If there’s a word that best describes A&L Diner in Lively, it’s definitely community.
The diner, located in an old bowling alley, offers customers comfort foods around the clock, a party room, along with an adjacent bar featuring simulation golf and pool tables for entertainment and good times.
Owner Art McKay is no stranger to the homegrown restaurant business. He has operated restaurants in medical buildings in the downtown and at Memorial Hospital in the past.
He currently runs A&L’s, named for him and his wife, Lynn, along with McKay’s Cafe on Long Lake Road in the South End.
Rachel Janosi, the manager, says A&L was built for the community with a sense of community pride.
“We’ve hired a diverse and talented group of cooks here who truly care,” Janosi said. “At the beginning it was a bit of a struggle thanks to growing pains, but now we are a powerhouse.”
She said the menu items that customers crave are the massive homemade burgers with meat from Tarini’s along with hot sandwiches and cold ones, like the reuben.
She added that the crispy and battered haddock served with chips and coleslaw are also a fan favourite.
Community also runs deep in the menu itself with a line-up of homemade soups, sauces and chili.
Janosi said feedback from customers has been very positive citing that everyone feels “Lively really needed this.”
She said customers also appreciate the early morning hours, but also the supper run because there aren’t a lot of options nearby.
“For breakfast, a lot of people like the eggs Benedict cooked to perfection and your standard Apprentice breakfast with eggs, bacon and toast at a reasonable price,” she said.
Janosi says the restaurant relies on three great cooks, a staff that feels like family and the best coffee ever.
In their efforts to build more community, the staff host a buffet from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Sunday, along with karaoke, open mic and live music nights.
To bolster friendly competition, they offer a pool league and longest drive competitions on the golf simulators.
And if that’s not enough, the staff collaborate with local groups and organizations like Lively High School, the Walden Winter Carnival and this past summer they hosted a Walden Mountain Bike Club bike social event.
This month, the staff are knee deep in hosting Christmas parties for local mines.
Slowly, A&J is building a social media presence with Facebook with more good things to come in the new year.
The hours of operation are 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. On Sunday’s, the restaurant closes an hour earlier.
The attached New Huddle Bar follows slightly different hours. The restaurant is located at 145 MR24 in Lively.
Anastasia Rioux is a writer in Greater Sudbury. Let’s Eat! is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.