This is John Gorham. I'm not going to come on here and defend myself from your reveiw. But i will defend myself about pricing. Writing that MEC is 3 times the cost of Nicholas and Hodas is borderline slander. The price difference of their Hummus and our is $2, theirs $8 ours $10. The prices difference of their falaffel is $1, theirs $8 and ours $9. And it stays pretty consistently close. Both restaurants ride a price point between $8 and $19. I love Nicholas and will say they provide a great meal, but lets face the fact that the service is one step above counter service and i can assure you that our base products is heads and shoulders above their quality. If you don't like what i do ,than say it, but please be honest in your writing.

John, I appreciate your input.

You're correct that perhaps the pricing of an individual order of hummus is a $2 difference, but I was looking at the larger picture. Portions also play a role here. Their lamb platter at Nicholas is $18 for example, but that's the only thing I need to order. MEC's lamb ragu was $14, and is far from being enough to satiate someone. $30-40 easily buys a gigantor meal for two and drinks (beer or wine) at Nicholas or Hoda's; I didn't get out of MEC for less than $100 over three different visits.

You're absolutely right that the service at MEC is far better (they should have gotten a better shout out in this review, actually), and so is the atmosphere and neighborhood. Bet that's part of the big price difference. I do like what you do overall. You'll hear me recommending the pants off other places you own!

I like hummus but it should be the cheapest thing you can eat. Besides pizza of course.

@John Gorham...dude, relax. Obviously this reviewer(not reveiwer) struck a nerve and I'm not sure if you've had one too many Sobieski vodka's with Ceylon tea, lemon, orange bitters, and orange blossom water but you're coming across as a little butthurt over a pretty fair opinion. Reminds me of Jon Favreau in "Chef". If you saw that movie, you know what I mean. If you haven't seen it, don't waste your time. It sucked. The point is: Don't be Jon Favreau. And seriously, $14 for a plate of hummus? C'mon man, it's hummus. Oh, but it's got lamb ragu and a wallop of honey! Sounds aweZzzzzzzz.......

Andrea:
I am not here to defend the Gorham restaurants. I have to say, though, I used to live next to Nicholas and after multiple visits found that the food (and service) is just poor, poor, poor. It is not a comparable restaurant to MEC and I question your authority to write on this matter. The quality of hummus and falafel is far, far superior at MEC. Next time you compare an upscale restaurant to a casual one, please ask yourself "was the food at [insert cheap restaurant here] delicious?".
I also question your journalistic credibility. Your return comment to Gorham seems to identify that you didn't 'say what you meant' in your article and you are prone to exaggeration.
Perhaps it's trendy to knock on Gorham in Portland now. Perhaps you're riding the coattails of the WW review. In that case, sorry John, Portland loves its bandwagons...