My night started off quite adventurous to say the least. During the day, Rochester had received wind gusts upwards of 60 miles per hour. About 100,000 people lost power. Of course, I didn't complain too much when I got to leave work a half an hour early yesterday. More time to give my apartment a little clean before going to try my first blog-worthy restaurant.
My friend and I had plans for dinner at seven. The plan was to try out the $6 Burgers and Martinis on Wednesdays at Bar145 in Collegetown; we found a nice 4 hour parking spot in the neighboring garage and made our way to the entrance to find that it was closed. After some confusion, we soon concluded that they must have lost power with the winds. Not a big deal, our backup plan was to try another Wednesday special, tonkatsu ramen at McCann's Local Meats located in the South Wedge neighborhood. But, being unprepared, we saw them cleaning up behind closed doors as they had closed at seven - and we arrived in the parking lot fifteen minutes too late! We will have to keep these two restaurants in mind for future Wednesday nights out, because I don't want to miss out on those! My stomach would never forgive me.
But, not to fear, yours truly had a backup plan to the backup plan, as I had remembered stopping into Saha Med Grill during Collegetown's Wine and Beer Walk that we attended last week. The smell of Greek and Lebanese food wafted toward me as we sampled the wine inside as part of the event, but when we left I still found myself craving a gyro wrap, or maybe a grain bowl, after having eyed the menu board and the fresh ingredients in the shop.
As I made my way to the counter after perusing the menu board, I decided on getting a pita wrap filled with gyro meat, which they described as "a roasted blend of beef and lamb", feta cheese, tomato, lettuce, pickled red onion (which was a hit with my friend and I), and topped with my favorite tzatziki sauce. The wrap was $9 but more than filled me up with the amount of meat provided. The meat was formed in "slabs", which is different than the usual cubed kebab form I've eaten before.
My friend and I noted that the pita bread tasted a bit lacking, but paired well with the order of hummus we included which was simply divine and definitely worth the extra $5 as the sheer amount provided was mountainous. After some light researching, I found out that the hummus is handmade by the Mina family, owners of the restaurant, by boiling the chickpeas after leaving them to soak overnight. You are able to order beer and wine; my friend found a nice craft beer on the menu, my usual pick, but I spotted a familiar product and opted for my favorite Italian soda, a Sanpellegrino Aranciata. They even gave us fancy flute glasses for our beverages, which really poshed up this counter service restaurant!
The tastes and atmosphere of Saha reminded me ever so slightly of the well-known Rochester chain, Aladdin's Natural Eatery, and to my delight and surprise, they both are owned by the same family! In conclusion, I definitely liked this mediterranean alternative to Aladdin's, which was a college favorite of mine being so close to my alma mater, Nazareth College, and I could see Saha Med Grill as being a great addition for the University of Rochester students in their Collegetown area, as well!
Saha Med Grill can be found at two locations in Rochester: 1290 University Avenue (585-266-5000) and 1393 Mt. Hope Ave in Collegetown (585-442-6000). The University Avenue location offers counter service from 11am until 4pm and table service from 4pm until 10pm. The Collegetown location offers their counter service from 11am until 9pm. Both locations are closed on Sundays. Thank you for reading my first review, keep an eye out for more articles like this by following my Twitter or my Instagram for post updates!
(New camera coming soon, please excuse any quality issues!)
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