Midtown Village

1800 McFarland Blvd E

Tuscaloosa, AL 35404

As a student living in Tuscaloosa, Alabama there aren’t many restaurants that will satisfy a craving for a global cuisine. You want BBQ, fried chicken, or Mexican there are a surplus of places, but as I was searching to find Turkish food I was at a loss. While Turkish food has many staple dishes that you could find at some restaurants like kebabs or dumplings, there isn’t a full-fledged Turkish restaurant anywhere close. I even asked a native from Turkey if he had any suggestions to a restaurant close, but he said I was out of luck. As I did more research, what I did discover though was Taziki’s, a Mediterranean café that serves Turkish style cuisine.

I was excited to try Turkish dishes and Taziki’s had good reviews. A few miles down the road from the restaurant I visited here, Taziki’s is a chain started in Birmingham, Alabama. The original restaurant was opened 1998, and then the franchise expanded to Tuscaloosa in 2011. Although it is a franchise, each restaurant is locally owned to allow them to fully invest themselves in the community. The Taziki’s here has embraced the football atmosphere offering deals for game-day catering and advertising “The Tide.”

As part of the community Taziki’s has a prime spot for business, located in Midtown Village, a popular spot for shopping and dining in Tuscaloosa. I made my rounds stopping at Old Navy and Kinnucan’s to build up an appetite before going to dinner. Walking in the restaurant it reminded me of bigger, cleaner Chipotle, since you order at a long counter then walk down the aisle to get your drinks. The staff does deliver your food to your table, which is convenient because you can pick a table and get comfortable before eating.

Since I was eating around 6 in the evening, the restaurant wasn’t too crowded; the few customers there were spread out around the room. I image their consistent clients are college students and young couples, although they do have a kid’s menu so I’m sure young families come in as well. My friend and I chose a table near the window, but if it was a bit warmer outside we could’ve sat on the patio to enjoy people watching as we ate. The restaurant is quaint, not as cozy as Panera where students spend afternoons studying, but a nice place to meet friends for dinner or go on a first date. The quiet murmur of conversation gives the room a relaxed feel where I wasn’t judged while I took my time looking over the menu and ordering.

After scanning the menu for Turkish dishes and consulting the cashier, who was friendly and described all the dishes I asked about, I decided on hummus and dolmas. I typically am not a huge fan of hummus, but the cashier suggested it, so I branched out ordering it. The dolmas are grape leaf wrapped, which is a traditional Turkish dish and I was excited to see how they tasted. My friend chose the grilled chicken basil pesto gyro, which had complimentary reviews online.

After getting our drinks, we chatted about Fall Break as we waited for our food. Our meals came out in a timely manner and looked like it was plated by a professional on a show from the Food Network. The hummus came with delicious pita bread and seasoned tortilla chips to dip with. The pita bread was light and fluffy-perfect to balance the dense taste of the hummus. The hummus wasn’t robust, but the spices on the tortilla chips livened it up. Maybe another flavor of hummus would’ve impressed me more, but this one was too bland for my liking. The texture was gritty, and it stuck to my teeth after a few bites. After trying the hummus, I decided to move on to the dolmas hoping for more success.

On the side of the dolmas there was a fresh garden salad; that was a refreshing change after eating the dolmas. The outside leaves were oily, but after the first bite I immediately loved the burst of hearty flavor from the filling. Perfectly seasoned chicken, vegetables and rice filled my mouth. Still warm, the chicken was cooked to perfection and was mixed with al dente rice, a talent many restaurants can’t achieve. The flavor was very welcomed after the plain hummus and after eating two dolmas, I decided the grape leaves were not needed and ended up scooping out the filling. Although the filling was delicious, the best dish hands down was the gyro.

My friend was gracious enough to let me try a bite of her gyro, the rest she kept to herself. The pita bread had soaked up the pesto sauce making the bite a balance of the bread, sauce, chicken and vegetables. I don’t know if the pesto is a special recipe, but I want it to make for myself. It made the chicken pop with zest. I didn’t try the vegetable medley paired with the gyro, but it looked fresh and yummy!

Would I go back to Taziki’s? Yes, the food was nice quality and reasonably priced, especially for a college student’s budget. Would I order hummus and dolmas again? Probably not. While I liked the dolmas, I would rather not have to deal with the leafy wrap and just eat the filling. I would be open trying different flavored hummus, just not the original that I ordered. All-in-all I enjoyed my experience and will definitely be back for the pesto gyro soon.