For Demetrios owner Carl Vasiliou, the restaurant business is a family affair.
His family’s most recent namesake restaurant, Demetrios V, was opened by his parents Demetrios and Gloria Vasiliou, back in 2014. Its tagline was ‘where Greek food meets American food’ – a nod to the Vasiliou family’s Greek heritage.
Demetrios V operated out of Golf Manor at 2132 Losantiville Ave. in Cincinnati. In September of this year, Carl announced the original location would be permanently closing so they could open a new location inside the Covington RiverCenter. Now, their new restaurant, Demetrios, is finally open to the public after months of preparation.
“The whole thing about Demetrios is really not about me,” Vasiliou said. “It’s about them – my parents – they started this in 1962, so we keep the legacy going for them.”
Vasiliou and his family celebrated the grand opening of the restaurant on Wednesday alongside officials from the City of Covington, Corporex, Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce and Covington Business Council.
“85% of our members are small businesses – small family-owned businesses are the lifeblood of our community,” NKY Chamber of Commerce President Brent Cooper said. “We’re just thrilled that you guys are here, and your whole approach has been wonderful; the food’s great and the service is even better.”
Demetrios’ menu offers a variety of Greek-inspired comfort food, such as gyros and Cincinnati chili, in addition to American-style comfort food, like double-decker sandwiches, burgers, fries, and hot wings. For breakfast, Demetrios serves traditional “greasy-spoon” breakfast options and a variety of omelets.
Covington-based real estate developer Corporex is the owner and manager of the RiverCenter. Its lobby is a popular breakfast and lunch location for white-collar professionals working in proximity or directly out of the dual office towers. Demetrios looks to capitalize on that demographic of customers.
Corporex Senior Property Manager Peter Craig said the company had been looking to fill the space for months after Y’all Cafe, the previous tenant, closed a little over a year ago.
“This space became available about 12 months ago,” Craig said. “It was really important for the building to identify the right concept and the right operator to take this over, not only for the tenants of the building but for the surrounding community and Demetrios has been just that.”
Across the lobby from Demetrios is Butler’s Pantry – a grab-and-go that features a coffee bar and breakfast and lunch counters, which has added several high-tech food kiosks for patrons looking for convenient food options.
Butler’s Pantry now has a Mac’s Pizza Pub smart pizza vending machine. Customers can order pizza from an app on their phone or by using the touchscreen interface installed directly on the machine. Generally, the pizza takes around three minutes to cook; then it’s dispensed to the customer.
Mac’s Pizza Pub launched the smart vending machine in 2023 and has several locations throughout the Greater Cincinnati area, including Rhinegeist Brewery in Over-The-Rhine and multiple on the University of Cincinnati’s campus.
Blendz Smoothies, a contactless and autonomous robotic food kiosk, is another one of Butler’s Pantry’s newest food vending options. Blendid, the company behind the machine, brought the first kiosk to market in 2019.
Similar to the smart pizza vending machine, customers can order a smoothie directly from a touchscreen interface or through the Blendid app. However, unlike the pizza vending machine, customers can actually watch the machine’s robotic arms grab the ingredients and then blend the smoothie right in front of them.