The Mediterranean Restaurant
Categories: Spanish/Basque, Greek and Mediterranean [Edit]
1002 Walnut St Ste 101BBoulder, CO 80302 (303) 444-5335
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Garage, Street
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Takes Reservations: Yes
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: Yes
- Good for: Dinner
38 Reviews for The Mediterranean Restaurant
Happy hour in Boulder is my favorite time of day and I finally got the chance to go to happy hour at The Med. Sooooo tasty.
We didn't quite order *every* tapa on the menu, but it was close. My favorite was the prosciutto and melon (to the point where I ate the entire dish by myself).
Even better than the food was the white sangria. I had never had white sangria before, but it was delicious. It tasted like lemonade for adults . . . I think this will be my summertime drink this summer. :)
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If i could own one restaurant in Boulder this would be it. Why? Well.........It is always packed. They have a great bar. The service is great. The food is always good. Their menu is big, but not overwhelming. The ambiance is upscale and energetic, but not pretentious. Tapas, tapas, tapas. You can go there and spend a ton of money on a fancy meal with expensive wine or not spend much and enjoy an Italian wood oven pizza and draft beer. Their menu is well balanced price-wise and there is something for everyone. it is also a great place for lunch. Well-priced and never packed during lunch hour.
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I had a great time eating here yesterday night. 6 of us made it just in time for happy hour and literally ordered every single tapa dish they had on the menu. Dishes after dishes of yummy foods came out and they were absolutely fabulous! My favorites included the magherita pizzas, fried calamari, bacon-wrapped dates, marinated beef, etc.
We also had delicious desserts here - the chocolate lava cake with ice cream and their cheescake. They were to die for! Our total bill came out to be only $108 for all the food we ordered! It was awesome. The place is crazy-packed with people, but it was well-worth it.
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This is verite from an aging mind. This was a little over a decade ago... but all of true. If any old employees or anyone wants to contact me, feel free... but this is all true.
I tell these stories with a nostalgia.. not a grudge. This place was a hilarious, ridiculous place to work, and it was VERY Boulder, in every sense of the word.
Okay.. I have nothing bad to say about this place other than the management (a specific guy whose name inspired panic in the young hostesses and servers. He was a cheating son of a bitch if there ever was one, and was too pathetic to be able to cheat) seemed to be a dirty, misogynistic, flirting type A jerk. I remember him being the first boss I really ever learned a lot from, knowing I would never ever act like him. To his credit, he did say one of the funniest things I have ever heard. My first day, it was one of my first dress shirts. He asked me if I had chosen to iron it with a rock.
Dick. Anyhoo... that was funny. Double Dick: he wouldn't give up his parking spot for recycling. He really wanted to be a good guy, but not if it meant parking two spaces over.
Some good stories are as follows:
I worked here. It was a long time ago circa 1995 or so. That being said, I have never seen a place that had more messed up employees, management, and issues. Expecially bugs... I have never ever in my entire life seen more vermin in a restaurant.
1) Aphids in the french fries. I don't know how they did it, but hot, fresh out of the frier we had plate after plate of fries covered in aphids. Jumping with reckless abandon.
2) The salad tapas chef would smoke DMT before work. If you don't know what DMT is.. it is the heaviest of all hallucinogens. The best explanation is this: "Load the universe in a gun, point it at your head, shoot". This guy would do this stuff and try to make salads. No.. they were not works of art.
3) One time, I was backwaiting a table that ordered a desert. I was cleaning their entrees at the same time the tray came out. The base of the tray was covered in powdered sugar for presentation. It was the perfect timing... one of the guests pointed to the base of a glass and asked what it was. At that PRECISE moment, a cockroach shook itself off and scurried across the table ONTO THE WOMAN'S HAND. Yeah... that didn't go over well.
4) One of the greatest "Take this job and shove it" moments ever... a young, AWESOME server was doing a lunch for a young entrepreneur, who had something like 5 guests. The bill came to about $150 with cocktails for a biz lunch. You know when somone forgets to tip? Or when someone is a jerk and tips too little? This guy, at *HIS* biz lunch tipped a SINGLE DOLLAR BILL. She told the manager and particularly spineless form suggested "too bad". She chased this guy down the street, basically accosted him at the top of her lungs, SCREAMING "I DON'T NEED YOUR FUCKING DOLLAR, AND IF YOU ARE LIKE THAT IN A RESTAURANT I WONDER HOW YOU REALLY ARE IN BUSINESS".
Seriously, straight up.
Later, one of the clients came back and asked for the girl that had obviously been fired. He left a proper tip for her, and wanted someone to get it to her. This is no joke... he said they went back on their investment with him (or whatever) because he *HAD* tipped an EXORBITANT amount.... and made a show of it.
As he got up, he swiped back the big tip and left a buck. No kidding.
