image description
Stella Giannaris, her husband Dimitris Sfakianakis and their two daughters, Melina and Mariza Sfakianakis, will be running — along with their son Petros Sfakianakis, who is not picture — Olympic Pizza Family Restaurant at the former Michael's Restaurant location on Route 2.

Olympic Pizza Opens In Former Michael's Restaurant

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
Print Story | Email Story
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Michael's Restaurant may have changed owners but Greek and Italian food will still be cooked at that location.

Stella Giannaris has leased the building and opened Olympic Pizza Family Restaurant on Tuesday.

The restaurant specializes in Greek and Italian food straight from the homeland. Giannaris has been waiting for an opportunity to move her family from Athens, Greece, to her childhood home and when Michael's went on the market — she got it.

"I used to come here when I was 7," Giannaris said last week, sitting in a booth at her new restaurant. "It's nice here. Williamstown is a very nice area."

Her family has a long history of owning local restaurants in the county. Her father opened a pizza place in Pittsfield in 1965, where Giannaris grew up, and now her mother runs Christo's in North Adams. Giannaris later moved to the family's homeland but for the last year, with political turmoil and her children creeping up on their college years, she has been looking for an opportunity to come back.

"I think kids have more opportunities in this country," Giannaris said. "There is a lot going on in Greece right now."

Giannaris' mother, Mary, is friends with Michael's owner Cindy Nikitas and once the news spread that she was going to sell the business, Mary Giannaris jumped right in to help bring her daughter home.

"We wanted to move here from Greece and my parents wanted to do something for us," Stella Giannaris said. "We signed the lease two months ago... I just got here a month ago."

In just those two months not only did the family of five move halfway across the world but also renovated the restaurant's kitchen and bathrooms, repainted the inside and redecorated the building. Stella Giannaris said her long history of working in her parents' restaurants have allowed her to hit the ground running.

The restaurant will be similar to Christo's but with a larger menu, she said. The family, running the new restaurant together, will be cooking up an array of Greek and Italian specials as well as offering takeout and delivery. Olympic Pizza will be open every day from 11 a.m. until 10 p.m.

"It's a family business," Stella Giannaris emphasized.

Tags: pizza,   

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

2025 Year in Sports: Mount Greylock Girls Track Was County's Top Story

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
Mount Greylock Regional School did not need an on-campus track to be a powerhouse.
 
But it did not hurt.
 
In the same spring that it held its first meets on its new eight-lane track, Mount Greylock won its second straight Division 6 State Championship to become the story of the year in high school athletics in Berkshire County.
 
"It meant so much this year to be able to come and compete on our own track and have people come here – especially having Western Mass here, it's such a big meet,"Mounties standout Katherine Goss said at the regional meet in late May. "It's nice to win on our own track.”
 
A week later at the other end of the commonwealth, Goss placed second in the triple jump and 100-meter hurdles and third in the 400 hurdles to help the Mounties finish nearly five points ahead of the field.
 
Her teammates Josephine Bay, Cornelia Swabey, Brenna Lopez and Vera de Jong ran circles around the competition with a nine-second win in the 4-by-800 relay. And the Mounties placed second in the 4-by-400 relay while picking up a third-place showing from Nora Lopez in the javelin.
 
Mount Greylock's girls won a third straight Western Mass Championship on the day the school's boys team claimed a fourth straight title. At states, the Mounties finished fifth in Division 6.
 
View Full Story

More Williamstown Stories