Its fish sandwich may tempt you, but Snyder's Bonfire has plenty more

Background

For more than 30 years, the Snyder family has run the Bonfire Restaurant along Route 56 in Allegheny Township. The business, started by Jerry and Patty Snyder, is now managed by their sons Jay and Corey Snyder.

They take pride in maintaining a family business with longtime employees that are practically family. Most have been with the Bonfire for 15 to 20 years. The Snyder sons learned the ropes of the business by starting out bussing tables at 12 and 14 years old.

“Our little restaurant runs as a family. Everyone takes care of each other,” says manager Jay Snyder, whose future wife (in two weeks) Tracy Negle helps out with the restaurant, too.

The Bonfire has featured its legendary fish sandwich for nearly as long as it has been open. Snyder says in 2011 the restaurant sold more than 32,000 pounds of Icelandic cod that is delivered daily.

The Snyders chose fish as the restaurant's signature item, because it seemed every eatery “needed a niche,” and they decided to do that one thing really well and then everything would fall into place, Snyder says.

Apparently it did, because 30-plus years later fish is still the best seller, and the Bonfire has won numerous awards and contests for its sandwich. The menu boasts a lot more than fish though — a full and varied menu that goes from breakfast to lunch and dinner is available whenever guests want to order.

The Snyder family remains committed to the community. They have been active in church benefits, Shriner activities and Make-A-Wish events as a way to give back.

Atmosphere

The Bonfire is a bar, but diners can enjoy meals without feeling like the place focuses on drinking. The lounge is downstairs from the restaurant. The bar was moved downstairs in 1986 to make the dining areas more family friendly.

The menu touts that the restaurant offers a relaxed, family atmosphere and, based on our observation, we agree. Most diners were families, groups or friends and senior citizens.

A sunny glass-sided dining room overlooks the woods in one area (our fav). If you prefer a darker area, the other side of the long dining room is knotty-wood paneled and features Western items — even a stand-up cutout of John Wayne.

The original dining room has booths and tables and a glass case with the day's homemade desserts beckoning.

Menu

We were super hungry when we arrived, so we were glad our service was swift. We put in orders for Fried Clam Crispies ($4) and the Sampler Platter ($8.95). The clams were battered and fried but not greasy. It's important to eat clams while they are hot, because, otherwise, they get rubbery, and the Bonfire's were served piping hot. The sampler platter contained a little bit of everything: fried zucchini lengths, large, crispy onion rings, interesting macaroni and cheese bites, delightful cheese poppers and some “Texas Toothpicks” strings of fried onions and battered green pepper strings.

With good reason, the Bonfire boasts its fish sandwich is the best around. Bonfire Special Cod Fish Sandwich ($7.25) is a long length of breaded white, flaky cod on a round roll. There is no dainty way to eat this sandwich with your hands, so we opted to cut a portion of the fish and make a sandwich that left enough for a second meal.

The meatloaf dinner ($7.95) was a huge hit. A large slice of homemade meatloaf, a fresh side salad and a foil-wrapped baked potato completed this entrée.

The Land and Sea ($16.95) was a huge entrée that took two plates — one for the 8-ounce Delmonico steak that was cooked to our medium-rare specification — and a long platter that held what looked like a footlong filet of fish, a large shrimp, a scallop, oyster — all fried — and a baked potato and side salad.

Our only beef was the grilled chicken salad ($8.95). iceberg lettuce, torn into pieces that were too large to grab with a fork, a scattering of large slices of green pepper, a few tomato slices and a small scattering of fries didn't do much for the bland chicken that was diced into small, bite-size pieces with some gristle still attached. If you are going to chop it up, by all means, lop off the bad parts. The homemade Italian dressing was a nice touch, but we would have preferred the chicken to rule as the flavor.

We were too full for dessert, but recognized that they were homemade — although no longer on the premises.

Rebecca Killian is an assistant features editor for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at rkillian@tribweb.com or 724-226-4669.