Mezze Bistro + Bar

I thoroughly enjoyed my meal at Mezze Bistro and Bar. This place isn’t for everyone, you have to be open to some unique farm to table combinations. It is also a little pricy. Nice atmosphere. However, we would have loved the option of sitting at the bar or outside. Neither was offered/​suggested and it wasn’t obvious that you could sit outside (nothing was set up). Since it was our first time there (and they did ask that) it would have been nice to know if either was an option. A big plus is that their menu changes daily and I assume they are pretty good about posting the daily menu on their web site.

Ate dinner here with family during a visit in the lovely Berkshires. Setting: elegant and calm. Service: excellent. Food: flavorful and fresh. Innovative and well presented. Price was very reasonable for the quality of food. Definitely would go again!

Stellar from beginning to end. Fresh local ingredients and inventive flavors, this is high end food in a very relaxed atmosphere. The Pork Confit and the wild mushrooms will be the benchmark to which all similar dishes will now be compared. The Mac & cheese was high end comfort food at its best. The maple bourbon pudding — not enough Os in smooth.

Was hopeful this was a great find, but it’s just ok. The ambiance is lovely, like a country inn. The music was a tad loud (at least where we sat). The food as ambitious, meaning «too much going on», as my dinner companion remarked. For example, the hangar steak has bacon flavor all over it. The mushroom appetizer with ham crumbs and an egg yolk sounds fun, but in reality, the yolk flavor is unrecognizable once you mix it with the hen of the woods mushrooms. The ham crumbs just made the texture in your mouth dry, like eating a mouthful of breadcrumbs then shoving a bunch of mushrooms in. They should consider poaching the egg a bit so it can retain some flavor. The duck liver toast had too much cider, so I lost the sweet tart of the cherry compote. Just tangy vinegar liver. The sliced duck entrée was ok, but the crushed nuts were too big. Overall, it’s ok.

Love this restaurant. Food is fresh and eclectic. We can never decide what to get because everything is so good. We usually order a variety and share.

We started with fried chick peas with shiracha sauce. It’s good. The warm potato salad is wonderful. Our dinner hubby had the octopus he said it’s excellent. I just had a burger it was good but will not pay $ 18 again for a burger. The dessert roasted strawberries with buttermilk ice cream and graham crumbs is Devine! We will definitely come back but will not be our weekly dine out routine. It’s a pricy restaurant at least for us.

An amazing meal, starting with hen of the woods mushrooms, kale Caesar salad and savory broccoli with puffed rice and chicken confirm. Our main courses including octopus and duck confit and delicious pasta dishes were all excellent. Basil lemonade sorbet was a happy revelation. An incredible meal, excellent service, wonderful evening!

Stellar Meats AND A Vegetarian Treasure Chest: Mezze in Williamstown
If you have the opportunity to eat this chef’s «Beet Soup», it may well be the best you will ever have– silky smooth essence of beet that just simply sings. And I have to laugh because My Love and I have finally broken our secret «noooooo kale salad» rule with Mezze’s Kale Caesar, with its authentic robust dressing and crispy toasted bread crumbs. Chewy but not bitter; a delight.
In urban bistros, Duck confit is certainly overdone in recent years, and also rarely done well. But at Mezze, this chef turns out a perfect duck confit– the way it was MEANT to be. Spice rubbed duck, long braised in a duck fat bath, with delightfully crispy skin and succulent tender thigh and leg meat. It sits in a «crazy French hat» bowl in a summer stew of sweet local corn and chanterelles.(We BOTH ordered it– how could we not?)
For ‘side dishes ‘, we ordered the Fried Sunchokes and the Duck fat smashed potatoes. Little did we know that these plates were really entrée portions, topped with greens (too bitter for us.)The nutty sunchokes were the must-​haves of the night; the frying brought forth a caramelization that was irresistable. Table bread was a great local sourdough. And for dessert, the Basil Lemonade Sorbet was totally amazing. This was not a flavor for the faint of heart. Rather than play in the background, the fresh height-​of-​the-​summer basil took front and center, in both flavor and hue, brightened by the lemon high notes.
Our server was Hollywood-​lovely, knowledgeable and helpful. She seemed a natural fit for the place itself. A summer cottage on a verdant hillside, Mezze’s charming décor and soothing colors, lit throughout by votives, made for a lovely and memorable setting that capped off a most enjoyable evening. Were the menu larger, we would have returned the next night, but then again, we can hope that this talented chef will still be there for our next visit.
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This is my favorite restaurant in the Berkshires — and I eat at a lot of restaurants in the Berkshires. Like many of my favorites, it seems that most things are locally sourced. But, Mezze simply brings it up to a level of excellence in preparation and service that others do not match. As a result, it tends to be our restaurant of choice for birthdays and special events. (The other one is Chez Nous in Lee.)
The menu at Mezze changes daily. I loved the appetizer of heirloom tomatoes with melon. It gave the meal a nice summery touch. The Chicken Breast with Cauliflower Pureé, New Potatoes, Mushrooms, Leeks was tender and delicate. Who knew that cauliflower could taste so good?
I have been a fan of Mezze for years — including in their old smaller Williamstown center location. It just keeps getting better.

