It’s not uncommon for Greek restaurants to get rave reviews but more are turning toward higher-end menus and more experimental dishes, with Melina in Bethesda, Maryland being lauded by a critic who said it’s just heavenly.

“We always wanted to do another Greek restaurant that’s different from what we did in the past,” Dimitri Moshovitis, who owns Melina with Ike Grigoropoulos and Ted Xenohristos, told Bethesda Magazine food critic David Hagedorn.

He was more than impressed, citing not just the Greek dishes but the approach: “They get the details just right even before a morsel of food hits the table,” he wrote, especially in peerless cocktails.

Melina is named for Moshovitis’ 12-year-old daughter and her dad said the high-style Greek food concept is unlike any other in the area, the artwork of chef Aris Tsekouras, born in the USA but who went to culinary school in Greece. He was found on Instagram.

“The hallmark of Tsekouras’ dishes – all served on chic, rustic stoneware from Robert Gordon Australia – is the use of multiple, often intricately prepared components,” the review said. The food on it’s even better.