Gift Cards to the Maine Diner make great gifts . . .for yourself or someone else! Click here to purchase.
About Us
The Story of the Maine Diner: Since 1983 . . .
The story of the Maine Diner really starts long before 1983~ some thirty years before, in fact. The story, and the diner itself, was started by Socrates "Louie" Toton, an Albanian immigrant who had owned the City Hall Lunch in Boston in the 50's and started The Maine Diner as his "retirement" diner. He did the cooking and his wife Maragret along with famed waitress Millie Buckland took care of the front of the house. While under Toton's care The Maine Diner became well known for only serving food made from scratch much of which was grown in the garden behind the diner. Incredibly, after the passing of his wife Louie even closed the diner in the summer months to focus solely on the garden.
After Louie passed away, the diner sat idle for a number of years, until we purchased the property. Countless hours of cleaning and updating occurred before opening day on Februaury 19, 1983. Our first customer came by accident. Literally. He drove his car into a pole near our parking lot! It seems that he had mistaken us for a certain bar, and apparently zigged when he should have zagged. He stayed and had a meal with his coffee.
That same day, we had 41 more guests. Total receipts were $42. The next day, 100 guests. We could never have imagined that 25 years later we would have served nearly 5 million customers, averaging up to 1500 on a busy summer day!
While a lot has changed since Louie was here, (seating capacity increase to 90, bathroom renovations, paintjobs and updating) we still maintain the garden, and during the summer we serve produce whose freshness is measured in minutes. Now we're a year-round restaurant with customers enjoying home cooking, and the best available ingredients twelve months a year. We have a staff of over sixty employees and in May of 1997, we opened our gift shop, Remember the Maine.
And while our seating capacity has grown, our philosophy has stayed the same. Treat each customer like a guest in our own home offering the best home-cooked food for a reasonable price, in a clean and friendly atmosphere.
That is a promise we will NEVER outgrow.
In The Spotlight
"A pillar of consistency" is how the Maine Diner owners describe this year's featured employee Jeff Brennan, a prep cook from nearby Arundel, Maine who has worked at the Maine Diner for 13 years.
To read more click here, Jeff Brennan.
Past Featured Employees: