Mallorca

My parents arrived last night to spend the long weekend with Andy and I.  I had not seen them since July while on vacation so I was more than excited to spend some time with them.

Boo and Sophia were also quite excited, as they know Grandma and Grandpa come with gifts 🙂

To kick the weekend off, we headed to a restaurant that none of us had ever been to: Mallorca.  I wanted to try something different and something new for all of us, so I searched Google for a recommended restaurant in Cleveland.

Mallorca is a restaurant that serves Portugal and Spanish dishes.  Since my parents and Andy and I enjoy seafood and meat dishes, it sounded like a restaurant we’d all enjoy.  Plus, the prices on the online menu were not outrageous, and seemed fair for they type of food you get along with the upscale vibe of the restaurant.

I had made reservations online and we arrived about 5 minutes early.  Our table was not ready yet, so we headed to the bar (obviously) and ordered a round of drinks while we waited.

I ordered the homemade Sangria, which was fantastic and not overly sweet.  Andy and my dad ordered a Spanish beer while my mom kept it simple with a glass of red wine.

Before we knew it, our tables were ready.  I was glad too, because I was starving! Good thing they immediately gave us fresh bread with olive oil.  We all dug in!

Appetizers and More

For appetizers we shared a plate of calamari and mussels in green sauce.  I detest mussels, so I didn’t eat them, but everyone else said they were really good.  The calamari was pretty standard. It was just OK to me and the dipping sauce was not very flavorful.

I also ordered the garlic soup to have as an appetizer and I really enjoyed it.  It was a very light soup made with chicken broth and had just the right garlic flavor.  If you love garlic, I’d recommend this soup.

Salads came out next (which I had no idea were served – it was not stated on the menu).  They were light and fresh and I enjoyed it.  However, if I would have known you get a salad with your entree I would have not ate so many appetizers! I was really full by the time my dinner came.

Entrees and Sides

For my entree I ordered the Tilapia Rellena, which was a tilapia fillet stuffed with crab, scallops and shrimp.  It was good, but I could only manage to eat a few bites since I was so full from the appetizers!

My dad and Andy ordered a veal dish that was served in a mozzarella cream sauce.  Andy said it was just OK and that he’d order something different next time.  My dad ate his right up though and said it was great.  Different strokes for different folks I guess! My mom got a shrimp dish that look amazing.  The shrimp were stuffed with moscapone cheese…yum!

All of the entrees came with family style side dishes including rice, steamed veggies, and “spanish potatoes” (which were basically glorified potato chips).  I was not impressed with the sides at all, and would much prefer to have a variety of options to choose from.  I’m not a big rice person and I can get potato chips anywhere.

Dessert and a Shot 

Although I was stuffed, I still ordered dessert to go.  I ordered the caramel cheesecake but unfortunately I didn’t look in the box until I got home and they gave me the wrong kind.  They gave me a raspberry cheesecake.  Although I still ate it, I much would have preferred the caramel one that I ordered.

At the end of the meal, we were each served a complimentary round of almond liquor shots.  I thought this was a fun and unique way to end the meal!

Our dining experience was nice and we did have a good time, but it certainly wasn’t exceptional for how upscale the restaurant is.  I think I expected more from the service (it was slow) and more from the food (I would say it was pretty average – nothing blew me away).

In the car yesterday Andy and I were discussing what we thought about Mallorca and agreed that while it was not a bad meal by any means, it’s jut not somewhere we’d go back to.  There are way too many restaurants in the area that we want to try and this one just wont be a repeat visit.

Greek Festival

For the rest of the weekend we spent time looking at houses online (and went to one Open House) since Andy and I would like to buy a home in the next year or so.

We also hit up a local Greek Festival to get our grub on yet again.

We had a nice time and enjoyed all of the Greek food available (I had two slices of baklava!) The rest of our night was spent watching a movie at home.  The weather was very stormy so we all just curled up on the couch and relaxed.

I had a great weekend with my parents and I already can’t wait to see them again.  Luckily I’ll be seeing them in mid October when I take a visit to Cincy. And though I will certainly miss them dearly, I think Boo and Sophia will miss them a little more, especially tackling my dad in the guest room:

I hope you all had a great weekend!

Question:

What’s something fun you did this weekend?