Simpsonville sushi burger restaurant to open location, new concept in downtown Greenville

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A unique sushi burger restaurant is opening a second location and a tea house,  side-by-side  in McBee Station in downtown Greenville.

Chef 21 Tea Republic anticipates holding a soft opening on March 17 after nearly nine months of construction.

The original Chef 21 Sushi Burger opened in 2021 on Fairview Road in Simpsonville and is the group’s first restaurant. It offers an array of salads, sushi rolls and sashimi, sushi burgers and other appetizers.

The Chef 21 Sushi Burger in McBee Station also will offer Korean BBQ, while the tea house will offer herbal tea, boba tea, sake, wine, tapas and snowflake ice cream.

“I call it one food for feeding the body and the other feed the soul,” said Chef 21 owner LeRaina Xiao.

The Tea Republic will feature a 12-foot-long handmade waterfall tea table, where patrons can enjoy a traditional tea ceremony and by reservation only. Customers can also make their own tea or simply enjoy a glass of wine or bubble tea and desserts.

“We are bringing the most wanted concepts into Greenville,” said Xiao. “We are adding another way of social life and that draws a lot of foot traffic to the nearby businesses and promotes a healthy lifestyle and economic growth for surrounding businesses.”

Xiao said she did a lot of the restaurant’s design work with her architect in China, while also teaming up with companies from Atlanta to bring her “masterpiece” to fruition with Chef 21 Executive Chef Young Liu and Chef 21 Manager Levy Xiao.

In addition to these two restaurants, Xiao is working on Hub X, which will be a futuristic playground and restaurant. Hub X will open next year, said Xiao, but an official date has not been set.