San Bruno's Mazra set to open new location in Redwood City

The original San Bruno Mazra, which means farm, will be temporarily closed for construction after the Redwood City restaurant opens to extend the patio area and bring the charcoal grill inside so patrons can see the cooking process. 

The family-owned business first opened its doors in March 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The San Bruno restaurant was originally Green Valley Market — a deli and grocery market owned by Thouqan Makableh. When his sons, Jordan and Saif Makableh, proposed the idea of turning the retail location into a restaurant, he was open-minded. 

“Saif and Jordan, they started thinking to do a food business. [They don’t] have a very much — any — background in food. And they start to say they plan to do something different from others,” Thouqan Makableh said. 

The brothers had a passion for food and the idea for a restaurant that brought authentic Middle Eastern and Mediterranean flavors to their local community, complete with a casual atmosphere and high quality from produce to packaging. 

“We pitched it to my dad and he immediately said ‘hell yeah,’” Saif Makableh said. “We thought he’d immediately brush us off, but just took that leap and from that day, supported us entirely.” 

The restaurant prides itself on using entirely fresh ingredients, including meat and salmon, for a variety of kebab and shawarma plates cooked with no oil on an outdoor charcoal grill. Side dishes and sauces like tzatziki, hummus, Arabic and tabbouleh salad, baklava and dolma are also made fresh. 

“Good, clean, simple,” Thouqan Makableh said. “Here, we do it from zero.” 

The family is Jordanian, and Thouqan Makableh emphasized that the inspiration behind the cuisine comes from all over the Levant region. 

Nearly three years after its original opening, Mazra was rated at number 23 on Yelp’s top 100 places to eat in the United States, the first-ranking restaurant in the Bay Area. The April 2 opening of the second location is highly anticipated, Jordan Makableh said, with a dream to continue creating new locations that maintain the quality and atmosphere. 

“The future of Mazra … my brother and I will, in an ideal world, be expanding to 100 Mazras,” Jordan Makableh said. “But never expand to a point where it feels like the food quality went down.” 

The new Redwood City location at 221 Broadway will keep a majority of the original San Bruno location menu while expanding its cafe and dessert offerings, complete with a La Marzocco coffee-making machine for high-end espresso. 

“One of the things my brother and I are super excited about is classic coffee, habibi-fying them, making them a little more Middle Eastern in whatever way that is,” Jordan Makableh said. 

The brothers hope to keep the Redwood City Mazra open later on weekends with coffee, tea and dessert options, adding variety to the city’s nightlife and even offering live music and belly dancing shows.  

“In the Middle East, a huge part of our culture is sitting down and having a glass of tea and coffee with friends and family, no matter the time of day,” Jordan Makableh said. “We are definitely excited to add that vibe.” 

The restaurant will also feature an indoor charcoal grill, a large outdoor patio and 20-foot skylights to give the space a sense of light. 

Saif Makableh credits the restaurant’s success both to the loyalty and support of San Bruno customers as well as Mazra’s own commitment to customer service. Although his family has lived in the community for some time, residents supported the business when it opened during the pandemic without knowing much about it, he said. 

“They didn’t know that Mazra was us, they didn’t know us, they didn’t know Green Valley [Market] and they still came to support. I always found it unbelievable,” he said. “In San Bruno, people made it a point to at least dine out 2-3 times a week to keep small businesses going.” 

Although the business couldn’t provide a full customer service experience to patrons at first while following social distancing guidelines, Mazra developed into and remains characterized by a commitment to a welcoming and responsive environment. 

“I really think customer service trumps food in terms of success,” Saif Makableh said. “If somebody gives you bad service and then you have to eat their burger, it just isn’t going to taste as good.” 

The brothers attribute their own passion for food and the restaurant industry — at least in part, Saif Makableh also credits time spent in Australia with Lebanese cuisine — to their upbringing and their father’s grocery store and deli. 

“We have a grocery store. It was very normal for someone to call the last shift and it would be known, this is what we’re making tonight, bring in these groceries. I practically never ate out,” he said. “My dad and mom had an obsession with cooking things that were never available here.” 

Jordan Makableh added that food can be an expression of love, respect and greeting. 

“Food is definitely a huge part of our lives, our culture,” he said. “When someone walks into your household offering something to fill up your stomachs is the biggest sign of respect, of honor, and a way you can display your skill set as well.” 

The San Bruno Mazra restaurant is located at 504 San Bruno Ave. West and is open Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. For more information, eatmazra.com has a full menu and online contact form.