Detroit’s 2025 Best New Restaurants & Dining Experiences
We count down the Detroit Free Press/Metro Detroit Chevy Dealers Top 10 New Restaurants and Dining Experiences for 2025.
Fast-casual Mediterranean Cava is expected to open Sept. 26 in downtown Detroit.Cava features a menu of customizable options for grain and salad bowl and pita sandwiches plus a sides, dips and other options.
On the heels of its first metro Detroit opening, Mediterranean fast-casual restaurant Cava is soon opening its downtown Detroit location.
The concept, known for its health-forward menu of customizable bowls options, pita wraps and more, announced on Friday that Sept. 26 is the opening day for its second metro Detroit Cava restaurant, at 636 Woodward Ave.
Steps from Campus Martius between Shake Shack and Chipotle Mexican Grill, the nearly 3,000-square-foot restaurant features a dining room and offers digital ordering and delivery.
According to a news release, the downtown Detroit location will staff 25-40 people.
Cava boasts that its overall customizable menu has “over 17 billion combinations.” Along with customizable bowls, Cava’s menu is highlighted by pitas, side of dips and specialty hummus.
The fast-growing chain’s menu has more than 35 ingredients that you can transform into combinations across its menu to create grain and salad bowls and pita sandwiches. Cava also has a menu of house dressings, dips and juices.
With Cava’s customizable bowls, you can choose from greens like arugula, spinach and super greens, or grains like saffron basmati rice paired with proteins, a wide variety of vegetables, sauces and dressings. Proteins to choose from include chicken, steak, falafel and its spicy lamb meatballs.
Ike Grigoropoulos, Dimitri Moshovitis and Ted Xenohristos — sons of first-generation Greek immigrants — founded Cava. The trio, along with co-founder Brett Schulman, opened Cava in 2010 with a mission to “share the food they loved in an accessible fast-casual format,” Cava’s website says.
Cava’s menu pays homage to Mediterranean fare and traditions such as big Sunday lunches that the friends remember from childhood, including “slow-roasted lamb, lemony potatoes, lots of olives and bowls of tzatziki.”
Aside from its grain and salad bowls, Cava’s menu has a selection of pitas, from steak and feta to spicy chicken and build-your-own options.
A Cava signature item is its crazy feta dip which includes whipped feta mixed with jalapeño, onions and olive oil. Also on the menu are sides of pita, dips and spreads, like tzatziki and red pepper hummus. More recently, Cava introduced a limited-time offering of Chicken shawarma as its newest protein to its restaurants nationwide.
Cava’s first metro Detroit location opened in Canton in late July.
“We were delighted by the way the Canton community embraced our first Michigan restaurant this summer,” Jeff Gaul, Chief Development Officer of Cava, said in a news release. “As we grow across the Midwest, we’re excited to welcome Detroit to our table to experience the bold flavors of our high-quality meals and Mediterranean hospitality while living out our mission to bring heart, health, and humanity to food.”
Both new metro Detroit openings are part of Cava’s plans to build its Midwest footprint and overall target of at least 1,000 restaurants by 2032 across the country. More Michigan locations are planned, though no details were provided. The metro Detroit Cava openings bring the chain’s reach to 28 states and the District of Columbia.
Contact Detroit Free Press food and restaurant writer Susan Selasky and send food and restaurant news and tips to: sselasky@freepress.com. Follow @SusanMariecooks on Twitter.
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