“We deserve this vibe,” said Harvey Sims, who operates the restaurant with his brother, Jose Estremera. “We’ve been around for 14-15 years. We deserve this location. We never really had a big location.”
Estremera said they had been looking for a bigger space for about six to eight months. Their current location has seating, but operates more as a grab-and-go restaurant.
They’re looking forward to having a sit-down restaurant with a bar and patio.
“We wanted to bring an experience to eating,” Estremera said. “Having a carnival feeling when you come into Agnes now.”
Customers will still be able to grab their favorite foods such as oxtails, lamb burgers, lamb bowls, jerk chicken bowls, cheesesteak fries and brown sugar lemonades.
New items will include lamb chops, escovitch fish, pineapple bowls, turkey legs, curry carrots and at least two more vegetables such as broccoli or corn on the cob.
In addition to the restaurant, Agnes will feature a Caribbean dry goods store next to Luna Gifts & Botanicals on Wayne Avenue.
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
The store will feature snacks and drinks from Trinidad and Puerto Rico, as well as grab-and-go items such as salads and fruit cups.
The restaurant is expected to open seven days a week with brunch on Sunday. Agnes will stay open until 9 or 10 p.m. during the week and 1 or 2 a.m. on the weekends. They’re expecting to close at 6 or 7 p.m. on Sundays.
Agnes is named after the owners’ mother, Mary Agnes Gibbs Estremera. She was born in Grenada, West Indies, and spent her early years in Trinidad and Tobago.
In the late-60s, she moved to Puerto Rico and by the mid-70s, she settled in Brooklyn, N.Y. with her husband and eight kids.
“Known for her incredible cooking, Mrs. Agnes started selling dinners and baked goods to earn extra money. Her delicious food gained fame throughout the Brooklyn Bed Stuy community, attracting both locals and celebrities,” the restaurant’s website states.
In 2002, she opened Agnes Caribbean Kitchen across from Central State University’s campus. That restaurant operated for four years.
The brothers decided to honor her legacy and keep her dream alive by reopening as Agnes All Natural Grill in 2011 on North Keowee Street.
Since then, they’ve operated in different spots throughout downtown Dayton, as a food truck and inside the Dayton Mall food court.
“We’ve been going around places trying to find a home,” Estremera said. “The mall was a great location, but then Covid happened.”
Agnes has a second location in Schenectady N.Y. with plans to open restaurants in Brooklyn, N.Y. and Atlanta, Ga.
“A lot of people travel to the Caribbean and they can’t get back, but they can come to Agnes and get that same experience they had,” Estremera said.
For more information, visit eatagnes.com or the restaurant’s Facebook or Instagram pages (@eatagnes).
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