Naf Naf Middle Eastern Grill has officially landed on Public Square, sliding into the former Taco Bell Cantina space and giving downtown Cleveland another fast-casual option right off Euclid Avenue. The chain is serving customizable Middle Eastern plates, from stuffed pitas to rice bowls and meat-and-rice trays, with operators Dhruv, Pratik and Viral Patel steering the new spot and clearly eyeing the city-center lunch rush.
According to Cleveland Scene, the restaurant opened this week at 184 Euclid Avenue, taking over a 3,100-square-foot storefront that previously housed Taco Bell Cantina. The outlet notes that the Patels brought the brand into Cleveland as part of a broader regional expansion, adding one more quick-stop lunch choice to the cluster of food options ringing Public Square.
What To Order
Naf Naf builds its menu around a mix-and-match setup and what it bills as bold but accessible flavors, according to Naf Naf's website. Chef Sahar Sander launched the concept in 2009 with a first location in Naperville, Illinois, and it has since grown to more than 40 restaurants across several states. The format leans on familiar fast-casual mechanics, where you assemble a bowl or stuffed pita at the counter, paired with Middle Eastern spice blends and sauces.
Why Here
The operators told local media they zeroed in on the Public Square storefront thanks in part to downtown's growing daytime population and the nearby Sherwin-Williams corporate tower, Cleveland Magazine reports. The publication also notes that recent arrivals such as Shah's Halal and Ebreeq Coffee are helping create a compact pocket of Middle Eastern dining near Euclid Avenue. For the Patels, the mix of new office tenants and steady sidewalk traffic made the address an attractive way to break into the downtown market.
Practical Details
According to Naf Naf's website, the downtown location lists a phone number of 440-212-5535 and hours that run roughly from 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. The setup is geared toward walk-in customers, pickup orders and delivery through third-party apps, which tracks with the brand's standard service model. With offices packed around Public Square, the midday window on weekdays is likely to be the busiest stretch.
What This Means
Taking over the ex-Taco Bell space highlights a slow but steady trend of downtown storefronts being refilled by national and regional chains rather than sitting empty. Leasing materials and property listings from Bedrock Detroit for the May building, where the Euclid Avenue space is located, now list Naf Naf among the current or incoming tenants, a detail brokers point to as a vote of confidence in the center-city market. For downtown office workers and residents, it adds one more quick, flavor-forward lunch option that falls somewhere between the biggest chains and the independent spots that have long anchored the neighborhood.
