Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques.
Goodbye Round Table Pizza, hello SAJJ Mediterranean: a new eatery has arrived at the Farm. Monday to Friday, from 11 a.m. sharp until 3:00 p.m., SAJJ Mediterranean in Tresidder Memorial Union serves up customizable wraps, bowls and salads to students looking for (as the name would imply) a Mediterranean-inspired meal.
SAJJ expanded to Stanford this September, occupying the counter previously held by Round Table since 2024. I had heard good things from friends of mine, so my expectations were understandably high when I went to try the food. I even skipped FloMo Dining’s açaí bowl breakfast for the sake of this review.
I arrived right as the staff were setting up shop. After I asked for a recommendation, they not only gave me a quick rundown of the menu, but even let me try some beef and chicken samples. I separately asked for a bowl with a little bit of everything, and they gladly obliged. When the bowl on the lid didn’t fit properly, they exchanged it for a new one. The cashier who rang me up even offered me a bag when she noticed I had my arms full of books and papers already, which spared me my usual hassle of balancing my items in a Jenga tower. Not only that, but she gave me a free bag of chips with the meal!
In other words, customer service scored a 10/10.
I left around $20 lighter with a can of Sunkist, the bowl and my chips in hand. The chips, admittedly, weren’t great. They grew on me as time went on, but I could only describe my initial bite as a mix between eating hardtack and a crouton.
They were saved, however, by the hummus! I actually hate hummus (almost as much as I hate Berkeley), so when I opened up that small plastic container, I expected it to taste awful. Still, I have journalistic integrity, so I decided to take the leap … and was surprised to find it actually tasted great. Smooth and savory in all the right ways, it was a perfect accompaniment to the chips, which suddenly became a lot more palatable.
As for SAJJ’s main offering — the bowl — I must say, the base ingredients at SAJJ are of very high quality. The meat was well-spiced and leagues better than I thought it would be going in, outpacing Stanford’s strip steak by a mile.
As for the sauces, I found the tzatziki to be okay, but compared to the Greek yogurt and the hummus, it was nothing special. The tzatziki was a little too bitter for my palate, strongly overwhelming the core taste of the meat and rice. I feel that the other sauces had a more balanced profile of flavors. The hummus is undoubtedly the star player when it comes to the flavors on offer.
SAJJ features a wide array of toppings for prospective customers to enjoy (onions are reportedly the most popular). None are particular standouts — though for toppings, that can be a good thing! None of them overpowered the core of the dish, which was the very strong meat and rice combination. As a heads up, the kebab special wasn’t particularly special. The difference between it and the beef was minuscule overall.
(A mild warning for any readers who aren’t very tolerant of spice: avoid the cherry peppers, as they do pack a kick!)
The bowl took me about a half hour to finish — I’m a slow eater — and I thought it was a very generous portion.
Unfortunately, this is where I must diverge from positive commentary into actual criticism.
Look, I love food, and I do think that SAJJ is pretty good, but I don’t think it’s so good that it justifies deviating from your normal meal plan. $20 for a bowl and a can of soda (and chips, though granted, mine were free)? Consider how far that can stretch elsewhere! Just a few steps away at the Axe and Palm, for example, you can get a hearty burger at nearly half that price point. Even other Tressider eateries like CoHo will give you more bang for your buck.
If you’re ever in the mood for Mediterranean food and need something to satisfy that craving, you should absolutely try SAJJ. And if you’re not particularly drawn to Mediterranean cuisine, you should probably still sample it, for the experience if nothing else. Don’t let The Daily stop you from trying new things! I, for one, won’t be stopping by SAJJ regularly, but I did discover that hummus isn’t actually all that bad.