Hope Mills Middle Eastern restaurant closes months after its Fayetteville location

Taylor Shook, Fayetteville Observer
·1 min read

A Yemeni and Lebanese restaurant in Hope Mills appears to have closed for good.

Shish House at 3041 N. Main St. was locked and empty during its usual business hours earlier this month. It wasn’t immediately known what day was its last in business.

The restaurant opened on Oct. 3 last year on the bottom floor below the former Aqua Night Club.

Dishes from across the Middle East were served, but the menu had a focus on Yemeni and Lebanese cuisine. Traditional Yemeni stews such as saltah and fahsah joined chargrilled skewers of lamb, beef, chicken and seafood.

Shish House at 3041 Main St. in Hope Mills appeared to be permanently closed on Sept. 6, 2023.
Shish House at 3041 Main St. in Hope Mills appeared to be permanently closed on Sept. 6, 2023.

Pita bread was baked in open, gas-fired ovens and chicken was slow-roasted on a rotisserie. All the meats were certified halal.

A juice bar in the restaurant served freshly made fruit and vegetable juices and smoothies.

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Owners Sal Abulebdeh and Adeb Obaid came to Cumberland County from Michigan, where they had run several restaurants in the Detroit area.

Abulebdeh told The Observer in February 2022 that he wanted Shish House to be a national chain. His vision was for the brand to be as ubiquitous as Taco Bell or Olive Garden, he said.

Shish House's closing, however, comes not long after the former Shish House Express at 6270 Yadkin Road in Fayetteville closed on April 3, according to Cumberland County Department of Health Records. The restaurant opened on Sept. 26 last year.

Shish House Express at 6270 Yadkin Road in Fayetteville appeared to be permanently closed, and the building in disrepair, on Sept. 6, 2023.
Shish House Express at 6270 Yadkin Road in Fayetteville appeared to be permanently closed, and the building in disrepair, on Sept. 6, 2023.

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A Greensboro Shish House opened in July 2022, and appears to still be in operation.

Phone lines at Hope Mills and Fayetteville Shish House locations were disconnected and management did not respond to emails and Facebook messages earlier this month.

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

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Shish House locations in Hope Mills and Fayetteville close for good