Ardana Food & Drink Given Nod By Newtown Township Planners

NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP, PA — The Newtown Township Planning Commission on Tuesday voted to recommend conditional use approval for Ardana Food & Drink.

The Mediterranean-style restaurant, owned by brothers Mike and Antoni Christou, is scheduled to open sometime in March at the former site of Solstice in the Village of Newtown Shopping Center at Eagle and Durham roads.

The Newtown location will be the second for the brothers who also own and operate Ardana’s on Easton Road at the Shops at Valley Square in Warrington. They opened their Warrington location in 2019.

Mike Christou attended the planning meeting with land development attorney Ed Murphy who briefly outlined plans for the new eatery.

“Sadly, Solstice never really got a chance. They opened on March 13, 2020 and were forced to shut down five days later (by the pandemic),” said Murphy. “They never really had a chance to get going and couldn’t make it after that. The good news for Mike is they will have to do very little to the space other than some cosmetic work inside.”

According to Christou, the space is being updated to reflect the Ardana experience. "We are changing the interior aesthetically to make it look and feel like ours,” he said.

The full service restaurant will offer interior seating for 169 with an additional 90 seats available at an outdoor patio.

The restaurant gets its name from Árdana, a small farming village in Cyprus where the owners’ grandmother was raised. Their goal, Mike told Patch, is to transport guests to the Mediterranean while showcasing the beauty of the native style of eating known as “mezze”, where the entirety of the meal is shared amongst family and friends.

The inspiration for Árdana’s cuisine comes from influences from across the region including Italian and Middle Eastern flavors.

"We don't call it a Cyprus restaurant. We don't call it a Greek restaurant. We call it Mediterranean because we pull inspiration, dishes, flavors and ideas from that whole region of the world," said Mike. "You have the fresh, light coastal flavors of Cyprus. You have pastas and pizzas from Italy. And you have the spices and flavors of the Middle East. We cover that whole area of the world."

Among the restaurant's most popular dishes are its fresh pastas, its wood-fired pizza and its Mediterranean-style dishes, including whole-char grilled Bronzino and roasted lamb chops. Some of its small plates include whipped ricotta, calamari, Mediterranean olives, spiced lamb and chicken skewers, salted roasted beets and humus.

Other menu items include pan-seared Atlantic salmon, eggplant Milanese, prime grade sirloin, vodka rigatoni, braised pork ragu and mushroom cavatelli.

During its review, the planners raised concern over parking with chairwoman Peggy Driscoll encouraging the brothers to direct their employees to park in a less crowded section of the shopping center.

“One of the problems we have there is parking,” said Driscoll. “Even with Solstice closed sometimes on the weekend it can be difficult to find parking.”

In voting to recommend approval of the conditional use, Driscoll wished the brothers a lot of luck “especially with the parking.”

The Newtown Township Board of Supervisors are scheduled to vote on the eatery’s conditional use application at its March 8 meeting.