Cities are always filled with life by people who not only decorate the landscape of their home, but want a newspaper, radio, theater, good coffee in a polar café, statue, book, park, concerts or festival and we are ready to do it. Such settlements have always laid the foundations for the traditions, reputation and aura of Hungarian settlements, and Zoltan Mizaros is such a person in Vesprem – the founder of radio, restaurant opening, festival organizer, leader of the talent center.
Its name may be primarily known from VeszprémFest, its original source being Zoltán Mészáros’ Oliva Restaurant, which opened at the turn of the millennium, and the concerts organized in its garden later grew to the size of a festival. Since then, the hotel has been added to the hotel located on a winding street in downtown Veszprem, and has become a popular home to the city community, where the owner sometimes puts himself on his apron and grabs a wooden spoon.
The restaurant opened on October 27, 2000. The building itself was built sometime in the 1870s, and because of its nature, the owner says he somehow cried out for the name Mediterranean: that’s how he finally became Oliva. Zoltán Mészáros says their wish at the time was for it to be a place where the guest would feel like coming home. They want to meet two things at once: they want to cater to guests with traditional tastes, and they obviously want to offer a more contemporary and more international line.
One of the things I wanted was that the radio in this restaurant would never be heard. I also knew I wanted a live music venue, and I thought it had to be original, like jazz or latin music, or pop music that would fit in that environment
– said Zoltán Mészáros, adding: At the opening, at the beginning of the 2000s, they began to organize concerts, from which the Veszprém Festival originated.
Basically I think hospitality is the trade of experience. Obviously food is very important, but I really believe that when guests decide on one place or another, they look for an experience. It’s a bit like festivals anyway. And that’s what Oliva really wants, and I think you need to give the guest an experience.
(Cover Image: Best of Balaton)
