the gyro they need
Houston's favorite casual Greek restaurant heads to The Woodlands for fourth location
A beloved Houston restaurant is bringing its gyros and spanakopitas to The Woodlands. Niko Niko’s will open its fourth Houston-area location at the former Luby’s at 922 Lake Front Cir.
Owner Dimitri Fetokakis first shared the news via social media. He tells CultureMap that two of his cousins purchased the property to help him grow Niko Niko’s. Fetokakis estimates the new restaurant will open in 10 to 12 months, putting it on track for fall 2023.
“I trust them. They’re good people,” Fetokakis says about his new business partners. “They’re not in it for the money. They’re in it to help people.”
Adding a fourth location allows Fetokakis to provide some of his long time employees with advancement opportunities. He wants to reward them for the years — or even decades — helping Niko Niko’s grow.
“We have such good people who have been with us for a long time,” he says. “We’ll pull some from each location to make it happen.”
Open since 1977, diners can expect the menu will be mostly similar to both the Montrose and Memorial-area locations. That means all of the Niko Niko’s favorites will be present: gyros, kebabs, chicken avgolemono soup, honey balls, and dozens of other items. Fetokakis says he’s planning to add a second rotisserie that will allow him to serve lamb as well as the Memorial location’s weekend roast pork special. He has a couple other design ideas in mind as well.
“We might do a little but more rotisserie, more action stations,” he says. “Right now the honey balls are kind of hidden, the gyro machine is hidden. If we lay it out right, we’ll have more visibility.”
Also new at the Woodlands location will be a drive-thru window. Customers will be able to pick up to-go orders from it instead of parking and coming inside. He’s also planning a more limited drive-thru menu of dishes that can be executed quickly to satisfy more spontaneous cravings.
“That’s the future,” Fetokakis says. “I do it at my own restaurants. I get curbside.”
As for the future of Niko Niko’s, Fetokakis acknowledges he and his cousins have discussed bringing the restaurant to other parts of Houston and Texas. How quickly they grow remains to be seen.
“We’re going to see what happens. We’ll do one and see if we like each other and go from there,” he says.
“I’m 50 years old. I don’t know how much longer I got. Thankfully, I’ve got good people around me where I don’t have to work like I used to behind the counter 15, 18 hours a day.”
