Quick-service Naya opens second Long Island location | Long Island Business News

Middle Eastern fast-casual restaurant chain Naya will open a new location in Oceanside this week. 

The 2,200-square-foot eatery, located in the Oceanside Plaza shopping center at 3199 Long Beach Road, opens with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 10:15 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 25. The new Oceanside restaurant is Naya’s second on Long Island and its first non-mall restaurant, following its initial spot in the Dining District at Roosevelt Field in Garden City.  

The Naya chain, which is in the midst of an expansion here, has two more Long Island locations on tap. Next year, the company will be opening a new 2,300-square-foot restaurant in the Shops at SunVet retail complex in Holbrook and a 3,000-square-foot restaurant at 1624 Marcus Ave. in New Hyde Park, in a space formerly occupied by Dos Toros Taqueria. 

To celebrate Naya’s grand opening in Oceanside the restaurant will offer $5 bowls and rolls on Thursday, Sept. 25, when it will donate 20 percent of proceeds to Island Harvest. The eatery will host a Family Day on Saturday, Sept. 27, when kids can eat free. The event will also feature games, giveaways, face painting, tasting station, $5 bowls and rolls and more. 

Founded by Hady Kfoury as Naya Mezze & Grill in 2008, the company’s first  

restaurant was opened at 56th Street and 2nd Avenue in Manhattan. Kfoury pivoted a few years later to a fast-casual format called Naya Express which has now become the quick-service iteration called Naya. 

The company currently has 38 restaurants in the New York metropolitan area, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Connecticut, according to its website.  

Naya offers customer-designed rolls, bowls and salads with a base of rice, quinoa or greens and proteins that include chicken or beef shawarma, lamb or chicken kabobs, falafel or cauliflower. The restaurant offers unlimited toppings including hummus, baba ghanouj, cucumber yogurt, tomatoes, feta cheese, kalamata olives, tahini and much more. The menu also includes cold and hot appetizers, such as kibbe, fatayer, sambousik, and desserts, like baklava and namoura. 

John Genovese and Doug Weinstein of RIPCO Real Estate represented Naya in its Oceanside, Holbrook and New Hyde Park leases. Landlord Basser Kaufman was self-represented in the Oceanside lease transaction, Regency Centers was self-represented in the Holbrook transaction and Kite Realty was self-represented in the New Hyde Park lease.  

“We’re proud to be part of Naya’s first non-mall location,” Weinstein told LIBN about the Oceanside opening. “We have several other deals in the works, and we are looking for additional Long Island locations that could fit their requirements.”