‘Memorable Experience’

Mirs find a home in Spa City

Saddiq and Jeannie Mir may be relatively new to the Spa City, but they have started to take the Hot Springs culinary industry by storm.

The couple purchased the Ohio Club earlier this month, bringing their tally of restaurants in the city to three. They purchased J&S Italian Villa last April and Copper Penny Pub in May.

Saddiq Mir has been in the hospitality industry for many years, traveling all over Europe as well as many major cities in the United States, including San Francisco, New Orleans and Dallas.

“Well, I was fortunate to get a call from Oaklawn (Racing Casino Resort) to open the hotel,” he said.

“That was in 2019. My wife and I just opened a large hotel, Gaylord (Rockies Resort) in Denver, and two years later, we get a call to come open the Oaklawn hotel. I was very fascinated by that Hot Springs history and ownership, family-owned, fourth generation. That kind of attracted me from leaving corporate America to come and work for Oaklawn.”

After leaving Oaklawn, the couple purchased the Italian restaurant at Temperance Hill Square, and Jeannie Mir saw the restaurant’s name as a sign.

“It was a sign because it says J&S — so Jeannie and Saddiq,” she said, with a laugh.

Her husband did not see the significance until it was pointed out to him.

“My wife and I have eyed actually doing this before, and we haven’t paid any attention,” he said. “But once we decided we’re going to do something, we pull up on it, and my wife said, ‘Look, J&S, J&S.’ Well, I didn’t really get it. She said to me, ‘Don’t you get it? It’s meant to be for us — J&S.’”

Having a background in restaurants, the Mirs wanted to make J&S Italian Villa into something “fun and trendy” with two-michelin-starred Chef Sascia Marchesi helping design the coastal Italian cuisine.

“We totally remodeled the place,” Saddiq Mir said. “Today, our cuisine is a coastal Italian cuisine. … Our goal is to enhance the culinary experience and our guest experience in town, no matter which venue we own.”

Saddiq Mir said with his history of working with entertainment venues, he intends to have live music at all three locations.

“We had the privilege to manage Blue Room, which was the only showroom, actually in the country at that time, where the big jazz names performed there, and I had the privilege to remodel that place,” he said.

“So I have a knack for entertainment also that we feel we can enhance the Ohio Club even more with entertainment. Currently, today all of our three venues do feature live entertainment.”

With three very different locations, the couple has a singular goal when it comes to food and service.

“Our goal is to elevate the food experience at every single venue,” Saddiq Mir said. “Food has to be unique. Everybody enjoys food, but everyone loves service, right? So if you don’t have great service in combination with food, it’s not a good balance. So our goal is to enhance that and provide every single guest that walks in our venues a memorable experience — whether they remember the burger, whether they remember the entertainment, whether they remember service.”

Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mirs know how difficult it can be to staff a restaurant at times, and one way they hope to combat that while giving their employees the opportunity to “pick up shifts” is to cross-train them at all three restaurants.

“Another big benefit for people that work for us is gonna be that they want to work more hours; they want to pick up shifts,” Saddiq Mir said. “A lot of times people work part-time. Well, we have three venues, and we’re going to cross-train our team to say, ‘Wherever you want to work. You don’t have to go somewhere else.’

“Also, you’d be educated on different cuisines, which I think will open doors for the culinary staff.”

Saddiq Mir said there are no plans to close and remodel the Ohio Club at this time but plans to “preserve and enhance” the location and there could be some additions and changes to the menu.

“At the time we’re known for the best burger, and we want to keep that. The team does a great job, and we want to empower them to really have fun with culinary (things). Culinary is something like fashion; there’s so much you can do with it,” he said.

The couple also has plans to institute a different night each week for each location to focus on local patrons.

“I want to add locals night, a different local site for each location because they’re our biggest supporters really,” Jeannie Mir said. “Out-of-towners, they come every year, and we remember them and we love them, but the locals (are important, too).”

While the pair have traveled all over the world, they have decided to call the Spa City home.

“My wife and I fell in love with Hot Springs. … We chose to stay here, so Hot Springs is home now,” Saddiq Mir said.

“I want to add locals night, a different local site for each location because they’re our biggest supporters really.”

— Jeannie Mir