Petra Mediterranean Restaurant is famous for its mouthwatering hummus and homemade falafel, among many other dishes.
Moin Alutaibi grew up in Zarqa, Jordan and immigrated to Tampa in 2001. Alutaibi started his food business, Petra Mediterranean Restaurant, in 2014. He launched his restaurant with the goal of highlighting the culture, cuisine and traditions of Jordan. In the beginning, Alutaibi mainly focused on serving basic Mediterranean dishes; however, he was later able to expand his restaurant to offer a variety of other cuisines such as Lebanese, Syrian and Greek.
Petra Mediterranean Restaurant is located in downtown Tampa on West Kennedy Boulevard. The restaurant offers a wide variety of food such as foule, labaneh, shakshoka, kalaya, shawarma and kebab. There are special dishes on Sundays like mansaf which is a traditional dish of Jordan.
“Our famous dish in Jordan is mansaf, it is cooked with lamb meat and served with rice and jameed (yogurt),” Alutaibi said. “Our specialty here is the hummus and the falafel, we cook everything from scratch.”
Alutaibi has found joy in cooking delicious food and serving customers since 1988. He always strives to offer the most authentic food to represent the Mediterranean cuisine as a whole. Alutaibi is passionate about cooking as he graduated with a degree in food and beverage management in Jordan.
I try to make every customer happy when he is coming to feel like he is in his home,” Alutaibi said. “When I came here, my target was to learn the American people the taste of our food.”
When Alutaibi is cooking he often finds himself thinking of his family back home.
“When I am cooking here, it reminds me of my family sitting together back home during the month of Ramadan,” Alutaibi said. “I miss it.”
Florida is ranked fourth in the nation for rates of immigration. According to the American Immigration Council, one in five Florida residents are an immigrant, while nearly one in eight is a native-born U.S. citizen with at least one immigrant parent. Over half of all immigrants in Florida are naturalized U.S. citizens.
Alutaibi barely spoke English before moving to Tampa. It was difficult for him to adapt to the new lifestyle and to overcome the language barrier. He was able to grow accustomed to his new life and improve his English language skills with the help of his family and friends.
“When I came here, English was very hard for me and I get better with time,” Alutaibi said. “I speak a little bit of Spanish and Romanian because my wife is from Romania.”
You can find more about Petra Mediterranean Restaurant on the official website. https://petratampa.com
