Three Stars for Omega Ouzeri; Paseo 2.0 is the Same As Before: Overrated

In the past week, the city's restaurant critics have reviewed Capitol Hill's new Greek haven Omega Ouzeri and the reopened legendary sandwich shop Paseo. Here's a roundup of what they're saying:

Providence Cicero is impressed by both the savory and sweet fare at Thomas Soukakos' Omega Ouzeri: "Olive oil, honey, lemon and garlic. Oregano, mint, cinnamon and dill. These are pillars of this menu, recurring flavors that invigorate plate after simple plate, grounding them and letting them soar ... Spicy garlic aioli anchored four golden brown zucchini fritters zingy with feta and mint. Crescent-shaped nettle pies made of phyllo contained those grassy greens creamed with shallot, garlic and lemon. Skordalia — a rough, lemony mash of garlic and potato — made a fluffy nest for fava beans and artichoke hearts, elegantly turned and trailing long, slender stems." Three stars.

Allison Austin Scheff says that Paseo 2.0 is indeed the same as the original, but that's not as good as we remember: "It's hard for all of us to be objective, but in my estimation, Seattle's most famous sandwich hadn't lived up to the hype for years ... Twice I found the filling-to-bread ratio [on the shop's most popular Caribbean Roast sandwich] was off in favor of the latter; sometimes the meat needed seasoning. Sometimes the combination of soggy bread and tender, moist pork, and wet, slippery onions, and aioli added up to a mushy affair that lacked heat and acid ... Having had the sandwich again at the new Paseo, I can tell you: The Caribbean Roast is very close to the way it has always been: pleasingly fatty, porky, drippy ... Still, for my money, the garlicky prawn sandwich ($10.50) is where it's at."