Mediterranean restaurant headed for prime spot on Macon Road

A restaurant serving Mediterranean-style food that includes a variety of gyros, falafel, pita bread, wraps, kabobs, hummus and salads is on its way to a prime location on Macon Road in Columbus.

Pita Mediterranean Street Food, which opened on Whittlesey Boulevard at Columbus Park Crossing in April 2017, is now working on a second 2,500-square-foot location in Midtown Shopping Center, with expectations of opening in November, Nadeem Chaudhry said Friday.

“They just started construction, so maybe in two and half or three months,” said Chaudhry, the franchisee of the existing Pita Mediterranean location on the city’s north side.

The Columbus resident said the new 80-seat eatery on Macon Road should be the final one he opens in the city, although he has an eye toward entering the markets of Auburn, Ala., and LaGrange, Ga.

“We’re doing pretty good on the north end of town. Our reviews are top and we’ve kept it up to standard,” Chaudhry said. “I’m not going to brag about it. I usually let people try the food and make a decision on it. But we have over 500 reviews on Google.”

The Pita Mediterranean Street Food menu includes various types of gyros, chicken and beef shawarma, fish, tawook, kafta, falafel, pita bread, hummus, baba ghanoush, lebanee, feta and olives, several salads and platters for those wanting the entrees with grilled vegetables. Desserts include baklava cheesecake and Nutella pita.

Founded in 2012, Peachtree City, Ga.-based Pita Mediterranean has grown to 17 locations, with another 50 stores in the pipeline, said Nour Rabai, the company’s founder. Chaudhry was his first franchisee.

“We’re rocking and rolling,” Rabai said Friday. “We’re going into South Carolina and Alabama and hoping to get into Florida and Chicago.”

The new Mediterranean eatery is headed for a 50-year-old shopping property that has been redeveloping since 2014. Midtown Shopping Center has added anchor tenants that include Bealls Outlet, Shoe Carnival and Ross Dress for Less.

At the same time, the Kmart discount store in the center was closed by Sears Holdings last year — as were the Sears department store at Columbus Park Crossing and every other Kmart in the local market.

The former Kmart space remains vacant, although a Panera Bread outlet is now under construction fronting the empty retail space at 3200 Macon Road. A city building permit shows $1.1 million is being spent on construction.

Just under 35,000 vehicles pass each day in front of Midtown Shopping Center and Cross Country Plaza across the street, according to a Georgia Department of Transportation traffic count.

Columbus-based G2 Commercial Real Estate Services has assisted Pita Mediterranean Street Food with securing its Columbus locations.

This story was originally published August 31, 2018 at 4:36 PM.