Mezza Restaurant & Bar

Classy and elegant yet casual! Located at the Beaches Towne Center in the small but busy Neptune/​Atlantic area. There is something for everyone here. Great menu with exotic seafood dishes and the more staple restaurant foods. Whatever you are in the mood for it will be delicious. There are many seating choices from the brick walled exterior enclosed street style seating, small intimate dining room and the cool full service bar. Valet and street parking available. Great for couples or a group. Love Mezza!

Just WOW!!! Was incredibly good. We ate «light» (not really but sort of!). LIZ waited on us and she was AMAZING!!! My daughter is just moving here after LSU graduation and Liz wrote us up 3PAGES of where to go!!! Awesome food and awesome service with a great patio dining — will be back!!!

I took my parents and grandparents here upon recommendations from friends out at the beaches. The only reason Mezza gets two stars instead of one is because nearly every dish was great all around the table; a nice menu and good flavors. But I ordered the steak frites medium rare, and got a steak that was decidedly well-​done. Upon pointing this out, they fired up another steak and brought me a second steak that the waitress had me cut in front of her… to find out it was cooked exactly the same as the first steak. The third attempt, brought out at the point that everyone else at the table had been finished eating for several minutes, was medium but I didn’t have faith that the kitchen could get it right, so I didn’t try again. Such in attentiveness clearly falls in the hands of the chef at the pass, and I didn’t feel the bill appropriately was adjusted to reflect the gravity of the repeated errors. I may come back, but certainly couldn’t feel I would bring my family here again.

The beet salad for $ 10. Was unbelievably small but good. We waited FOREVER for food and the place was half empty. We will not be back

Superb dining and drinking restaurant. My immediate family had a most wonderful meal and have never had a bad meal here. It’s deserves all FIVE STARS. Their latest decorated main dining room is very quaint but eloquent. There might be the most romantic table in all of Jacksonville, «table 30» sets near the window among dim lighting and away from the crowd. My hats off to the best meal of the new year. Bottom line, make reservations and enjoy the whole menu.

This restaurant was a disappointment. It was well talked about so my family and I decided to try it out. They have some FL craft beers which is nice to see. To start, we got the cheese plate which was $ 14 and had 3 tiny offerings of cheese which really didn’t have much flavor. The meza fries tasted like grease sticks and really lacked flavor. The prices were pretty high on most things with the exception of the pizzas. My pizza was the most flavorful thing I tried… shrimp with Sriracha and pesto. It was pretty good but there were maybe 4 shrimp on the whole thing… overall this place was not too impressive and I don’t plan on coming back. The waitress was very nice and the venue has potential but Atlantic Beach has a ton of other places worth your money.

Delicious. This was a great evening and I was lucky enough to share it with my awesome neighbors.
Highlights:
— parking available via valet so one less stress
— the lamb appetizer was SO good and loved by all
— dinner entrees were all spot on and raved about: ancho achile chicken with succotash was best chicken consumed ever, the pan cooked fish was increadibly flavorful and the housemade farfalle with braised beef was a winner again (I have ordered it before)
— able to walk to the beach after the meal
Brussel sprouts w/​o bacon were OK as mustard is strong and may not appeal to everyone. Dessert was just OK (brownie) but after eating so much food earlier, that may have dinimished its appeal. Our server was friendly and tolerated our bad jokes and antics well.
Overall, a great meal and I was relieved and excited to be able to recommend this location for dinner and have my dining partners agree this was a good choice. Unilocal ratings have not let me down and thank you, Mezza, and fellow Unilocalers for helping me maintain a solid dining reputation.

Very pleased with our stop here. First went to Ocean 60 and Flying Iguana, but both had waits, so we came here. It was busy, but we were seated in less time than it took to find out the wait time at Ocean 60. Our server was really nice and the food came out quick. I had the filet mignon over potatoes and some awesome glaze, with asparagus. She had the cioppino. Both were delicious. Portions could not be better. Not too much or too little. Wines were good and nice pours. Will come back again.

This is for Nancy. You keep snapping at us that we are not allowed to turn our bar chairs around to watch the live music. We had to FACE THE WALL. WHAT?! The only reason we go here is to listen to the music and see our friends. You raised the prices and shrunk the plates. I’m not sure why you are a live music venue if watching the show bothers you personally. We spend thousands of dollars there every week. Everyone has so much fun singing, laughing, drinking excellent cocktails made by the bartenders (who are fabulous btw). If you don’t want live music, I hope you find a way to up your early week business.
I have worked and managed 5 star restaurants in Los Angeles. Both live music venues, white table cloth. We dressed the room accordingly where guests had seats and space to enjoy while the staff had ample room to move and serve.
We will now be spending our time and money elsewhere at Ragtime and North Beach Bistro!
Thanks for the memories!

