Zonga's Mediterranean Eatery

If I was rating this solely as a hookah bar - 5 stars. Hell, I'd give it 10. Never seen another hookah establishment in my life with a nicer, cleaner atmosphere; it's very well put-together. The service is always exceptional, the hookahs always hit amazingly, and the refills are only $5. You can smoke inside or outside on the awesome patio, both areas have a full bar and huge TVs (that have always had sports on when I've been - which is a plus for me). The patio also has the outdoor heaters for those chilly Texas nights - I haven't been in warm weather yet but I hear they have misters too?

Now, as for the Mediterranean Eatery aspect, this is the ONLY reason it got docked to a 4. The food here is solid - I've had the gyro plate, the greek salad, and the hummus. The hummus is fantastic, and the gyro meat is pretty good but the plate just leaves something to be desired, it wasn't really a true gyro. It was a small rectangular pita with 3 large slices of gyro meat (not sliced the traditional way, but more like triangular slabs). I'd say the salad was about average. What irks me about the food though are the - the gyro plate was $11.99 and from what I remember I the salad was at least $10. They somewhat make up for it with the bar, they seem to have a ton of good happy hour and/or daily specials which is nice. The menu itself though is a bit limited, it would be nice to see it expanded - but if you were to look at it as a hookah place that also has food, then I cannot really complain.  

Atmosphere - I'd give it 5 stars (10 if I could), it's modern done right. Very nice, clean, trendy but not so much so to where it feels pretentious. The guy (Primo) knew what he was doing - or he hired a contractor that did! It's so refreshing to finally be able to go to a hookah place where I want to sit and spend time and enjoy the atmosphere at. The place gets really poppin too - I was recently there on a Tuesday night sitting on the patio and the inside looked like a club, there was a DJ spinning and a good amount of people salsa dancing the night away. The other nights I've been there however (Monday and Sunday) were much more mellow - but still a fun, relaxed atmosphere.

Service - I'd give it 5 stars as well - the wait staff really makes sure you're taken care of, they're always checking up on you (but not to where it's too annoying) and making sure your hookah is optimal and your drinks are filled.

Bar - I'd give it a 4.5 only because I'd like a bit more of a whiskey selection (I'm a scotch guy myself), and despite the bar typically having good specials and well-priced cold beer in frosted glasses, $8.50 for a glass of Jameson on the rocks just seems a bit ridiculous to me.

All in all, the place is great. Primo (the owner) is a fantastic guy, he really cares about this place and it shows. I have no desire to ever go to any other hookah establishment - he's set the bar VERY high.

Update!

No more Friday Latin Nights. The promoter decided to do something else. I still haven't tried the food so really I have nothing else to say other than besides there is no more salsa there. If you are looking for a place to dance salsa on a Friday night, go to Holiday Inn One Bistro Bar. :)

Weird, quirky place on Highway 26 in North Richland Hills.  Looks pretty average from the outside, but inside, it's kicky and fun!

Hubby and I went around 10pm Tuesday night (had heard of this place and it's getting some decent reviews here) and were pleasantly surprised.  Not many people there, but a group of drinkin and birthday celebratin people who livened up the place for sure! (More on that later).

Started with appetizers, fried calamari for hubby, Babaganoush with pita bread to share and Fried Halloumi Cheese on toasted pita bread for me.  Calamari was good but nothing special.  Fried cheese was tasty but a little odd - they separated the two halves of a pita bread and put a small piece of this awesomely salty/buttery/creamy cheese on top, then toasted it I guess.  The cheese slice was matchbook sized as you can see from the pictures and wasn't spreadable, so you had this whole part of the pita bread that was just plain, toasted and empty.  Remedied that by dunking it in the AMAZING babaganoush!  This dish was smokey, tangy, spicy and really outstanding.  Probably the best we've ever had, and I normally don't like it enough to even eat more than a sample - this was much more complex of a taste, and it was very enjoyable.

Entrees came with fries, which were slightly above-average, probably frozen, but tasty/salty fries.  My beef shawarma was moist, delish and topped with onions, tomatoes and maybe something pickled, like a beet?  Hubby's falafel pita came with this amazing sauce (maybe tahini) and again, the flavor of the falafel far exceeded other ones we've tried.

We split a HUGE Zonga Bowl (one of their signature drinks) and it was sweet, fruity and is normally $24 but it was only $15 tonight for some reason - our waitress didn't mention why and I forgot to ask.

Service was pretty good with our waitress Alexandra checking back with us frequently.  The bartender even came over to ask if the music was too loud (which it really was) and turned it down - nice touch, because it was that club/hip-hop stuff that really doesn't work for a romantic dinner with the hubby!

Finally, as we were digesting, one of the birthday party guys wandered over, introduced himself and bought he and my husband a shot of whiskey.  Funny stuff - that group looked like regulars, which I'm sure this place has alot of!

You can also smoke a Hookah if you want, and they have a pretty extensive menu of that stuff too - we didn't try that, but will likely return to do so.

Hope it sticks around because I'd like to venture into the other areas of the menu, which also includes pizza, burgers, sandwiches and pasta - weird mix of stuff, but if they do that as well as they did our selections tonight, rock on!

Ooh and they are also open until 2am, so that makes it one of the few places you can actually get real food with an adult beverage after 10pm!