A beloved Summersville watering hole, Maloney’s Pub finds new life and reunites a West Virginia family.
written by FOOD EDITOR STEVEN KEITH
photographed by NIKKI BOWMAN MILLS
When Shawn Huffman debated taking over a local sports bar and grill in his hometown of Summersville, it wasn’t just an opportunity to save a beloved local hangout. It also helped reunite his family back in the Mountain State.
“I had spent 15 years in the restaurant business and always said I wouldn’t jump back in again unless I owned my own place,” he explains. “When I moved back to Summersville nine years ago, Maloney’s Pub was my watering hole.”
In recent years, Huffman says, the pub’s previous owner kept saying he wanted out of the business. “So I said, ‘If you ever want to sell it, I want it.’ They eventually made me an offer I couldn’t refuse—but I knew I couldn’t run this place alone.”
That’s when he called daughter Taylor Leggett, who was working at a restaurant on Hilton Head Island at the time. “I had three other kids living here and said, ‘Hey, do you want to move back home to your family and help me run a restaurant?’” She moved back four days before Maloney’s Pub reopened with the same name, but under new father–daughter ownership, in September 2022. The place was only closed a few weeks between owners.
“It all happened pretty quick because we knew we wanted to be open in time for the first WVU football game that fall,” says Leggett, who used to wait tables at Maloney’s herself back in high school. They didn’t want to lose staff, Huffman notes—some longtime employees had been there 10 years and longer—so they committed to closing for as short a time as possible.
Leggett attributes that loyalty to the restaurant’s close-knit, family-friendly environment. “When you walk in and see the walls covered with sports memorabilia, this place definitely screams ‘sports bar,’ but it’s not a rowdy crowd. People feel comfortable bringing the whole family here.”
Maloney’s is a place where folks love to hang out. It’s where everyone comes to watch the big game on one of 14 TVs. There’s trivia every week, live music on weekends, and a heated outdoor deck they’re using more and more.
And the food? There’s a big bar-and-grill menu with everything you’d expect. Burgers, wings, nachos, fried pickles, potato skins, quesadillas, and more. But several dishes might surprise you—like a blackened salmon spinach salad with dried cranberries, granola, apples, feta, and poppyseed dressing.
“You wouldn’t think a place like this would have a really good ribeye,” Huffman says. “But it’s hand-cut, it’s delicious, and everyone says it’s the best. Our burgers are hand-pattied. Our meat is always fresh, never frozen. We handslice and hand-cut our vegetables every day. I mean, who does that any more? It’s pretty labor-intensive for a pub, but we’re not your typical sports bar.”
Their Summersville community has taken note. “We’re the no. 1 restaurant in town on Tripadvisor,” Huffman says. “We’re now open more days and more hours. Folks appreciate that, and business is up.” Not only at Maloney’s, but all over town. “When we took over, there were only a few good locally owned restaurants in Summersville,” he adds. “Now there’s a ton. With the new state park going in, the area is really growing, and there’s plenty of business for all of us to be successful.”
603 Church Street, Summersville, @maloneyswv on FB
READ MORE ARTICLES FROM SPRING 2024
That salmon spinach salad really is the best! They also have live music on the back patio. Always lots of fun.