New Years resolutions to eat healthier have never been easier thanks to Pita Jungle. The local Mediterranean restaurant has mastered “The Art of Eating Healthy®” and has been the go-to spot for nutritious and delicious cuisine in the East Valley for more than two decades.
With the mission of helping guests sustain a healthy and balanced lifestyle, the restaurant serves up a diverse menu of tasty, fresh, wholesome foods, including a variety of vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options. Pita Jungle’s menu is influenced by tastes from around the globe with the benefits of the Mediterranean diet always apparent through the use of healthy lean proteins, veggies, legumes, nuts, grains and fruit. From tapas and hearty salads, to fresh pitas and wood-fired pizzas, Pita Jungle truly offers something for everyone.
Pita Jungle was founded in 1994 by Bassel Osmani, Nelly Kohsok and Fouad Khodr, three students (at the time) attending Arizona State University. Upon graduating college, they all recognized a need for more healthy restaurants around the University’s Tempe campus, and set out to make a difference by leveraging their own personal experiences gained by working in the local restaurant industry. It was then that the vision for Pita Jungle was born.
“Pita Jungle was founded on the principle of serving the best quality food at a reasonable price with exceptional customer service,” says Osmani. “Instead of focusing on profit right away, we placed bringing people through the doors as our top priority. Another key component and differentiating factor for us was the vegan and vegetarian menu items. At the time when we started, there was only one nearby market offering these kinds of options, and our team wanted to make healthy, great-tasting food readily available for those leading both lifestyles.”
Last year, Pita Jungle celebrated 25 years in business with 23 locations throughout Arizona.
While the delicious menu remains the same at every location, each Pita Jungle restaurant has a unique mood and personality; it is designed to have a character that is reflective of the times and the locality. From the unique décor and original artwork by local artists, to the custom, handpicked music playlist and creative non-formulaic staff, there are no cookie-cutter locations at Pita Jungle.
Every few months, the restaurant serves up a Seasonal Kitchen Crafts menu featuring a handful of new dishes that satisfy every palate. The current seasonal menu is a nostalgic nod to some of the restaurant’s greatest culinary hits. The restaurant brought back fan favorite dishes over the last few decades but this time it’s with a rebirth of deliciousness that combines the balance of a wonderful Mediterranean diet with global cuisine and dietary trends of keto, paleo, and gluten-free. Some of the popular dishes include the Wood-Fired Medchilada, Bone Broth Ramen with Shirataki Noodles and the Chicken Avocado Pita Tostada with Cauliflower Hummus. Enjoy them while you can. A new seasonal menu is set to launch this spring.
Pita Jungle recently rolled out a separate Vegan menu and Gluten-Free menu to make it easier for guests who have specific dietary needs. However, almost every dish on the menu can be customized to fit any diet.
Children also love Pita Jungle. The restaurant offers children 12 years old and younger to create their own four-course meal with tons of unique options. Each category contains fruits, protein, grains and carbs, and vegetables. Kids pick one item from each category creating their very own lunch or dinner, which includes a kid’s size drink. The endless menu combinations make it fun for kids to get their own one-of-a-kind meal that is both healthy and delicious. They also get a beautifully illustrated place mat which features the Pita Jungle menu and fun activities such as word puzzles, word scrambles, maze masters, tic tac toe, color me and more.
One of the best kept secrets about Pita Jungle is their happy hour. The restaurant recently revamped their happy hour with more items and offerings as low as $2. They also offer half off all bottles of wine on Wine Wednesdays.
