Yanni's & Lemoni Lounge

We hadn't been here in years but had a NM Restaurants gift card and Mediterranean food sounded good so we decided to give them a try again. The atmosphere is nice and our server did a good job. The food, overall, was fine but nothing special and I felt the portions were a little small for the price. My wife ordered a Fireside Sangria that looked great but arrived watery and one-dimensional considering all of the fruit, cinnamon, etc that was in it. We shared a steamed artichoke app that was very good- but $16 for an artichoke? I ordered the Gyro (pictured) and it seemed there was more red onion than gyro meat which was disappointing at $20 when I could go to so many other places and get a similar gyro for half that. It was very flavorful and enjoyable once I removed about half the onions. Again, nothing terrible but also nothing noteworthy for me besides the prices.

Been a few years since I've been, but decided to try it this past weekend. Don't remember being so impressed before, but now it is amazing! New chef??? Great drink from the bar. Then perfect warm crusty bread and oil. Then the crab cake... Just wow. The calamari was the best I've had in a long time. Easily the best in Albuquerque. Then had a seafood stuffed acorn squash and was equally impressed. Left the place saying it was the best meal we've had in a long time. We're adding it to our must visit monthly places.

Updated Review April 2022: Yanni’s food quality is back! The Caprese salad and the grilled lemon artichoke were both amazing appetizers. I usually get the chicken Souvlaki skewers and they were perfect. My husband ordered the salmon and said it was great! He always finishes his meal off with a slice of coconut cream pie, which is usually good, but the piece he got a week ago tasted like it had been frozen and wasn’t quite thawed. The only other reason for 4 stars and not 5 is that the service has not yet recovered since the pandemic (due to it being hard to hire right now).

Lunch was great! I was undecided and at the suggestion of the waitress I tried the lamb shank with rice and veggies. The lamb was so moist that it just fell off the bone and was great with the sides. My friend had a salad and was able to add lamb medallions to it. She said it was fresh and flavorfu and that adding the lamb and watermelon made it.Hats off to the great service that we received.