Four stars for a hill billy diner? Absolutely. If you're in St. Helens, is it worth the 10 minute drive up Pittsburgh Road to eat here? Absolutely.
We like this place because of the friendly service, food that is great (not perfect), but everything is homemade from scratch. The quality of the items will surprise you from this hill billy diner off the beaten path. We had the prime rib. It came with an au jus sauce made from the prime's drippings, not salty, and so tasty that I couldn't stop.
You wind four miles south of the highway. You see an old fashioned red building on the side of the road over looking a green meadow with trees. The wood poles holding up the front porch are reminiscent of a time you would be tying your horse up there. You step inside the small store and take in the quarter of the store that is devoted to snack items. Next you see the dry-erase board with the daily specials to your upper left, next is the old fashion message board with news and announcements. The signs are both above the cashier station so you'll probably need to give a weak hello and smile to the cashier. If its a no nonsense lady wearing an apron and a smile, its probably Mel, the boss lady and owner.
Next take in the long alley of drink coolers, then head back and grab a table. The waitress will bring the photocopied menu and soak in the gems like $5 extra for buffalo in your burger (and $7 extra for an elk burger). Then there's the 'hill billy baked potato' for $8. "Eight bucks for a baked potato???" you say to yourself, then a regular explains to you that its smothered with sour cream and butter and fills a nine inch plate. 2 people could split this baked potato for dinner.
The special was a $17 prime rib, it comes with green beans, dinner roll and the aforementioned 7 inch baked potato, and two mild appetites could easily split it.
Order some deep fried mushrooms as an appetizer; they are hand battered in a house beer batter and its a substantial basket. Enough for four people to split as an appetizer.
The fish and chips are frozen 'tavern cod' (same as McMenamins) but they were fried just right. The seasoning on the fries was excellent and the tartar sauce was house made with heavy relish and was delicious.
For the side dinner salads the ranch and blue cheese were also house made. And well made at that. Usually 2-3 of their salad dressings are house made, they are excellent and worth asking for.
On my first stop they had fried oysters on special and they were excellent. They were the best oysters I've had, but they are not a regular menu item.
You probably missed them coming in, but next to the cashier is a white cooler with 3-4 home made pies. The chocolate creme pie and peach cobbler were both excellent.
This place doesn't pretend to be anything other than the hill billy diner it is, but that means real home made food made fresh, with friendly service, and the locals are glad to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner here probably something close to everyday. If I was going to cook prime rib for my family, this would be the same ingredients and quality that I would serve them.
Back to that four star rating. Let's say that a Shari's or Denny's is your average 3-star diner serving the best bags of salt that Sysco drops off the back of their truck. Considering this is a diner in St. Helens, this is definitely 4-stars, not just because the closest Shari's is 30 miles away in Portland, but they get a whole lot of little details right. The store is clean, bright, well organized, friendly, and the food quality and preparation is absolutely four stars. In the St. Helens area this is probably one of the top three restaurants (the others being the Klondike in downtown and the former Village Inn restaurant on the highway). The Yankton store would be my first choice in St. Helens just because it is casual place for friends. If I had out of town family visiting, I would take them to the Klondike. If I had a couple Portland foodies with me, I would probably give them the choice of the Village Inn vs. Yankton Store. read more