Macedonia

I love Greek food. And since my husband is not the biggest fan, I always try to convince my girlfriends to meet at Macedonia. I was successful last week and met fellow Eat Salem contributor, Rebekah for dinner.

While Macedonia also serves Italian food, I have only ever eaten off their Greek menu. My "usual" at Macedonia is to split the Pikilia appetizer (which includes dolmas (stuffed grape leaves), hummus, melitzanosalata (an eggplant dip similar in texture to hummus), feta, olives, tomatoes, cucumbers along with plenty of pita) and order either the Greek salad or a gyro. But, since Rebekah and I are both big fans of dolmas and of lamb and trying something new, we both decided to look at the combination plates.

After going back and forth, Rebekah went with the Mediterranean Plate which included roast leg of lamb, spinach pie, dolmas, tzatziki dip and spinach ladolemano (sauted spinach with garlic) and was served with rice, vegetables and pita.

I went with the Combination Plate which comes with hummus dip, melitzanosalata, spinach pie and a kabob of lamb or chicken, feta cheese, olives and pita.

The melitzanosalata (eggplant dip) is one of my favorite things at Macedonia. It's tangy and delicious and I've never been able to find anyplace that makes it nearly as good. The kabob was cooked to perfection, still rare in the middle and very tender. Rebekah's leg of lamb was taken off the bone and was very tender. We both agreed the spinach pie was excellent and the spinach ladolemano was very good, especially with a bit of tzatziki on pita.

On the flip side, the hummus, which is usually good was very dull and flavorless on the evening we were there, like they had forgotten to add salt. Service was a bit lacking although there were only two other tables occupied and I finally had to flag someone down to get more pita as I had a mountain of melitzanosalata left on my plate and not enough pita to finish it. The decor is dated and a bit frumpy with a heavy floral pattern on the upholstery.

In the end, I am totally willing to overlook the service and the decor because Macedonia serves some of the best Greek food I have ever had. However, I do have a hard time justifying eating dinner here as often as I would like because the prices seem high to me. I'm going to try to start picking up lunch now and then as an affordable alternative to continue to visit Macedonia.



Macedonia
Reed Opera House
Phone: (503) 316-9997
Reed Opera House,
189 Liberty St. NE., First Floor, #111
Salem Oregon