Arner's Restaurant, a 40-year landmark, has closed

After 40 years of serving sticky buns, whipped cream topped pies and innumerable plates of eggs and cups of coffee, Arner's Restaurant & Bakery in New Castle has closed its doors.

But likely not for long.

A sign on the front doors Monday reads: Under New Management. Coming soon.

A post on the website says: "Site is currently under development. Please do be patient while we transition. Thank you."

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Arner's apparently closed in early July. It is not yet known if the American restaurant, once known for its "old-fashioned value," will still be a version of Arner's or a new concept. No one answered the phone Monday morning or was on the property.

The eatery has had a home at 201 N. Dupont Highway, next to the New Castle County Airport, since the fall of 1978. It had formerly been the Peter Pan Diner.

Arner's was part of an independent chain of Pennsylvania restaurants founded in Reading by William H. Arner in 1956.

His daughter Barbara Arner, president of Arner Enterprises in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, later ran the company. The other Arner eateries had been in Wyomissing and Mount Penn, Pennsylvania. Arner sold them in 2006. The last Pennsylvania Arner's, run by another owner, closed in 2015.

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The New Castle eatery became known for its all-day breakfast, seasonal dishes such as turkey near Thanksgiving, and crab cakes in the summer months.

Glass cases held glistening strawberry pies with whole berries, 6-inch tall banana cream pies with fluffy whipped cream and hefty, rich cheesecakes. The in-house bakery was acclaimed and the pies were once considered the most popular in the state. The day before Thanksgiving Arner's often sold more than 700 desserts.

The restaurant once also had an extensive salad bar. 

The eatery was often a gathering place for politicians. According to News Journal archives, Sen. Tom Carper went to Arner's for breakfast every Election Day since 1982, when he first ran for Congress.

Arner's received a nearly $1 million renovation in 2004 by the Arner family. They upgraded restrooms, enlarged the entry and reconfigured access for handicapped customers. The interior also got an update, but the menu stayed the same.

In 2005, the restaurant was purchased by manager Robert L. Morgan. It stayed in his family after his death in 2012. 

The 7,500-square-foot restaurant, located in a building dating back to 1950, recently had been listed for sale on a commercial real estate website.

The retail property, which sits on 1.28 acres near Interstate 95 and Delaware Route 141, is now off the market. The sale price was not disclosed.

"In Arner's heyday, by 9:30 a.m. on Sundays the wait for a table was between 30 and 60 minutes, business did not slack off until around 8 p.m.," customer Richard Cini wrote on the restaurant's Facebook page.

But Cini says lately it's not been the same Arner's that he remembers.

"In the recent past, my brother and I occasionally have been the only customers in the place on a Saturday or Sunday morning," Cini wrote. 

This is the second Delaware landmark restaurant that has closed in recent months.

In February, the ChesDel Restaurant at 2120 Dupont Parkway in St. Georges closed after a 38-year run. It also was known for its home-style cooking.

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Contact Patricia Talorico at (302) 324-2861 or ptalorico@delawareonline.com and on Twitter @pattytalorico