Nicholas Restaurant is a chain of threeLebanese restaurants in thePortland metropolitan area, in the United States. It is one of the oldest Lebanese andMiddle Eastern restaurants in Portland.[1] The business also operates inGresham.
Nicholas and Linda Dibe opened the first restaurant in 1987.[1][2] The Dibes fledBeirut, Lebanon in 1982, immigrated to Portland with their four young daughters. Five years later they opened the restaurant.[2] Nicholas invested his entire pension in the restaurant, which first servedpizza andcalzones.[2][1] Later, the Dibes started adding some of their favorite Lebanese dishes to the menu, which became popular with customers.[2] The restaurant is now owned by one of the Dibes' daughters, Hilda.[1] There are several locations which are operated by different extended family members.[3] The business also operates inGresham.[4]
In 2020, Nicholas announced plans to relocate the flagship location to 1109 Southeast Madison Street, in theBuckman neighborhood, in 2021.[2][1] In April 2021, Nicholas opened its new location which has a full bar.[3][5][6]
Willamette Week's Lauren Yoshiko said Nicholas is best for "homestyle hummus and kebabs, every day for decades" and wrote, "If Pioneer Place is Portland's living room, Nicholas is the city's Lebanese kitchen."[7] Nicholas has been recognized in the newspaper's annual 'Best of Portland' readers' poll, winning in the Best Mediterranean Restaurant category in 2016,[8] 2017,[9] 2018,[10] 2020,[11] 2022,[12] and 2024.[13]
