Jasmin Can be Hit or Miss
I love Mediterranean food. Gyro meat. Grape leaves. Tzatziki sauce scooped up by fresh cucumber slices may be the answer to a hot summer day. You can only imagine my joy when Jasmin Mediterranean Bistro was recommended by a close friend as “the best in town.”
In the months since the referral, I have been there at least a dozen times and have found their chicken fresh and never dried, their salads crisp and their hummus seasoned with just enough garlic to fill the taste buds but not linger for the next day. The atmosphere is simple with walk-up service that’s quick to acknowledge you and listens to your specifications, a necessity for me as I manage a delicate food allergy. Jasmin’s has more charm than the average Hillsborough quick bite source and, nestled on the corner of Hillsborough and Chamberlain below Mitch’s tavern, it became a great, quick alternative to a night at home cooking.
I have become accustomed to the service and found my favorite selection: Gyro platter, pita on the side, no tomatoes on the Greek salad. The smells in the car on the drive back are nothing more than stimulating, titillating and drool-provoking. I can taste the individual seasonings of the gyro meat in my mouth as we pull into the driveway. I can feel the cool tzatziki sauce on my tongue as I open the to-go box. As I dig in, a slight whimper comes from my boyfriend as he takes his first bite of chicken shawarma.
But on Sunday, after a long day working outside, my anticipation was met with disappointment. My gyro meat was dry and tough enough that even dipping it in the tzatziki sauce left it barely edible. The dryness of the meat left little room for the flavor I had expected and dimmed to the savoriness I recently enjoyed at Sitti. I stare at the remaining Greek salad to see browning edges on my lettuce and only one olive. One! I turn to my boyfriend and he expresses the same dismay: dry meat, a forgotten extra pita and quizzical consistency to the shawarma.
While Sunday was a weird day for all of us, I had grown to expect more from Jasmin. The experience was disappointing, to say the least. Have I given up on the bistro? Not just yet, but the next time I begin to crave Mediterranean, Sitti, with its newness, delicious meat and fancy lighting, may just get my business.
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Restaurants , Other posts by Mara Reese.
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Hillsborough Street Mediterranean
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Jonathan
03/11 03:08 PM
I really like Jasmin. There are few good places to eat that have counter service, so I find myself going there a lot. Plus, it’s the only place I’ve seen in Raleigh with auto-doners, so the meat (especially the lamb) is usually delicious.
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RaleighRob
03/11 04:49 PM
I like Jasmin. It’s more conveniently located than Neomonde, and cheaper. That said, your experience of a bad visit isn’t much of a surprise…it’s typical among those “average Hillsborough quick bite sources”. But overall it’s a great place to have there for sure.
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Varmint
03/11 04:50 PM
Let me get this straight. You’ve been to this place a dozen times and have absolutely loved it, correct? And then you go on a Sunday afternoon/evening and get some crappy food? So in your last 12 or 13 visits, you’ve received super food in all but one? And then you’ve decided that because of that one bad experience you’re going to use a headline proclaiming Jasmin to be “Hit or Miss?”
Wow.
No, there’s never an excuse for bad food, but to declare a restaurant “hit or miss” when it’s spot on over 90% of the time is setting an unreachable standard for any restaurant, and particularly a cheap eats sort of place like Jasmin. And it’s an unfair headline.
Hell, I’ve never eaten at the place and only know where it’s located, but it’s pretty irresponsible to call a place “hit or miss” over one bad meal.
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David
03/11 05:46 PM
To be fair, the author did not write the headline. Thanks for the feedback Varmint.
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Jonn
03/11 06:12 PM
Medi Deli in Chapel Hill is the best..however Neomonde is great too.
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T-Plain
03/11 08:12 PM
I love this place. . . I have been there nearly 50 times since it opened, as I work right across the street. I’ve only ever gone there for lunch during the week, but it’s always been great.
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MMI
03/12 09:17 PM
Jasmin gets bonus points for being one of the few quick-service Med-based joints that does not resort to those damnable “peel-a-gyro” concoctions prevalent at places like Greek Fiesta. I’m sorry, but I want to see my Gyro meat, Soulaki, Shawarma meat, etc., shaved off a rotisserie spindle—NOT peeled off of a refrigerated loaf like pre-sliced bread. Those examples of faux meat come complete with faux grill marks, fer cripe’s sake!
Kudos to Jasmin for getting the basics right! I haven’t been pleased with EVERY item I have ordered there, but they are running at something close to 90%. That keeps me coming back. -
Bill Bartmann
09/01 05:02 PM
Excellent site, keep up the good work
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Bill Bartmann
09/09 09:20 AM
Great site…keep up the good work.
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