11 Best Mediterranean Restaurant Chains in America
In the past few decades, America's desire for quick and easy meals on the go has expanded beyond simply grabbing a burger and fries. The rise of healthier fast-food restaurants like Chipotle and Panera and popular salad chains like Chop't and Sweetgreen shows that diners are always looking for something a little different.
Another option that combines convenience with nutritious, flavorful meals is dining at one of the many Mediterranean-style restaurant chains that are now attracting customers in droves. From Cava to Luna Grill, this emerging style of fast-casual dining emphasizes fresh, high-quality ingredients and allows customers to customize their dishes with various healthy options such as hummus, falafel, grilled meats, and a wide assortment of vegetables and grains.
The blend of traditional Mediterranean flavors with a modern, quick-service approach makes these spots easy and enjoyable for just about anyone. Here's a look at the best choices for an amazing Mediterranean meal in a flash right now.
Cava
Founded by friends who've known each other since elementary school, Cava opened its first location in 2010. It's now America's fastest-growing restaurant chain, according to Yelp. With over 300 locations, the increasingly popular chain serves up Mediterranean-inspired dishes like spicy lamb meatball pita wraps and Greek salad bowls in a widely accessible setting.
Garbanzo Mediterranean Fresh
With over 30 U.S. locations, this Denver-based chain prides itself on using basic, fresh-grown ingredients that are treated the same way they were thousands of years ago. The Garbanzo Mediterranean Fresh menu spans the Mediterranean diaspora, offering stuffed pitas, gyros, laffa (wraps), rice bowls, salads, and more. Pick a protein from traditional gyro meat, chicken, falafel, or steak, add veggies and garbanzo beans (of course!) and a topping such as tzatziki, Greek vinaigrette, white sauce, and more for a meal designed just for you.
Great Greek Mediterranean Grill
Another fast growing chain, Great Greek Mediterranean Grill has over 50 locations in 16 U.S. states. The restaurant offers Greek-style appetizers like grape leaves and tzatziki with pita to dip, and a wide array of salads, bowls, and gyros. For larger appetites, the souvlaki platters are the way to go. Meat like chicken, steak, and lamb is grilled on a skewer and served with pita, rice, or fries.
Halal Guys
The Halal Guys is a fast-casual restaurant franchise that began humbly as a food cart on the streets of New York City, specializing in halal cuisine. (That is, food made in accordance with Islamic dietary practices.) The brand has since grown to around 100 restaurants in the U.S. Halal Guys is best known for its gyro, falafel, and chicken platters, all topped with the chain's signature white sauce.
Luna Grill
Founded in San Diego in 2004 by a husband and wife team, Luna Grill combines the duo's Greek and Iranian family backgrounds to inspire the menu, which blends Mediterranean and Middle Eastern flavors. Its 50-plus locations offer several signature plates featuring your preferred protein, such as Garlic Bonfire Shrimp or Persian-style Koobideh Kabob, served with Basmati rice, pita bread, tzatziki, and your choice of salad, cabbage, or hummus.
Naf Naf Middle Eastern Grill
Founded in Naperville, Ill., in 2009, Naf Naf Grill has over 35 locations across the United States. The name "Naf Naf" means "fan the flame" and is intended to invite friends and family to gather and share a meal. The Middle Eastern-leaning menu features build-your-own-bowls, pita, and salads you can personalize with falafel, chicken shawarma, and toppings like sumac onions and purple cabbage.
Roti Modern Mediterranean
With over 20 locations in Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington, D.C., this Mediterranean micro chain was founded in 2017 in Chicago. Roti offers a build-your-own meal menu, with bowls, salads, and pitas ready to be filled with chicken roti, harissa chicken, and sumac skirt steak.
Taziki's Mediterranean Cafe
Over 25 years ago, this chain's founders discovered small-table Mediterranean cafés on a trip to Greece. When they returned home to Birmingham, Ala., they opened the first Taziki's Mediterranean Cafe, which now has nearly 100 locations. The menu spotlights both domestically sourced meat and produce, as well as authentic ingredients imported from Greece. Pick from a variety of gyro and salad bowls, or build your own feast from eight protein options served with pita, salad, and one side.
Hummus Republic
This fast-growing, fast-casual Mediterranean franchise serves customizable bowls, salads, and pitas, with falafel, chicken shawarma, and lemon chicken taking center stage. Hummus Republic has over 25 locations, with many on the West Coast, where diners can also find satisfying wraps and snacks like pita chips and dips.
Sticks Kebab Shop
Sticks Kebob Shop, a Mediterranean-inspired fast casual restaurant chain, was founded in Charlottesville, Va. in 2001 by three friends who had worked in fine dining, with the goal of offering healthy and affordable food with lightning speed. This tiny chain has three locations in Virginia serving the typical platter, salad, or wrap with protein options, but also offers a pick-six family meal with kebabs, salad, and more for the whole crew.
The Hummus & Pita Co.
This mini chain has locations across New York, Connecticut, and Michigan, serving a hearty menu of pitas stuffed with shawarma, Greek-style gyros, laffa filled with falafel, and more. But one unique, must-try item at The Hummus and Pita Co., is the vegan, gluten-free and dairy-free Chickpea Chillers. Made with a chickpea base, these hearty shakes in flavors like butter pecan, strawberry, and pistachio are a favorite way to cool off on a hot day.
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