On the last day of my trip to Maryland, my dad and I were out running a few errands, and getting some lunch before it was time to head to the airport. I had seen Garbanzo Mediterranean Grill in Crofton earlier in the week, and had also seen one in College Park plaza, right off campus. It's located in the corner of the strip mall, where Boston Market used to be. It had gotten good reviews on TripAdvisor, so we decided to give it a shot.
It's set up a lot like Chipotle. They've got salads, "we build it" gyros and platters, and "you build it" wraps, pitas, and plates. Thankfully there was no one else in line, so we had time to think. While we did, we had a sample of falafel and a sample of seasoned chips. I like when restaurants do that, so you can make sure you like it before you buy it. My dad went with the sweet & spicy quinoa salad. I did the plate so I could try a lot of different items. You get one protein, plus any of the sides, and then a sauce.
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| Falafel, hummus, red cabbage, tabouli, quinoa salad, rice, lettuce, cucumber & tomato salad |
I was really pleasantly surprised I got 6 falafel. I definitely wasn't expecting that many. The red cabbage and salad were okay. Everything else was really delicious and light. Well, not necessarily the falafel because it's fried. But it's chick peas, so that makes it okay. The Tzatiki sauce had a ton of flavor. My dad had the jalapeno apricot vinaigrette on the side. It had a little bit of a kick, but the apricot toned it down. And it was very good.
I could barely finish my meal. It wasn't a ton of food and I had been absolutely starving. But chick peas and tabouli are full of fiber and very filling. You also get a big pita with each dish. I think they should offer a half pita, and even ask if you want any at all. I would think there's a lot of waste with that.
Will I go back? Definitely! As we were paying the manager asked if I wanted a frequent buyer card. When I told him no because I live in Oklahoma, he told me there's a location in OKC. I looked it up and lo and behold there is! So I'll definitely be going there.
