By Melissa Robinson
Contributing Editor 

  Back in the early 1980s, on any given weekend, Stockbridge resident Terry Sanders could be found hanging out at The Olympia Pizza House on North Henry Blvd. with his friends from Stockbridge High School. After football games it seemed the whole town would stop in for the authentic Greek pizza and Gyros with tzatziki sauce that owner Billy Peter Mabros would serve. Sanders was friends with Mabros’ son, Tiger, who worked at the restaurant with his family.

Owners Terry and Lea Sanders, with their son Major, in front of Olympia Pizza. Photo by Melissa Robinson

  Fast forward more than 30 years later and Sanders along with his wife, Lea, now own and operate the Stockbridge landmark restaurant, offering the same traditional Greek recipes that made the restaurant a rousing success for more than two decades. Tiger works there with them as a cook and consultant, keeping the Mabros’ Greek traditions alive and authentic.

  It was in 1980 that Mabros built and opened Olympia Pizza House with his wife Milly. Mabros’ story is the stuff legends are made of, with his rags to riches tale of achieving the American dream. According to Sanders, Mabros came to the United States as a teenager on a freighter where he was a cook. After docking, he never went back to port, and eventually made friends who gave him a job at a popular Atlanta restaurant, Fan and Bill’s, where he worked his way up from busboy to cook.

  He met his wife, Milly Upchurch, in 1963 and they were soon married and settled in her native Stockbridge, where they opened a series of eateries, including Milly’s Barbecue and Milly’s Diner.

  “Mr. Mabros built this restaurant. At that time, there wasn’t much more around,” said Sanders.

  “I know sometimes people create memories, but I remember when I was in high school, thinking that someday I would like to own a place just like Olympia Pizza,” he said.

  According to Sanders, Mabros owned and operated the restaurant for more than two decades. He sold the business in 2003 to retire. In the years following, it changed hands twice before standing empty for a few years. That’s when the Sanders’ seized what they considered the opportunity of a lifetime.

  “Everything just came together at the right time,” said Sanders.

  Nearly three months ago on November 25, he and his wife re-opened the restaurant. They wanted to bring back the feel of the original establishment and completely re-decorated the restaurant back to the original décor of the 1980s. They brought back the dark red carpet and black and white checkered plastic tablecloths. They painted the walls in a soft cream color, complete with soft lit sconces on the walls, providing a certain cozy ambiance.

  But according to both Sanders and his wife Lea, the most important change was bringing back the authentic recipes that the original owner used to make the Olympia Pizza House a success. While redecorating they found an old menu and Tiger helped create the recipes that put Olympia on the map. The pizza crust is made from the same two, special flours that they were made from back in the day and the tzatziki sauce for the authentic Gyros (pronounced Euros) is the same recipe that Tiger’s father created many years ago.

  “It is so important to me to stay true to the authentic flavors of the original restaurant,” said Sanders. “In fact, we still have the original dough press which we refurbished and use to make our pizzas and calzones.”

  The Sanders are seasoned business owners, having owned and operated a sign store in Stockbridge for 15 years. They sold that business a few years ago, but were too young to retire and still needed to put two sons through college.

  Lea said running your own business is challenging and time consuming, but she loves the restaurant business because it gives people what is essentially the basis for life—food and nourishment.

  “It’s definitely a Mama thing,” she laughed. “But when you get together to celebrate, you eat. When you sit around as a family, it’s usually at the dinner table. It’s such a basic necessity of life and we enjoy providing customers with that experience.”

  She also said that a part of the success of their business is treating the customers like family. Getting to know them and always  making them feel welcome in your establishment. She speaks to every customer who comes in the door.

  “I think that’s important, always making them feel welcome and appreciated,” she said.

Whether you’re craving authentic Greek pizza, savory gyros, freshly baked calzone or a crisp Greek salad, Olympia Pizza has been pleasing palates on the southside since 1980, and the Sanders expect to continue that tradition.

  “For me, it’s important to stay true to those recipes that made Olympia Pizza House and Mr. Mabros so successful,” said Sanders. “When customers come here to eat, I want them to have that great feeling from the 80s when this restaurant first opened, from the music, to the décor to the delicious food.”

  “This place holds a lot of good memories for people in Stockbridge,” said Lea. “We have friends who had their first date here, others who came here as teenagers and then brought their children here. We want to continue that tradition.”

  Olympia Pizza is located at 5537 North Henry Blvd. in Stockbridge and offers both dine-in and carryout. For more information, call 770-474-6744.