MIFFLIN TOWNSHIP — After spending months molding their dreams into reality, new restaurant owners Carolyn and John Keogh have unveiled the new Mifflin Inn restaurant.
The business reopened its doors with a refurbished, contemporary atmosphere that is pleasing to the eye and also honors the rich history of the building site. Framed blueprints and newspaper articles line the walls where guests can relax and have a bite to eat.
With eager hearts and a vision for the future, the Keoghs acquired the Mifflin Inn in June of 2018. However, this was not necessarily something they originally planned to do.
“We were on 603 and we drive past the Mifflin Inn and there’s the for sale sign – it’s been for sale for almost a year,” John said. “We saw the sign and I was horsing around saying, ‘Hey, we could buy the Mifflin Inn’ and that planted the seed in her head and here we are.”
Several changes were made to the restaurant after the purchase. Originally, there were only two front windows to the building, so more were installed to add more natural lighting. The ceilings in the main room were also redone.
“When we walked in the door, there were ceiling tiles from the ‘70’s. They were sagging and they were dirty. The floor and the carpet was weathered,” John said. “We started with the floor and we started to rip the carpet out.
“Once we got under the carpet, there was glue that held the carpet. That took 70 or 80 hours just to get the glue off of it.”
The couple didn’t shy away from the hard work, and it eventually paid off because of what they found underneath the original carpeted flooring.
“We found the original floor that was underneath the carpet from the 40’s and there was nothing wrong with it,” John said. “That was like a treasure when we found it.”
There are some changes to the menu, but it still has some traditional favorites longtime customers might remember.
“We did keep some of the stuff here that people loved,” Carolyn said. “We have the fried mushrooms, we even had somebody send us the original 1960’s or 1970’s recipe for sauerkraut balls.
“We’ve gotten a lot of help from the community and it’s been a fun history lesson actually.”
The restaurant is known for its rich historical background. The building itself actually burned down in 1940 and was rebuilt in 1941. The site hosted the likes of Johnny Appleseed, who was known to sleep there during the early 1800’s.
Although the response from customers has been overall positive, the Keogh’s noted one thing is missing from their restaurant that people keep asking about.
“Easily 90 percent of the people who were here before ask, ‘Where is the salad bar?’” John said. “We don’t have it yet, but we have the real estate for it.
“When the restaurant can stand on its own two feet and can buy its own salad bar, we are putting one in.”
The Keogh’s eye for the future only sees the restaurant growing. There are also plans to eventually begin selling eight beers on tap, including a variety of traditional and local lagers.
The restaurant is currently in a soft opening with a limited menu, but a ribbon-cutting is scheduled for March 15.
