The new Pied Piper Diner and eye-catching destination for dining enthusiasts
From the castle façade on the outside to the extensive multi-page menu on the inside, The New Pied Piper Diner and Restaurant at 1605 Route 100 in Barto is working hard to change the old image of diners as being nothing more than “greasy spoons.”
Owner Peter Yannaris purchased the restaurant nearly five years ago from a longtime family friend who owned the same site a former diner which had been closed for nearly a decade. This dilapidated diner was torn down, and a new restaurant was designed and built as the eyecatching structure of turrets and towers that it is today.
“It was just rundown,” said Yannaris of the former diner. “He gutted it, ripped out the whole place, and built a brand-spanking-new diner. He used the same façade, the same skeleton as the Pied Piper in Trexlertown, so he called this ‘The New Pied Piper.’ He did a very good job. I’m really glad with what he did. It’s working out very well for us.”
Yannaris was no stranger to owning diners when he opened The New Pied Piper, his seventh restaurant, in 2007. In the 30 years since he opened his first diner in Allentown, he has owned and eventually sold off 5 others in Harrisburg, King of Prussia, Lancaster and Reading.
He originally starting working in the business as a dishwasher at age 13, and by 15 he was on the grill learning how to cook. At 20, he took money he had saved and opened a diner with his father, who had been working in construction since the family moved to the United States from Greece. A few years later they opened a second diner together in Reading before his father retired.
Yannaris, even before he was an adult, was learning the ins and outs of the restaurant business and cannot picture himself in any other industry.
“I love it,” said Yannaris. “I wouldn’t want to even try anything else. This is it for me. I’ve worked for myself since I was 20. I wouldn’t know how to work for anybody else. Back in the ‘70s there was no problem with a dishwasher like myself buying a restaurant because the competition wasn’t there. This diner business is a lot tougher now.”
Like the first 2 diners that Yannaris owned as a young adult with his father, The New Pied Piper is also a family affair. Yannaris’ wife, Cheryl, works there daily, and their children Angie, Paul and Alex work weekends, helping out wherever needed.
They are focused on quality food, and they are proud that everything they serve—from the baked goods to the breaded chicken cutlets—is made in-house. The menu features appetizers, nearly 20 different salads, several dozen sandwiches, burgers, wraps, sautés, stir fries, steaks, seafood, pasta, and a variety of comfort food favorites, such as meatloaf and fried chicken. Additionally, the dessert case is filled with cheesecakes, turnovers, pies, cakes and cookies.
“Everything is homemade. There is nothing brought in. Our chef makes everything—the soups, the salads, the meatloaves—everything,” said Yannaris. “And everything is baked right here. We have our own baker come in 3 times a week, and he bakes everything right here for us.”
The diner offers a senior citizen menu which offers meals served with one vegetable or house salad, a cup of fruit, and dessert for $6.99 to $8.99. Yannaris listened to the comments from patrons requesting a senior menu be added and admits the addition “has been phenomenal.”
Yannaris, in fact, tries to keep the entire menu interesting and current by taking advice from staff and customers and updating the menu offerings on a regular basis.
As he explained, “We don’t specialize in any particular item. We specialize in everything. Everything is our specialty. I want people who are coming from far away to come back again and again. I better take care of them, because if I don’t, they can stop anywgere else, so we go out of our way just to keep bringing them back again.”
The New Pied Piper Diner and Restaurant is open Sunday to Thursday from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. To contact the restaurant, call 610-845-0000.