbelly, and copy!
Over all, not even worth a 2^nd go. Get your recipes right first!

I gave this place a try and it won’t get a second chance. The food — rice, chicken kebab, hummus — was bland and overcooked. There wasn’t much protein for the dollar (rice is a cheap filler, in my opinion). It was a to-​go order, but I got back to the office and there were no silverware or napkins. Lame.

This Mezza has the same great food and fair prices as all of the others. My issue is that they’ve been open for several months and still have not gotten their line in order. I continue to wait a long time for service even when I am the only person waiting and then my order is invariably confused despite the fact that I ordered directly off the menu with no special changes.
I’d suggest that they re-​train their front line personnel to better serve their customers. And please start taking the frequent diner Mezza card! It’s sort of ridiculous that you haven’t gotten a hole puncher yet!
Happy dining!

Ehhhhhh… it was ok at best.
I appreciate healthy options at the Mart — when you’re on your feet at a trade show all day, eating fast food can really slow you down. I usually hit up Foodstuffs for a big salad but the line of 40 blinged out decorinas had me turning to Mezza.
The concept? Good. The service? Surly, and kind of slow. The food? Just ok.
I had the mezze sampler where you pick three things from a list. I had fruit salad (not terribly fresh and 90% melon), hummus (boring) and falafels (tasted great, not terribly fresh). With a soda = $ 10.
Pretty expensive for what I got as the servings were small, and nothing was great to boot. If you’re trying to eat healthy at the Mart my advice would be to hit up Tokyo Lunch Box or brave the line at Foodstuffs.

Not sure if I was just really hungry today, or just excited to have a new option in the Mart food court, but my Shepard’s salad with chicken & olives was awesome!

Just noticed this place was open and decided to try it out. Maybe they’re still working out the kinks, but as far as mediterranean joints go, this was not great. I got the chicken schwarma wrap. I chose the wrap because the pitas seemed small (wraps and pitas are the same price). The meat was very salty and the tahini sauce completely disintegrated — it wasn’t even noticeable, no flavor. The wrap was dry and fell apart.
Generally, the menu options weren’t terribly exciting. I agree with the other reviewer that there are far too many chicken options. I’m assuming they’re using different spices on each but they don’t really differentiate between them on the menu.
Maybe in a few months I’ll give it another try, but honestly I don’t think this place comes close to Roti or Taza which is right across the river.

These morons don’t even know what a LINE is!
I just want a full-​size side order of falafel, since I’m not too hungry. The first woman I encounter tells me I have to order it from the next guy. That guy makes a kabob wrap for the man in front of me, then starts in on the salads for the two women behind me. I guess he heard me say I wanted a side order and decided it wasn’t worth his while to acknowledge me. (They’re way overpriced for my $ 5.50 a day lunch budget anyway.)
I’ll keep going to my fave MM lunch vendor, Tokyo Lunch Boxes, and avoid Mezza like the plague.

Just opened and employees were friendly and the food was very good. It’s similar to Roti, but I think they need to follow Roti and edit their menu a bit. I ordered the Spicy Chicken Pita and a mini-​side (Fatoosh salad). I didn’t realize that the meal deal was the way to go (I would’ve gotten a drink too for around the same price), but that’s okay. Although I ordered the Fatoosh salad, they gave me the Villager’s Salad which is apparently the same as the Fatoosh but with olives. I’m good with olives, but I just think they have too many menu items that are very similar with just a one ingredient difference. Like I think the Spicy Chicken sandwich is the same as the Mezza Chicken? Maybe? They just don’t need to offer so many chicken sandwiches. It’s confusing and I think the staff was having trouble knowing what’s what.
Anyway, good food, nice people. My main criticism is that the menu is overwhelming, confusing, and could be easily streamlined.