A quarter century of good service

MISSISSAUGA—For the 25 years, Tony Karamitsos has watched the area develop around his seafood and steak restaurant. 

Scorpio celebrated a quarter-century in business in 2009, and has pushed through the economic slump thanks to a loyal customer base of people dining there for decades.

Karamitsos came to Canada from Greece as a teenager in 1969. In his homeland, his father ran a small coffee shop. It was there that Karamitsos received his introduction to the hospitality business.

After coming to Canada, he opened his first restaurant, Pisces, in the Dixie and Dundas area of Mississauga. He ran that steak and seafood business for 10 years before moving to the current 120-seat location west of Toronto’s Pearson International Airport.

Karamitsos says his friends and regular customers eventually started asking why he remained in the original location when his clientele was moving to northeast Mississauga.

He followed their advice and made the move in 1984. “There was nothing here in those days,” Karamitsos recalls. "It was all farms.”

Once there, he changed the name to another astrological sign, Scorpio. For the first few years, Scorpio was busy at lunch, feeding staff from nearby businesses But at dinner, things went dead.

That was until a number of hotels and Stage West Dinner Theatre opened up on Dixie Road in the 1980s and 1990s.

Karamitsos cultivated relationships with the hotel operators and they started sending dinner business his way. Sales increased each year until 2009 when business dropped by as much as 20 per cent, Karamitsos said. But it is now on the rebound.

Located in an industrial area just off Dixie Road in north Mississauga, the restaurant lives up to its reputation as a classic destination for surf and turf.

Filet mignon and New York strip steak, along with a lengthy list of fish and seafood, make up the majority of the menu options. Appetizers, hors d’oeurves, pasta and salad round out the menu.

Scorpio’s core kitchen and wait staff have been with him from the start, a level of loyalty that is rare in the hospitality business.

“It’s become like family. I have found the right people. They are loyal, they are honest and they are professional.”

Karamitsos has this piece of advice for long-term success in the restaurant business.

“You have to be here. I’m here 15 hours a day. I want to be of top quality and provide the best service available.”