Fayetteville food news: These restaurants opened and closed in March

Spring is here, and the Fayetteville food scene is heating up with new restaurants serving international flavors and the arrival of a much-anticipated sister chain to Texas Roadhouse.

The latest comings and goings include: a Yadkin Road coffee shop that closed; a new Ethiopian restaurant off Cliffdale Road; the relocation of a longstanding Mexican restaurant; the opening of a chain restaurant on “Restaurant Row”; a new coffee chain planning two locations in the city; and a new ramen bar in West Fayetteville.

Here’s a look at the Fayetteville food news you may have missed.

Closed: Beans and Things Coffee

Beans and Things Coffee at 5554 Yadkin Road closed its doors Sunday after a nearly six-year run. The closure was announced in a March 17 post to the shop’s Facebook page.

“Having to let go of this place almost doesn’t feel real,” the post reads in part. “Opening this place was a dream that was built with our family bond and this bond eventually extended out to our customers.”

Open: Axum Ethiopian Restaurant

Axum Ethiopian Restaurant opened March 16 at 5945 Cliffdale Road, Suite 1113, in Cliffdale Square, a shopping plaza one local restauranteur described as a “little international food court.” Axum bills itself as the first Ethiopian restaurant in the city.

The new restaurant took the space that used to house the Puerto Rican restaurant Desde Mi Balcon, which is now on Bragg Boulevard in the Midway Center shopping plaza.

Related: Fayetteville plaza once dominated by strip clubs is home to restaurants loved by locals

Axum’s menu offers specialties like doro wat, which is slow-cooked chicken leg with garlic, ginger, boiled egg and cheese; lamb or beef tibs, in which the meat is sauteed with onions, garlic, rosemary and spices; and vegetarian options like misir, made of stewed red lentils, and tikil gomen, which is steamed cabbage with potatoes and carrots. There's a kids menu, soft drinks, espresso, tea and desserts like chocolate and lemon cake.

Business hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday.

On its way: Mi Casita Mexican Restaurant

After a 34-year run in its first location, Fayetteville-based Mexican chain Mi Casita plans to move to a new building under construction next door to the Tallywood Shopping Center.

The restaurant’s 20-year lease at the shopping center is up in October, the owner’s son Juan Macias said earlier this month, and the family hopes to open the new location at 3140 Raeford Road by the year's end.

Previously: Longtime Fayetteville Mexican chain to close original restaurant, open a new one next door

Open: Jaggers

Jaggers, a sister chain to casual steakhouse Texas Roadhouse, opened March 13 at 515 N. McPherson Church Road. The location along Fayetteville’s “Restaurant Row” once housed a Chi Chi's Mexican restaurant, then Super King Buffet Chinese.

The new restaurant has a two-lane drive-thru, counter service and a dining room that seats up to 100. Chicken sandwiches and tenders, burgers, sandwiches, salads, shakes, cookies and brownies are sold.

Business hours are 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday.

Previously: Jaggers opens today. What to know about the newest chain on Fayetteville’s ‘Restaurant Row’

On its way: Clutch Coffee Bar

Morrisville-founded Clutch Coffee Bar is bringing its caffeinated drinks to Fayetteville’s Ramsey Street corridor and eyeing a downtown location.

Building permits were granted in January for a drive-thru-only Clutch Coffee Bar at 3619 Ramsey St. Construction of the 850-square-foot freestanding building follows the demolition of the Laser Clean car wash previously on the half-acre property next to KFC and across from Rainbow Restaurant.

The city reviewed plans last month for a second location at 117 Grove St. Plans show an 835-square-foot freestanding building between Biscuitville and CVS Pharmacy, about four miles south of the Ramsey Street location in progress and a block from a proposed Starbucks.

Clutch serves lattes, mochas, and “amped” drinks made with two extra shots of espresso — any of which can be ordered hot, iced or frozen and made with oat, almond or coconut milk. There’s also cold brew coffee, energy drinks and tea.

Clutch Coffee did not immediately respond to a request for comment last week.

NOTE

Related: NC-founded coffee chain comes to Ramsey Street, plans another Fayetteville location

Open: Gohan Ramen Bar

Gohan Ramen Bar opened in late February at 7835 Good Middling Drive, Suite 128. A ramen-focused spin-off of Gohan Bistro on Reilly Road, the new restaurant is in the same shopping plaza as Fit 4 Life and El Cazador Mexican Restaurant, between IHop and Westin Center.

Business hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Food, dining and culture reporter Taylor Shook can be reached at tshook@gannett.com or on Facebook. Want weekly food news delivered to your inbox? Sign up for the Fayetteville Foodies newsletter. 

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Restaurant openings and closings in Fayetteville, NC, in March 2024