THE OLD COUNTRY KITCHEN THROUGH THE YEARS
Select a date on the timeline for a piece of Sayler’s History
Art and Dick Sayler began operating the original Old Country Kitchen at 103rd and Stark. With only 60 seats and four employees they served 17,000 dinners in that first year! They knew they were on to something good. In 1948, they introduced the 72 oz. Steak Challenge and offered steaks by the ounce and business boomed. A legend was born.
Folks started coming to Art and Dick's place in huge numbers and they soon ran out of room. So they moved the restaurant to a larger facility at the present location of 105th and Stark and doubled the seating capacity.
The Old Country Kitchen become one of the most popular restaurants in the metropolitan Portland area. If you were going out, especially for a steak dinner, the OCK was more than likely your destination. Lines formed around the building. It was crazy busy all the time.
Now with a seating capacity for over 300, we were serving 348,000 customers a year. Unfortunately, the restaurant burned down in the early morning hours of January 12, 1978. But by September it was completely rebuilt and by the end of 1979 we were serving a whopping 357,000 dinners.
Sayler's Old Country Kitchen was named one of the "Top 100 Restaurants in the U.S." by Restaurants and Institutions magazine.
We celebrated our 50th Anniversary!
We've got folks who've been coming here since we opened, and now their kids and grandkids are continuing the tradition. Lately we've seen a whole new crop of Old Country Kitchen fans. A lot of new folks have discovered us and it keeps us all hopping every night of the week. We thank you for coming to our place year after year.