Greek tavern to open soon in west Macon offers ‘authentic gyro on a spit’

A Greek tavern offering freshly-made pizza, calzones, gyros, sandwiches, wings and salads is expected to open soon in west Macon.

Graffiti’s Pizza - A Greek Taverna is located at 5577 Thomaston Road, No. 500, in the Tobesofkee Crossing shopping center anchored by a Publix.

“We’re pretty much a mom and pop shop,” said Kelcie Lamb, the restaurant’s general manager.

“Our most popular item is our gyro wrap — lamb and beef. We make our own Tzatziki sauce.”

The restaurant boasts “authentic gyro on a spit.”

“A lot people who transplant down to the South always ask for that,” said co-owner, Nicole Hinkle of McDonough. “A lot of Northerners really like the original gyro meat on a spit.”

Their best selling pizza is the Olympia which is similar to a supreme pizza but without the black olives, Lamb said, and includes toppings of hamburger, pepperoni, sausage, onion, mushroom and green peppers.

The Titan pizza with its all meat toppings is Lamb’s favorite.

“We have some calzones that are pretty great as well,” she said. “They’re pretty big.

“They’re like a medium pizza folded in half and every pizza that you get, each bite is filled with a topping, so you don’t have to worry about missing our flavor in any of it.”

Specialty pizzas range in price from $14.95 for a small and up to $23.95 for a large.

The restaurant also offers vegan options and serves beer and wine.

‘Our own business’

The Macon location will be the second for Nicole Hinkle and her husband, Gene.

“We retired together and started this,” she said.

Nicole, 48, worked for Publix for 31 years, starting in the customer service department and working her way up to store manager.

Gene, 54, was with Publix for 18 years and next worked for a trucking company for 20 years in management and as a driver.

“We just decided that we’d want to have our own business,” Nicole Hinkle said. “So, I thought, pizza, which is low maintenance for restaurants, and started looking around.”

They purchased the original Graffiti’s Pizza - A Greek Taverna in McDonough in March 2019, having left their jobs to become entrepreneurs in February 2019. The eatery had been in operation for about four years before they took ownership.

“Because we live in Henry County, I wanted to have the first restaurant pretty close to our house and local and then we started branching out after we purchased it,” Hinkle said. “We started looking for other sites to go in. So, we’re super excited.”

They’re also planning another location in McDonough.

Their daughter, Brittnay Fernander, the oldest of their two children, is a part of the family business, handling administration and human resources.

“We really portray a family fun environment,” Nicole Hinkle said. “We do a lot of parties for kids and adults at our other restaurant.”

‘Comfy’

Macon graffiti artist Akieu Middleton was hired to add graffiti to the walls of the restaurant.

The other side of the wall features a chalkboard wall “for everybody to write their own graffiti,” Hinkle said

“If you look on our Facebook page for the one in McDonough, you can kind of see what the environment looks like …Customers bring in different stickers from where they traveled. That’s another thing, being close to the interstate like we are, we do get a lot of travelers .. and people bring in things and we hang them on the walls ...

“So, just a comfy environment.”

Not one table in the Macon restaurant is the same.

“We actually ... sanded them and stained them ourselves,” Hinkle said.

Hinkle plans to add an outside patio, possibly in time for summer, that will be dog friendly. The restaurant is located less than a mile from Lake Tobesofkee.

“It’s nice — especially when you’re traveling with animals. Plus, we’re big dog people anyway. You have to have a place for your pups,” she said.

Hinkle hopes to open the restaurant this week.

“We’ve ordered a sign that says ‘now open’ to hang up as soon as we open the doors,” Hinkle said. “We’re just really excited to be here and meet the community.”

Operating hours: 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

This story was originally published February 12, 2021 at 5:00 AM.