1. Abbie Taylor Mandy’s Family Restaurant 1491 Willamette. 541-654-0382. MandysFamilyRestaurant.com.
2. Heather Ensign Brail’s on 5th 395 W. 5th Ave. #2506, 541-342-2075. BrailsRestaurant.co.
3. Chrissy Norris Nelson’s in The Whit 400 Blair Blvd. 541-844-8404; NelsonsInTheWhit.com; Nelsons-Taqueria.Business.Site.
Abbie Taylor is a self-described “restaurant kid.” Taylor grew up watching her mom, Mandy Taylor, wait tables at pubs and restaurants across Eugene. When Mandy Taylor finally decided to open her own restaurant in 2019, it only made sense that Abbie Taylor would start serving classic diner food herself.
Abbie Taylor says, “I watched my mom go from a hustlin’ waitress to a successful business owner, so that is definitely inspiring to me.”
At Mandy’s you get the full family-owned diner experience. Taylor says a lot of the customers she serves at Mandy’s have been following her mom around restaurant to restaurant for years and now enjoy getting to know her daughter. While she refills their coffee, regulars of Mandy’s often ask Taylor how her family’s doing. “They want to come in, eat their breakfast and ask me how I’m doing,” Taylor says. “It’s really nice.”
As Taylor grows into the server she idolized as a kid, she says a new generation of “restaurant kids” has taken over the place. “Now it’s my nephew running all over the place screaming,” she says. Taylor hopes that someday she, too, can open her own diner and have restaurant kids of her own running around.
“I just think it’s awesome that people want to support our family,” Taylor says. “And hopefully, someday, I can have my own restaurant kids run around my Mandy’s.”