Back in December, we were excited to be among the first people to stumble upon Mazzat, a Middle Eastern “tapas” spot on Columbia St. that we discovered one day while out for a run. The only review so far was a bit on Yelp, so with visions of a great Brooklyn Record scoop, we made the always-windy trek from the Carroll St. stop up Sackett on a bitterly cold night, the chill eating through our thickest coat.

The meal was so not worth the effort that we didn’t even run a review. The pita came straight from a bag, not even warmed; the hummus was grainy and undersalted; the words “dog food” were thrown around in reference to the lamb dish (by someone else in our party, of course). The only consolation prizes—a tasty baba ghanouj and an unassailably crisp green salad—weren’t enough to bring us back for another try. But a recent Chowhound post has us reconsidering. User bklynkat calls the Alexandria grilled whole fish “freaking great,” and urges readers to “PLEASE request Gamal’s baklava. His mother’s Egyptian recipe called for a filling of pistachios with a homemade sugar syrup–no honey. The last time I had ‘very good’ baklava was in Turkey 2 years ago…Gamal’s ROCKED this. SO good.”

We might consider a repeat visit to give those two items a shot. Anyone else have opinions about Mazzat’s fare? (Or its strange sports-bar-esque atmosphere?)

Photo by lj lindhurst.