My lovely friend Dylan joined me for lunch in support of the continuation of Burbank Bites & I am ever-so-thankful for her company. Though she will probably not share with you what the food looked like when it came out of her, like our pal Cory, I have dined with her many times & think she knows her stuff!
The Basics:
I have driven past Magnolia Restaurant many times as I cruised down Magnolia & always noted its blue awnings & tables on the sidewalk. It usually looks like a pretty inviting scene & had always hoped we would take a Burbank Bites trip to check it out.
So, I guess I was sort of under the impression, for some reason, that this would be a Mediterranean joint. It does have some dishes like "Greek salad" and so on, but most of the menu seems to include Georgian fare, or an overarching Armenian theme. I don't want to pigeon hole the place- so I would say it is Mediterranean meets Middle East & leave it at that.
Sometimes when you walk into one of these places- which are large and dark inside, and have older men who seem to be the bosses communing in a side room, and barely any customers, you are in for either terrible food or terrible service. And they frequently make you feel like you are intruding. I had a moment of fear when I peered inside, but thankfully, these fears did not come to fruition.
Our waitress was a sweetheart & she tried very hard to help us navigate the menu & was not even mad when I spilled a bunch of my food on the ground. A woman who seemed to be family of the joint was cruising by, stopped in for a moment and then took a moment to tell us she hoped we would have a wonderful lunch. It is nice to feel one's business is appreciated!!!
The indoor seating was not for me, and I had always imagined eating at the tables outside, so we moved ourselves to the sidewalk and dug into the menu.
Alissa:
Looking at this menu, I was tempted to order something wild. Something strange & unknown- once I realized there were things on there I had never had or had even heard about. I know there is danger in this game, but I was planning on letting the waitress help me with my decision. At first I thought I might try my hand at the Harisa but she informed me that it would not be possible to make at the time. Probably saved myself from an odd texture experience.
I did, however, immediately spot the mutabel dish- as did Dylan. We are lovers of eggplant for sure. I make babaganoush on a semi-regular basis & try to order anything that resembles mashed up eggplant with bread items to dip into it. So we agreed quickly on adding this to our order. When it came, it came with a basket of breads & we immediately started dipping in. This is one of the sharing dishes that make me feel a little competitive for a moment- like- AM I GONNA GET ENOUGH!??! And the wolf inside of me begins to quietly growl. I thought it was pretty good. I have had better & worse. But I feel if you are going to go somewhere with Middle Eastern flare- you best get something that you dip- and I would recommend that this is what you get.
For my main dish, I got the Chicken Shish Kabob sandwich. Seemed pretty basic- something I could recommend to a wide audience if it was good, so I felt confident in my choice. I was really looking forward to it. And then it came...
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Never mentioned in the menu, the main ingredient appeared to be my mortal enemy, CILANTRO. I never thought to ask about it- I don't imagine Mediterranean OR Middle Eastern cooking to be blasting out their wraps with that dirty weed. I whimpered. And gave up. Stressed out about a project at work, and semi-full with mutabel and bread, I decided I would dissect my sandwich in the privacy of my own home for lunch the next day.
I did take a bite of the chicken and it was good. It was good the next day too, but I really cannot give you a full assessment of the wrap a whole. I think with all the cilantro dislikers out there, it should allllways be mentioned on a menu. It's not salt. It is an offensive herb (if you can call it that). COME ON. So yeah. That happened. I have a feeling if you specify ahead of time that you do not want a cilantro sandwich, this wrap would be pretty delicious.
We closed the meal with Armenian coffees- which are apparently like Turkish coffee. Rich and thick- just like I like my women. So Dylan is blowing it there. But let's let her talk about the food anyhow...
Dylan:
I would like to begin by saying how honored I am to have been invited to join this particular creative endeavor. I have been a fan of Burbank Bites for some time, and getting asked to be a part of it felt kind of like that movie where Marky Mark gets asked to be in that hair metal band he's loved for all that time because their singer is dead. Except, Cory is not dead and Jennifer Aniston is not my girlfriend, which I feel is for the best.
So anyhow, we met up at Magnolia Restaurant and as it turns out we were both wearing blue dresses and blue hoodies, which was great. I recognize this detail is not pertinent to the review of the restaurant, but it IS pertinent to how I felt when I was there (which is great) and that may have influenced how I felt about everything else.
In any case, as Alissa has pointed out, this place isn't really a Mediterranean place, it's Georgian, which I think of more as a plus, since I am into trying new things. However, apparently Georgians are not that into falafel, which obviously is their prerogative (haters!). Side note: I had no idea prerogative was spelled that way until just this minute. How weird! Anyway, Georgians are not into falafel, or apparently other non-meat things.
The menu at Magnolia Restaurant is essentially meat-heavy. There are some salads and hummus, but beyond that everything is basically meatish. Alissa and I split that eggplant app (she talks about it so I won't bore you with it again - it was yums). I also got a Greek salad and a lentil soup. The salad was nice - if you are fine with cilantro. Obviously, you know that Alissa is not, but I am and I thought the salad was easily delicious. To me a Greek salad is kind of a Greek salad no matter where you go, but this one had spicy peppers and good feta and olives, so I would say that kicks it up into the next gear. But the soup... sigh. I should have asked.
At a restaurant where the menu is basically meat dominated, I should have thought to ask if there was meat in their lentil soup. I did not, and that turned out to be an error. I am of the opinion that it's worse something dead should get thrown away than eaten, so when people screw up my orders at places and they turn out to have meat in them, I usually just try to eat it. I ate this soup and I would have to say, were I not somewhat distracted by the unfamiliar texture of meat in my mouth, it was probably really good. Someone else who eats meat would probably have liked it quite a lot. At any rate, I am definitely with Alissa on the Armenian coffee being delish.
Good bites? Or just totally bites?
A: I'd say it was a good bite. Actually maybe a good sip. I feel like the thing I would most likely go back for would be the Armenian Coffee.
D: I would say that if you are somebody who likes cilantro and eats meat, you will probably like this place a lot. However, sadly for the veggies out there, I would have to say that this is probably not the place for you. And neither is Georgia.
A: (she means the country- but that might apply to the state as well)
Info:
1950 W Magnolia Blvd
Burbank, CA 91506
(818) 974-9374
**Our reports are based on one visit/meal- so we're far from experts on these joints! If you have advice or experiences you'd like to share, please feel free to enlighten us & our readers! Our goal is to give enough info that someone might feel okay trying somewhere new (or know to avoid it!). Thanks for reading :)
