Oasis Falafel, a well-known staple in Iowa City, recently celebrated two decades of bringing authentic Mediterranean and Middle Eastern-inspired cuisine to the community.

Owners Naftaly Stramer and Ofer Sivan along with staff celebrated the memorable achievement with a ribbon cutting ceremony Thursday evening in front of their Iowa City location at 206 N. Linn St.

Crowds of loyal customers gathered to watch the ceremony to support the local business and to celebrate the anniversary.

Since the Mediterranean-style restaurant opened in 2004 with a focus on falafel and hummus, Stramer and Sivan shared how far the company has evolved over the years.

Stramer, born and raised in Israel, moved to the United States in 1989, but after years of being a computer engineer, he knew he needed a change.

Sivan, a graduate of the University of Iowa’s College of Engineering, said the two friends came up with the idea to open the restaurant back in 2003.

“I was in between jobs, we were sitting in the Ped Mall, and [my brother] said, ‘Why don’t you guys open a falafel place?’” Sivan said.

However, shortly after the pair decided to create and open the restaurant, they soon faced their first big challenge: creating falafel.

“We brought some of our friends to [Sivan’s] dad’s house and said, ‘Okay, we’ll do falafel and give it to them.’” Stramer said. “The first falafel we put in the oil disintegrated.”

Thankfully, the pair perfected creating their falafel, which is still a popular item on the restaurant’s menu today.

Cecile Goding, a recurring customer of Oasis since day one, and her children Amari and Linnea Taher, spoke about their love for the falafel to The Daily Iowan. The three also shared how the restaurant has impacted them and the community.

“[Oasis] is just inviting. It’s very inviting, comforting.” Amari Taher said.

Goding echoed Amari Taher’s assessment of the restaurant’s welcoming energy.

“It’s diversity, and it’s a multicultural aspect in Iowa City.” Goding said.

Linnea Taher also spoke about how as a young child, the colorful roads outside of the restaurant were an immediate eye catcher and drew her in.

The three spoke of their frequent visits to the restaurant, all the memories they’ve created while there, and what keeps them coming back.

“The people behind the counter are very cool,” Goding said. “There’s definitely some history behind that.”

The business has also come a long way from when it first began. In the early years, Oasis was solely focused on being a restaurant, but over time, Stramer and Sivan realized they needed to approach it more as a business and make changes accordingly.

The pair were approached by the corporate offices at Hy-Vee, an Iowa-based chain of supermarkets, to begin selling their hummus in stores around the Midwest.

“[Hy-Vee] called us and said, ‘Let’s talk.’ They saw the numbers we set in our city,” Stramer said. “So, talking to them and getting another challenge, that’s part of our nature.”

RELATED: Oasis celebrates 15 years of flavor in Iowa City

Oasis not only began expanding their products to universities, co-ops, and other locations beyond just the restaurant, but they also began giving back to the community and being involved in customers’ lives.

Stramer and Sivan said Oasis tries to do food and money donations as much as they can for events around the community.

In addition, the restaurant serves vegan options and has even dedicated one of its fryers exclusively for vegan items to make things more accessible for members of the community.

Over the years, the company has said they’ve maintained a commitment to ensuring quality and listening to their customers’ feedback and making changes based on said feedback.

The restaurant ensures that it provides a welcoming spot for all its customers while creating long-term connections with its customers through catering events such as weddings, funerals, and more, said Stramer and Savin.

“We’ll keep on keeping on. We’ve got new flavors of hummus, new products in grocery stores,” Savin said on the future of Oasis. “We’re always tweaking the menu here.”

Stramer and Savin expressed their gratitude to the community, staff, and managers for their long support and dedication over the past twenty years.

“Thank you to the community,” Stramer said. “We can say it’s all because of us, but it’s not. It’s because of the community.”