This Sunday, long-serving Tops Restaurant on Kingsway will cook up its last T-bone steak, as owner Steve Viras and family close up shop after 44 years in business.
The Collingwood neighbourhood institution has served locals and out-of-towners 鈥済ood old fashioned home meals鈥� since opening in 1972. 听
Earlier this week Sadiq Ashraf stopped by the restaurant for breakfast. The Lacey, Washington resident makes habit of visiting Tops whenever he鈥檚 in town on business. 鈥淵ou feel like you are sitting at home rather than a commercialized restaurant,鈥� said Ashraf.
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Another longtime customer, Michael Constantinidis, has been coming to Tops since he was a high school student in the early 鈥�70s. He said it was a great place to hang out with his friends. 鈥淵ou always feel like you are part of the family. A lot of people are going to miss it,鈥� he said.
The80-year-old owner of Tops immigrated from Malamata, Greece in 1952 and opened the Black Cat Caf茅 on Broadway and Granville 10 years later with his two brothers. Seven years after that, the brothers opened the Dundee Restaurant next door to the current Tops location.
By the 1980s, Viras鈥� brothers returned to Greece leaving him to run Tops with his wife and kids.
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鈥淭o run restaurants is a tough business鈥� it is a lot of work involved to maintain this restaurant,鈥� said Viras, who plans to relax and take a few vacations with his wife. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want my kids to have what I have, where I am tied to the business.鈥� 听
He added, 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to leave a beautiful restaurant. It鈥檚 like raising a child.鈥�
