A Family Business

Owner/General Manager - Tony Nahas, Mezza

Perhaps his business partner and father, Elias Nahas says it best. “Tony makes sure all the best happens for our guests. He hires the best service staff, gives them complete and thorough training and coaches them to perform. He’s the reason people rave about our service.”

When people say the restaurant business is in your blood, I believe it," declares Tony Nahas. His parents must have passed down the gene. They own and run fast food restaurants, setting the standards that have lead to Tony’s record of critical acclaim. "It doesn’t matter if you’re running a fast food restaurant or a five-star restaurant," he explains. "It’s all about being proud of the product you put out, and to that end, I have no tolerance for shortcuts – no matter what the restaurant concept."

While Tony claims he simply "fell into" the restaurant business, destiny probably played more of a hand. After high school, the Halifax native learned the business from the ground up, working with his parents, cooking, washing dishes and managing a restaurant. The long hours and back breaking work taught him the fundamentals of operating a restaurant at the highest level, thus opening the first Lebanese dining experience in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Deciding it was time to expand his culinary horizons beyond fast food, Tony and his family decided it was time to step it up a notch and open Mezza. It was the turning point in his career and lifestyle; the moment he became a self-proclaimed "food snob," and realized he only wanted to work with people who shared his passion for food and wine and took pride in the product and the service they offered.

"I feel like all of the work I’ve done so far has come together in Mezza,” he said. “As my first venture into ownership, I’m looking forward to applying all that I have learned to make Mezza the best Lebanese restaurant in Nova Scotia.”