Bardstown Road’s Pita Hut Mediterranean Cafe is expanding into the retail space vacated by Grateful Threads late last year. A newly renovated, larger dining room is planned to open later this month to correspond with the restaurant’s one-year anniversary.
The new space will be connected to the existing restaurant and will be able to seat about 50 people in a family-friendly environment. Expanded healthy food offerings are also planned including a larger buffet and eventually breakfast items. A Mediterranean brunch could be held on the weekends. Finishing touches are still ongoing in the new space.
The existing 15-seat dining room will eventually be converted into a hookah lounge and will reflect the atmosphere of a traditional Mediterranean cafe. A variety of coffees, traditional and Turkish, and freshly squeezed juices will be available along with a selection of beers. Owner Khaled Imam regrets he cannot find carrot juice readily available in Louisville, so he plans to offer it himself. Right now, though, the main priority is to open the new dining room.
Pita Hut hopes to provide healthy food made from scratch for a reasonable price. Imam realizes a tough economy can make it tough for some to eat out regularly, but wants to provide healthy alternatives to fast food that taste better and can work on a budget. He believes there’s no room for greed in a bad economy and and everyone should try to help out the community.
Food preparation at Pita Hut involves soul, and Imam puts in extra effort to ensure his is the best. His new Mediterranean buffet will be twice as large as the current selection and will be the only buffet of its kind in Kentucky. Everything is made fresh from scratch. He described his arduous process for making a falafel: each day chick peas are soaked in water, then rinsed, then ground, then marinated, then ground again with herbs all by hand before they make it to the fryer. The result is a delicious sandwich.
- Pita Hut (Official Site)
- Bardstown Road’s Head Shop Row Getting Longer (Broken Sidewalk)
I highly recommend Pita Hut, their food is delicious!
Okay, For those of you who do not know, Pita Hut once was Rufad’s Kebob, then it was Hani’s. Now it is Pita Hut. My husband and I have been going there since we were in college. We went during Rufad’s reign, and then Hani’s, and now that it is pita hut, we went 3, or4 times. The second time we were in the restaurant, we were waiting at the counter to pay and there was a customer who was complaining that she was charged 2x on her credit card. The older man who owns the restaurant (he looks like he’s of Greek Descent? but I don’t know his name) was telling her that he didn’t know anything about it and he was too busy to care. My husband and I exchanged glances, but didn’t think twice. Afterall, perhaps she was just an angry customer. The second time my husband came to the restaurant he ordered Turkish coffee. He used to order this all the time when the restaurant was Rufad’s and when it was Hani’s also. He would order Turkish after Turkish, because he loves the coffee. Neither Hani, nor Rufad ever complained. But the current old man who owns it said, next time I’m going to make a bunch for you at once because it takes me forever to serve you. We thought this was rude, but we came back tonight to eat again. After tonight we will NEVER eat there again. The old man who owns the restaurant was yelling at my husband because he had to take our young son to use the restroom, and then when we exited to pay, I paid the bill, and dropped the extra money he gave me into a “tips” jar he had at the counter. He took the money and “threw” it at us and said that if that was all we could pay, he would tip the waitress. I confronted him with his behavior and told him we would not be back. He stated that he didn’t care about our money and wanted us to leave and said he always gave us exemplary service and treated us like kings. 1. If you treat someone like a king, you don’t yell at them in your restaurant. What would you think if a real King in disguise were to visit you…if you knew he or she were royalty, I doubt you would yell at them and throw their tip at them (which is voluntary) if I do say so myself. and 2. If you don’t care about the money, why did you complain, after you charged me 50$ for my meal, about the tip (once again voluntary) that I leave you? Also, when this restaurant was Hani’s and Rufad’s we only ever paid 20$ per meal for family of four. Now we pay 50$. And we were treated like God himself before, and we would sometimes tip 20$ because we knew this was a family owned restaurant and they cared about you as a customer. But now it is like we are treated as scum of the earth and overcharged. This guy is a genuine jerk, and if you go into his restaurant be prepared to be treated horribly. We will find a new Mediterranean/Mid East restaurant in Louisville to attend. I am curious if anyone else, other than us and the woman we saw has had issues with this Restaurant/Restauranteur?