House of Pita Returns With a Strange Choice For New Name

 

House of Pita has become the little falafel stand that could, re-opening their operation on 8th Ave. btw. 39+40th, in the space formerly occupied by Mandler’s Sausage Co.  This comes a little over a month after their 2nd location, on 46th btw. 5+6th closed after 6 months in business.  According to the owner, the 46th St. location was always only going to be a temporary location- they were just forced out a little earlier then they expected.

DSC07357The new House of Pita on 8th has the same falafel, salads and pickled veggies you loved at the original 48th St. window, but they are now serving meat dishes, most notably- chicken shawarma.  Because House of Pita was always a dairy (no meat served), and the new location will serve meat, the owner felt it would be misleading to keep the original name, so he plans to change it to… Chicken Bar.

Why does that name sound familiar???

Oh… right.  And not only does it already exist, there’s a branch five blocks away (on 8th Ave. & 45th).  Ooops!  I let the owner know, and he said he would have his lawyer look into it.  Lucky for them, they didn’t put too much effort into signage before opening.  They still have the old Mandler’s sign up.

Regardless of the name issues (which I’m guessing will sort themselves out), it’s good to have House of Pita back on the Midtown Lunch’ing landscape.  I tried the Chicken Shawarma on a pita, and it was good- but only worth the trek for H.O.P’s most insane fans.   On the other hand, it’s a great new option for all the people who already work near there.  (New York Times employees… are you paying attention?)

Chicken Bar (aka The New House of Pita), 8th Ave. btw. 39+40th, 212-391-4242

9 Comments

  • For a minute there, I thought that was an onion ring poking out of the left side/front of the sandwich…now that would have been awesome! o_O!

  • Doner/Gyro on indian Naan bread is the classic british booze soakerupperer.Many’s the time in my early 20’s I would wake on a sunday morning with lamb grease and salad all over my face.Obviously i dont do such things now, being nice and respectable.

    I sooo happy this is catching on in the colonies.

  • oh yum, onion ring sandwich… I need to figure out how to make that happen for lunch today!

  • This place’s management seems laughably inexperienced! They want you to believe that they went through the startup expense of setting up shop on 46 b/w 5th and 6th just for craps and giggles? I’m sure their departure had nothing to do with the place’s emptiness during lunch hour, competition from Kosher Deluxe, or HoP’s bizarre falafel pricing model.
    Now they’re “christening” the new digs place with the same name as a pre-existing restaurant?
    Get a clue, HoP!

  • I was tempted to stop by a few times, but I cant eat at a place that has 3 names at the same time…

  • The people at the HoP on 46th were always incredibly disorganized and slow and the food is nothing to get excited about. Avoid.

  • I went there today and there are signs on the window saying hop.

    I got the shawarma platter it was so good, and they gave me falalfel samples to try that were delicious

  • I hope it goes under. THe owner is a moron. He had a good business on 48th in that tiny space. It was always crowded….
    the workers always complained about the asshole owner.

  • I tried their falafel today and I have to say that I prefer Pick a Pita. But I will go back to try the shwarma as a final test.

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