TASTE OF YOUR TOWN: Lew's Restaurant

TASTE OF YOUR TOWN: Lew's Restaurant (Image 1) (Copyright by WSLS - All rights reserved)

WSLS Anchor John Carlin visited Lew's Restaurant in Roanoke before the Northside High School vs. Lord Botetourt High School football game Friday, Oct. 17 to get a first-hand look at one of the town's favorite traditions. 

Every week during high school football season we feature a local restaurant that's near our game of the week. This week the game is at Northside High School, not far from Lew's Restaurant on Williamson Road.

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The first thing you notice at Lew's is how busy it is. We arrived just before noon, and the parking lot was already full, as were most of the tables inside and out on the deck.

Longtime customer Mike McGuire told me the place stays busy. he eats there three days a week, on average. A Northside High School grad, he's a long time customer too.

Mike said he went to Northside High School decades ago, but since he was there, the restaurant has kept up the busy pace. 


Though he looks too young for the part, Hayden Payne, at 35, and also a Northside grad, has owned the restaurant for ten years. He describes Lew's as "a family place with good food."

"Right off the bat -- man, our subs -- We have an Italian sub that's out of this world,. We do pizzas; we have a hand tossed crust that's fantastic. We've got burgers. People love our burgers, made fresh every day. Handmade patties, every day. We work from scratch," Payne told me.

And yes, he works with Northside's football team. Payne donates meals to team members before and after games. 

The restaurants servers never seem to slow down, but they stopped by long enough to bring me my Italian sub. I ordered it at the recommendation of both Payne and McGuire.

The sub roll was fresh, the meat was deli quality and the topper was the in-house coleslaw. It tasted great.

WSLS viewers have chimed in on Facebook with some of their favorites and other customers had still different selections. The beer-battered French fries were mentioned several times, as was the hand-tossed pizza.

Between those endorsements and the full parking lot and dining room, it's no huge leap to say that Lew's is a good place to eat before or after the game, or any other time.