Owners of Erie's Pittsburgh Inn proud of what they've brought to 100-year-old restaurant

Robin and Tom Weunski have owned the Pittsburgh Inn for 17 years, but they're just the current caretakers of the iconic yellow and black comfort food restaurant at 3725 West Lake Road, which has most likely outlived any of its original customers.

"It was established in 1924, making it 100 years old," said Robin Weunski. "The first two owners were from Pittsburgh, when rich people would come up from their homes to their huge summer cottages and bring their boats. Many of our regulars still come up from Pittsburgh to camp here and bring their families. We've known of families who have come as kids and they have grown up and now bring their own kids."

But they have made their century-old business their own. They pride themselves on their stalwart menu items, such as liver and onions, Lake Erie perch, ox roast and city chicken, and created a landmark for veterans of all stars and stripes.

Walls of Honor

Weunskis' son, Josh, now 39, served three tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, inspired what is now called The Walls of Honor.

She started sending him care packages and then she started sending more care packages to other servicemen and women from Erie. Then she started taking donations from customers and fans of the restaurant, and posting photos in the restaurant's entryway of all the soldiers she'd helped. The Walls of Honor can't hold anymore photos.

"Now there are people from every war represented in there," Robin Weunski said, adding that she's trying to slow down the care package project due to her own health issues.

"We've sent out thousands of care packages," she said. "To hundreds of addresses. It's expensive just to mail them, so we started taking donations to pay for that. But I'm trying to wind that down now."

A part of the dining room features memorabilia from wars that people have given her over the years. That area, which seats about eight, is called the Freedom Room.

Celebrating Pittsburgh in Erie

The Weunskis have also taken the name Pittsburgh Inn seriously, and it's a place that celebrates the Pittsburgh Steelers, Penguins and Pirates. Menu items have names referring to the Steel City sports legends such as Mario Lemieux, Jerome Bettis and others.

"We're not really a sports bar," said Tom Weunski. "We only have one TV and an extra for when the Steelers are playing, but that's not really why they chose to paint the restaurant yellow and black.

At first, Robin Weunski said, the restaurant was green and it was called the Green Goose Grill. Then it was painted "a funny yellow" she said, and when they bought it, they decided to make it a more agreeable yellow, which lent itself to the Pittsburgh Inn name, and the black trim was added.

Robin Weunski keeps a leather bound book with stories and signatures of customers from over the years.

"It's nothing (unusual) to hear that 'my grandparents lived here and that's why we came,'" she said.

Pittsburgh Inn was in a book ("Always a Home Game") which listed 100 best Steelers bars, written by Josh Miller, a former NFL player who was on the Steelers for a time.

The Weunskis, Robin, 60, and Tom, 61, are starting to think about retirement. They have grandchildren they'd like to spend time with, and health issues that make back-breaking work of running a restaurant even more difficult.

"We've given the place a lot of energy," Tom Weunski said.

"It's been awesome," Robin Weunski agreed. "It really has, and its being here for 100 years, we're proud of what we've added."

She said the Pittsburgh Inn was the first bar in Erie to serve Koehler beer, and they still have the beer now made under its name on tap there.

One more thing

Robin Weunski runs a monthly basket prize drawing. Every time a customer eats at the restaurant in a month, he or she get a chance to win it. The basket for April is "all things Pittsburgh." If you want to know what that means, you'll have to visit the restaurant, which is open 4 to 8 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and 4 to 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. They are closed on Sundays and Mondays.

For more information, visit facebook.com/ThePittsburghInn.

Contact Jennie Geisler at jgeisler@timesnews.com. Or at 814-870-1885.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Pittsburgh Inn owners celebrate 100 years as Erie PA family restaurant