The new restaurant will seat 160 to 180 and will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week, Kilic said. The restaurant owner said he intends to offer a buffet of Greek foods, with items such as shawarma, along with a salad bar. He has applied for a license to serve beer and wine.
The Ponderosa steakhouse had operated at the site at Woodman Drive and Airway Road for 40 years, but it shut down abruptly in April after Ponderosa officials and the restaurant’s landlord “couldn’t come to the right terms on a lease,” a Ponderosa spokeswoman said at the time. Riverside City Manager Bryan Chodkowski at the time called the closing “a shame,” but added that city officials would “look at this as an opportunity.”
Kilic and his family operate Starlite Diner & Restaurant at 2627 S. Smithville Road, and previously operated the Starlite Diner at 4090 Wilmington Pike in Kettering, until closing it in January 2013 because of the high costs of rent and utilities, a family member said. Kilic family members said at that time they would explore the possibility of opening a second location.
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