Saul Lassoff took Shirley Goodman to The Pub at Airport Circle on their first date because it was the place to go, decided she was the one for him that night and soon married her.

That was in 1965 and for the 54 years since the Pennsylvania couple has been dining at the restaurant, built to resemble a Tudor-style mansion with a huge dining room seating one shy of 500 people and with a tall, hard-to-miss landmark sign in neon letters spelling “PUB'' down and across.

Bob Socher of Mount Laurel remembers coming to The Pub on the second date with his now wife Danielle during the blizzard of 1994 when nothing else was open, has returned ever since and now brings the children.

And Gary Goldsmith of Evesham, who first came as a youngster with his parents, is a faithful patron more than 50 years later, often meeting friends for drinks at the bar before they all dine.

So what keeps them coming to The Pub, making it the oldest major restaurant in Camden County and one of the oldest in all of South Jersey and Philadelphia region, surviving for 66 years? It's the fact that this steakhouse has resisted change in an industry that has seen many changes the past half century from fast food to upscale dining.

Customers say they are ecstatic the restaurant's owners have adhered to tradition and kept The Pub virtually the same with its proven recipe of food, friendliness and a medieval castle décor of heavy, dark timbers from old barns, antiques and artwork all contributing to a warm and welcoming atmosphere despite its grand size.

“The food is excellent, and the atmosphere over the top — cozy, dark and quiet. It’s my favorite restaurant ever,” electrical contractor Goldsmith said, while reminiscing on a recent visit.

Lassoff summed up his view of The Pub this way: “The Pub was great back in the '60s and it's great now with easy parking, great drinks, fantastic food and of course, the salad bar.”

All that and a salad bar, too

The Pub is most famous for its beef steaks, prime rib, filet and seafood that are charcoal-grilled in open hearths along the back wall of the dining room and for many other offerings — a salad bar with its trademark pink apple sauce, zucchini bread and Caesar salad; huge baked potatoes, signature onion rings, a prime rib that comes with a English popover, menu-listed formally as Yorkshire pudding; the wood cocktail bar and 1½ shot cocktails.

Only the original lettuce salad wedge has disappeared and the requirement of jackets for men back in the day when dress codes were stricter.

The unmistakable aroma of meat and seafood grilling over hot coals fill the cavernous Pub dining room, tantalizing the senses, as does that of popcorn popping fresh for lounge guests in the evenings.



A full suit of medieval European armor stands like a castle guardian in the lounge in the same place it has always stood. And authentic coats of arms in wood, metal and on banners adorn walls or hang over the dining room, which also has two walls adorned with stained-glass windows.

Don’t call for reservations because The Pub never takes them. But while waiting for a table in the lobby, children and adult customers can play a few upright pinball and video games there or order hors d'oeuvres and drinks in the lounge

'There's nothing else like it'

Angel Molina, one of the managers who started as a Pub dishwasher 33 years ago, is the resident historian of the building and its artifacts. “There’s nothing else like it," he said, adding that it has one of the largest dining rooms around for a privately owned business.



The Pub opened in 1953 after three partners bought an existing smaller restaurant once called Neil Deighan’s on the same spot along Airport Circle, where state highways Route 130, 38 and 70 converge. At that time Central Airport operated on the opposite side of the circle, but unlike The Pub, it did not survive.

The early owner partners — George Wolfman, William Mirsky and Morris “Duffy” Shover— all of whom owned the Pub Tiki and other pubs in Philadelphia, built the new Pub building that stills stands today because fire destroyed the first one in 1962.

“People come for the food and they like that The Pub has looked and stayed the same with the hickory charcoal open-hearth cooking, the same steaks, prime rib and baby backs and seafood and the best all-you-can-eat salad bar — and even down to the salad dressings and zucchini bread,” said John Laros of Berlin, a culinary chef who co-owns the restaurant with businessman Marc Gelman of Moorestown and newest partner Stevie Logothetis of Brooklawn, former manager of the Colonial Diner until it closed.

“The only thing we change is the carpeting,” Laros explained.

The salad dressings and zucchini bread are made from original recipes Wolfman's wife provided. Her husband kept The Pub in the family when son-in-law Gary Perez became a partner. Perez retired in 1999 and sold the business to Gelman. Other owners included Theo Pagiavlas and then his son, Lee, both of whom helped maintain Pub traditions.

