Grill Santa Rosa closed at the downtown Santa Rosa mall in February after its lease ended early.
Two months after Grill Santa Rosa was asked to leave Santa Rosa Plaza, the Mediterranean restaurant has reopened at the Brickyard Center down the block.
Located at 458 B Street, the revived restaurant is also operating under a new name: Kalimera Bar & Grill. Despite the new name and new location, the Mediterranean menu has not changed, although it does not yet have a liquor license.
Chef and owner Ilyas Kara said the new name means “good morning” or “welcome” in Greek. He said for the past two months, he and his staff have been moving out of the mall and into their new place of business.
Previously a Peruvian restaurant, it was repainted white and blue to match the colors of the Greek flag. The signature glass chandeliers were brought over from the old place to add to the natural light filtering in from windows looking out on the corner of B and 7th streets.
“Little by little, we did this. Most of the time, I was trying to stay longer, like at 5 a.m. trying to do it by myself most of the stuff here,” Kara said.
Kara said a customer recommended the location after it was reported in January that Kara’s lease for Grill Santa Rosa had been terminated and a Mexican restaurant from the Central Valley, Ah Huevo!, was moving in.
“It was so hard. I don’t know how to explain it, you know, once you’re financially struggling and you have all those things happening but you don’t want to lose your business and you want to continue what you have,” Kara said.
“Everyone was sad about it because they didn’t know if I was able to open another place,” Kara said.
Following the closure, many community members looked to social media to find ways to support for Kara, including the customer who recommended the new location. Kara said he was lucky to have the landlord lease him the space and to have his family help support him over the past two months.
The new spot is about 5,400 square feet with a private dining area that can be used for events such as weddings and parties. The restaurant can accommodate twice as many customers as the last one, with seating for about 120 people.
Despite the last few months, Kara said he is moving forward to focus on better service at his new place.
Once he obtains his liquor license, Kara said he hopes to host live music events at night, and provide catering. For now, he’s is focused on spreading the word that he’s open for business.
“I’ve been struggling so much and that feeling is hard to explain,” Kara said. “But I think I will feel better once business begins to pick up.”
You can reach Staff Writer Melanie Nguyen at 707-521-5457 or melanie.nguyen@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @mellybelly119