The Wellsboro Diner, Wellsboro, PA

My dad and his siblings have some land in the Allegheny mountains of PA. Dad, Dan , K and I went up after my cousin's wedding to check the place out (we had damage to some trees on the property due to a small tornado).



The property is close to Wellsboro, PA; a quaint all-American town built on the back of American factories. Many of the mountain towns are sparse to say the least but this one is well maintained and thriving in spite of the economic downturn.

It is a family tradition to go to the Wellsboro Diner at least once for pie when we go up to the mountains, so on our way in on Saturday we made the obligatory stop.

Inside it is a blast back to the 1950's...chrome and red and there is almost always a line to get in because there is very limited seating available.

I want to swoop in and fix this place up; it has great bones but that's about it. They don't use fresh ingredients (from what I can tell); it is mostly frozen and fried fare. It could be really fantastic if they had a chef with a vision. I've heard that breakfast is pretty decent (but it's hard to mess up eggs, bacon and toast so the jury is still out for me....I'll go for breakfast next time!)

They have the history, logo, name recognition and a solid following, they just don't have the food to back it up.

Needless to say all four of us were unimpressed with our pie. It has been years since I've been to the Diner (I've been a slacker and haven't been up to the mountains in a while--once or twice since Papa died in 2001).

Above is Dad's graham cracker pie. This used to be Papa's favorite but dad said that the above is not a good representation for how it should be. I'm curious if there was a change in management or if we all are just food snobs now...maybe a both!

My Raspberry Peach Pie; it tasted like canned peaches and likely frozen raspberries (which there is nothing wrong with a frozen raspberry--they can make great sauces and pies; however, with the canned peach...not so tasty). Pie crust was okay, nothing to write home about and the ice cream was interlaced with ice crystals...ugh.

Dan ordered what he thought was a "Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie" (since it was listed on the pie menu), but the above is what came out. A hard, flavorless cookie; Dan was bummed.

Kristen ordered the peanut butter pie, which could have been great, but ended up pretty awful in my opinion. I didn't even bother taking a picture. It was a peanut butter cream filling with whipped cream on top; all together, it was way too sweet and it was desperate for some crunch to save it from the one note it was hitting.

In all, the diner is a cute place to visit, but go for breakfast, not dessert!