The Chipotle-owned and casual quick serve style restaurant ShopHouse joined the ranks of  many popular restaurants on the busy Bethesda Avenue Oct. 30, giving students yet another option for a fast, interesting lunch. The restaurant is located next to Tara Thai, replacing City Lights of China, which closed in June.

The Bethesda location comes during an expansion of the chain, after the first location in Dupont Circle opened in 2011. The Bethesda Avenue franchise is one of the first five locations nationwide, along with others in D.C. and Los Angeles.

ShopHouse’s cuisine is made in a style similar to Chipotle’s, using traditional ingredients, flavors and cooking techniques, manager Jhony Hernandez said. The restaurant’s design is also like Chipotle’s — food is prepared in an open kitchen, which allows customers to pick and choose exactly what goes into their own order, including a protein, some vegetables and a sauce.

Hernandez praised the efforts of the restaurant’s staff in its opening weeks.

“Our Bethesda team is incredible,”  Hernandez said. “We had a week-long training: we took it station by station, a day at a time. We worked hands-on, shoulder-to-shoulder with each crew member to develop skills in the kitchen.”

Opening reviews of the restaurant from students and experts were mostly positive. Many discussed intense flavors, interesting combinations and modern decor.

“It was very well run, and the service was great,” sophomore Ian Costello said. “The food was not what you would see every day.”

After 18 years with the successful Chipotle chain, founder Steve Ells planned to duplicate his success in other cuisines, and subsequently created Southeast.

“The response we have seen to ShopHouse reminds me very much of what I saw when I opened the first Chipotle,” Ells said in a press release. “People love the food and the experience and appreciate that we are giving them something that is unique and flavorful, and doing it in a way that is accessible and affordable.”

ShopHouse is working to expand the business nationwide, and executives are planning new locations along Rockville Pike and in Washington,  D.C.

“This company has a lot of opportunities, and a lot of room for growth,” Hernandez said. “It’s incomparable to others.”