Everybody knows everybody. Everybody calls you friend. Don’t need an invitation.* Kick off your shoes and come on in. Okay… maybe keep your shoes on for this. There are two things every Mahoning Valley native holds near and dear — food and family. It always seems like no matter where I go everyone is related to someone or knows someone who is related to someone I know, and they are talking about food.

Melissa Poland, owner of Sweet Melissa’s Good Eats, holds these attributes as high standards at her restaurant. She hopes that everyone who walks through her doors feels comfortable and like family. “The concept for the restaurant is really pretty simple. I am going to treat them like they are walking into my own home,” said Melissa.

Melissa knows that it is not about mass producing. It is about a quality product.

“Food is an experience, so get the most out of it!”

“Food is an experience,” Melissa goes on to say that we all have to eat, “so get the most out of it!” She assures every customer that if she says she made it from scratch, she means it, “it didn’t come on a truck or shipped frozen. I made it right here in this very store.”

So as the song goes (minus the kicking your shoes off) you do not need an invitation to go to Sweet Melissa’s. So grab everyone you know and head on over to Melissa’s — you are sure to feel like family.

*Tracy Byrd – I’m From The Country