New Tampa Dining Survey Results: Your Favorite Asian/Mediterranean Restaurants!

Sean Kim serves up two of Liang’s Bistro’s most popular dishes — the sesame chicken and some cheese puffs. (Photo: Charmaine George)

1. Liang’s Bistro
17515 Bruce B. Downs Blvd.
(813) 978-1225
LiangsBistroTampa.com

If you’ve never been to Liang’s Bistro, you may be the only person living in New Tampa (or Wesley Chapel, for that matter) who hasn’t. You also may be one of the few local residents who didn’t vote this year for what has been the Favorite Asian restaurant with our readers pretty much every year since it opened in North Palmas Village, in a former Burger King location off Bruce B. Downs Blvd.

Liang’s features amazing appetizers like the amazing Liang’s BBQ ribs and pork-and-veggie egg rolls, but also has its fried signature entrĂ©es, Mongolian beef, Thai-style wok dishes with basil, yellow, green and red curry, and both Japanese and Vietnamese-style fried rice, as well as Chinese and Singapore-style fried rice, and Singapore and pad Thai noodle dishes.

Liang’s also offers smaller-portioned Lunch Combo specials with Sichuan, Thai curries and even Korean BBQ wok classics (with your choice of white meat chicken, beef or shrimp. There also are excellent vegetarian dishes like Thai basil tofu, Buddha’s delight with mixed veggies and more.

And yes, you can enjoy a sit-down meal at Liang’s, with beer and wine.— GN

2. Acropolis
14947 Bruce B. Downs Blvd.
Oak Ramble Plaza
(813) 971-1787
AcropolisTaverna.com

Although new owners Stacy Esposito and her husband Eddie Nasr probably weren’t concerned about our Reader Dining Survey when they took over the ownership and management of New Tampa’s Acropolis Greek Taverna, they were determined to return what always had been one of New Tampa’s favorites to its former glory, after dropping out of the top-10 with our readers for the first time in a decade in 2020.

Well, even though it has always been in the top-5 Greek, Mediterranean or (this year) Asian favorites, Acropolis is back, as it is back up to #5 Favorite overall with our readers, with its delicious Greek specialties, from appetizers like spanakopita (above), saganaki (flambéed cheese) and grilled octopus, to entrées like lamb lollipops, whole red snapper, Athenian fish and more.

And of course, Acropolis offers a great full liquor bar, weekend entertainment and an outdoor hookah lounge. — GN

3. Sushi Café
18051 Highwoods Preserve Pkwy.
The Walk at Highwoods Preserve
(813) 977-7800

New Tampa residents who love great sushi have fewer options today than they did when Sushi Café opened several years ago, but many of you still turn to Sushi Café for great, creative and fresh sushi, plus Japanese specialties and more.

Sushi CafĂ© was not only the #3 Asian or Mediterranean restaurant in New Tampa with our readers this year, it also finished as the #8 Favorite Restaurant overall, it’s highest-ever finish in our survey.

Although I’ve never sampled the Hawaii roll pictured above, we have enjoyed everything from the unique tuna tataki to the soft shell crab roll, plus entrĂ©es like the chicken katsu, teppanyaki (although not made at your table) favorites like filet mignon and chicken and the Japanese-style fried rice.  And yes, beer, wine and hot and cold sake are served. — GN

The rest of your 2021 NT Asian/Mediterranean Top 10:
(4) Kobe
(5) Thai Lanna
(6) Little Greek
(7) Koizi
(8) Thai Ruby
(9) Michi Ramen
(10) Minerva & China Wok

Wesley Chapel Dining Survey Results: Your Favorite Asian/Mediterranean!

General manager Khan Ly (second from left) and his staff have made sure that The Hungry Greek is not only the best Greek restaurant around, but one of the best overall.

1. Hungry Greek
2653 Bruce B. Downs Blvd.
(813) 345-8526
TheHungryGreek.com

The Hungry Greek may be known as that fast and casual  Greek place right across the street from AdventHealth Wesley Chapel, but it wasn’t that way when franchise creator George Constantinou originally opened the doors to this first link of his now-10-location mini-chain on Bruce B. Downs Blvd. in Wesley Chapel on Oct. 5, 2008.

