Family diner set to close

Frequent diners at the Pantry restaurant in San Mateo are saddened by the looming end of their favorite hangout. The El Camino Real restaurant will serve breakfast for the last time on May 27.

The family isn’t sure why the property owner gave them a 30-day notice after more than 20 years of running their business, but owners Rudy and Melba Morales said there are no hard feelings.

"I’m just going to miss my loyal customers,” said Melba Morales.

The restaurant serves basic breakfast along with some Filipino dishes, said Rudy Morales.

Customers come for the quality, low-price meals and, more importantly, for the family atmosphere, they say. And the Morales family’s outstanding hospitality has made for romance, loyalty and constant laughter at the Pantry.

The booth tables in the small dining area have signs that read: "When busy … two or more per booth.”

Melba Morales, the restaurant matriarch, strictly enforces this rule.

"When I’m busy I can’t have just one person sitting at a booth,” she said.

Melba told the story of a New Year’s Day 17 years ago when a man and a woman were each waiting for single tables for breakfast.

"I said, ‘why don’t you sit together,’” she said.

Today, that man and woman are married with three children. They come back to the Pantry every New Year’s Day to eat with their family, she said.

The most recent Pantry marriage was last year. Charisma and James Simmons were the sixth or seventh couple to blossom out of the Pantry, said Melba Morales, proudly showing off the couple’s wedding announcement.

Melba Morales asked Matt Kolenda where his daughter was as he sat down for breakfast. Kolenda, of San Carlos, has been coming to the Pantry for a couple of years.

They joked back and forth about having a secret romance. Melba Morales pointed to Kolenda and said, "I cannot match this one, he’s very picky.”

"My mom is better than eHarmony,” laughed Ramir Morales, who remembers running up and down the aisles of the dining room at age 5. He started busing tables at age 8.

With his parents’ constant involvement in the restaurant, Ramir Morales remembers missing out on some of his friend’s parties growing up.

"When someone was out, my mom would be here cooking,” he said. "Someone was always here.”

Aside from the family, the Pantry has hired two cooks and one dishwasher.

Ramir Morales and his older sister Rhonda Reyes have grown to be the faces of the restaurant along with their parents.

"I’ve realized that my parents did this for us,” he said.

A rush of customers

Since the announcement of the closing, the Pantry has seen a rush of customers.

"Everyone’s trying to get their last supper,” said Ramir Morales. "It’s been crazy.”

James Spray of Hayward has been coming to the Pantry for about 10 years.

"I was here every day when my wife was away at war,” said Spray, whose wife is a lieutenant in the Air Force reserves. "We’re not regulars, we’re lifers.”

Ron Woodhouse eats at the Pantry twice a week.

"It should be a national landmark,” said Woodhouse, of Redwood City.

He changes up his order to mess with the Morales’ daughter Rhonda who prides herself on memorizing customer orders.

"It’s like a game, I keep changing it up and everything is so good,” he said.

His favorite menu items are the liver and eggs, and the chicken adobo.

Lin Weiss of San Carlos always gets the same order. But her favorite thing about the restaurant is Rhonda, she said.

The food is amazing, said Raymond Baldonado, whose mother took him to the restaurant as a child. Melba Morales asked Baldonado about school as he settled up with her at the register. "I still come here with my friends when they come back from college,” he said.

The beginning

Rudy Morales said the family did not have any previous restaurant experience before buying the restaurant. He and Melba moved to the Bay Area from the Philippines in the 1970s.

Rudy Morales worked for a printing company and Melba was working in a Kmart cafeteria when a coworker told her the Pantry was for sale. They started the restaurant in 1990.

The couple lives in South San Francisco, but their son Ramir Morales calls the Pantry his home. At age 29, he is determined to keep the Pantry legacy going at a new location.

"I don’t think my customers would let me do anything else,” said Ramir Morales. "You don’t get mom-and-pop shops like this anymore.”

The restaurant would have closed in March, but it received a 60-day extension from the property owner.

The family is looking into buying a restaurant properties in the Hillsdale Shopping Center area.

"I want to keep it in San Mateo,” said Ramir Morales.

The location must change, but what about the name?

"It has to be called the Pantry,” he said.

The Pantry restaurant is located at 3799 El Camino Real in San Mateo. The restaurant will close May 28.