Our Coal Miners Cafe

Stopped in for lunch on Sunday. No problem getting a table at noon. Waitress was very personable, kitchen staff must have been having a bad day in comparison to other reviews. Had ½ Reuben sandwich and barley soup. Soup arrived lukewarm (at best). sandwich was pretty skimpy, lukewarm and looked like the meat had been thrown on it from a distance (I needed to finish assembling it before eating). All in all, pretty disappointing, only giving two stars in consideration of our server.

Come to this wonderful restaurant. You will instantly go back in time to a cozy, quaint dining experience. The food is all home-​made and delicious. Our waitress. Chantelle, was friendly and efficient.

It’s been many, many years since we visited this place, and since we were in the area to see the Flight 93 National Memorial (a must-​do), we decided that on our way back to stop here and give it another try. Boy, were we glad…
From the outside, the place looks a little rough, and with a sign hanging on the front welcoming bikers, it might even scare a few people off — but don’t let the «cover» scare you from this «book». Inside the place is decorated very handsomely in the area’s rustic and woodsy manner — the place had a very homey feel. Once seated inside, we were surprised to find an extensive menu of breakfast, lunch, and dinner items, as well as specials all over the place.
For lunch, my sons each had their Pizza Burger, which they both thoroughly enjoyed. My wife had their Belize (I think) pancakes, three huge ones covered in pineapple and bananas. I had their orange marmalade chicken with green beans. Both of us enjoyed our meals, which was the chaser to a very fresh, if not overly abundant salad bar. As a side note, we also tried the soups they had out this day — I had the cabbage soup, where my wife had the chicken noddle — both were superbly made.
The server was very friendly and efficient, as well as helpful (since we were just surprised with the size of the menu– not expecting it) if not overly chatty. The one nit we did have was with the couple of flys zooming around our table. Although we didn’t say anything, it was obvious to us that they were sneaking in a side door they were using to bring in the new tables they were setting out. Thankfully, these critters didn’t bother us much, so it wasn’t really a big deal (I’ve had much, much worse experiences in other places that had their doors shut…)
Overall, it’s a great little surprise in the heart of coal-​country, Western PA.

Building seems pretty historic & neat. The photos of the Flight 93 memorial (roughly 20 minutes away) all around the dining area are sobering.
Waitresses were friendly and earnest. Seems like they have two widely separated dining areas? Our waitress was running all over, but still did an admirable job taking care of us.
Food was — eh. Burgers were chintzy and smallish, even a slice of tomato or lettuce would have made them feel more substantial. One of our party got a dinner (soup & salad bar, huge roll, pasta entrée) that looked very generous and was apparently decent-​tasting. Their gob cake portions are huge and tasty.

Great find. Fresh food, handmade burgers. Waitress funny/​friendly, made us feel welcome.

We needed a lunch spot after visiting Flight 93 Memorial up the road. We did not want to eat at a fast food franchise, so gambled on this spot, which I think is just called «Coal Miners Café» not «Our Coal Miners Café.»
Although we gave it only a 3, we are still glad we stopped. At 2pm on a Saturday in January, the place was kind of busy. Staff was super friendly and the menu was simple and reasonably priced. Lots of burgers and such (See photos of menu I posted). Nothing fancy on menu. My husband had turkey and waffles. Waffles were simply OK, but turkey was super fresh and hot. I had fried shrimp and fries. Just Ok and were made from frozen shrimp from bag. We skipped pies available for desert, they looked great and they said they make them right in their kitchen.
But you know what, I would stop by again if ever in area. It’s a sweet little spot and super friendly people. Food was OK, but options in the area are clearly limited, so this was an acceptable option for for us.

Wonderful place to stop, eat, and appreciate the kind and friendly owners’ memorial room to the Flight 93 victims and another honoring the 9 who survived that coal mine accident years ago in that same area. Our family of four split the huge «eat it all (by yourself) and it’s free» meal with the 2lb burger, big mound of curly fries, cole slaw and awesome chocolate gob cake and ice cream and loved it. My daughters want to make it a tradition to stop here every summer after picking them up from camp.

