Mediterra - Princeton, NJ

Mediterra is a nicely decorated Mediterranean-food themed restaurant.  The staff is quite friendly and given Princeton's wealth of upscale restaurants, this ranks as one of the most popular.

We went specifically with one item on the menu in mind: the paella.  The dish came out well prepared.  Unfortunately, compared to other paellas I have had it ranked in the lower tier.  Given that not many restaurants in the area offer paella, it left the options limited.

While the paella offered a good amount of meat and shellfish, the overall flavor was lacking and there was not enough juice in the dish.  The lack of juice was a problem that really impacted the dish as the clams and mussels were fairly bland.  The shrimp also lacked flavor and tasted more like cocktail shrimp.  Some may enjoy their shrimp big, but I prefer mine bite size leaving them entirely too big for my taste.

I also disliked the preparation of the chorizo given that they were chopped up.  I am a big fan of sliced chorizo so by doing them that way, the dish would have been given a minor improvement.  The chicken in the dish was fine, but the rice was too rough and crunchy.

Given that rice is a key component of any paella and the lack of juice in the dish, I left a bit disappointed in the paella.  The restaurant would be a great place to grab a glass of wine or a beer with a friend, but our dinner was a bit lacking.

Overall Rating: 3.5