“Specializing in Chicken Dinners & Corn Fritters with Maple Syrup…
We Raise Our Own Poultry”
Jim and Maribeth Lotito opened the Mill Creek Cattle Co. Smokehouse and Saloon in Mentone, California on Mother’s Day 2000. The western-style restaurant is located on the site of the old Wirth’s Mentone Inn built in 1927 located on Mentone Boulevard (Hwy-138) on the way up to the mountain communities of Big Bear Lake.
Maribeth’s parents owned the Wirth’s Mentone Inn, and changed the name to Mentone Inn in the 1960’s. Later the Mentone Beach Yacht Club was at the site, and when the property came up for sale, the Lotito’s jumped on the opportunity to continue their family’s heritage, and purchased it to build what is today’s iconic Old West Smokehouse and Saloon.
The Lotito’s have been in the restaurant and catering business in California for over 50 years. Jim opened his first restaurant, Jim’s Water Wheel Inn, in West Covina in 1960. The couple also owned Mill Creek Catering Company for 20 years, and was an ownership partner for Carlos O’Brien’s Restaurant in Riverside. Next they owned a popular eatery in Redlands, Brewsters Steakhouse. Later they ran the Creekside Kitchen in the apple orchards of Oak Glen just prior to opening Mill Creek Cattle Co. & Saloon.
From the moment you enter, it’s the aroma of barbecued ribs, chicken and steak and the feel of an old 1800s Western town that makes Mill Creek Cattle Co. & Saloon a rustic, country roadhouse dining experience. From spurs, harnesses, bull horns and vintage cowboy photos, to an authentic western saloon, the place exudes an aura of the Old West. The site has since expanded into nearly 13,000 square feet with indoor and outdoor dining and a large event hall. Lotito said his family built the restaurant with materials and artifacts collected from around the Inland region, from old chicken coops to bed posts to a former airplane hangar.
1874 Mentone Boulevard
Mentone, California
(909) 389-0706
millcreekcattlecompany.com
