Growing Washington chain opens new Idaho restaurant, moves headquarters to Meridian

Treasure Valley diners who crave kabobs, falafel and gyros have a modern new restaurant to try.

Zullee Mediterranean Grill opened Aug. 29 at 3243 E. Village Drive at The Village at Meridian.

Zullee is a chain — a small, regional one. The Meridian location is the only Zullee outside Washington. The other three are in Richland, Yakima and Spokane.

But Zullee is growing. Meridian is the new home of its corporate headquarters, said marketing manager Helen Sowatsky.

Founded in 2011, Zullee was known as Kabob House until summer 2021. But owner Ahmed Baqer wanted to differentiate his brand from competitors. He plans to franchise and expand to states beyond Washington and Idaho.

“Anywhere you go, there’s a Kabob House in every city,” Baqer explained in a phone interview last year. (So true. There’s an Afghan restaurant called Kabob House in Boise at 9140 Emerald St.)

On Yelp, you’ll find “absolute” fans of Zullee — reviewers who say they “absolutely loved” the Richland restaurant or enjoyed an “absolutely fantastic veggie kabob.” The Meridian location is off to a similar start: 30 Yelp reviews with an average score of 4.6 out of 5.0 — and at least a couple saying “absolutely amazing” and “absolutely delicious.”

The Meridian restaurant can seat about 40 people, Sowatsky estimated. But along with offering full-service dining, Zullee strives for streamlined, convenient takeout. There’s a pick-up window on the exterior of the building for orders made using the Zullee app; customers use a code to unlock a bin to grab their food. Customer stations inside are set up for creating fast to-go orders. If you’d rather order takeout from a server, that’s fine, too, Sowatsky said. Zullee also offers third-party delivery through its app and website, zullee.com.

So what should you try? You can play it deliciously safe with a standard dish such as Chicken Kabob ($14.79): Persian marinated chicken with basmati saffron rice, house salad with ranch dressing and grilled tomato. Hugh Crawford, general manager at The Village, recommends it highly. He’s eaten at Zullee twice and found the food “amazing.”

But Zullee’s biggest seller? That would be the Gyro Sandwich — “by far,” Sowatsky says. For $9.49, it comes with beef and lamb gyro meat, lettuce, tomato, housemade onion mix and housemade tzatziki sauce — all wrapped in a warm pita.

Zullee has plenty of other enticing options, from soups and salads to massive family dinners. And you might want to grab some Persian Hot Tea ($2.89), too. It’s brewed daily.

“Try it with our baklava,” Zullee recommends on Facebook, “you’ll thank us later.”

This story was originally published October 5, 2022 at 4:00 AM with the headline "Growing Washington chain opens new Idaho restaurant, moves headquarters to Meridian."