Princess Market and Deli, the Mesa grocery store and restaurant founded by the Alsadi family in 2002, is celebrating more than 20 years in business by launching its next chapter.
Brother and sister Noor and Deena Alsadi, who took over Princess Market about nine years ago, are plotting a new course and focusing on honoring the legacy of their father, Abdullatif Alsadi.
“This is our 20th year. My father, God rest his soul, this is his legacy,” Noor says, looking around the flagship Princess Market in Mesa, off Broadway Road and Loop 101.
“To mark our anniversary we’re going to launch Princess Pita,” he says.
Princess Pita officially opened on Thursday, April 13 at Priest Drive and Washington Street in Tempe. The fast-casual Mediterranean restaurant features the same staples on the menu at Princess Market, including hummus that the New Times called “fresh, light as air," and "easily our favorite in town” when declaring Princess Market its Best Mediterranean Restaurant.
The menu also includes other customer favorites, including lamb shank, shawarma, and baklava, which the Alsadis’ mother, Sana Shalabi, makes in-house daily.
"We are starting this new chain with hopes to adapt to the modern world from the outside, but continue to serve the same exact ingredients from the inside," Deena says.
One difference between the new restaurant and Princess Market is that Princess Pita will not have a grocery store.
The original market features a selection of pantry items and refrigerated foods. Guests walk into the market, which has a few aisles of international foods including spices, grains, and legumes, along with packaged sweets, dates, and beverages. Cold cases house cheeses, halal meats, and prepared foods. On the other side of a grocery aisle is seating for those dining in, as well as an outdoor patio.
Brother and sister Noor and Deena Alsadi, who took over Princess Market about nine years ago, are plotting a new course and focusing on honoring the legacy of their father, Abdullatif Alsadi.
“This is our 20th year. My father, God rest his soul, this is his legacy,” Noor says, looking around the flagship Princess Market in Mesa, off Broadway Road and Loop 101.
“To mark our anniversary we’re going to launch Princess Pita,” he says.
Princess Pita officially opened on Thursday, April 13 at Priest Drive and Washington Street in Tempe. The fast-casual Mediterranean restaurant features the same staples on the menu at Princess Market, including hummus that the New Times called “fresh, light as air," and "easily our favorite in town” when declaring Princess Market its Best Mediterranean Restaurant.
The owners of Princess Market and Deli in Mesa have opened Princess Pita, which will include the same Meditteranean menu items, including shawarma.
Princess Pita
"We are starting this new chain with hopes to adapt to the modern world from the outside, but continue to serve the same exact ingredients from the inside," Deena says.
One difference between the new restaurant and Princess Market is that Princess Pita will not have a grocery store.
A shopper peruses the aisles of Princess Market while she waits for her take-out order.
Evie Carpenter
The market is something that Noor says will never leave the Mesa location, even as they focus on the dining element that has built a broader following.
Reflecting on the past 20 years of Princess Market, Deena recalls coming in after school and then after classes at nearby Arizona State University, an experience shared between herself and her other four siblings.
"My dad would be proud to see us expanding for the first time," she says.
Customers have asked the family for years to consider expanding to other locations in the Valley, Noor says. With the opening of this second restaurant, the Alsadi siblings are just getting started.
“We want to have at least five locations throughout the Valley,” Noor says. “That’s the plan in the next two to three years.”
Princess Pita
1158 West Washington Street, #105, Tempe623-286-9860
princesspitas.com
