Medina Oven & Bar: The Verdict's In

Every month, a group (a rather large group actually) of my friends and I get together to try out a new restaurant in Dallas.  We call it DTF (Dining This Friday).  Kayla organizes us and by organize I mean she selects the restaurant, pesters us to RSVP, calls in a reservation, then deals with all of our last minute add-ons and cancellations the day of.  She's a patient one.  We're all over the map, from Bolsa to Angry Dog to Toulouse.  The goal is to give our taste buds something new every month.  January's restaurant was Medina Oven & Bar in the Victory Park neighborhood of Dallas.

Medina's a smaller size restaurant near the American Airlines Center.  When our group of 20+ arrived, we sat nearly 2/3 of the indoor area of the restaurant.  I was surprised they'd allow us to make reservations considering how much of their capacity we took up, but they were happy to oblige.  Before we get started, let me throw out that I am by no means a Moroccan/Mediterranean food connoisseur.  Actually, I'm not a food connoisseur period, so this review may be lacking in vivid and descriptive language.  I just know what I do and do not like.

First stop, Medina's "Sexy Drinks" Menu.  The name alone was enough to prevent the boys at my table from ordering off of it.  Don't worry, it appeared they had a sufficient selection of manly beers and liquor for them.  I ordered the Med-Rim Margarita, a grapefruit/tequila concoction of some sort.  It wasn't anything special.  If you like Grapefruit Juice and want to add a little alcohol to the mix, well then, there you go.  Maybe don't pay $9 for it though?  Don't worry, now that I'm blogging, I've become that annoying girl who takes pics of food and drinks when they arrive at the table.  Presenting your Med-Rim Marg:

Kayla made me jellious with her Caramel-Fig Martini.  Definitely a better choice.  And the swirly caramel on the glass was much prettier than my iPhone camera pic conveys.

My end of the table conspired together to order a selection of appetizers to share.  My favorite, hands down, was the Goat Cheese & Harissa Phyllos.  I think the rest of the table would agree.  The side sauce was delish and I love me some goat cheese.  It all melted in my mouth for yumminess.  There wasn't a lot that I ate that made me think, "I MUST GO BACK!" but this app is something I could see myself craving in the future.  The calamari was pretty good, too, with a sauce poured all over the calamari to give it a spicy kick.

The Beef Cigars were all anyone could write about in their Yelp and Open Table reviews, so we ordered some of those, as well.  They didn't hold a candle to the Goat Cheese and Harissa, but they weren't too shabby.  And of course, there was hummus.

The entrees came out quickly and fairly fresh.  Especially considering the order size for our group and how small I imagine their kitchen must be.  For the most part, they were all covered uniformly like so:

Our waitress had listed the Beef Tagine, Apricot Chicken Tagine and Chicken Marrakesh as their 3 most popular items.  It seemed like most of the table picked one of the three.  I went with Beef Tagine:

Those are prunes and almonds on top and the sauce definitely had a unique, sweet (perhaps prune like) taste to it.  The dish was well cooked.  The flavor was original.  I ate all of it, but the flavor profile just wasn't very "me." I think.  That could be the Moroccan/Mediterranean influence of it that I'm just not used to.  Who knows.

The Chicken Marrakesh:

And the Seafood Pastilla:

That seafood pastilla was tooooo much.  I only had a bite and it was good, but the dish was, well...seafood-y.  I couldn't imagine making my way through the whole dish without the flavors overwhelming me.  I think Kayla felt the same, as she kept giving away generous portions of her dish :)

One of the first things I check out on a menu are their desserts, so I shared an Orange Blossom Creme Brulee with a friend.  It was a good decision.  Nom nom!

On a scale of 1-5, I'd give Medina's a 3.5.  I think that has more to do with my personal taste than the restaurant and the food they serve.  Service was excellent.  Food was quick and fresh.  The meats were well cooked.  The restaurant would be a good fit for a date night, girl's night or group dinner.  Everything was there, in theory, that should rank them hirer on my food scale, but it was lacking somehow.  When I think of a 4 or 5, I think of a place I would recommend my family go to for our Sunday family dinner.  There wasn't anything that struck me so strongly that I need to go back, but if I were in the area for a show or basketball/hockey game at the American Airlines Center, then eh, why not?