Buena Vista restaurant back five months after flooding

A family-owned restaurant that was forced to shut down after it flooded during a downpour in August has reopened for business.

Kisavos Restaurant and Lounge, at the corner of Broadway Avenue and Taylor Street East, closed its doors to customers for five months after the intersection filled with water during the storm, which caused flooding in parts of Saskatoon’s east side.

Petros Itskos, the restaurant’s kitchen manager, said he’s happy to be back at work because the last few months have been stressful. Cooking at the restaurant has been an important part of the daily routine he’s come to love for years, he said.

“Everything just stopped. It was hard,” said Itskos.

“It wasn’t hard only for the restaurant, it was hard for all our families.”

He said customers have been happy with the reopening of the restaurant following renovations. The flooding, which had happened more than once before, caused more than $300,000 in damages this time.

“It’s exciting to see a lot of people coming back to the restaurant,” he said, noting they received an outpouring of support from the community during the closure.

While insurance will cover damage from the most recent flood, and perhaps one more, he’s not sure if it will cover other previous floods.

Previous information from the City of Saskatoon indicated the intersection is included in a storm management plan for the city.

The city administration was asked to report on a “funding and infrastructure strategy to systematically deal with the top risk priority areas” at an August committee meeting.

On Thursday, city staff indicated the administration is expected to table a business plan to fund the strategy during the 2019 municipal budget deliberations.

Phillip Antoniadis, who owns the restaurant, said the redesign was a family effort spearheaded by his daughter and Itskos, who is his son-in-law.

“It’s incredible what they have done here,” said Marilyn Lorenz, a customer who ate at Kisavos prior to the renovation and was back for lunch on Thursday.

“It was always a very cosy restaurant before,” she said.

“But now it’s got an elegance to it as well, but still got that cosy feel.”

MORGAN MODJESKI Phillip Antoniadis, owner of Kisavos Restaurant and Lounge, chats waitresses Jill Sembalerus, left, and Shania Dolter at the newly renovated restaurant on Thursday. He said the re-design was a family effort as it was spearheaded by his daughter and his...