Love Mezza! The atmosphere is romantic with lots of different options to accommodate all parties. The main room where the bar is located is cozy with dim lighting and live jazz. The brick oven pizzas are delicious and filling! You have to try the shrimp siracha pizza it was unexpectedly my favorite one. Highly recommend.

Had 3 Apps:
Lam chops
Steak tartare
Duck bites
Must have of the 3 = lamb chops
Pappardelle = effing fab
Pass on the mushroom pizza– the truffle oil is non-​existent

We had a lovely dinner at Mezza for a party of four last night. Ancho Chicken was delicious served on asparagus instead of succotash. Tuna delicious. Food all good. Ambience in main dining room is excellent. Bar is exciting for local young people but very noisy. Valet parking eliminates all parking woes at the Beaches Town Center. Great special occasion choice.
Recommend they join Unilocal reservations and Open Table to modernize reservations approach.

The front room is extremely packed and its hard to walk threw to the back dining area. Especially if there is a band playing right there by the pass thru. I was afraid my disabled son would trip and fall on either a chair leg or band cords. He made it safely thru. Once you get to the back it is much quieter and yes warm and cozy feel. My meal was nice. We enjoyed most of everything. My son loved his pasta with short rib and my little one had pizza and a salad. I had the mushroom pizza that was ok. I was hoping for a more smokey wood flavor on the pizza which I didn’t get. I know it was busy so our waitress didn’t come around as much as I would like. Once every 15 minutes is good? Ran out of drinks and sat for quite awhile for the check. I just laid my credit card out for her. Everyone seemed to be having a great time. The food overall was good but I feel it may be better on less busy nights. Ill definitely come back an earlier time during the week. Im very picky and as my hubby always says, if my wife says its okay then def give it a try and if I say its great then its usually outstanding lol.

The menu at Mezza is fairly standard — a lot of variants of fish-​on-​bed-​of-​rice and meat-​on-​bed-​of-​potatoes. The entrees are $ 20 and up, and I’ve found that Mezza isn’t really earning the dollar amounts they’re charging.
Quantity: it becomes less of an issue when the food in question is absolutely amazing, but I’ve eaten here twice, and look, man, quantity is definitely an issue. The pork chop in particular is $ 24, I believe, and was a fairly dry and unremarkable single-​cut chop. This stood out to me because Marker 32 around the corner has a 14-​oz double-​cut chop for the same price. I’m not here to shill Marker 32, believe me — it’s got its fair share of issues — but there’s your comparison, regardless.
I also tried the steamed mussels, which were tasty but generic (served with some parsley & garlic sauce), and the tuna tartare, which was drowning in soy sauce yet still managed to taste unpleasantly fishy. The other entrée I’ve eaten here was the salmon, which was also pushing its price tag at $ 24 for a 3-​ish ounce piece.
The Caesar Salad is also a bummer. I tend to use Caesar salad as a way to find out if a restaurant means business, and Mezza charges 8 bucks for a lackluster creamy caesar dressing that wouldn’t be out of place at a Ruby Tuesday’s.
I’ll end on positives: there’s a fairly good drink selection (I’m always happy when I see a negroni on a menu), the atmosphere is really pleasant, the frites on my wife’s steak frites were delicious, and the cheese plate had an excellent triple cream cheese.
If Mezza was downtown or in San Marco, it’d be a solid 2 stars, but it gets a bonus contextual star for being at the beach among similar-​quality restaurants.

Mezza (f/​k/​a Mezza Luna) has always been discovering itself. And not in a bad way. It’s menu has been constantly evolving and now they’ve taken on a more holistic Mediterranean approach. And I kinda dig it.

Got to try some of their new menu items which should be making their debut very soon at the Fine Fall Pairings event (
) and loved the food so much met some friends for date night to try out more of the menu. So many things looked good and it was hard to decide what to order, but my rule of thumb is if I’m leaning towards a special, I always go with the special. The rest of the menu will be there the next time I come back.
So for tonight’s dinner my husband and I split the ahi tuna appetizer special and I ordered the braised short rib parpadelle for my entrée. The tuna came out first and after one bite I wished I would have ordered my own. Each slice melted on your tongue like butter and was so expertly sliced. The cold noodles were good, but I would have been happy with just a large plate of tuna.
The short rib pasta is that perfect fall dish when the weather has started to cool off and it warms you up from the inside. Unfortunately living in Florida, the weather doesn’t always get the memo. But that in no way took away from the dish. The pasta was freshly made and the short rib was so tender, no knife was needed.
While we passed on dessert, we did get to taste some that were at the table, and I will definitely plan my meal better next time.

This is a beautiful restaurant, in a beautiful location. Down near what I call the 4 corners of neptune beach. The restaurant had music jamming, was packed with people, it seemed like this was a hang out spot for locals. Now the food was delish, yummy seafood! This is a great spot to bring a date and drink some wine, and enjoy a nice dinner!

