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Pizza Bistro is returning to downtown Stratford after a four-year break in Greece.
Published May 29, 2025 • Last updated 2 hours ago • 2 minute read
After four years in Greece, Steve and Tommy Giannakopoulos, two of Pizza Bistro’s co-owners, are bringing the popular restaurant back to Stratford, this time at a new location across from the Avon Theatre. (Cory Smith/Beacon Herald)Article content
It was time for the Giannakopoulos family to come home.
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After spending four years in Greece, tending to investments, branching out into the olive oil business and even opening a restaurant with a familiar name, they still missed Stratford.
Now they’re back.
So, too, is Pizza Bistro, the establishment they ran for nine years before heading overseas in 2021.
“This is a place we lived and had our businesses in for years,” co-owner Steve Giannakopoulos said. “We knew the type of support we had in Stratford. Coming back now felt like the right time and right thing for us to do at this point.”
The family had built a loyal following at its former Wellington Street location, which specialized not only in stone oven pizza but also Mediterranean cuisine. The decision to relocate to Patras allowed them to reconnect with their roots and open a Pizza Bistro in Greece’s third largest city and its western capital.
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But they never forgot about Stratford.
“It’s a family-run business, and we devoted a lot of time to it,” Giannakopoulos said. “As time went by, people really opened their arms to us. We had a really good business and were happy to serve Stratford residents and (also) tourists in the summer. Every year it got better, and we had a continual following. It was something we enjoyed doing.”
Much of what made the restaurant popular for nearly a decade, including its cabbage-based caesar salad, will be on the menu when Pizza Bistro reopens by mid-June at its new Downie Street spot where Giannakopoulos’ cousin once ran Family Sub.
But the stint in Greece brought with it fresh flavours – and small batch olive oil – that will give local diners a taste of traditional Mediterranean dishes.
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“People can expect a few interesting ideas,” Giannakopoulos said. “That will be a thing that will define us, (but) it will be the same Pizza Bistro people knew. We’ll all be here.”
Take-out and delivery will once again be an option, but the new space will allow Pizza Bistro to host between 40 and 45 diners indoors and up to 20 on its patio across from the Avon Theatre. Giannakopoulos hopes a selection of small plates will entice diners to stick around and enjoy lunch or dinner in a “fun and comfortable atmosphere” similar to restaurants in Greece and other parts of Europe.
“It symbolizes our overall way of thinking where you can go with good friends and family and enjoy a nice, relaxed meal,” he said. “We don’t want to have to get them in and get them out.”
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Reaction to the news of Pizza Bistro’s return has been “overwhelming,” Giannakopoulos said.
“When you live in a place for so long, it’s a really nice feeling,” he said. “When we closed the restaurant, we decided we would come back and pick up where we left off. We’re happy to get that started again.”
cosmith@postmedia.com
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