A side view of Hellertown Crossroads Hotel, viewed from its parking lot
More than six months after it closed, Crossroads Hotel in Hellertown reopened under new ownership Thursday to a steady flow of loyal and many longtime customers, eager to once again savor the food they love.
Although the business was sold in the intervening months by the Matey family–who had owned it since the early 1950s–not much else appears to have changed at Crossroads, which is regarded as something of a culinary and cultural landmark in the borough.
The same food is being served by most of the former staff under the watchful eye of the large mounted blue marlin that has hung on the main dining room wall since it was reeled in by a group of local fishermen off the Jersey shore back in 1980.
The restaurant’s famous cheesesteaks and unique pizza are still on the menu, and most visitors so far have said their taste expectations have been met, in the sense that the food they grew up on (in many cases) still tastes the same.
The bar at Crossroads is essentially unchanged.
It should, since the Matey family’s recipes were part of the business sale, and Ray and Diane Matey have been on hand to help with the transition to the ownership by Nick Hano and Joe Tulio.
That transition was in overdrive the last couple weeks, as staff returned to restock their former stations and everybody pitched in to clean and ready the building for the reopening.
A few of the changes that have taken place are:
- The name. Instead of Matey’s Crossroads Hotel it is now Hellertown Crossroads Hotel.
- Crossroads is now open Sunday and closed Monday (it used to be closed Sundays and open Mondays)
- Crossroads now accepts major credit cards
- There is now a Facebook page for Crossroads, which as of Thursday already had more than 1,000 followers
The restaurant’s phone number remains the same (610-838-8278) and takeout is still available.
Crossroads is located at 1434 Main St., Hellertown, Pa.
A California steak sandwich with fries, served at the Crossroads bar
“The fish” is still there, keeping an eye on things and watching as a new generation of Hellertonians become Crossroads customers.
Longtime Crossroads server Kathy Lichtenwalner of Hellertown celebrates being back at work with Saucon Source publisher Josh Popichak