Upscale dining with a casual feel… Mezza is definitely worth a trip across the ditch to enjoy an artfully prepared (and super fresh) dinner.
There are so many little things that Mezza is doing, that all adds up to a superb dining experience.
1. Complimentary Valet:
Parking at the beach can be a challenge at times, but Mezza does offer a complimentary valet on certain nights (check the schedule and bring a few bucks for tipping.)
2. The place is gorgeous:
With amazing hardwood floors, perfectly hand picked art, white tablecloths, fresh flowers on every table, to the wonderfully scented candles in the restrooms, all of these little things really let you know the folks at Mezza want you to have the best experience here. A glowing and intimate feel, whether you are sitting inside or out, that is just perfect for a date night, or girls night out.
3. Service:
Service seems to be top notch and attentive, with helpful suggestions and menu guidance.
A group of us ventured in for dinner last night, and we ordered quite a few apps and dishes to sample and share. The starter bread on the table was super fresh, with oil and balsamic on the table, so you can customize to your own personal liking. We ordered the mussels, that came with a super green garlic and parsley purée, worthy of multiple bread dips.
On to entrees, I ordered the filet, medium rare. The horseradish butter on top was amazing, and the sear on the outside and juicy and perfectly cooked middle, made for a killer bite each time.
I did try a bite of the bread pudding (buttery, eggy and delicious) and the triple cheese cheese cake, which was so light, it took me off guard and I’m already craving more. Unbelievable!
I love that their menu is seasonal, to ensure everything is fresh, fresh, fresh! The fall menu is debuting next week, and what a great excuse to head back for another culinary adventure.
Bravo Mezza!

I have to say that this place is really scrumdelicious. We had such a great meal for the Unilocal event we had to return. Yes, I being a really serious foodie here in Jax might just have to put our meal before as one of the best I have had in Jacksonville. Tonight lived up to all of our expectations. The whole table ordered different dishes and we all shared. We started out with some apps of seared tuna and a house made pasta. To some mussels in a green sauce. Last but not least brussel sprout that cooked with a spicy mustard and some honey. I first with all of the other great food that I have eaten here they had to make even brussel sprouts amazing. Let me say that they didn’t let any of us down. They were cooked perfectly al dente with a sweet glaze and then had a crunchy factor that sent the dish over the top. I personally moved onto some steak frites and the wife went with the short rib over house made pappardelle. Some of the other dishes that showed up top the table a tile fish with a garlic mash, and one of the best filets that I have tasted in a longtime. That was an amazing dish that I could only dream of being able to cook a steak that well. Then I moved onto some dessert in true fat kid fashion. I was blown away by the 3 cheese cheese cake that was so light and fluffy. The mixture of mascarpone, cream cheese and Ricotta cheeses made this a pure slice of heaven in Neptune Beach. Now this was a very soon to be favorite place to eat. We were also informed that their new fall menu is coming out on Monday. So maybe Tuesday or Wednesday maybe for a return dinner. Oh yea maybe Thursday cause they have Mike Shackleford playing in the bar. Mike is very special to us for he played our wedding many many years ago.

What a nice surprise! After passing this place literally for years, looking through the windows and saying.yeah.should check it out some time, we finally did. And absolutely loved it! We usually don’t go to Atlantic beach at night so this was an exception. Suddenly decided to eat pizza for dinner and, being the picky pizza eaters that we are, had to be some place fancy. Here comes Mezza! As soon as I saw that brick pizza oven and the menu, I knew it would be awesome!
They don’t take Open Table (bummer) so we didn’t have reservations, especially given it was a last minute decision. Had to wait for quite some time, but even the wait was fun — they have these chairs by the pizza oven and they make delicious drinks.
We got the mushroom and truffle oil pizza to share — that one time years ago we came across it in a very luxury restaurant in Palm Beach and have been looking for a match since. That was it! For the first time since that experience we finally found a match to that delicious pizza.
We dined in the back room away from the bar. Everything was top notch. Lots more things I want to try on the menu. This place has immediately gone to the top list of favorites!

I really loved Mezza before they updated their menu at the beginning of the year.
My husband and I loved stopping by Mezza Luna late at night and sitting at the bar and ordering a few options off the menu and enjoying some REALLY good food. Yes it was expensive but in our minds it was always totally worth it.
Then they changed their menu and portions got smaller (smaller than they already were if you can even believe it) and yet you were paying just as much as before. Explain that concept to me?
Maybe you can get away with something like that for new customers who have never experienced your restaurant before, but now for those of us that had dined there a few dozen times over the years.
Unfortunately, it’s just not the same experience now so we decided we probably won’t be back anytime soon (if ever) b/​c if it’s one thing Jacksonville is not lacking in right now, it’s a good food scene.