Little Chef closes the doors
Russell Barton (in blue) says goodbye to customers on Tuesday. Photo by Rebecca Barnett l The Roanoke Times.
Little Chef Restaurant, which has been serving comfort-food lunches and all-night breakfasts on Williamson Road in Roanoke for more than 50 years, has become the latest casualty in a ruthless economy.
It closed today after an emotional lunch service.
Russell Barton, who bought the business in 2004 with his brother Phillip, said the majority of their clientele has always been blue-collar workers and he doesn’t think they have the money to dine out anymore.
“They used to eat here five and six times a week, but they can’t do that now,” he said. In addition, the building is in dire need of improvement, but Barton said he couldn’t justify putting more of his money into it.
As word of the closure spread among regulars this week, they stopped by the landmark white building with its peaked blue roof and striped awning one last time to say goodbye to their favorite employees and food. Some hugged the waitresses and struggled not to cry.
“There’s not many that come in here that we do not know their name,” Barton said.
He and cook Kathy Allison said the best-selling dishes at Little Chef since the Bartons reopened it have been biscuits with gravy, country-fried steak and the Friday special, fried catfish.
Little Chef originally opened near the corner of Williamson Road and Orange Avenue in the 1950s. For years, it was the hot spot to hit for late-night sustenance. In the 1980s, it was purchased by Gary Nimer, who called it Gary’s Little Chef. He closed it in July 1999.
One month later, it opened with new owners, who kept it running until about 2004, when the Bartons bought it. They stayed open all night until February, when they began to close at 9 p.m.
Russell Barton said they put tens of thousands of dollars into remodels before they reopened Little Chef in the summer of 2005, but they have been able to pay off all those debts.
“I’m going out with my head up,” he said. “But I’m sad.”
To read my larger story about this, click here.
Do you have Little Chef memories of your own?
August 28, 2012 - 2:53 PM
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How sad. I’m sorry I never had a chance to eat there. Small Mom & Pop restauarnts are losing out to big chains just like small business and stores have gone under due to malls and large shopping centers.Sign of the times, I suppose. I wish these folks well.
We ate breakfast and lunch there a few times over the years. Another old business of the ‘Noke bites the dust. And they’re tearing down the old Papa Joe’s; last week it was the old Lendy’s. Sad…..
Sad to hear this… Have not eaten there in years but a group of nurses I use to work with would go there a lot after working the 3-11 shift in the early 1980′s. Wish you the best.
That’s unfortunate. Restaurants like Little Chef are make help create the identity of a town or city.
There’s a similar restaurant in my hometown that will probably suffer the same fate by the time its’ 2nd generation owners age out in about ten years. It’s been open for decades, and you can buy several options for breakfast, lunch, or dinner for under $6. Nothing fancy, just comfort food.
The drive thru at Hardees will never match the sit down comfort of biscuits and gravy from a place like Little Chef. Too bad so many people ignore that.
I’m sad to see this. Although I ate lunch there with a bunch of people from work once, and the window sills were full of dead flies and there were a lot of live ones flying around landing on my food. I couldn’t eat the lunch. But that was the only time I have been there, and you can’t really judge a place on one visit.
little chef was a family place Russell is the most giving person I know.I have been going their ever sense he openned he will do anything he can to help anyone out I am very sad to see him go. Russell you will be missed very much, as well as empolyee’s LOVE YOU GUYS ALWAYS STEVE’O
i really hate to see this happen i meet alot of great people there while i worked there and had alot fun there too,have alot of good and bad memories but mostly good ones,i wish you all the luck Barton’s you all will be missed
Definitely sad news. After Papa Joe’s closed (to be torn down) the highlight of the night was an early morning breakfast at The Little Chef. Where are we supposed to go now?
No one has the great food, great prices and greater service than Little Chef. I ate there a few times every week. Where can you find a big plate of sausage gravy for $1.49
Although Little Chef had stopped staying open all night back in February, Trigg asks a good question: Where *can* you go now for a late-night meal? My husband and I were talking about that this morning.
