Sticking with traditions
Harold’s Restaurant in Gaffney has been serving up classic diner food since 1932, and owner Tony Lipscomb sees no reason to change.
Photo by Amy Trainum
It’s not often that a restaurant in the small town of Gaffney gets a call from the Food Network saying they’d like to feature the business on one of their shows. Yet, that’s exactly what happened when Tony Lipscomb, the owner of Harold’s Restaurant, received a call telling him that his restaurant had been chosen out of thousands of others to be featured on the first season of the network’s Diner’s Drive-Ins and Dives.
Harold’s Restaurant had always been a mainstay in the area since its opening in 1932, but once the show aired, the secret was out, and it didn’t take long for the restaurant to quickly go from being a well-loved, local staple to being one of the most sought-after foodie destinations in the Southeast.
“We couldn’t have asked for anything more,” says Lipscomb, who is still seeing the influx of travelers exiting off Interstate 85 and Hwy. 11 for a bite to eat more than a decade after the diner made its TV debut.
“It’s like the gift that keeps on giving. I don’t think there’s a day that goes by that someone doesn’t come in and say ‘We saw you on one of the reruns,’ or ‘We saw you featured, wrote your place down and looked you up to make sure we stopped when we come through South Carolina on vacation,’” says Lipscomb.
Open six days a week, Harold’s serves a constant stream of customers from the time the doors open until closing. It’s a no-frills kind of joint with small, intimate booths, a lunch counter, walls decorated with sports memorabilia from the local high school, and an approachable menu full of simple, yet delicious Southern favorites you can smell as soon as you walk through the door. The menu boasts items like homemade pimento cheese, chicken salad and a major crowd-pleaser—pinto beans that are soaked overnight and cooked with ham hocks and fatback. However, it’s the restaurant’s unique chili burger that really put it on the map.
“It’s kinda like a Manwich. It’s chili with a meatball the size of a golf ball,” explains Lipscomb, who adds that the traditional way to eat it is “all-the-way”—topped with chili, mustard and onions.
It’s messy. It’s delicious. And people drive in from all over the country to get a taste of the famous sandwich, or a hot dog smothered in the same secret-recipe chili.
With all the success that came along with being on a nationally televised show, Lipscomb, a Gaffney native, has considered the possibility of moving to a different building and expanding the business over the years, but always seems to come back to the notion of sticking with what works and keeping the same traditions alive that helped the restaurant become a staple in the first place—good quality food at affordable prices with excellent service.
“If you’re looking for white tablecloths and candles then this isn’t the place,” he says. “This isn’t a five-star restaurant, but we like to think we give you five-star food and service at good prices.”
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Harold’s Restaurant
602 N. Limestone St., Gaffney
(864) 489-9153; haroldsrestaurant.com
Hours: Monday–Saturday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Closed on Sundays.