Broadway Business Spotlight:
Business Spotlight:
The Pizza Place & Garden Café
An interview with with owner Tina Lilis by Sasha Witte
SW: Thanks so much for sitting down with us Tina and telling us a little about
yourself and The Pizza Place! It seems to me your restaurant has been a feature
on Broadway since I can remember. When did you and your family bring your
business to Broadway?
Tina: We opened the restaurant in 1979. We opened The Pizza Place with the
hopes of establishing a land mark restaurant that could bring the Long Beach
community together. Over the years, we have come to know almost everyone in
the neighborhood, including the many other business owners.
SW: How would your restaurant best be described?
Tina: I think The Pizza Place and Garden Café can best be described as a warm,
comfortable, beautiful atmosphere where family and friends can come have a
wonderful time together over a pizza and a bottle of wine, or whatever your guilty
pleasure might be.
SW: What can you tell us about your menu and any specialty items?
Tina: One thing I can say about our menu is it most definitely is not limiting!
We serve everything from grilled Panini’s, Greek favorites, our world famous
pizzas and even BBQ chicken and ribs. And for desert we have everything from
homemade tiramisu, crème brulee, cannoli’s and fresh strawberry cheesecake!
SW: What drew you to opening your business on Broadway?
Tina: My mother and father bought the building for my family to start the
business. Mom and dad were restaurateurs themselves, owning multiple
restaurants from Long Beach to Alaska in the 1950’s and they saw this location as
an opportunity for me and my family to start our own business and make a living
for ourselves.
SW: Do you live in Long Beach and where do you hail from?
Tina: I was born in Greece and was brought over by my parents as a six month
old baby. The house I lived in when I started my own family was right across the
street from the house I was raised in as a kid, over in the Bixby Knolls area. So the
answer is Yes – I have always been a Long Beach native!
SW: What are your favorite things about Long Beach?
Tina: I love that even though Long Beach is one of the biggest cities on the map,
you never stop running into people you know through a friend or family member
here. Everyone knows everyone around these parts.
SW: What can you tell us about yourself that most people coming into your
business might not know?
Tina: Getting into the restaurant business is a great way to have fun and make
a good living for your family, but do not be mistaken, running a restaurant is
extremely hard work. It’s a job you don’t forget about when your shift is done.
You go home worrying and thinking is there anything I can do to make the
business a little better or to make my customers any happier. However, there are
a lot of fun things that come with owning a restaurant too. One of our favorite
pastimes is getting into the kitchen and experimenting and putting together new
dishes that a lot of times make it onto the menu or our special boards.
SW: Do you have any upcoming events you’d like us to know about?
Tina: Mondays are all you can eat pasta, Tuesdays are “Two for Tuesday”
where you can buy one chicken or pasta entrée and get the second for 50% off.
On “Wine Wednesdays” we offer 50% off bottles of wine and “Thin Thursdays”
when you can have 25% off any of our salads.
SW: Sounds wonderful Tina!! Thanks so much for sitting down and telling us a
little more about yourself and your wonderful restaurant!!
The Pizza Place & Garden Café is located at 1431 E. Broadway on the corner of
Broadway & Falcon. It is open Mondays thru Thursday from 11am to 10pm and
Fridays thru Sundays 11am to 10:30pm. They do deliver! You can reach them by calling 562.432.6000.
Merchant Association
