Since 1983, Dingbats has been one of Western PA's favorite American cuisine, full service, casual dining restaurants. And, over the years, many people have asked us why we named our restaurant Dingbats. Before we tell you why we chose our name, and where it came from , we think you should know some of the things we try to do at Dingbats to make your visit a pleasant one.

We wanted to create a restaurant that would offer comfort, friendliness and fun. But most important, one that would pay attention to the smallest details -- from quality, freshness and preparation of our food to the service and attention every customer deserves.

We have a dedicated kitchen staff that works day and night to make sure that virtually everything we serve is homemade daily from fresh, top quality ingredients. We are always testing new items and creating a new menu with every season change. We are constantly monitoring our high standards on current menu favorites. When we say homemade -- we mean homemade!

• We create our soups, salads, salad dressings and sauces.
• Our fried foods are hand-breaded and fried to order.
• Pizzas are hand-tossed and baked in special ovens.
• Steaks and burgers are chargrilled.
• Our chicken menu selections are all prepared with fresh chicken breasts.
• French fries are made from Idaho potatoes.
• Our produce is hand-selected fresh daily.
• All breads and rolls are delivered daily.

And there's much more -- from creating our own bar mixes to our tradition of sinfully delightful dessert creations. We think we've created a restaurant that offers great food at reasonable prices and an atmosphere of fun, relaxation and comfort.

But our biggest problem when we started (over 20 years ago) was coming up with a name. A lot of hard work and dedication went into the development of Dingbats, but we just couldn't seem to find a name that fit, until someone spotted a name in the Morris Dictionary of Words and Phrase Origins. That name was dingbat, a term that was over a century old and had a variety of meanings. It was sort of a synonym for a thing-a-ma-jig, doo-hickey or doo-dad, but the one definition that summed it up for us was "anything you can't think of a name for".

So, we became Dingbats and we hope that our neighborhood gathering place becomes as much a part of your life as it is of ours.

We're proud and pleased to serve you. Your satisfaction is our goal....