Levant Pizza offering pairing classic pizza flavours with Middle Eastern influences

Pizza places aren’t hard to find around Toronto, but one unique spot on Bloor West isn’t making a typical pizza.

Tamer and Nader first opened Levant Pizza in summer of 2021.

Tamer was born and raised in Lebanon, and moved to Toronto in 2010 while Nader grew up in Keswick, Ontario where his dad owned a falafel shop, the first of its kind in the small town.

That passion continued for Nader, who teamed up with Tamer to create the unique concept, pulling from flavours they both grew up with.

“We do Sicilian pizza with Middle Eastern flavours and influences to it … all of our pizzas have ingredients and toppings that are kind of
inspired by dishes that we grew up eating.” said Nader.

“We sometimes get customers from Mississauga and Scarborough, just from hearing about us and they were like, ‘This is so good. This feels like home’,” added Tamer

While they both knew they wanted to open a restaurant, they wound up doing it in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. But it didn’t stop the pair.

“I think it was just like a serendipitous,” said Tamer.

“I think there was just some re-evaluation of what we wanted to do with our lives during the pandemic, which I think a lot of people had
at that time,” added Nader.

And that re-evaluation accelerated their plans.

“I mean, it was a time for when you’re sitting at home all day, working from home a little bit of self reflection and figuring out what the next steps were in your life. For me, I always wanted to open a restaurant and so I think the pandemic just accelerated those plans,” said Nader.

“As a newcomer to Canada, owning a business is something, it’s a dream for everybody. So that was my passion about it,” shared Tamer. “What a great city to do to own a business like this.”

Their new take on the cuisine has attracted customers from all over the GT A and many of them quickly became regulars.

“We’ve also built such a relationship with these people and the people in the community … they go on vacation, they bring us
gifts,” said Nader. “They come say hi when they come back. If they’re going to be on their way to the airport, they’ll grab like a box of food
before they head there because they want our food so bad on their airplane rides as.

Tamer and Nader are hoping to soon expand their brand, space and palette.

Watch the original documentary, Veracity: The Melting Pot, Sunday June 16 at 10 p.m. ET for more on the restaurants that shape Toronto.