There were four of us with a reservation for dinner. Although it was disappointing to learn that there were no specials on a busy summer evening, clearly someone here knows how to cook; unfortunately, the front of the house doesn’t really care and there was no visible management. The bottle of wine didn’t arrive until after the first plates were on the table, and speaking of first plates, the waitress who hadn’t wished to take a hint and had come by three times to rush us into ordering while we tried to discuss the menu and wine list, had offered that the two salads we selected would be split in the kitchen, but the runner unceremoniously dumped them on the table with extra plates. When questioned about it the runner acknowledged knowing that they were supposed to be divided, but made clear that they wouldn’t be and that she resented being asked to at least bring a couple of serving spoons since we had to do it ourselves.
Water glasses went unfilled, we were left to pour our own wine and later coffee, bread was only replenished upon request, and to top it all off while we were waiting for the desert menus another runner dumped (another table’s!) desert on our table, and then argued with us about taking it back when we alerted him that it wasn’t ours! (Yes, we mentioned it to the waitress when she next found time to grace us with her presence, and no, she made clear she didn’t care!) That said, both salads were fresh and lively, and salmon, chicken, steak and garganelli mains were all nicely done (although hard to see in a room with the lights turned down way too low such that other tables were visibly using their cell phones to try and read the menu – yes, we mentioned that to the waitress too, but she just smiled, walked away, and did nothing about that either). The deserts were noticeably skimpy for the price; although the menu credits a pastry chef they were chiefly notably for their absence of pastry, consisting primarily of fruits and chilled confections.
We would have shared our experience with the hostess on the way out, if anyone had been there! No manager was ever visible in the dining room and although there were still other dinners finishing up their meals the entry room (and dark steps down to the parking lot) had no one tending them when we exited. Nonetheless, with some work this could be a destination fine dining restaurant (the words bistro and bar in its title are both misleading).

Wonderful farm-​to-​table restaurant. The setting is beautiful and elegant but the atmosphere is relaxed and informal. Thoroughly modern. The staff is friendly and attentive but the star of the show here is clearly the food. Great local ingredients, ethically produced and thoughtfully prepared.
We had beet soup, kale salad, pasta in a spicy red sauce with assorted meats, hanger steak with duck fat potatoes. All scrumptious. The steak was an event in itself – sublime. Bourbon cherry ice cream? Wow!
A terrific experience and a very good value. Will definitely come again.

Excellent.
Get the sriracha fried chickpeas, the cherry strawberry gazpacho, and the broccoli w/​fish sauce and puff rice for sure. I’m thinkin I’m gonna make an attempt to reverse engineer that shite.
Halibut entrée was also dank, but not as standout as the previously mentioned starters.
Dope service. Dope environment (feels just like a big country house, with a waterfall on the walkway up the rolling hill to the building)
If you’re tryna have a nice expensive meal in this lil town, this place is certifiably dank and should not be missed. Great job, y’all.

