CLARKSBURG – If you’re looking to make reservations for Valentine’s Day at the Wonder Bar Steakhouse, Susie Mellie is your go-to.
“OK, honey, let’s see,” said the manager of the restaurant on old Bridgeport Hill that’s been a culinary destination for eight decades now. “I can get you a table at 6:30 p.m. on Monday. Earliest we have.”
As in Monday, Feb. 16, two days after the one evening that’s all about romantic dinners.
That was in the middle of last week. The placed is always booked for Valentine’s Day, she said.
Meanwhile, this one isn’t just any Valentine’s Day for the Wonder Bar.
This is also the 80th birthday for the restaurant founded by married couple John and Betty Folio right after the end of World War II … when America was ready to start going out again.
Feb. 14, 1946 was their first day business. The first Valentine’s Day after the soldiers started coming home.
You dressed up to go to the Wonder Bar back in those Technicolor years.
Gentlemen wore coats and ties. Ladies were adorned in pearls and their finest dresses.
There was live music and steak and lobster.
And that intimate vibe, with red walls and antique furniture.
Over the years, as its reputation grew, it was just accepted that Wonder Bar was the place for the important events.
You went there to properly celebrate your grandparents’ wedding anniversary, your job promotion or you third kid’s graduation from college.
Maybe you were there with a ring in your pocket and a person across the table with whom you wanted to share a life.
That’s how the Wonder Bar’s current owner Danny Watts, who bought the place in 2012 with his business partners David and Manny Alvarez, came to make his acquaintance with the landmark.
When he and his wife Gina were in their courtship days, they happened upon the Wonder Bar, as Watts recalls.
The restaurant tucked away in the unassuming building became a date night staple.
“We loved the food and the atmosphere,” he said – the aforementioned, quick-witted, highly efficient Susie Mellie, also.
Susie knew their favorite drinks and how they liked their steak. She referenced their conversations from the last visit. She remembered all those little details.
“We were her regulars,” Watts said. “I loved it. Still do.”
And not just for the food. He liked the community and the sense of place.
He didn’t always have that growing up. A fixed sense of place, that is. His father was an engineer with General Electric and the family moved a lot.
Ohio. Arizona. Massachusetts. Virginia.
There were some Country Roads in there, however.
His mom and dad both hailed from West Virginia, and when their youngest son, who was supposed to be an engineer but gravitated instead to the hospitality industry, had a chance to come here to open and run the Stonewall Resort – he leapt.
“That was 24 years ago,” Watts said. “Been here ever since. The business I was in was like the business my dad was in. Eventually you have to go to another job somewhere else, and I didn’t want to move.”
After working in real estate and development projects with Morgantown business leaders Milan “Mike” Puskar and Perry Petropolus for a number of years, Watts retired after managing the Wharf District’s then Waterfront Place Hotel – and promptly got bored.
Then he heard the Wonder Bar was for sale.
He leapt – again.
A business plan was drafted. An offer was made.
“And here we are,” he said.
The first thing he did was promote Mellie to manager.
“You think I can do it?” asked the employee who started out there bussing tables when she was a kid.
“I know you can do it,” her new boss (and still regular customer) replied, with nary a beat.
The second thing he did was tweak the menu.
But not too much.
Today, the Wonder Bar still boasts those great steaks, along with international delicacies such as South African rock lobster tails and globally sourced wines.
The third thing he did was update the kitchen with state-of-the-art fixtures while expanding dining areas to include private rooms, wheelchair accessibility and an outdoor space with a fire pit.
“This is a great place,” Watts said. “It’s had great owners over the years. We’re just building on the tradition.”
To make your own tradition, call 304-622-1451.
“You’ll be talking to me,” Mellie said. “Come and see us. We’ll make a nice meal and evening for you.”
