Building the Valley: David's Diner in Springdale Twp. marking 10th year of serving crowd-pleasing favorites

There are a lot of reasons to love David’s Diner in Springdale Township.

In the 10 years since opening its doors, the tiny diner just downriver from the Ninth Street Bridge has become a neighborhood gathering place with a reputation for serving big portions of delicious food.

It also has been recognized as one of the best diners in the country.

The atmosphere is as cozy as a simple block building can be, with walls decorated to honor America and military service that come from combat veteran and Purple Heart recipient David Speer, who opened the restaurant in 2012 with his wife, Lisa.

But ask any of the steady stream of regular customers what keeps them coming back, and the answer is the same: It’s all about the food.

“I love to eat here. It’s the best around,” said Andrew Harmon, 18. “I come here every chance I get.”

Treating himself to the hearty breakfast and lunches prepared from scratch in the tiny kitchen is one of the ways Harmon celebrated graduation from Springdale Jr.-Sr. High School earlier this year.

“I came here to eat for a whole week after graduation,” he said.

Caryn Lloyd of New Kensington said she and her friend since first grade, Christine Anderson of Murrysville, regularly meet up at the diner for a meal and to catch up.

“This has been a restaurant forever, but it wasn’t great until David and his wife took over. The food is so good, and the portions are big. You always have enough for another meal,” said Lloyd, 67.

Anderson said the quality of the food is complemented by the “cozy atmosphere and great staff.”

She said she also enjoys the outdoor seating area overlooking the Allegheny River.

“It’s so beautiful and relaxing,” she said.

A place of their own

The Speers say they weren’t really looking to leave other jobs in the restaurant business when they made the decision a little more than a decade ago to open the diner.

David Speer spent decades — before, during and after serving in the military — training as a chef and then managing at restaurants and taverns.

The couple met when Lisa applied for a job as a server at a lounge managed by David.

“I worked in my family’s printing business but started waitressing after a friend told me they thought I’d be good at it,” said Speer, 56. “I thought it was awesome. I always had money in my pocket, and I met so many great people. I loved it.”

David, a native of Burgettstown, said he wanted to hire Lisa because of the way she dealt with customers.

“She had a following of people who would come in where she worked and wait until she could be their server,” he said.

David Speer’s military service includes 11 years in the Army National Guard before switching to active duty following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The couple was married four days after the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

He served with a peace-keeping mission in Kosovo and for a year with a combat unit in Iraq. He was awarded the Purple Heart after shrapnel from a blast injured his legs.

Their desire to become entrepreneurs and open a restaurant was fueled by a growing frustration with their own dining experiences.

“We were out one night for dinner at what was supposed to be a nice Italian restaurant, and it was such a bad experience,” David Speer said. “The food, the service, the cost. It was all bad. And it wasn’t the first time. I knew that we could do better. A lot better.”

When the opportunity came up to buy the building on Freeport Road that was home to various restaurants since the 1950s, the Speers took out loans and, with the help of family, remodeled it for their new venture.

It was a hit from the beginning.

“We were crushed,” David Speer said. “A lot of it was curiosity, I’m sure, but once people ate here they came back. On weekends, there’s still an hour wait for a table.”

The restaurant is open from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. every day except Tuesday and until 1 p.m. on weekends. The menu features Speer’s take on classic breakfast dishes, burgers, sandwiches, wraps, salads and soups.

Lisa Speer handles grill and line cooking duties in the minuscule kitchen with the calm and efficiency learned from living with a soldier.

“You have to be organized to make this work,” she said while deftly handling multiple lunch tickets in various stages of preparation. “This is where good service starts.”

David Speer said paying attention to customer service is as necessary to a restaurant’s success as high-quality ingredients and proven recipes.

“It’s really a combination of things. You can’t have one without the other,” he said. “I can make the best food in the world, but if the service is bad, I might as well throw it in the trash. It all has to be there for it to work.”

When it comes to putting out the kind of food that will bring people back, there is no way to cut corners.

“People ask me why the American cheese I use tastes different from everywhere else,” he said. “It’s simple. A lot of places are trying to save money by using a lower-quality product, whether it’s cheese or butter or meat. But using high-quality ingredients is where you have to start.”

Experience and a knack for cooking also have helped to set the diner apart.

“I’ve seen many, many cooks screw up a BLT,” he said. “I’ve had cooks who couldn’t make a grilled cheese sandwich, and they went to culinary school.

“I don’t like to toot my horn, but many people have told me that I’m good at taking the flavors of the food and spices I use and turning them into what I want.”

Beating the odds

Like many restaurants in 2019, David’s Diner faced an uncertain future as government orders forced the shutdown of numerous businesses to combat the covid-19 pandemic.

“This place is our livelihood, and the people who work here depend on us,” Lisa Speer said. “We felt that if we closed down, we’d lose everything.”

David’s Diner was among a number of local restaurants that defied the governor’s shutdown orders and continued to operate.

The Speers donned masks and gloves and remained open after inspectors from the Allegheny County Health Department repeatedly posted “closed” signs on the door and threatened legal action.

They promptly took the signs down and threatened to sue the government for its actions.

Lisa Speer said they are happy with their decision to remain open during the pandemic.

“Looking back, if we didn’t do what we did, I believe that once we closed the doors we never would have been able to reopen.”

The restaurant also has gained notoriety for the things that make it popular with customers.

In 2018, David’s Diner was named the fifth-best diner in the country by Travel ­+ Leisure. The list, based on Yelp ratings of local restaurants, includes 25 diners from all over the United States.

In June 2020, Vice President Mike Pence stopped in for a Reuben sandwich and to meet the Speers.

Later that year, local food enthusiast Eric Fontana of Marshall included David’s Diner in his book “The Hidden Restaurant Gems of Pittsburgh: An Insider’s Guide.”