I’d been receiving weekly emails from Mezza ever since I decided I really enjoyed its sister, Allium in Great Barrington, more than five years ago. They even relocated from «downtown» Williamstown to a beautiful location just South of the town since I first wanted to try them out. This was now the perfect opportunity as we were also joining friends for a matinée play at the Williamstown Theater Festival.
Five of us arrived and informed the hostess that the sixth in our party was not able to attend. The hostess politely informed us that she would reset the table for five and return to seat us. I think they may have even changed the table that was planned for us, because we passed one long empty table set for six and arrived at a round table that was perfect for a party of five.
Water glasses were constantly refilled by the roving water-​person. While I let the other four of our party study the wine menu, I asked our server if they had any draft beer. She said they had two, a Jack’s Abby Leisure Time wheat lager ($ 6/​pt.) and a Ballast Point Grapefruit Sculpin IPA ($ 8/​pt). I decided to start with the IPA even though IPAs are not my first choice of beer. But neither is a wheat larger. It was our server’s description that the grapefruit flavor was very light that encouraged me to try it. In fact, it was a great Summer beer for sitting by the pool or lake and enjoying all by itself. It probably would have gone well with my entrée, but I think I finished it during our sharing of appetizers.
Speaking of appetizers, the ones I was able to taste were: the Gazpacho ($ 10) with strawberry, cherry tomato, radish, jalapeño, and borage (a flower herb), it was a favorite of others at our table; the Mushrooms ($ 23), an egg yolk and ham crumbs on top of chicken confit, peas, and corn and of course mushrooms (hen-​of-​the-​wood), one of my favorites for the apps; and finally, Carrots ($ 14) with pork belly pastrami, maggie’s round cheese (Google this delicious cheese), pickles, and rye, my other app favorite.
My entrée was Kingfish ($ 28) with a chorizo purée, charred broccoli, and cherry tomatoes. While this was described to us as a whitish fish similar in texture to swordfish, I would agree it was lighter in color, but not as firm as swordfish. I actually liked it better than swordfish and all of the dish was delicious.
I had the Jack’s Abby lager while I was eating the Kingfish and I would have thought it was the best choice to complement the fish, but it turned out that the beer seemed to lack any noticeable flavor at all. Ironically, it’s described as brewed with wheat and a blend of spices including lemongrass, coriander, orange peel, and chamomile. I guess I don’t know Jack’s.
Two other entrées that I had the opportunity to taste were the Garganelli ($ 25) which is a pasta with braised pork, beef shank, Italian sausage, spicy tomato sauce, and bone marrow, and the Duck Breast ($ 28), boneless and sliced with succotash of summer vegetables, and corn purée. Both of these entrées were very good, but they didn’t want to make me go ooh and aah. But thinking back, none of the dishes got that response from me. I say this because Mezza’s sister restaurant, Allium, did generate that response the last couple of times I was there.
To cover all bases, I should mention that one person in our group ordered the Hanger Steak ($ 28) because he was pleased with it on his previous visit to Mezza. It was served with beef fat potatoes, bill’s lettuce, blue cheese, and bordelaise. He was still pleased, and I didn’t sample it.
It’s foolish to go to a restaurant with this level of renown and not try dessert prepared on site by a pastry chef. The three desserts ($ 8.50 each) that I was able to sample were the Buttermilk Panna Cotta with strawberries, the Blueberry Galette with cherry thyme syrup and vanilla ice cream, and the Lemon Poppyseed Cake with lemon curd, sweet milk ice cream, and milk crumble. The panna cotta was my least favorite as it lacked excitement. The lemon poppyseed cake was good enough that I’d order it if I wasn’t supposed to be limiting my intake of poppyseeds. The blueberry galette was not only my favorite, but the vanilla ice cream was super creamy and full of flavor. You could even see the bits of vanilla seed.
The French press coffee is excellent. A truly nice ending to out meal. As busy as the restaurant was with the handling, at the same time, of pre-​evening-​performance diners and post-​matinée-​performance diners, everything was coordinated in a very timely fashion. If you have the time, also enjoy the gardens and pond on the property while you’re there.

If you love inventive and delicious food in an elegant yet casual setting, this is your place!
We had a truly wonderful meal. The hen of woods with chicken confit, and mokum carrots (apps) were amazing!!! Not to be missed. The meatball entrée was so delicious. The kingfish was just ok. My fist time with kingfish so it’s the fish not the preparation. Excellent service too. I highly recommend it.

Definitely recommend Mezze. Everything was excellent. Great staff, great old house (used to be Le Jardin), great food, great views. Excellent place for a date night.
We had the Hen of the Woods mushroom appetizer (egg yolk, fava beans, duck confit, ham crumbs) and it was perfect for two people to split and was really delicious.
We never did receive any bread.
The Garganelli Pasta (I called it Gargamelle Pasta, get it, from the Smurfs?) was really yummy. It had braised pork, beef shank, Italian sausage, and tomato sauce. All the ingredients were fresh and local so I was glad they kept it simple.
My husband had the duck breast and loved it.
I was a little confused by the «small plates» concept, since the prices seemed to match big plates, and the portions were huge.
We didn’t have room for dessert, but it’s always good to have a reason to go back. :)
It’s best to make a reservation, since every table was taken, even on a Sunday night.

Went to this place after reading many positive reviews on Unilocal.The setting is very nice, looks like an old house set on a hill. The décor was sharp and included a nice patio out back. Staff was friendly as well. Service did end up being on the slow side and uncoordinated. Our bread came after we finished our appetizers and water refills were slow. Menu is super limited and no substitutions allowed! As a vegetarian I did not have many choices at all! It was on the pricier side as well and portions were small. Food was good and fresh, but not sure I’d say its one of the best in the Berkshires…

Came here with a few friends and we all had an amazing experience.
My main course dish (Salmon) was fantastic. The use of kimchi gave the dish a extra dazzling quality. We tried all of the desserts and while you can’t go wrong my favorite was definitely the banana bread (my friend loved the chocolate on chocolate choice). The only reason I’m giving 4 stars and not 5 is because the appatizers did not share the same food quality. We ordered the Chips and Dip, Octopus and Oysters to start and none are very memorable.

Definitely one of the best restaurant of the Berkshires! If you are heading to Williamstown or North Adams is a must.
The place is lovely, with a garden and small lake in front of the entrance. The restaurant is sort of a house, and the atmosphere is really homie. Service is excellent, and the food is really tasty. I went few times and I never been disappointed; plus all my guests were really impressed!
I usually share different small plates, all delicious, fresh and with local ingredients (they actually can tell you from which farm they got what! Seriously.)
Don’t miss the dessert! They are way worthier and always amazing tasty surprises!
Last, great artworks on the wall. You can read bio and resume on the artists and actually buy great pieces from local artists.

After the work conference & camping, my coworkers & I felt we needed to treat ourselves & we were not disappointed.
Pros:The employees were really nice, friendly, not overbearing & provided tremendous service. I had the veal, that was tasted fresh & nicely prepared. For drinks, I actually left it up to their bartender to make me her favourite cocktails & all i can say to her is THANK YOU!
Cons: NONE

I loved this place and the guy who worked here was SO nice to me and my mom, we talked to him for ages (he also gave us a free glass of wine and a free glass of ballast point sculpin that they had on tap… beer geek me was impressed). The dessert and everything was PHENOM! The only critique I have is that everything had too much meat-​ness added to it, it got kind of overwhelming.
The BLT salad — heirloom tomatoes, some green that I forget, and aioli made with bacon lard — delicious!
Some charcuterie that was local and home smoked and cured (but it was mostly fat!) it was like beef carpaccio except only fat
A risotto with chicken but it was also injected with some kind of animal fat, also the portion was far too large (not a common critique maybe but it was almost too much for me to finish).
I thought the dessert was the best part probably exclusively because I was mad sick of meat anything by the time I finished.
I would give this place 5 stars because it was delicious and MGMT treated me and my mom like royals but I woke up vomiting at like 2 am because my body couldn’t handle all that animal fat so, 4 stars.