By Lexi Paidas ’17

Opening the heavy wooden doors and stepping into Olney’s new Cava Mezze is like walking into another world. The delicious smells and the inviting atmosphere welcome you as you are quickly led to your seat by smiling hostesses. Standing out among the numerous fast food chains that populate the strips malls of central Olney, Cava has the potential to become a popular attraction at its location in the Olney town center, located next to Starbucks.

The inviting atmosphere only continued as I sat down at my table with my party of four. The low lighting provided by uniquely crafted fixtures and the decorative walls, floors and dividers provide a very classy feeling to the restaurant. While the aesthetics of the place were very visually appealing, the noise level was exactly the opposite. The loud music, combined with restaurant-goers’ boisterous talking, made for a very noisy dinner that made normal conversation difficult.

Still, the inviting atmosphere makes Cava a restaurant suitable for anything, from a family dinner to a business lunch. The dining experience is helped as well by the excellent service. Almost immediately after sitting down, a waiter came to take drink orders. Such impeccable service continued throughout the meal as both entrees and dessert were brought out quickly at the appropriate times. The waiters were efficient, friendly and always topped off my glass.

Cava’s menu is centered on serving small plates of food. The slightly higher prices, which range for small plates from a small plate a hummus, costing $6, to a flat iron stake, costing $14.50, are well worth it as your steaming hot food comes out and is set down on the table. The Saganaki (fried cheese covered in honey) is sweet and soft, the braised short rib is succulent, and the warm crab cakes are especially noteworthy. It’s safe to say that the rest of the menu holds the same quality food.

Dessert, however, was an anticlimactic ending to an otherwise amazing meal. The loukoumades failed to impress as the usual soft honey and sugar-covered donuts were downgraded into at best what can only be described as mushy sweet balls of dough. The Greek yogurt cheesecake didn’t do the rest of the menu much justice either. The congealed mix coated in sauce was hardly appealing, though the attempt at a healthier alternative to cheesecake was appreciated.

Despite the shortcomings at the end of the meal, my trip to Cava was fantastic. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for sit-down meal with Mediterranean food as it was possibly the best restaurant I’ve been to in a long time.