After quietly opening its doors Aug. 16, the Oakley Diner’s official grand opening celebration begins Friday, Sept. 15.
The grand opening was only announced this week and locals have already stopped by to sample the menu at the renovated and expanded rail car. The diner has been running short wait times on the weekend to keep up with the buzz.
Jamie Swanson lives four miles away and the diner is on his way to work. He used to go every day when it was still called the Road Island Diner, and he’s back for breakfast.
“I've changed my eating habits a little bit, but I'll probably be here a couple of times a week,” Swanson told KPCW Monday.
He knows executive chef Eric May and restaurant manager Lita Muliadi personally and said they’re good people. They formerly worked at Midway’s Blue Boar Inn.
Swanson complimented the food and the vibe too.
“I like it mostly because it reminds me of home,” Swanson said. “When I was a kid growing up we had a diner a lot like this called The Hilltop and it was an old train car just like this.”
It’s a storied dining car, originally built by the Jerry O'Mahony Diner Company for the 1939 World’s Fair in New York City.
After that, it was McDermott's Diner in Fall River, Mass. and Tommy’s Deluxe Diner in Middletown, R.I. Utah businessman Keith Walker bought it in 2006 and spent three months the following year towing it across the country.
Walker renamed it the “Road Island Diner,” originally planned for the triangular island between state Route 32, Bench Road and Big Piney Ranch Road.
Now it’s at the corner of Weber Canyon Road and state Route 32, and it’s on the National Register of Historic Places.
Oakley resident Taylor Potts said it would be nice for the diner to showcase some of that history.
“What would be cool inside [the diner] are historical pictures of what this place used to be, and something on the wall that explains the history of it,” Potts said.
Unfortunately, the diner ran into staffing issues and owners Steve and Ginny Butler closed it in 2021. Now, the owners are Steve and Jana Smith.
As part of a wider push to create a new Oakley city center, Steve Smith began renovating the dining car late last year. Smith’s friend and marketing coordinator Andy Capener said construction has taken longer than expected.
There’s still more to come, too. On the expanded back side of the diner, which faces Oakley City Hall, there will be a bakery, drive-thru coffee shop and a FiiZ soda shop.
May said it will help the diner realize its goal of making as much of its food as possible on-site.
“So all our desserts and all our breads will be made downstairs,” the chef said.
All the customers KPCW interviewed said they enjoyed the food. However, they noticed the staffing issues that plagued the Road Island Diner might not be solved yet.
“We're all working a lot,” May said. “We're hiring, but this area is a little bit tougher than most. We’ve found some good key players, but we’re always looking.”
The Oakley Diner’s grand opening celebration runs Friday through Sunday. Everyone gets a free T-shirt with their meal, free soda and can enter in a raffle.
The winning ticket gets free dinner for two for a year.
