There was not a lot of information to be found on Dempsey’s American Kitchen online. Only this Morning Call article from 2005 about the restaurant location in Bethlehem being closed. Dempsey’s headquartered in Reading, but there were 14 locations eventually opened (and subsequently closed) around the region in the 60 years the company was in operation. The Lancaster Pike location was shuttered in January of 2007 and was the last of the Dempsey’s to be closed.
Dempsey’s American Kitchen served typical Pennsylvania Dutch food – rich in meats and potatoes, and typical diner food as well. It served breakfast, lunch and dinner. The other Dempsey’s location in Berks was on 5th Street in Muhlenberg.
The Shillington Dempsey’s American Kitchen was torn down in 2019 and a Sheetz gas station and convenience store was erected in it’s place. The bank next to the old Dempsey’s was also razed.
Many remember the fat dutch boy statue that stood outside right in front of building in front the Dempsey’s sign. A couple of these statues make an appearance at the yearly Kutztown Folk Festival.
Just this morning, they started tearing the building down.
[…] on 724 in Shillington, where Ollies and the Trading Post now are, directly across from the old Dempsey’s American Restaurant that was recently torn down to make way for a Sheetz. Ron’s recollection of his short time […]
I spent hundreds of hours at this place over a few years. Drinking endless cups of coffee smoking pack after pack of cigarette– met some great friends who have disappeared into the ether over the years…
Visited this restaurant in the 1990’s in the company of the Bernardine Franciscan Sisters of Mt. Alvernia College. Those were wonderful times! So sorry to learn the restaurant is closed. I wanted to take my daughter there this summer.
Was it called Dempseys in the 90s?