You know you are nearing Madena when the air is suddenly redolent with spices. Unfortunately, the promise in the air doesn’t always reflect in the food that comes to your table.

Located in the Gregory Building, it is a tiny place of five tables for two—more, on sunny days when they can put tables outside. This is, by definition, a hole in the wall; it’s nothing fancy, just basic concrete walls adorned with bright artwork. The music swings between Taylor Dane and Flock of Seagulls. The atmosphere is less than transportive.

So is the food any good? Depends on the day. At best, they seem to be merely passable. Baba ganoush is garlicky and smoky, a smooth purée of eggplant, olive oil, and garlic served with a serviceable flatbread. Hummus is nothing special. Falafel is a bit dry with a spice blend that can sometimes be way oversalted. It doesn’t really compare to versions in some of the other restaurants in town. Grape leaves also fail to stand out from those found at many other places in town.

A mezza platter is available at dinner and includes a sampler of all of these plus tabbouleh, but the kitchen seems to be out of at least one of the listed items at any given time. On hot days, fattoush salad is refreshing and filling, with romaine, cucumber, tomato, radish, green onion, sumac, garlic, baked pita, fresh mint, and lemon-olive oil dressing. Tender chicken shawarma has a wonderful blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, garlic, and green cardamom over basmati rice, accompanied by fresh sweet onion coated with yet more spice mix. When the restaurant first opened, Madena’s version was pretty good. Lately, however, it’s been dry and short on flavor. The beef version is pretty much the same, cooked until there is no juice left in it. The spice mix is not distributed evenly, leaving some bites spiced and others with little flavor at all.

In fact, the only consistency we’ve found here has been inconsistency. One week, a dish will be pretty decent, and the next, there will be way too much cardamom/lemon/salt/you name it. Although this restaurant has been open for several years, it doesn’t seem to be getting any better; if anything, it’s getting worse.