“It was two lanes and there were cows across the street,” Constantinou says. “It was in the middle of the housing recession, and everyone pulled out and it was just us and a balloon store. My dad looked at me and said ‘I hope this was a good move.’”

As it turns out, it was. It just required some patience.

Now, the Hungry Greek is smack dab in the middle of a booming area with two malls, countless homes, businesses and restaurants, across from one hospital with a second being built a mile or so away. And, as it pretty much always has been, The Hungry Greek is once again the most popular Mediterranean restaurant in Wesley Chapel, according to our readers.

Something of a spinoff of his father’s former Happy Greek restaurant in Dunedin, the Hungry Greek — in 2015 and 2016, it was the No. 2 overall favorite restaurant with our readers — serves up food made from his family’s recipes.

While they did at one time also serve food like burgers, it was a change to a more traditional Greek menu and an emphasis on the things they did best — Greek salads, gyros (gyro platter shown below), chicken souvlaki and tzatziki sauce, to name a few — made with the best ingredients.

The steady hand of local owner Khan Ly has the BBD location humming along as one of the mini-chain’s best, and the local Greek favorite year after year. — JCC

2. Yamato
28347 Paseo Dr., #150
(813) 907-8701
YamatoWesleyChapel.com
As Wesley Chapel’s only teppanyaki (hibachi) table Japanese restaurant, Yamato Japanese Steak House & Sushi Bar’s location in the Shops at Wiregrass mall helped guarantee that people would at least try it, but it is Yamato’s excellent fare and reasonable prices (especially when compared with other Japanese steakhouses) have continued to keep it high on our readers’ list of favorite restaurants year after year.

While Yamato has never finished higher than fifth overall in the Favorite Restaurant in Wesley Chapel (it finished tied for 29th this year), it has always been in the top five favorite Asian restaurants and had we not combined Mediterranean and Asian cuisines in the same category this year, it would have been #1 this year, losing to Hungry Greek by only four votes and finishing a dozen ahead of 3rd place Zukku-San. — GN

3. Zukku-San
25916 Sierra Center Blvd.
(813) 419-1351
ZukkuSushi.com
When it opened in 2020, we were excited by the possibilities of a new and unique sushi restaurant with predominantly Japanese (and some Korean) specialties in what is surely the most beautiful Asian restaurant in Wesley Chapel. 

Zukku-San, owned and operated by Ferdian Jap and his family, also has less formal locations in Charlotte, NC, at Tampa’s Armature Works and coming soon is Ato, which will feature sushi bowls and “burritos” in the KRATE container park at The Grove in Wesley Chapel.

Although many locals choose Zukku-San for the sushi, if you haven’t tried the gyoza dumplings, the super-crispy spring rolls, the chicken and steak yakitori (below), the Japanese fried rice or full-liquor bar, you’ve been missing something special. — GN

The rest of the 2021 Asian/Mediterranean Top 10:
(4) China Wok
(5) Bonsai
(6) Umu
(7) Hibachi Express
(T8) Asian Buffet
(T8) Arroy Thai
(10) Gonna China.

Garden Mediterranean Grill — So Close & So Authentic!

Even though there are quite a few Mediterranean/Middle Eastern restaurants located in New Tampa, based on what I’ve already tasted and heard from customers, it’s still well worth a few-minute drive to the Eagle Plaza on Oak Grove Blvd. at S.R. 54 in Lutz to try the new Garden Mediterranean Grill.

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Owners Raja Saad and her husband, Chef Hedi Jlassi (top photo) are both from the Arabic North African nation of Tunisia and they offer a huge variety of delicious Mediterranean-influenced food in a beautiful, but casual setting.

The restaurant now called Garden Mediterranean Grill has had a number of previous tenants, including a Latin restaurant and a number of coffee shops, but Raja and Hedi and their family believe that they have brought the right cuisine and the right price to the location — and yes, the food is delicious!

Whether you dine as a couple of bring a large family or group of friends to the Garden, you’re sure to find plenty of options, as well as huge portions.

