Souvla Finally Reopens Popular Greek Spots After Four Salad-Deprived Months

Big salad news: Souvla is finally reopening for takeout and delivery this weekend, to the immense relief of fans of the fast-casual Greek mini-chain. Eater readers have been anxiously awaiting this moment since the beginning of shelter in place, when all its locations went completely dark, so this is gratifying news for everyone who loves their lamb salads, chicken wraps, Greek fries with harissa dip, and Greek frozen yogurt with baklava crumbles.

“Everyone is very excited,” founder and CEO Charles Bililies tells Eater SF. “Across 115 days, not a day goes by without multiple emails, tweets, and Instagram comments …. Everyone just misses us. It’s been truly humbling.”

Souvla’s 115-day closure has been one of San Francisco’s great pandemic-era restaurant mysteries. As one of the most successful fast-casual groups in the city, the restaurant already excelled at takeout, has a delivery-only location, and even its own food truck, so it seemed ideally positioned to carry on after the shelter-in-place order dropped in mid-March.

“Honestly, it was the health and safety of all of our team, from the line level all the way on up,” Bililies says. “It was and is a serious situation we’re confronted with, and we wanted to err on the side of caution, figure out what was happening, and reopen as safely as possible.”

On Saturday, July 11, Souvla’s Hayes Valley and Marina locations will finally reopen for takeout. Delivery from its SoMa location will follow, relaunching on Monday, July 13. We’re not talking trimmed-down takeout offerings, either — it’s the full menu of everything you remember, from the fry-topped salads to the mineral-crisp wines.

Patricia Chang

Souvla’s NoPa and Mission locations will remain closed for now, and Bililies says he has no plans for outdoor dining at any of the spots at present — even if the outdoor patio at the Divis location beckoned, diners would have to walk down a narrow hallway to reach it.

Online ordering — which, at present, is required — is available on Souvla’s website and through its new app, which is available for both iPhone and Android. Diners can now schedule in advance, customize favorite orders, and save payment details at their convenience. For delivery, Souvla has been available via Caviar for more than five years, and as of Monday will also be available via Caviar parent company DoorDash.

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