Longevity in the business world is impressive, doubly so when talking about the restaurant industry.
Customers’ tastes change as years pass and, for most eateries, if their offerings don’t change with those tastes, the restaurants get left behind for trendy locales and fresher menus.
Then there’s Mehlman’s Cafeteria in St. Clairsville.
Originally opened in Wheeling in 1961, Mary Mehlman Dietrich and her family purchased a former motel on U.S. 40 just outside of St. Clairsville in 1966 to operate their cafeteria-style restaurant. It’s been in the same location ever since, serving hundreds of customers Wednesdays through Sundays.
That’s 56 years of longevity for those not doing the math but Mehlman’s certainly passes the eye test.
Take a drive down National Road any time during business hours and what you’ll find is a packed parking lot with happy customers readily entering the establishment. Those same customers are smiling upon exiting, moving a little bit slower, and a whole lot fuller.
But what’s the secret? What keeps people coming back year after year, decade after decade?
“Definitely the consistency,” said Ashley Mehlman, part of the fourth generation of the Mehlman family to work at the cafeteria and the great-grandaughter of Mary Mehlman Dietrich. “All of our pies are made fresh every day, and we use all the same recipes.
“We’ve added a few things here and there, but we still serve all of the items that my great grandma started back in 1961.”
Cafeteria-style eateries are few and far between. The former Young’s Cafeteria in Moundsville is now a second location for a restaurant from Dallas Pike. But through the years, Mehlman’s has remained busy as ever. In doing so, it caters to young and old alike, despite some people just assuming that primarily older customers prefer cafeteria-style dining.
Do a large number of elderly patrons enjoy Mehlman’s food? Yes, but so do younger adults and even children.
“We do get a lot of younger people coming in, families too,” Mehlman admitted. “A lot of people like to have their parties here. There’s no charge for the room unless they go over two hours.
“That makes it nice because they can come in, eat, and also have their meeting.”
A number of clubs will hold their weekly or monthly meetings inside Mehlman’s, enjoying fresh, home-cooked style meals whilst doing so. What’s a meeting without good food anyway, so why not go somewhere with affordable, quality food and no extra charge for the meeting space?
Best of Both Worlds
The knock on fast food is that while it’s prepared (relatively) quickly, the food quality suffers a bit because of the speed.
Traditional sit-down dining with table service ups the food quality considerably, but at the expense of speed. Sometimes the wait can be considerable depending on business levels, not only for the food but also just to get a table Because Mehlman’s is a cafeteria, it can balance the time and food quality aspects and offer the best of both worlds.
Scanning the menu, you’ll find everyday items like baked ham, stuffed chicken, white fish and salmon, and even prime rib.
There are also daily specials, along with an extensive dessert menu, including Mehlman’s homemade pies and cakes.
Simply grab your try, go down the line and pick out what you want.
“Nothing is frozen; everything is fresh, and we get you through as quick as we can,” Mehlman said. “It’s the best of both worlds, you can say.
“Most places when you sit down to it, there’s a chance you will be waiting a while.”
Even on Sundays, when Mehlman’s is at its busiest, your only wait is to get to the front of the serving line and pick out your items. Afterward, simply pay at the register, find a place to eat, and feast.
It’s also the perfect place for someone who struggles to look at a menu and decide what they want to eat. Why look at words and a description on a menu when you can take in all the freshly made food right in front of you and decide what looks most appetizing?
New Additions
While the menu and recipes stay consistent, Mehlman admitted there have been a few additions added to the restaurant through the years.
One is Mehlman’s starting to do catering around 10 years ago and, well, it’s been a big hit. Offering multiple options and levels for potential customers, Mehlman’s has catered a number of events and weddings.
“We have a catering van and all the equipment and we started that about 10 years ago,” she said. “We’ve done a lot of weddings recently.”
Another more recent addition came about because of the COVID pandemic, and it’s stuck. Curbside takeout was implemented as a way to keep the Mehlman’s fanbase happy while in-person dining wasn’t an option. Sure, plenty of customers were happy to return to the restaurant once that was an option, but a number of customers also enjoyed curbside takeout and have continued to make use of its convenience.
“A lot of customers loved it and we say OK, we’ll keep it then,” Mehlman said. “They don’t have to get out of their cars so that definitely makes it nice.”
Not Going Anywhere
Mehlman also wanted to assure the public that Mehlman’s Cafeteria is not going anywhere, and it’s certainly not closing.
The parking lot is always full and the customers are happy. Why would any business owner(s) ever want to close in such a case?
Exactly, yet people still ask.
“There was a rumor going around that we were closing,” Mehlman said. “It’s definitely not true, we have no intentions of closing.”
She’s not quite sure how the rumor got started, but it began about a year ago. Even now, she’ll occasionally get a random person to make an inquiry.
“I’ll get asked every so often, like if I’m getting my hair done, one of the ladies will say ‘I hear you are closing,”’ Mehlman said.
She’ll receive calls at the store with the same question. It’s died down for the most part, but Mehlman said that even about two weeks ago, someone called and asked, and as recently as last week, another inquired in person.
Keep in mind, this is an eatery that in 2019 was rated as the No. 6 cafeteria in all of America by Food & Wine magazine’s David Landsel.
That’s right, it’s not going anywhere … but the hungry will have to wait until Wednesday.
