A popular lunch destination for Tufts administrators, faculty, and students alike will reopen tomorrow morning after a six week renovation.
Students returned this semester to find Nick's House of Pizza, at 372 Boston Ave, closed. A sign on the door explained that the restaurant was undergoing renovations and would reopen soon.
Currently, the renovations are complete and the owners are hoping that loyal customers will return.
According to owner Nick Kermanidis, the menu and prices will remain the same, despite the restaurant's re-vamped look.
"My customers will come back because nothing's changed," he said. "People may come in and be scared, but it's the same place."
Kermanidis said that the renovation is meant to offer a better atmosphere for customers. "I do it for my customers," he said. "I wanted to do something major."
"We never had any issues, but it's time to take it to another level," Nick's son John said. "We had it for 17 years, we haven't really done anything to it."
The old d?©cor was like any other neighborhood pizza restaurant: formica booths, a few framed posters, and a wood-paneled counter in the front.
The restaurant now boasts a granite counter with stools, cushioned booths, and a high-definition flat-screen television.
In addition, the menu will now feature a few more items, such as a Mexican-style pizza, a steak tip dinner, manicotti, a buffalo chicken calzone and a Caesar salad. A new double-decker oven will allow the restaurant to serve customers more
efficiently.
The lunch crowd at the family-owned restaurant is a veritable who's who of Tufts administration.
On any given afternoon, one can see University Chaplain David O'Leary or Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) Captain Mark Keith. Dowling Hall and Tufts Facilities workers also join locals and students, many of whom are regulars.
"I've been bringing my lunch [to work]," O'Leary said. He will be back at Nick's after it re-opens, but he won't be at the grand opening celebration. "I don't do well with crowds," he joked.
Kermanidis estimates that before Tufts Dining Services started Merchants on Points (MOPS), of which Nick's is not a member, he drew 20 to 30 percent of his business from Tufts students.
Now, he said that students still come in regularly but most of his business consists of a non-student, lunchtime crowd.
"Most of my business is from neighborhood people and the employees at Tufts," he said.
According to John, Nick has looked into joining MOPS but was wary of the percentage of profit taken by Dining Services from each order.
When the weather is warmer, Kermanidis will repave the parking lot and put up a new fence and awnings. "I have a lot of work to do," he said.
