Melanie Loyer and Debbie DaSilva who work at Kelsey's show $100 bill given to each of them by a total stranger.

A MYSTERY money man is handing out $100 bills to servers and diners at a west-end restaurant. The man, who appeared to be in his 40s, walked into Kelsey's restaurant on Islington Ave. at The Queensway around 10:30 p.m. Friday and handed out about $1,500 in well-worn bills.

He was described as tall, slim, and casually dressed, with short brown hair and a moustache.

The recipients were surprised -- and happy.

"He just came in and started giving out hundreds," said Melanie Loyer, a server at Kelsey's.

"I tried to thank him but he just said, 'Don't thank me' and walked away."

About 15 people left the restaurant $100 richer.

Loyer thought the money was fake but a trip to her bank Saturday morning proved otherwise.

"He wasn't even a customer or anything," Loyer said. "Nobody recognized him."

But he was selective when choosing who he gave the money to, said Debbie Da Silva, also a server at the restaurant.

"I was serving my table," she recalled, "and heard someone say, 'Here he comes again,' and when I looked, the man was pulling $100 bills out of his wallet saying, 'Here you go, here you go, no, no, no,' as he decided who would receive the money."

Da Silva said there didn't seem to be a pattern in how the mystery cash man chose the people to receive the windfall.

"It was very nonchalant. He wasn't making a scene or anything. He was just cheerful and seemed to be enjoying handing out the bills," Da Silva said.

"No one really does that. It's nice to know there's someone out there who would do something so random and so giving."