Midtown Lunch

Like McCormick’s, Tazia offers both a late night (10pm-12) and early bird happy hour (3:30pm-6:30), meaning you need to get your tush over here to take advantage of this late lunch option. Drink specials include $3 beers and carafes of sake. A long list of $3 small plate “tapatizers” are the main draw. I’ll look over the fact that the word “tapatizer” kinda weirds me out, because the pickins sound pretty good.

$1 skewers and $1 selections from the raw bar can supplement your apps.

The regular menu also has a lot of inexpensive and interesting combinations, but ordering (or better yet, sharing) several “tapatizers” allows you to try so much more.

(My disclaimer for today is that the lighting here is particularly dim- great for blind dates but not food photos) 

The crowd favorite was the calamari. Cut like french fries, this pile of crispy breaded squid was addicting.

While not nearly as flavorful as what you will find on your plate at Banana Leaf, the chicken roti was satisfying and came with a big cup of chicken curry.

The chicken roti and calamari are the two dishes that I most recommend ordering. The two together would make a delicious, although a bit greasy, lunch.

Less successful, but in no way bad are the rest of what I tried:

I wanted more duck taste from the duck dumplings, but I still enjoyed their flavor and that of their shitake sauce.

Though pleasant enough, the 3 small “crispy pouches” are not as good of a value. The pouches are filled with shrimp, but you mostly taste the fried wrapper.

Similarly, it was hard to pick up on the crab flavor in the crab ravioli. The ravioli were also a bit undercooked, but I enjoyed the sauce that topped them.

And as for the raw bar, we were told they ran out of oysters, but miraculously a few appeared. Compared to the dollar oysters available at McCormick’s or Oyster House, these are definitely not of the same quality; they were less sweet and fresh tasting. But if you are in the mood for aphrodisiacing it up, they were still tasty enough and perhaps you will get a better batch.

The happy hour is available Sunday through Thursday.  Play around with a few “tapatizers” and the raw bar and remember, they only get more delicious after each sake carafe.

THE + (What somebody who likes this place would say)

• I love the idea of a long list of $3 apps to chose from
• You can’t find better calamari for $3
• Cheap beer, cocktails, and sake!
• Attentive service

THE – (What somebody who doesn’t like this place would say)

• Some of the portions are too small
• I wanted more flavor from a few of the dishes

Tazia, 101 N 11th (@ Arch St), 215 922 2688