  • Lamb chops
  • Meat lovers platter
  • Foule
  • Half chicken
  • Interior of restaurant
  • Al Bohsali Dessert
  • Appetizer Dip and Pita

To start, try the Foule (pronounced “fool”; center photo, far right), a delicious dish of purĂ©ed fava beans, garlic, lemon and topped with virgin olive oil. It’s served with the fluffiest pita bread I’ve had anywhere. To really get into the variety of starters, however, Raja and Hedi recommend the appetizer platter, which includes hummus, baba Ghanouj (mashed, cooked eggplant), labneh (strained yogurt), falafel (fried, ground chick peas) and grape leaves. Other starters include fried calamari, Nabulsi fried cheese, tabouli (chopped parsley, diced tomatoes, onions, dry mint, lemon juice and olive oil), shakshouka merguez (sautĂ©e of Merguez sausage and eggs cooked with tomatoes, onion, garlic and spices and even shrimp scampi. 

So far, the only salad I’ve sampled is the tangy house salad (diced tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, lettuce, parsley, herbs, olive oil and lemon juice), but there also is a great-looking Greek salad, fattoush, tahini and Caesar salads. You also can top your salad with a variety of meats and seafood, including chicken kabobs (so good) or shawarma, beef or lamb shish kabobs, kufta (ground lamb) kabobs, delicious, fresh-cut gyro meat, salmon or shrimp.

I haven’t sampled any of the sandwiches yet, but I have had several of the meats available as sandwiches as entrĂ©e platters. The sandwich that looked the most interesting to me was the chicken shawarma quesadilla, which is a nice Middle Eastern take on the popular Mexican dish which combines sliced chicken shawarma meat and a delicious garlic sauce with cheese, onions and tomatoes stuffed inside a soft tortilla. There’s also fish, shrimp and falafel wraps on the menu.

The perfectly-season meat entrĂ©e platters all include long-grain yellow rice and amazing grilled veggies (onions and red and green peppers; Jannah and I order them well-cooked). Among my favorite entrĂ©es so far are the gyro, beef shawarma and chicken kabob platters, but my can’t-miss option so far is the lamb chop platter. You get four tender, delicious rib chops that are grilled to perfection. 

Lamb chops.

Other entrĂ©e options include Turkish kabobs (ground lamb and beef, but Raja says they are different from kufta kabobs), Merguez sausage, lamb shanks and chicken tekka, which is a marinated half-chicken char-grilled in what appears to be an Indian-influenced blend of spices. I didn’t taste it but photographer Charmaine George said it was outstanding.

Although I can’t eat shrimp and personally don’t love salmon or tilapia, the seafood entrĂ©es include shrimp kabobs, salmon, fish and mixed seafood platters, as well as the char-broiled whole fish of the day, usually red snapper or bronzino. There are also are large meat-lovers’ platters (with shish, kufta and chicken kabobs, gyro and beef and chicken shawarma) and royal meat-lovers’ platters (add lamb chops, shrimp and salmon), both in sizes to serve 2-3 and 4-6 people, although all of them honestly look like they could serve even more people to me.

Desserts & Beverages!  

Like most Mediterranean restaurants, Garden Mediterranean Grill offers dessert favorites like baklava, warbat (filo dough stuffed with cream) and a variety of cakes, but my favorite so far are the almond baklava fingers shown and the salted caramel cheesecake. I’ve yet to try the baklava with ice cream, but it’s definitely on my list. As for beverages, try the Turkish coffee, the Moroccan mint green tea and the fresh mint lemonade.

Left to right: Mint lemonade, salted caramel cake and hot tea being poured.

Garden Mediterranean Grill is located at 1900 Oak Grove Blvd., Lutz (zip code 33559) and is open Mon.-Thur., 10 a.m.-10 p.m., 10 a.m.-11 p.m. on Fri., 9 a.m.-11 p.m. on Sat. and 9 a.m.-10 p.m. on Sun. For more information, call (813) 528-8088 or see the ad on pg. 39 of our latest issues for a Grand Opening Special 15%-off coupon.