Man... I could go on forever. Sex in the back, people with crabs scratching.... on and on. That joint was not as nice as it looked. funny that.... because most restaurants have had problems.... I have worked in and around something like 12 or more restaurants. I haven't seen anything nearly this bad in regards to health code violation in my life.
By the way, I worked there for ... maybe.. four months. I quit because the problems became increasingly gross.
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my salad here consisted of some leafy greens and some spiced fish. the fish was incredibly, incredibly salty... others seemed to feel like their dishes were quite salty as well. i think i drank the entire boulder supply of water during that 1 hour dinner.
the service was great.
i just lost sensation in my tongue for a few hours, but i'm okay now, really. no need to panic.
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I'm being converted. If I had reviewed The Med six months ago it would have been two stars. Today it gets four stars for happy hour tapas. They're inexpensive, toothsome, and there's a good variety of them.
However, and this is a big however, it's like a different place at dinner time. It gets really crowded, really noisy, the entrees disappoint, everything is overpriced and you have to deal with the sorority girl hostesses that typically don't have a clue what's going on.
Update: The Med loses another star, actually, make that two stars. Some friends and I went for Tapas on the 21st. We joined some other friends who had been there for some time, and were told by the waitress that it was fine that we were joining them. However, halfway through dinner we were told that our table was reserved for another party and that we would have to move. Five minutes later the waitress returned, told us it was time to move and started picking up our food. Did they bother to comp us for what we had already ordered? Nope. Offer us free drinks or dessert? Nope. They just told us we could stay at that table as long as we wanted, brought us the check, and stopped returning to our table.
There's always a wait to get in, so I suppose they can afford to treat customers this way and not worry about whether they will return. But the question is, why do people keep on returning when service like this is what can be expected?
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This place is okay. I had their Falafel wrap (described: falafel croquettes, thai curry & honey hummus, tabouleh, lettuce, tomatoes, red onions & tahini wrapped in oven baked flat bread). It sounds a lot better than it really was. I'm not saying that the food is bad. I'm just saying it's nothing amazing. The prices are okay so I will probably come back to this place. I did try a lot of their tapas. Some of them were better than others. Calamari Fritti (normal), Pollo Con Limon Y Ajillo aka. chicken wings (ok), Champinones En Salsa Verde aka. roasted mushrooms in herb garlic butter (pretty good), Caprese (normal), Bistecca Alla Genovese aka. slicked steak with gorgonzola and olive oil (....I think that's what we had... if I'm right, this was pretty good too).
Overall comment: Ok. If I could do 1/2 stars, I would give this place 2 and a 1/2 stars.
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I went here for a business dinner cause someone in my group read that Zagat rated it really high, which is usually a 'no-no' for me. After that first meal, I've probably gone back another 10 times.
The food is great, although I have to admit, I've never eaten off the entree menu, I've always done tapas with my group. The sweet ribs and the flank steak are two of my favorites.
Happy hour pricing is really good, and they have a really good bar selection. Patio seating in summer time is great for people watching too.
Five stars, even just for the atmosphere. I could go to The Med and just sit on the patio and read a book all day. The fountain, the huge umbrellas, the way comfortable chairs, and the wonderful smells coming from the kitchen are enough to make me smile.
And then there's the food. Salads, tapas, desserts... what more do you want from a restaurant? Half-priced tapas for happy hour gives you a chance to try one of everything if you feel so inclined. The waitstaff is peppy and seems happy to be at work, and the prices are very reasonable.
If you're overwhelmed by the huge menu just try the Greek Salad and the Lamb Skewers. And have the chocolate thing for dessert... it's like a brownie they took out of the oven before it had finished cooking, all warm and gooey in the middle. YUM!
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"What is the best happy hour in Boulder?"
"The Med!"
No, not really, not even close...
After hearing numerous people rave about The Med, I had to check it out.
I ordered five appetizers, and only two of them were even decent. The beef carpaccio was disappointing to say the least.
The hostesses informed me I needed a party of ten to make a dinner reservation. We opted for the bar and ordered a drink.
The sangria was mediocre, and finally we scored a table to sit down.
We ordered five appetizers, all of which were very reasonably priced. Unfortunately, only two of them were edible.
Overall. very disappointing after all the recommendations.
I think the highlight of the evening was watching two women speak with a waiter. He pulled out his wallet and immediately the two women keenly observed how much money he had. Are you kidding me?
A very decent price, but skip this place and find somewhere that is better.
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This place has always been a great happy hour location. Easy to meet up with friends, and order lots of tapas and drinks.
The menu was revamped recently (since ~6 months ago?) but same style, and I enjoyed the spices and flavors more. Order the scallop risotto, so tender.
Also, yay to bringing back the white sangria! It's the most refreshing drink sitting out on the patio on a warm afternoon.
