A new Myrtle Beach restaurant is serving up Eastern European flavors. Here’s where it’s at

A mix of Ukrainian roots and shawarma is at the heart of one of the Grand Strand’s newest restaurants.

Atmosphera Bistro opened in March and has been serving customers gyro sandwiches, and bowls, shawarma raps, crepes, and cabbage rolls. The restaurant also serves pasta made from scratch every day, and newcomers can get gyros and shawarma with beef, chicken or veggies, and hot plates with Bavarian sausage and lamb.

What makes the restaurant stand out is its owners.

Diana and Kostiantyn Kulikovskya are part owners of Atmosphera, and the pair are originally from Nikolaev, Ukraine. Also known as Mykolaiv, the city is just over an hour from Kherson, Ukraine, which has been beset by heavy fighting during the ongoing Ukrainian and Russian war.

The Kulikovskyas own a restaurant and water cleaning business in Ukraine and had already obtained their visas and moved to America before the war started in 2022. Diana said she and her family had returned to the country for a time and left just a couple of weeks before the war started.

Kulikovskya added that she still has some relatives living in the country, and that the family had to close their Ukrainian businesses for half a year but have since reopened.

Atmosphera is located at 3620 Walton Drive Unit C-1. The restaurant is open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.