Following a month-long close for renovations over winter break, Thayer Street’s Skewers has been back in business for the past couple weeks, boasting a revamped menu replete with both Mediterranean and Mexican options.
As Skewers’ windows were covered in brown paper in January, some students speculated that the restaurant had closed for good. But Skewers’ close was always temporary, owner Bahij Boutros said.
“We closed up because we wanted to update the place,” he said. Those updates included adding more ventilation hoods as well as installing a digital menu display.
Upon reopening, Boutros also decided to add Mexican food to the menu, effectively making the menu 60 percent Mexican food and 40 percent Mediterranean food, he said.
“We added a line of Mexican food because we know there’s so much demand for it,” Boutros said. “The kabobs were profitable, but the Mexican places (on Thayer Street) were super busy, and with the bad media attention Chipotle got, we thought we could do a little business.”
Since the menu change, Boutros said, customers have been asking for more Mediterranean foods, such as kabobs and gyros. “Many people are getting confused, and people think we should expand our menu of Mediterranean food instead of adding Mexican food,” he added.
Skewers is following its customers’ advice and preparing a new menu that will be about 80 percent Mediterranean food, offering fresh choices such as different varieties of kabobs and gyros along with Lebanese-style food and more vegetarian options, Boutros said. Select Mexican menu items such as quesadillas and burritos will remain on the menu.
Boutros said consumers are the restaurant’s “biggest input, and they will tell us exactly what it is they want.”
Kevin Simmons ’16 said he’s eaten Skewers’ Mexican food as well as its previous Mediterranean menu items and that the low prices and quality of food keep him coming back.
“The pricing is more agreeable with my wallet,” Simmons said. As for the different styles of food, “I would like it if Skewers had the best of everything: pricing, Mediterranean food (and) Mexican food all in one place.”
Adriana Saavedra ’15, AmeriCorps college adviser at the Swearer Center for Public Service, agreed, adding that the customer service at Skewers is great. “They go a step beyond general customer service. They actually make sure you’re satisfied,” Saavedra said.
Skewers expects to have its new, expanded Mediterranean menu running by Monday, when it will be offering free wraps from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
