Xenia A Kebab Grille recently opened a second location in Harmony Square, nicknamed Xenia II, bringing their expertise in all things pita to EMU’s neck of the woods. After 10 years wedged in the cranny between Qdoba and Sprint, it was time to expand. The new space can seat at least double the occupancy of the original Burgess Road location.
Xenia II moved into the old Dairy Queen location to the left of Food Lion, a space with high ceilings and a broad window face. Aside from the same tile flooring, the interior has undergone a complete redesign. With a warm, rich color palette of neutrals and red, the space invites a sense of calm and rootedness. Earthy artwork and woven tapestries hang from the walls while the sweet tinkling of Middle Eastern music fills the air. The dark-painted ceilings offset the bright windows and lofty verticals, introducing a sense of gravity to the otherwise airy space.
And the place feels airy, that is for sure. On a Tuesday afternoon, I am one of a small handful of customers in this Mediterranean and Middle Eastern eatery. This feels like a stark difference from the Burgess location, which is usually stuffed to the door with hungry patrons.
The menu is the same as the original location, offering a variety of pitas, sandwiches, kebabs, and mediterranean salads. Xenia II hosts an all-you-can-eat lunch buffet for $9.95, which is new for this location. Children under age four eat free.
I order a chicken kebab in a pita bowl with salad and cilantro lime sauce for $8.50. Minutes later, the waiter delivers a basket housing my entree — a pile of veggies and kebab nestled on a soft bed of oven-baked pita. The salad consists of iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and red onions all drizzled with olive oil, filling half the basket by itself. The pita is fluffy and tearable, crisped around the edges. You have the option of folding everything inside the pita and eating it like a sandwich, but I am not graceful enough to manage that feat of plopping veggies and drooling olive oil. Forks work just as well.
The chicken plays the lead role in this spice show, dry-dubbed with saffron and cumin, then roasted over a fire grill, giving the meat a tender, yellow-spice glow. The flavor packs a punch, so much so that I only need a little piece of chicken with each bite to spark that om-nom sensation.
On the tables sit trays full of seasonings to spice up my experience, if the entree is not enough. Apple cider vinegar, oil, pepper, salt, old bay spice, and sumac stand sentinel, ready to dash to the rescue of any taste bud in distress. Not that the entrees are anywhere near bland enough to call for such emergency spice-doctoring — quite the opposite — but the option stands.
Xenia II is just getting off the ground, still in that awkward stage before securing those necessary regulars to support a restaurant. The staff seemed extremely excited about any business walking through the door. If only all those customers crammed into the original restaurant across town knew there are twice as many seats waiting for them just 10 minutes down the road.
Xenia opens their Harmony Square location Mondays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for lunch, and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
