Crown Grill hopes diverse menu will cultivate regulars

Most restaurants focus on one particular cuisine. Yousif Alhalmy doesn’t see why.

Alhalmy worked in restaurants while studying business at Lansing Community College. Ultimately, he decided the restaurant industry was his passion. On July 17, he opened his own, Crown Grill, a fast-casual eatery on the east side of Old Town serving burgers, seafood and Middle Eastern dishes.

He said the menu is “very wide.” It includes salads, chicken wings and tenders, multiple types of fish, shrimp, falafel, burgers and fries, tacos, wraps and more. Labeled as “coming soon” for now, as the restaurant continues its “soft opening” phase, is a selection of bowls.

“Our menu is very unique,” Alhalmy said. “Most restaurants have a specific kind of cuisine, but we pretty much have all the top, big food, from fried food to grilled to burgers and wraps.”

Alhalmy, who lived in Old Town for 10 years, said he expects the diverse menu to help Crown Grill build and maintain a crowd of regulars. Unlike some of the larger business districts in the Lansing area, Old Town’s smaller population requires restaurateurs to offer a varied menu in order to keep customers visiting consistently, he said.

“We’re just trying to keep customers coming in,” he said. “If they want burgers today, we have that. If they want a wrap, we have it. A bowl? We have it.”

He said the resemblance to fast food is intentional, but there’s a key difference: Everything at Crown Grill is made to order with fresh ingredients.

“We tried to take the ideas of fast food and make them fresh,” he said. “Every order is cooked up at request. That’s what makes us different here. You can expect items similar to fast food, but with the taste of fresh ingredients.”

Because the food is made to order, menu items at Crown Grill take longer to prepare than their fast-food counterparts. Alhalmy said customers should expect a 15-to-20-minute wait, one he hopes will be well worth it. When the restaurant’s website is complete, customers will be able to order ahead of time.

Also reminiscent of a fast-food joint is the restaurant’s location, a former drive-thru that most recently housed vegan restaurant VEG-N. Alhalmy said setting up shop there was good for business and for Old Town.

“There were a couple businesses that came in here and then closed down a couple years later,” he said. “But I was willing to take the risk to bring life to this building because I really love Old Town.”

As he prepares for an eventual grand opening, Alhalmy is excited to bring his food to the area — and perhaps beyond. He already has hopes to expand to other parts of the state and thinks his formula of a varied menu, made-to-order food and affordable prices will get him there.

“That’s our goal,” Alhalmy said, “to give people affordable and good food. It’s not hard to do.”