Laros dispelled recent rumors that The Pub is closing. He said it's a false report that has circulated ever since the closing of another Pennsauken pub — Connie Mac — to make way for a super Wawa convenience store.

The Pub has won “Best” awards from various publications and, in 2013, was named "Best Steakhouse in America” by Steve Harvey, host of the daytime TV show “STEVE!” in a vote by viewers for the show’s annual neighborhood award given to a business exemplifying excellence.

Boxing, football and other sports personalities are also known to frequent The Pub bar and dining hall.

It's like home — and family

"Many customers come in and tell me they came here on their first date, after their prom or for their anniversary. I’ve seen children grow up who first came with their parents,” said Linda Hollinger, who has been waiting Pub tables for 42 years and served a 12-ounce steak to customer Socher on a recent weeknight.

Waitress Patty Cook, also a 42-year employee, said customers come because they can still get a “good filet at a good price.”

“We’ve been coming here for 54 years because of the quality of the food and the waitresses, especially Patty, and hostess Beth (Rulli),” said Harold Black of Philadelphia.

To keep entrees warm from hearth to table, most are served atop braziers — metal pots containing hot charcoal from the open hearths and which waitresses wheel to tables on serving carts.

Michael Hubbard of Camden, a 56-year-old cook manning steaks at one of the six open hearths, shovels hot coals from his hearth into empty braziers for Hollinger and other wait staff. After setting a metal plate on top and laying several filets and steaks on it, he douses them with a generous amount of au jus and leaves the waitress a ladle.

Hubbard has followed in the footsteps of his father, Friend Lloyd, the first open-hearth grill cook hired by Wolfman in the 1950s and who was recruited from a Chicago restaurant to come to Pennsauken.

“It's an art to cook like this and have up to 15 to 20 steaks on the grill at one time in various temperature stages from rare to well done. Not everyone can do that and not everyone can take standing over the heat,” Hubbard said after flipping meat on the grill.

“We want to give customers what they ordered and we carry the same quality meat and seafood like always. People like that consistency and the familiarity of The Pub,” said Hubbard, who returned to his job here four years ago after leaving it in the 1980s when he moved for a time to another state.

Customer Goldsmith is planning to celebrate his 60th birthday in August with dinner at The Pub at a table near the hearths.

“I love to watch them cook, so I always sit in the dining room along the hearths — and you can talk to people at your table and at the bar because there’s no loud music,” he said in the lounge while reminiscing with friends about past visits.

Lawyer Stanley Schwartz and his wife Kathy were among those friends. “It’s like home and like a family,” the wife said after cocktails and warm spinach dip before dinner.

Her husband said they come back even more frequently now because their grandchildren enjoy playing the pinball machine.

Besides the food, especially hamburgers, and the friendliness that keep him returning, longtime Friday lunch and bar customer Mark Naglee said the absence of loud music sound on bar's one TV allows camaraderie to develop among customers of all races and encourages conversation.

"You don't see many people constantly on cell phones. It's more relaxing and it's like stepping back in time when life was simpler,” observed Naglee, a traveling sales executive and Collingswood native now living in Maple Shade.

Bar regular Bobby Coyle likes to sit in one corner of the long and angled bar sipping a Long Island iced tea and chatting with bartenders and wait staff who come to pick up a customers' drink orders.

"I think the quality of the food and the comfort is why most people come and they have kept longtime employees,'' he said.

Hostess Rulli of Cherry Hill, the longest serving employee, has worked there for 46 years. "We're family-oriented and I'm a people person who likes to deal with customers, mostly of whom are wonderful," she said from behind the hostess desk.

Owner Gelman's latest maintenance and restoration project is relighting the tall torches original to The Pub building between lanterns at the covered main entrance.



"It's a matter of finding a certain kind of ignition part. He's been searching a long time and we're still looking," Molina said

If you go:

The Pub is located at 7600 Kaighn Ave., Pennsauken. Call (856) 665-6440 or thepubnj.com/

Carol Comegno: @carolcomegno; 856-486-2473; ccomegno@gannettnj.com