After nine years lying empty, the restaurant at Somerset's Loyalty Inn is being brought back to life and will today open its doors as the Island's only steak house.

Greg's Steak House, which is wholly owned and staffed by Bermudians, will open today for the first time after extensive renovations on the Somerset site.

"It is a dream come true for us," said owner and manager Greg Wilson. "We have worked hard to make it all come together and we are really proud of what we have achieved."

Mr. Wilson, along with his partner Dennis Vickers, who owns the property, has decked out the newly refurbished restaurant with new fittings and fixtures and has three separate dining areas - an intimate restaurant, a terrace and food will also be available at tables at the bar and dance area of the inn.

The steakhouse will offer a lighter lunch menu and an upmarket dinner menu, which includes four different types of steaks, from New York Strip Steak to Filet Mignon , Rib-eye and T-bone, as well as the world-famous Chateaubriand - a melt in the mouth steak for two.

Mr. Wilson is well known on the Island and started work in the catering world early - at the tender age of 16 he was the chef at Glencoe. He has also worked at the Waterlot Inn, Sonesta, Chancery Lane and most recently as assistant maitre'd at the Pompano Beach Resort.

He also used to run his own jewellery place, "Wilson Jewellers", which originally started in Somerset and finally closed its Hamilton shop in 1998.

Chef Rahsaan, who has worked at Stonington, Elbow Beach and Southampton Princess, said that they will make up special vegetarian dishes as well, given advance warning.

"I am a saucier chef by trade, so my assistant Curtis Azhar, specialises in deserts, Curtis is the sweet man," said Mr. Rahsaan. "We use nothing but the best here, and we are looking forward to our first guests coming through the door.

"But I love creating vegetarian dishes and use a lot of tofu. Once we are up and running, we will have some more specials like that on the menu."

The restaurant was refurbished by Mr. Wilson, with help from his wife, Lorna, in the decorating. "She is wonderful with plants and she will be bringing in more of them to add more atmosphere to the place."

The final fixtures and fittings were yesterday being put in place and the tables set in preparation for the restaurant's first day.

And the kitchens were a hive of activity as they prepared for guests to arrive at lunch time today.

"We are not having our grand opening until May 1, but we are opening today" said Mr. Wilson. "We will also be hosting private parties here and have several already booked through April."

Mr. Wilson said that the restaurant would be ideal for diners who wanted to make a night of it by having dinner at Greg's and then moving to listen to jazz at the Loyalty Inn, which is open until 3 a.m., and has a new dance floor installed.

The entire staff is Bermudian, and the chefs use as much local produce as possible for the restaurant.

"We are all Bermudian, which is unusual," said Mr. Wilson. "And the menu uses a lot of Bermuda ingredients. That is what makes us a really Bermuda restaurant that will appeal to both locals, residents and tourists. It will be lovely to sit outside on a summer evening and watch the sun set over Mangrove Bay. It is a wonderful way to wind down and relax - a perfect location for a restaurant."