Cafe Baklava

Cafe Baklava Downtown! Mtn View CA Thur 1/16/25My overseas engineers in town!Arrived to see high-tech world!Long day! Meetings back-to-back!Fortune 500 vendors, IBM, Snowflake!Meetings famous clients! Stanford!7 guys & myself!Bloody Mary & Lamb Shank!©Another long, long day at the office! Multiple meetings & myriads of tasks! Complex day leading to rounding up this week! It's Thursday night aka Friday Junior! And we all got to eat! Drove to Castro Downtown Mountain View!Many moons ago, this used to be my Mecca LOLz! Just a couple of days ago, by the way, did y'all see that incredible full Wolf Moon?!We're here for Mediterranean grill! Turkish eats await at Cafe Baklava! Casual welcoming atmosphere & anticipation of a great meal! Bloody Mary comes out first! Quench that thirst! Can hardly wait to dig in, you've guessed it right, my Lamb Shank! Oh my!Lamb Shank ~ Kuzu Incik ~ slowly cooked Australian Lamb foreshank with pinto beans, tomato, and red bell paper paste, served with rice Pilaf and steamed vegetables!Rice Pilaf & Steamed Veggies, accompany my Lamb Shank on a separate plate, Yowza!Chicken Tavuk Guvec ~ chicken cubes with eggplant, zucchini, potatoes, red bell pepper, tomatoes, garlic, onions & parsley, baked in a casserole, served with rice pilaf! Santorini Sea Scallops ~ Pan fried scallops with garlic, lemon, olive oil & artichoke hearts, topped with parsley!Exceptional service! Reasonable prices! Delicious mouth watering comfort food! You can't find a better combo of hospitality and terrific eats! Thank you Ali our gracious server, for your hard work! Folks, trust me, you've got to keep this Mediterranean Grill in mind! You can't help it but clean your plate here (and maybe even your face)! :-)) Da Leccarsi i Baffi! Lick your mustaches! Even if you don't have one LOLz!After Cafe Baklava, we move to St Stephen's Green for a cold one! Irish Pub! Feel free to lookup my updated review from last year! St Stephen's has been here for decades! It's a staple on Castro St in Mountain View!Gustoso!* Oceans apart, day after dayAnd I slowly go insaneI hear your voice on the lineBut it doesn't stop the painIf I see you next to neverHow can we say forever?Right Here Waiting![ Review #816 w 4 pics Jan 16, 2025 ]Bloody Mary Cheers, no tears! Chicken Tavuk Guvec! Fantastic!Terrific Lamb Shank ~ Kuzu Incik! Pinto beans! To die for!Rice Pilaf & Steamed Veggies, accompany my Lamb Shank! Gustoso!@Cafe Baklava Downtown! Mtn View CA Thur 1/16/25

Ambiance - 5/5. It's a nicely decorated place, very cozy but smaller setting with small tables for 2-4people only. Not good for large group. Service - 5/5 very fast and friendly Food - 3/5 It was just ok for me as I had the falafel wrap and lentil soup. I think Oren hummus is soo much more to my taste. That said my colleague loves the kebab and the gyro salad as well as the baklava.

Top notch spot with great food and great service. They kept the heater on outside for us outside even though we were the only ones outside. Don't skip on the baklava and tea. It's great!! 10/10 would come back.

We stumbled upon this restaurant while walking through downtown Mountain View and I'm so happy that we did. We thoroughly enjoyed all the food that we ordered and the service was wonderful. I'm assuming it is a small family owned business because the atmosphere was so cozy and welcoming. The baba ghanoush was to die for -- I just wish it was a bigger portion for the price we paid. Irrespective of this, I would definitely order it, and everything else we had again. Try it out, I'm sure you'll love it too.

Stopped by Cafe Baklava as friend wanted a place with vegetarian options and the other wanted Middle Eastern flavors... Cafe Baklava was less than a mile away from where we were taking a class: Mountain View Candle Company and had an hour to wait. Downtown Mountain View has plenty of dining options and within walking distance so it was pretty convenient. The food ordered was flavorful with aromatics and only complaint was the accompanying vegetable of zucchini, carrots and cauliflower didn't seem cooked and a bit crunchy...could've used another 3-5 mins to be perfect Kebabs, lamb shank, complimentary, warmed housemade pita bread with tomato, garlic-olive oil dip was wonderful. Nice ambiance with outdoor and indoor seating. Welcoming, friendly staff and service was quick and efficient and we were finished in an hour. Plenty of dessert options but too full to indulge this visit. Lot parking and street parking on the side streets.

This place is going to be new my favorite spot! I love the inside and ambiance they have going on. Very romantic and cozy. Our waiter was very patient and helpful even though we came almost an hour before closing. The food was absolutely amazing! I loved every bite. Super flavorful. Highly recommend the dumplings. They're tiny but makes for a tasty bite every time!

We had an underwhelming experience here on a weeknight. We got seated inside right away which was great and the appetizer pita bread with olive oil dip was yummy but then it went downhill from there. Service took a while and our main entrees didn't come until at least an hour after we had sat down. Seemed like they were understaffed. I had ordered the chicken kebab which came with like 4 small-ish pieces of chicken that were on the dry side and not worth the amount of money we were charged for it

Stunning lunch today! Greeted right as we entered. They explained the specials and branzino fish arrived this morning! An entire branzino with fresh salad for $38 is perfect for 2 people. They also asked if we wanted to sub the salad for grilled veggies or rice. The pita bread comes so warm - when you pull it apart you can see the steam! The red pepper tomato oil is delicious. It's a true neighborhood restaurant. The table next to us got the mezze sampler and it looked amazing. Service is impeccable. The decor is so cute I feel like I am in Europe.

Came here on a Friday for lunch and were seated really quickly in their spacious outdoor area on Castro street. The service is quick, friendly and attentive, and we got complimentary pita that was super tasty almost immediately after sitting down. Whatever that dip that came with the pita too was so yummy! The rest of the food we got were the chicken mozzarella bake special and the lamb kebab. Both portion sizes were super generous and we had plenty to take home too. The chicken was cooked well and it was juicy and cheesy, just as I'd wanted it to be. It came with sides of veggies and seasoned rice too. The lamb kebab came on a bed of the same seasoned rice and included grilled veggies as well. Overall very balanced and flavorful food in a nice environment - I would go back again!

We are still celebrating our birthday, me and daughter, we were born the same day, the 24th. Mustafá was our waiter, he was very good, at the end of our diner, he even sang for us the happy birthday song.Beef Kabab was amazing, I want to comeback for it, the spanakopitas too, we ordered a second one to go. The desert which I don't remember the name but is on the pictures, was to die for, kind of a baklava with ice cream.