Loyal business and a movie theater help bring a popular restaurant to Indian Land
A popular Tega Cay restaurant will add a second location -- in Indian Land.
The Greek Grill announced on its Facebook page a new location is on the way at RedStone in Indian Land. RedStone is a more than 300,000-square-foot shopping center anchored by the newly reopened Redstone 14 movie theater.
RedStone has an established lists of restaurants. Almost a dozen sites include The Office, Portofino’s, Viva Chicken and others. RedStone sits at the intersection of S.C. 160 and U.S. 521.
The original Greek Grill location is 1143 Stonecrest Boulevard, in the Stonecrest shopping center of Tega Cay. That site, anchored by a Walmart, also has become a dining hot spot. There are long-time spots like Danny’s Pizza & Pasta, a wide range of styles from barbecue to Asian food to breakfast or deli options, to newer additions like Toppers Pizza.
Greek Grill offers traditional Greek fare including gyros, souvlaki, lamb entrees and baklava. The restaurant has burgers, salads, pitas and many of the same options on its kids menu. Entrees and platters run $9-$13. Gyros, pitas and burgers are $6-$8.
Louie Pahountis is part of the family that runs the Tega Cay location, and is a partner in the new Indian Land venture. Pahountis said it’s likely a two- to three-month turnaround before the Indian Land site is ready to open.
“It’s going to definitely be a different challenge, but we’re excited about it,” he said. “It really gives us another opportunity to reach a broader audience.”
The new place is beside Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt, in a former crepe restaurant space. It’s under 2,000 square feet and will have eight to 10 tables, but has a larger patio area than its Tega Cay predecessor. There’s remodeling to be done, but Pahountis sees great potential.
Especially with the movie theater to anchor business.
“That was the main reason why we liked that shopping center,” Pahountis said. “Every shopping center needs a pull store or an anchor store to bring in that traffic. The movie theater, that’s about as good as you’d want.”
The Tega Cay restaurant, run by Louie’s father Nick Pahountis, has done well enough during the COVID-19 pandemic to expand to a second location. Great take-out business, catering and work with delivery apps were a big part of the success despite at times non-existent dine-in business.
“During COVID, there was none of that,” Louie Pahountis said. “We’re really lucky. We have great support from people who come here.”
The Greek Grill team opened a restaurant of a different name in the same Tega Cay spot in late 2016, then switched the name but kept the familiar dishes and ingredients. Pahountis said his mom still makes desserts on weekends. Traditional family recipes abound.
While he hopes to bring in more Ballantyne and Charlotte traffic with the new Indian Land spot, Pahountis said the focus remains on the food and not simply opening as many restaurants as possible.
“We want one or two rock solid locations,” he said.
This story was originally published April 28, 2021 at 1:48 PM.
