Santa comes to Nicholasville pizza restaurant

Published 10:32 am Wednesday, December 27, 2023

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On Christmas day, the holiday was extra special at Giovanni’s- a pizza restaurant in Nicholasville.

Nearly everyone who came in was able to eat for free thanks to an anonymous donor whom the restaurant’s owner called their very own Santa Claus.

According to the owner and manager of Giovanni’s, Omar Shalash, the restaurant was “slammed” with people on Monday after he posted on Facebook notifying the community of the generous donation.

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The anonymous donor gave the restaurant $2,500, or enough to feed every customer for the day, 150-250 people.

“To be honest, we have a lot of nice people that come in, always trying to pay for others. I see it all the time, almost every day. People come in and pay for a few families to enjoy our buffet, but not this amount. Not like this.,” Shalash said.

Shalash said it happens at least once a week, Giovannis has a visitor that donates $50 or $60- but never this much.

“Thanks to the person who donated to feed this many people. It was amazing,” Shalash said.