It was just over three years ago on April 8, 2016 the devastating fire took out Paulding County‘s famous Uncle Fudd’s restaurant. Melrose lost one of its most iconic eatery. State Road 613 has not been the same since.
The restaurant has been missed by many people in the area. Over the past three years many speculated what might become of the famous restaurant. We now know!
The owner, Wendy Sharp, has been working to figure out what they would do. The answer is… re-open! The restaurant, as we know it, is re-opening in a new location on family farm ground just north of Grover Hill on State Highway 637—not all that far from the previous location.
The brand new facility is fantastic! It has a larger kitchen complete with a food prep area, along with larger freezer area and two dining halls. What’s most iconic about this new facility is it has a 600 square-foot porch where people will be able to relax outdoors underneath the shade of the porch area. It might remind some of a Cracker Barrel style establishment. The dining halls can seat up to 75 people versus the 35 people they could be seated in the old restaurant, making this restaurant a better facility for more crowds and for meetings.
Another feature that this restaurant will have is a drive-up pick-up window. This will be much nicer for factory and farm workers and yet still want to enjoy the Uncle Fudd’s restaurant experience!
Wendy started the building project a couple years ago and has gone through quite a bit with the State to make sure that this could be the best facility possible. Initially, she had struggles with EPA, but that has since been resolved with the help of Craig Riedel’s office in Columbus.
Wendy and her stepson, Aaron Sharp, has been the contractors for this new restaurant. The construction is nearly finished and they are just waiting on the plumber to finish hooking up some things and some of the wiring to be finished also. After that the inspections can finish.
The opening is expected to be in mid-May or early June. It will be very nice to see the opening finally take place after the devastating fire that took place three years ago. Good luck to Wendy and her crew as they are about to bring Uncle Fudd’s back to all of us!
The address for the new location is 4537 SR 637, Grover Hill, Ohio.
