Olympik Grand Re-Opening Party Saturday Night

Olympik Restaurant and Bakery will officially celebrate its move into a new location Saturday night with a grand opening sampler buffet and live music.

Olympik became a West Ashley institution during the more than two decades it spent near the corner of Savannah Highway and Dupont Road, and co-owner Charmaine Naderi said the move hasn't hurt business at all.

"During the last week we were at the old place we had people coming in every day asking when we were going to open the new restaurant," Naderi said. "Business has been great, we've even had to hire a new part-time chef to keep up."

The restaurant sent invitations for the grand re-opening party to customers who had signed up for an email list for news on the move, but the celebration is open to everyone, Naderi said.

"The buffet will be kind of a sampler plate of some of our most popular items," she said. "So if someone wonders 'What does that chicken gyro taste like? How is the chicken kabab?' they can try a little bit of a lot of different things."

Naderi said she and her husband Ali spent all day Thursday preparing for the party.

"We've been peeling potatoes for 24 hours," she said. "Yesterday was Ali's birthday, but no birthday for Ali, he was slicing gyro meat and peeling potatoes all day."

The buffet and a soft drink are free, and Olympik will also have a cash bar for beer and wine.

The celebration will run 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. Saturday. Local musician Tom Noren will be playing guitar live during the evening, and Naderi said she plans to break out her cello and join him for a few duets at the end of the night.

"One of our customers has offered to bring in his accordion too, so depending on how the beer and wine sales go we may ask him to join us," Naderi said.

Olympik will open as usual at 11 a.m. Saturday and will serve the regular Greek/Medditeraenean menu for lunch and until the party starts at 6:30.