Baba Ghanoush, Shrimp Part of New Menu at Hummus Corner

When Johnny Mattar and his wife, Carla Mattar, , Johnny Mattar said he designed the menu with little more than personal taste available as a guide.

The restaurateur based his choices on menu items and portions he found tasty and filling, and since then has taken time to seek feedback from most who dined in his restaurant at 9201 Lakeside Blvd.

Eight months later, Mattar is still learning and adjusting to what his customers want. He made changes to “20 to 25 percent” of his menu last week, the first change he’s made since opening the restaurant.

The changes, which Mattar prefers to call “upgrades,” come with modest upgrades in price, too, to account for additions like providing a larger serving of bread to go with hummus dishes. 

In most cases, the price difference is 25 cents or less, and is meant to prevent the restaurant from losing money if a dish doesn’t provide enough bread for the taste of a customer.

“I’m not making more money,” Mattar said. “I had always just given away extra bread.

“It’s to get that satisfaction,” he continued. “And make sure what they buy here is really done properly.”

The most notable difference in the menu are the addition of a new vegetarian wrap, and two new meat wraps. Most wraps are now also available as a larger entrée, and Mattar has added a shrimp scampi dish to the menu, as well.

It’s a constant process of seeking feedback, he said, to tinker and adjust the menu at a new restaurant.

Take the bread; for Mattar, the bread portion he offered until last week was enough. But, “the majority of the people want more bread.” So, he made the change.

Other customers would ask for food that might not be on the menu – baba ghanoush, for example – and Mattar would always make it, unsure of what to charge. Now, the dish is listed on the menu.

“People ask for it, I put it on the menu,” Mattar said. “The concept is still the same. I’m just giving them more options.”

Changes at the go beyond the menu selection, he said. After talking to one customer who has been coming in nearly every day, Mattar said he bought silverware, rather than relying on plastic forks and knives that were a bit flimsy, he said.

Mattar is also spreading the word that, despite not having a liquor license, the restaurant does allow customers to bring alcohol, in an attempt to drive up dinnertime business.

It’s all part of the adjustment process, he said, of starting a new restaurant.

“Every person who comes, here, I ask their opinion,” Mattar said. “We always take the feedback.”