Two of Athens’ favorite food places saw some changes over break.
OMG! Rotisserie
OMG! Rotisserie opened its third location, 19 S. Court St., on Monday.
The original restaurant opened at 139 Columbus Road in 2015, and the owners started a food truck in 2016. A location in Chillicothe will open in March.
Co-owner Sheldon Andrus said the Court Street location was not planned, but when he and the other co-owners learned of the vacancy, they decided it was a perfect location.
“Kind of out of nowhere, the opportunity to put a restaurant Uptown came about,” Andrus said. “It was very ambitious of us to do something off of the whim, but I think it’s cool because ... we always had in mind the idea of opening a second location. We knew exactly what we needed to do to build out a third.”
There are already chicken restaurants along Court Street, but Andrus said he thinks the competition is great to encourage growth among the businesses.
“It makes us hone our recipes and our service,” Andrus said. “OMG is unique because we don’t fry anything. Everything is stove cooked. We’re not in direct competition with any fried chicken restaurants because we have a very specific way in which we prepare our chicken.”
Andrus said below the new location there is also a full basement that is the same size as the restaurant upstairs. He said his short-term goal would be to renovate the basement to create a meeting space for students and Athens residents.
“People can rent it out and have parties and meetings,” Andrus said. “The basement will be a gathering space to lease out and use. We are hoping by the end of March we can do a second grand opening of the basement space.”
The OMG! Rotisserie food truck will still remain open, and the Court Street location’s hours will be 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday. It will have late night hours 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Kiser’s Barbeque on State
Kiser’s Barbeque, 1002 E. State St., will move the barbecue menu to Eclipse Company Store, 11309 Jackson Drive in The Plains, and a new restaurant called Rita K’s will take its place.
Sara Pugsley, manager of Kiser’s Barbeque, said Rita K’s will be under the same ownership as Kiser’s Barbeque, but Rita K’s will focus on hamburgers, hotdogs and milkshakes.
“We are going to be closed for two weeks at most to revamp the place and then just reopen as a different restaurant,” Pugsley said. “We’re pretty excited about the changes, and we hope that everyone else is and everyone is understanding and will to come try out the new products.”