Food smells better than it tastes. Maybe I didn't order the right stuff. A bit expensive. I'll come back to see if I can get lucky next time, since several friends highly recommend this place.
Here's my take on the Med.
Yes, the tapas are good and the food is consistent, but really... that's all it is, is consistent. It's not spectacular and I believe the Med is one of the most overrated places in Boulder. The bar is pretty much a yuppie meat market, honestly. Boulder isn't a place where you'll see obnoxious bar types as a rule, but I got harassed at the Med by some loud frat boy types while I was waiting for my date to arrive.
As far as Mediterranean fare, they keep it safe. I certainly wasn't blown away by it enough to make up for the hideous amount of noise and wall-to-wall after-work shouting cell-phone blabbering thirtysomethings packed to the gills. Service all three times I was there was a tad sketchy. Not rude, maybe a tad slow, and just not... all there. Minor things like forgetting a place setting or rushing the courses so that everything was all crammed onto the table at once. I get the impression the waitstaff are consistently overwhelmed when it's busy, which it is almost always.
Definitely big, plate-filling meals, but the menu rarely changes. It kind of gave me that "Cheesecake Factory" feeling - same overwhelmingly huge menu that seems a bit of a cop-out over a real chef who would use a small, focussed menu of continually changing seasonal fare.
as far as 'Family-Friendly' I really, really wouldn't recommend bringing small children at peak hours - the place is loud, full, and not stroller- or high-chair friendly in its layout - seating and walkways are narrow and packed with scurrying waitstaff. Waits in the hour to 90 minute range are not uncommon, and once you're seated it can take 60-90 minutes to get through all the courses.
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I loved this place. We had a wonderful dinner on a recent warm evening. The patio is key on a summer night. The staff was fast and friendly. We went the small plate route and shared hot and cold tapas and were not disappointed. The lamb skewers and mussles were amazing dishes. Good offering of wines by the glass and sangria too!
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Personally I only think it's worth it to go during Happy Hour for the tapas. Otherwise it's a little too pricey. However, if you DO go during happy hour it's an awesome deal. It is incredibly crowded though, so definitely be prepared to wait.
I also just discovered the patio which is absolutely lovely. It's so secluded and the mosaic walls and fountain give it an air of being a plaza.
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The Med is incredibly awesome on so many levels: first of all, tapas generally take me to a happy place. But Med isn't just Spanish tapas - its Mediterranean, too. Second of all, the menu is huge (bordering on overwhelming); full of hot and cold plates: veggies! meats! cheeses! Plus warm, tasty bread! Literally, the menu has the best of everything... pizza, too! Even the most picky of all eaters (which I most certainly am NOT) could find something to satisfy. And did I mention that it is DIRT CHEAP?
Also worth noting, the Med is so festive and colorful, especially the outdoor patio. The staff could not be nicer, or more accommodating (they quickly moved us to an inside table when the sunny day turned to a torrential downpour). Oh my gosh, this place is just fantastic. If you haven't been, then what the hell are you waiting for?!?
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I am having trouble reading some of the reviews on the Med that are below average. I have been going to this restaurant for over a decade AND THEY HAVE NEVER MISSED ON A MEAL. The tapas, salads, bread, entres, and desert are phenomenal. The wine list is pretty decent as well, for the price range they are serving. I would not suggest the med if you are looking for a quiet restaurant for a business lunch or romantic date.
The service is good, and they look even better. It is part of the ambiance don't fight it.. and the patrons are top notch in the summer ;)
If you like steak, be sure to order the Sinatra dish, I can't stop ordering this dish it has everything you could ever want.
Was just here for my girlfriend's birthday, and, as always, the Med didn't disappoint. We had a nice big crew, and the restaurant was very accommodating. And everything was tremendous. I had the pasta. To be honest, not the best choice. The pasta was tasty, but nothing special. There are more specialty items to be had.
In particular, the Med is known for its tapas. My favorite is the prosciutto-wrapped mango, which I can't recommend highly enough. They also have a great wine selection. Believe the hype, just be prepared to be on a wait list and be cramped for space.
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This place has THE best happy hour in town. Fantastic tapas menu and extremely reasonable prices. It's a great spot for groups of friends to meet after work, and the patio is secluded and relaxing on those warm Boulder afternoons.
Was told that this was the place to go when in Boulder. Food wasn't anything special but I do give it some props for being the "happening" place. I think it is a bit overrated.
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mmm, the Med! I love the med! The tapas are great as is the sangria during happy hour. The outdoor patio is wonderful and although I usually have to wait for a table, I don't mind. The food it that great! :)
Lifted straight from an Italian caf street scene, the kaleidoscopic piazza at this perdurably packed Mediterranean hotspot buzzes with Boulder revelers soaking up the sun and noshing on a great selection of tapas and other Mediterranean foodstuffs, like paella and wood-fired pizzas topped with high-quality ingredients.
