Omar from Omar’s

By Noah Walker

Greenville, North Carolina is home to many things, most notably East Carolina

University. Smack dab in the middle of downtown Greenville is Omar’s Express Restaurant, a

popular late night food joint in Downtown Greenville. Packed in between 3-4 bars, Omar’s opens

at 10 p.m. on Thursday through Saturday nights only, and never has a slow night. Many people

come for the food, but they also come to see the man himself: Omar Shaheed.

Shaheed began working in the food industry in Chapel Hill after graduating from Ohio

State University in Cleveland. While working in Chapel Hill, he realized his potential and came

to Greenville in 1987 for a fresh start and an opportunity to open his own restaurant: Omar’s.

According to Shaheed, the beginnings were not easy. “It was hard. You know, the first

time, just to see who you are and what you want to sell. It took me, like, almost a couple years to

establish myself.” Especially in an era of Greenville where restaurants were scarce downtown.

As Shaheed mentioned, “There wasn’t many restaurants downtown, mostly clubs. Like almost

16-18 clubs in downtown.”

In order to break into the scene and solidify Omar’s spot in downtown Greenville,

Shaheed used to work long hours. “I used to be open daily, lunch, you know, from 11 a.m. to the

next day. Why? Because you have to make it, and to establish yourself, you have to sacrifice a

lot of time.” Shaheed is now more than solidified, and Omar’s current hours of operations show

that clearly.
 Omar’s is currently only open on the weekend nights after 10 p.m., which in Greenville

includes Thursday. “This is crazy, having a restaurant open only three nights a week, you know.

Paying the bills, paying the workers, and living, we’re surviving.” Shaheed describes. The most

important thing that caused his restaurant’s prosperity is his genuine love for the food he makes

as well as the people he makes it for.

Shaheed was born in Morocco and moved to Marseille, France when he was 17. Shaheed

combines his experience living in Morocco and Marseille to create the many items on his menu.

“A lot of changes I make in my food are between the Moroccan cuisine and the French, and the

Greek. We do the gyros Greek and marinate the chicken [in] Moroccan spices.” Shaheed’s

passion and desire to help people does not end with food, however.

Shaheed says he started the first Greenville soccer team when he first moved to

Greenville in 1987. Shaheed has had a love for soccer that began during his youth in Morocco

and France. Shortly after moving to Greenville, he was approached and asked to start a soccer

team for the young kids in the area who wanted to play. After forming a team that practiced at a

local elementary school, he approached the mayor a year later to ask for a soccer complex for the

kids that wanted to play soccer. After an interview, Shaheed got what he was asking for. “They

[added] some land behind D.H. Conley High School... I got a lot of people to come clean and

move stuff... You know, it was a great thing.” Shaheed said. “From that 35 kids at that time, to

now almost a thousand kids, you know, we got six soccer fields.” Shaheed managed those soccer

fields himself for many years.

Shaheed directed the Greenville Soccer Association for 30 years since that first day in

1987. He has since coached D.H. Conley High School and Christ Covenant School, the latter of

which he still coaches the men's and women’s varsity and junior varsity teams today. Shaheed
loves to be involved in the sport because “you meet a lot of good people.” He brought his girls

team to an undefeated season this year.

Many of the people that Shaheed coached have gotten college scholarships for soccer,

and he boasts one of his students, Michael Harrington, that made it to Major League Soccer. The

current goalkeeper for East Carolina’s women’s soccer team, Maeve English, was once coached

by Shaheed as well. “I’ve got kids come back [to Omar’s] and say ‘hey coach,’ its like, ‘no, I’m

cooking.’” Shaheed laughed.

English remembers Shaheed as a passionate and caring coach. “He's just one of those

coaches who's, like, so passionate about what he does. You can tell he just loves the sport.”

English recalled. His happiness and excitement surrounding the sport of soccer made it enjoyable

to get coached by him. “He just was so happy to be in practice all the time that it just sort of like

carried through all the team and just made a good environment for us.” English said. More than

anything, she remembers his strong commitment to the community.

“He’s a very ‘community’ dude, just loves being around people, loves serving others and

giving back to the community.” English mentioned. According to her, his commitment to giving

back through the sport of soccer is something special, “He just wants to be around the game of

soccer. I think that's sometimes rare to find these days. So, he's definitely a gem in his own way.”

Shaheed has gone from English’s coach to her cook; she says she is a big fan of Omar’s

Express Restaurant, “I love it after a night out. It’s definitely some of the best in town. It’s so

convenient being right there too.”

 Shaheed has found his life’s passion in two separate places, but they both culminate in

the same thing: people. “It’s wonderful to be involved in something like this, between coaching

and cooking, [seeing] people face-to-face. This is great life, I love it.” Shaheed said.