Lewis's in Norwood a Look Back in History

Dave Kelley has owned Lewis’s Bar for a long time, but its history goes back a lot longer than his time.

“Arthur Lewis opened in 1939,” he said. “I’ve been here since my dad bought it and I’ve been doing everything full-time since 89.”

Kelley said he’s always loved working at Lewis’s. He said it was a real piece of the community.

“It’s the people that kept me here,” he said. “I kind of grew up in the business. I’ve grown up with a lof the customers and they’re almost like extended family now. A lot of real good friends and good people.”

Kelley many of their original customers were workers at the Polaroid and Mason Nealand factories. He said they had customers from every shift.

“The midnight shift,” he said with a laugh. “They were getting off work at 7 a.m. and they’d come in. That was their Friday night, it just happened to be 7 a.m.”

Kelley said he started at a young age and worked his way up the totem pole.

 “It was fun, I’ve done everything, I cooked a little, I cleaned a little and I washed dishes of course,” he said.

Kelley added the staff has been here a very long time as well, and it does seem like everybody knows each other in the bar.

“Freddy has been working here since before my dad owned it in 74,” he said. “A lof of the other guys are all still here. They’re all Norwood guys. The people that work here are fantastic, knock on wood, and it just keeps rolling”

Lewis’s does try to remember the past. Kelley said the original bar top from 1939 is still in the bar, though he had to get rid of the original 50s diner seats.

“You just couldn’t get parts for them anymore,” he said. “Other than that it hasn’t changed much.”

The signature dish at the restaurant is the Lewis Burger, which among a plethora of other toppings, has egg salad between the bun.

“The story is back then they had a salad bar and a guy came in and asked for one with everything on it,” Kelley said. “Now we sell a gazillion of them. A lot of people get a Tuna Lewis. Honestly though I can’t say I’ve ever tried it.”

Kelley said originally Lewis’s was just the front bar, with sandwiches and bar food, but they’ve recently expanded for a full restaurant section and hired a Johnson and Wales=trained chef Joe Tropiano.

“We’ve got real good menus and he does specials all the time,” Kelley said.

Kelley said he believes in supporting the local youth sports because he and many of the regulars there are or once were coaches themselves.

“I coached 21 years in Norwood,” he said. “We know all the head coaches and it’s just one of those things. The kids’ parents come here, the gridiron club has board meetings here. It’s a real two-way street, you help them out they help us out.”

Lewis’s is located at 92 Central St. and is open Front Bar: Mon - Sat, 9:30am - 1am; Sun, noon - 11:30pm; Front Grille: Mon - Sat, 11am - 11:30pm; Sun, noon - 11:30pm; Grille Room: Mon - Wed, 4:30pm - 1am; Thu - Sat, 11:30am - 1am; Sun, noon - 9pm