Rahha translates loosely from Arabic as comfort, peace of mind, the feeling of finally putting something down. The five founders chose it deliberately. They are first-generation immigrants from Yemen, Iraq, Palestine, and Pakistan. Several are Wayne State alumni. They were all looking for somewhere on campus to break a fast that wasn't a coffee and a pastry.
Rahha Yemeni Coffee and Brunch held its ribbon cutting on Monday, November 17, 2025, inside the Hannan Center at 4750 Woodward Avenue, Suite 100, a block off the Wayne State quad. The space had previously held Mediterranean and soul-food restaurants, neither one stuck. The Hannan Center is a longtime nonprofit that runs senior programming and an art gallery, which is why the founders kept the menu and the prices designed for the building's actual neighbors: students, hospital staff, VA workers, faculty. Co-owner Ramzy Aiyash has been clear that Rahha is not aimed at an extravagant model with extravagant prices, but at students who need a quick bite and hospital workers who need a fast bagel.
The room seats about seventy. Brothers Fadel and Rafid Al-Marsoumi co-founded the spot with Ramzy Aiyash, Farook Salah, and Ahmad Abu-Zahra, childhood friends across the five. The food is what Fadel calls a culmination of the kitchens they grew up in.
Yemeni coffee and Adeni chai are the anchors of the drink program. The Yemeni coffee, Arabica beans dried in the sun and lightly spiced, is one of the older traditions in the world. Fadel has described the result as chocolatey and earthy.
The savory menu is the one that broke through. Shakshuka, the poached-eggs-in-tomato standard. Beef kafta with eggs and rice. Ghallaba, the spiced beef-and-onion stir-fry. Sujuk loaded fries. Rahha potatoes (cubed, baked, salty). The cilantro chicken is the dark-horse popular order. The dragon fruit refresher is the drink that makes regulars out of first-timers. Pancakes and waffles are on the brunch side. Everything is halal. Ten percent off for students and first responders.
Ramadan was the test. The founders extended hours past midnight, dropped iftar boxes at $10 to $15, and counted on their built-in customers, Wayne State students and faculty, hospital workers from Detroit Medical Center across Woodward, and the older adults already passing through the Hannan Center lobby every day. Bernice McDaniel, fifty-three, became Muslim before the pandemic and has said having Rahha within walking distance of her job changed how she planned the holy month.
4750 Woodward Avenue, Suite 100, Midtown.