On sunny days, everyone who's anyone (i.e. the super trendy crowd)congregates on the patio to sip sangria alongside the murmuring fountain and bright-hued marketplace mosaic.
The Med has been a favorite for years. It has an lively (read: loud!), hip and casual atmosphere with huge flower arangements and trendy patrons. It can be very difficult to get a table at the end of the week and over the weekend, but if you're lucky, and patient, you can usually snag a stool or table in the bar.
The tapas are delectable and a great way to sample a bit of everything for lunch or dinner. The grilled skirt steak Genovese, the hummus trio, the baked brie and the calmari are some of my favorites. They have a wood-fired pizza oven that produced super thin, crispy, pizzas (I love the fresh basil on the margherita). There's something for everyone on the dinner menu from Moroccan kabobs and tagines, paella and North Atlantic salmon, to enchiladas and steaks and way you like.
The patio is perfect for summer, and though it doesn't have a view, it does have a beautiful mosaic fountain and a shady pergola. It's a wonderful place to meet up for drinks and tapas with friends on a warm evening.
I think the food at The Med is great.. certainly higher quality Italian at least. The atmosphere & decor reminds me of Italy somewhat.
This is a great place for happy hour. Great wine list and tapas menu. The atmosphere is 4 stars just because it's not very cozy.
The Med is always packed somehow, no matter what time of day, who you're with, what the weather is like....
And... its great! An excellent choice to bring anyone that you remotely feel affectionate towards, say: a date, a parent visiting you at college, roommate, a potential employer; a birthday gathering of fratties.
And why? Because the food is so so Dank--I swear! Come and check out out. Delicious Greek cuisine, as you may have guessed from the name. Great selection of wine. Salmon is always good. Great Desserts. Always Bumpin'.
Tapas are the way to go here. Their wood-fired pizzas are crispy, and delicious. Paella for the hearty eater. Desserts are pretty darned good too. Beautiful people to look at. It's no more pricey than the rest of Pearl St. but add drinks/tips and it's a $30/head night.
It is way too crowded with the after-work crowd and God help you if you have to wait. Best strategy is to grab a bar seat or table and eat there. You can order anything on the menu at the bar. Very noisy but the patio is a good place to go if you want some quiet.
I have never seen a place rotate through so many hostesses but they sure are easy on the eyes. Stay on top of them (not literally) for your table but otherwise I agree with other reviewers, they are not the best at their job.
This place is so, so good. It's been a favorite of mine since I lived in Boulder in the '90's. Everything I've had is excellent, but the tiramisu here is my favorite on the planet. The only reason I'm not giving it 5 stars is because the last time I was there (about a year ago) the hostesses were HORRID - incompetent and rude! We got there and were told 20 minutes, so we put our name in and went to the bar for drinks. We never did get seated. After over an hour of waiting, our fabulous bartender noticed that were were really irritated and served us at the bar instead. So the 6 of us had to crowd around the area of one bar stool to get our dinner. If this bartender hadn't been so cool, I'd never be going back. Hopefully they have hired more capable, less bimbo-y hostesses.
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This rating is based on happy hour. I dream about The Med's tapas and sangria. Try the rusticano, the baba ghanoush, the roasted almonds . . . I could eat there every day. I think the outdoor seating area is very cute, and I have never had a bad experience with waitstaff.
I wish i could give the med 6 stars. i would. i love love love the med. if you don't like it i wouldn't want to be friends with you.
the food is so good. the tapas, oh man! and you cannot beat the happy hour prices. the drinks are good. the waiters are smokin hot.
I LOVE THE MED.
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This place has had super hot hostesses for years. Decent tapas, decent service.
The Med is ultra consistent and has delicious tapas that are perfect on a sunny day. The waitstaff is a little snobby and the crowd a little superficial (once I was there and saw about 15 CU girls walk in in practically the same outfits!! it was amazing!!) but the food is great and the portions just right.
Fantastic food. Interesting variety beyond the mediterranean basics. Great tapas for great prices - especially at happy hour. Friendly folks. 4.5 stars would be 5 if they had some outdoor seating with a view - it's a little underground.
fantastic food, friendly and classy med decor atomsphere, tried a few years back while visiting
recommend ****
I like this place. The tapas are fantastic. It's impossible to get in though on a Friday or Saturday evening unless you have a reservation or are prepared for a LONG wait. The told me 1 hour last time and after 2 hours I finally gave up...
I won't go anymore. It's way too noisy.
Another place we hit a lot. Happy hour is great as you can load up on the tapas and drinks and it's not too expensive. Lunch is also a great option with cheap pizzas. Really a great place!
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