Newellstown Diner celebrates serving 25 years worth of smiles
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ST. CLAIRSVILLE - Newellstown Diner is celebrating 25 years of serving the St. Clairsville community.
Co-owner TJ Stewart said that he drove a 1955 Chevy in high school, and was always intrigued with the 1950s culture.
"I didn’t really care about the restaurant part of it. I just wanted a ’50s diner, and I thought the town needed something here," Stewart said. "I was raised in this town, and I wanted to see this town have something like this."
Stewart opened the restaurant in 2001 with his friend Michael Troullos, who later sold his half of the business to Terra Butler in 2020.
Butler said that, when the COVID-19 pandemic happened, Troullos decided he wanted to sell his part of the company, which led to her buying him out to keep the diner open.
"Terra runs it on a day-to-day basis and she does an outstanding job. Matter of fact, after COVID, if it weren’t for her, it wouldn’t have come back to life," Stewart said. "She’s been working in restaurants for a long time and I just don’t have time because of my full-time job."
In addition to being a co-owner of the diner, Stewart is also a lieutenant for the St. Clairsville Police Department.
In 2022 the diner acquired its liquor license, which allowed it to extend its hours.
"As far as size goes, we are unable to grow. But as far as our business goes, a few years ago we got a liquor license and opened some evenings. That was an expansion of our time," Stewart said. "When it comes to the amount of people coming through here, it has increased through the years pretty steadily, and we basically fit what we can, and that’s it. We did add the outdoor seating, which helped a lot, but we can only fit so many, so it’s impossible to grow much more. We've hit the max."
Steward wouldn’t say that the liquor license increased the diner’s business, but it allowed it to offer something else to its customers.
"Now we have some Thursday night events where people like to come in and get drinks, and we are also able to offer mimosas, bloody marys and things like that for breakfast," Stewart said. "I would say that it added something but I’m not sure it added business for us too much."
Butler feels that the business is always growing but still has loyal customers who make eating at the diner a part of their daily routine.
Another thing that she thinks is neat about owning the diner is people from all over the country — and even different countries — have stopped by from seeing its positive Google reviews.
"One of the fun things is that our Google reviews are very good and we’ve been getting a lot more reviews lately. A lot of people punch in local places and get off the interstate and come up here blindly. We’ve been getting a lot of that and I love that," Butler said. "I think that’s cool when somebody stops in here, and we have groups stop in here and a few bands have stopped here while traveling through the area."
Butler thinks it's really nice when people from out of town make a point to return while traveling through Belmont County.
Stewart said that the diner has a board where people can sign and put what state they're from and someone from all 50 states has dined there.
"We get people from all over all the time, and we’re always trying to do a little better here and there with different varieties of foods and things. We also like to try different ideas for events and stuff, but we just have a good thing and just want to keep it going," Stewart said.
One of the staple menu items is the "Tommy Burger," which Stewart named after his son Tommy Stewart.
The burger is the diner's take on a Big Mac that Stewart made for his son growing up because of his love for the fast food chain.
Stewart added that one of the things the diner strives to do is make its prices as affordable as possible.
“We buy the best ingredients, we spend the money but we do not raise our prices unless we absolutely have to, and even lower them when we can," Stewart said.
Butler added that she thinks that she's raised the prices three times in six years but still only raised items by 25 cents or 50 cents.
"I never did look for profit. Never. I just wanted to break even enough to be here. That’s all I ever cared about, and to make it affordable for anybody who wanted to come in. And I think we pulled it off. We have a really fantastic bunch of employees right now," Stewart said.
Butler said the diner currently has nine employees who are incredibly dedicated and hard working.
The diner was named Newellstown Diner after St. Clairsville's original name.
Founded in 1796, St. Clairsville was originally named Newellstown in honor of its founder, David Newell. According to the city's website, in 1802, Newell renamed the town in honor of his cousin General Arthur St. Clair, who was the first governor of the Northwest Territory, a confidant of George Washington, and President of the First Continental Congress.
Stewart said that he is a fan preserving history and when coming up with names he noticed that the only memorial of Newell in the city was Newell Avenue.
The diner is open Saturday through Wednesday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m, Thursdays from 7 a.m. until 2 p.m. and then 4-8 p.m. and Fridays from 7 a.m. until 9 p.m.
The diner will be celebrating its 25th anniversary with its Car Cruise on September 13 from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. on Main Street. The event will have live music, classic cars, food, and drinks for people of all ages.