First time here. Awaiting my vehicle inspection across street I wanted a bagel, egg, cheese sandwich and waitress never blinked an eye (it was not on menu) and it appeared within minutes quite tasty and very efficient. Coming back for Happy Hour

I have always had great food and pleasant service here. The dining room is so cozy.
You get a lot of food for the price. My dad knows the owner and he is a very pleasant man!

I can only speak on the Sunday Buffet– don’t. Perhaps the menu items are better. The place is fairly popular, and it is cute and comfortable and reasonable. The staff are diligent and friendly. Give it a try for the menu; we will, next time we are in town.

I didn’t care for this place. I got the Thanksgiving Dinner and it was not that good. Then the owner came out and read a poem or something he wrote to the entire dining room! It was so weird and awkward. My husband and I did get to laugh though because the poem was some crazy «Night Before Christmas» knockoff.

Another blast from the past. This place is pretty cool and has decent food at a decent price. They have a really large burger list with all types of strange burgers such as a Peanut Butter burger and a Sheppard’s Burger which consists of Mashed Potato’s and Onions. They also offer a huge Gob cake sundae. Overall this place is cool for the experience and a great pit stop while driving on the Lincoln Highway.

We go here to get the Miner’s meal deal. 2lb burger, an entire deep fryer basket full of fries, a side dish, and a gob cake sunday enough for at least 3 people. It’s worth every penny. Everything else we have had here has also been good. I highly recommend it. I also enough the atomsphere.

Very good– stopped here after visiting United Flight 93 memorial. Cute place with coal miner items as decorations on walls. Had the spicy burger with hot sauce and blue cheese-​very good. Family member had hot roast beef sandwich-​also very good!

I’m giving it 4 stars on a whim. I went to this resturant last summer. We were adventurous and we ordered the Miners meal deal.
If your family all just want burgers and fries you should try this. It was 20 dollars give or take some change. 3 BOYS /​men shared this meal. there was enough meat for 4 people to be more than full. I’m not sure how they serve it if you are eating it alone. If sharing it they serve it with enough rolls for everyone sharing to basically make their own burger. HUGE BASKET of fries took up an entire pizza pan.
I had the hot roast beef with mashed potatoes and gravy. YUMMY! All of the deserts were home made.
I’m sure it is like most of the other resturants they are hit or miss. Sometimes the food is great. Sometimes the food sucks. I have ate there when they were at their previous location before it burnt down. The salads are good, meals are great! I can’t think of any time i have ate here that it was «bad»
Check them out more than once !

My family and I stopped here after visiting the Flight 93 Memorial site, which is just down the road. I had been to the previous Café location for a meal, which had since burned down in a fire. The café is now located at the old White Star hotel, which is at the light in Jennerstown, right along route 30. If you do not look carefully for it, you may just miss it. Look for the blue awning over the front door to the building. They have a small parking lot along route 30, but they have additional parking behind the building. The main entrance is handicap accessible, with a ramp leading up to the door. From the sign out front, they apparently also have lodging available, although I did not inquire more about that. We walked in and were immediately seated in a nice, well-​lit open room with white walls and natural wood beams across the ceiling. Our server was very friendly and was very attentive. They serve pretty average American fare, although with some down home cooking twists. Think gravy on your fries and hardy portions. Speaking of portions. if you are really hungry, you can get a miner meal, which boasts a 2 pound hamburger, a huge basket of fries, and their famous gob dessert (see picture). If you manage to eat the entire meal, it is on the house. While I was not feeling that hungry, I did try one of their many different styles of hamburgers, which was very tasty. We did try the gob dessert, which consists of a large slice of gob cake (two layers of chocolate cake with a creamy icing in between) topped with a couple huge scoops of vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. Delicious! And in the end, the check was no where near expensive… very inexpensive if you ask me for the amount of food that we had. Overall, we really liked the laid-​back atmosphere and the genuine hospitality that the Café had to offer. We will definitely be back, hopefully to try our hand at the Miner meal! (And on the way out of the restaurant, we saw flyers for dinner theatre-​style meals that they have… would have to check the local listings for upcoming events!)