You can to to the Texas Tavern or get a pizza at Fork in the Market or Corned Beef or Benny Marconi’s in downtown Roanoke, but back in my late-night days, I always craved breakfast in the wee hours. Are Denny’s and IHOP open that late? Maybe, but hole-in-the-wall diners have more character and often have better food.
In the old days after the bars closed, it was breakfast at L’il Chef or Steak & Egg a few doors north. In more recent times, a nice meatloaf dinner or the Valley’s best pork chops! Sorry to see the demise of yet another iconic Roanoke experience.
Hate to see another Roanoke landmark gone..but one funny memory I have about Lil Chef…several years ago, late night, Bluegrass legends the Country Gentlemen had just performed at a local club, our regional bluegrass group had just finished another gig and both bands wound up at the Lil Chef..well the ribbing began with the Gents..one of them came out of the men’s room holding the toilet brush and told one of our band mates, he left his toothbrush in the men’s room…not be outdone, bandmate talks to the waitress and the next thing we see is he has taken a piece of tape and wrote “Country” placed it above “Gentlemen” on the restroom door and told Charlie Waller (RIP) and “The Country Gentlemen” they now have their own dressing room anytime they come through Roanoke!..guess you had to be there, but that was classic late night fun.
The food was great and the prices we’re reasonable…Will miss it:(
My friends and I stopped there many late nights on our way home from the Iroquois (also gone but not forgotten).
When I was 18 i worked at lindies on Franklin Road we would come to Get a snack before going home to bed. It was the only safe place to go in 1962.
Wouldnt it be wonderful if EdWalker stepped in and restored it back to it’s former glory?
Russell I did’nt know about this cause I’m out of town so much, but I admire what you did and you did it well,best damn hashbrowns in Roanoke,give me a call sometime.
BEST OF LUCK LITTLE CHEF WILL BE MISSED
RICK
Can not pass this story without saying a few things.
I do hate to see this place close. I have not eaten there much over the past year and a half. I had noticed business was a far cry from what it once was. From so packed in the mornings that it was hard to find a seat to hardly anyone in the place.
While I will say the economy did play a factor I have to also say a good portion is the their own fault. From my experiences eating there anyway. I’m sure people have had better and others worse.
One problem I kept having and one of two of the biggest reasons I had nearly stopped going was there wasn’t constancy in the food. I could eat there on Saturday and have the best food. Return on Sunday and have the worst.
More than once my food would arrive at the table cold. Their grave also depended heavily on what day you got it. I like mine thick and most days it would be. But other times you could drink it with a straw.
The other reason I had all but stopped going is mentioned right in the article. The building needed repairs. But many were just put off even back when their was plenty of business. Example: The window in the large dinning area. It leaked when it rained. bad enough it would make the carpet look horrible. On one visit another customer even commented to the waitress about it. Like someone else commented. The Flies. Several dead by the windows and many still alive and well. Grime along the edges of the floor as well. I started getting concerned about the cleanliness and all but stopped going. Maybe twice in the past year.
A great place once. Not so much the last few years.
I had hopes they would clean up and make some repairs that were needed and turn things around. Sadly this never happened and they finally closed their doors. I had been wondering how much longer they would hang on. Most recently this past Saturday as I drove past.
I may sound harsh to some of their fans here. I do not intend to be and just voicing my part.
Hope someone else steps up and reopens the place. I know Russell saved the old place from the bulldozer years ago. We thank him for that.
Lastly I had noticed that Russell was not around like he once was. Maybe that was the source of some of the above problems.
Little Chef holds a special place in my heart. My mother told me that she and my father used to go there after a night on the town. Every time I drove by Little Chef I would smile, thinking about my parents talking over their fun night or just generally being young and in love. When I gave birth to my second child, my mother took my eldest daughter to Little Chef for breakfast and they had a great time there, talking about how special it was for our family to grow. I did eat at Little Chef a few times and wasn’t wowed by the food, but it was all about history, memories, and the feelings it evoked. Best of luck to the owners and staff.