"We found the coleslaw recipe and brought it back, but a couple of people have said that while it's good, it's not exactly how they remember it." Gary Kessel said that to WFMZ shortly after Ye Olde Saylors Inne reopened at 798 Route 115. He told the station the old inn had been famous for that coleslaw, sold by the quart for people to take home, and that his team would keep tweaking the recipe until it matched.
That is how the 2025 reopening approached the building: rebuild the old inn from memory, down to the side dish. The restaurant operating there this fall goes about it another way. It is called Saylors Inn now. It has different operators, different nights and a menu that changes with the season. If your last visit was in summer 2025, or if your idea of the place comes from decades back, the version open this weekend is new to you.
Two Reopenings in Under a Year
The building's recent history moves quickly, and the order matters.
- 2023. Gary and Deb Kessel of East Stroudsburg bought the property, which had been vacant since 2013, according to WFMZ.
- Summer 2024. Galen Balinski, who grew up in Barrett Township, moved home from Phoenix with his wife Juliana. After that, they started Homecoming Winery in the building's lower level, and WFMZ described it as seven months old when the restaurant opened.
- June 20, 2025. Ye Olde Saylors Inne opened as a full-service restaurant. WFMZ's 2025 year-end roundup lists it with that June's openings.
- End of 2025. Kessel asked Balinski to take over the restaurant, according to an Eye On The Poconos feature uploaded October 1, 2026.
- February 2026. One regular, writing in an OpenTable review, dates the new management team's arrival to this month.
Two restaurants opened in one dining room within about eight months, and the second one changed the name, the schedule and the cooking.
A Builder Who Restores Buildings, Not a Restaurateur
The handoff makes sense once you know who restored the building. Kessel owns GAK Construction. WFMZ reported that he renovated the hotel rooms first and then moved on to the restaurant and bar. In the Eye On The Poconos feature, Balinski describes Kessel as someone who took every wall down to the studs. He says Kessel's view of old buildings is "the older and the worse, the more I like it."
Balinski explains the change of operators the same way. "He does the things that he does and running a restaurant is not really something he was looking to do," he says in the video, adding that Kessel "made me a deal I couldn't refuse." He also says he had no restaurant background. The family that ran a small wine room downstairs now runs both floors. "Our family is here every single day," he says.
What the Restoration Uncovered
The second team's version leans on what the renovation found. According to Balinski, the main dining room began as a one-room log cabin in the 1820s, and its logs had been hidden behind plaster and sheetrock. In the video he says, "You probably never saw these logs when you were in the Sailors Inn." The stone fireplace had been covered in white brick veneer. He says Kessel went through wire brushes "like seven times over" cleaning it, and that he keeps a fire going whenever he can.
WFMZ reported that the larger hotel section dates to the early 1900s, with a sunroom added later. The grounds carry their own history. In the same feature, one of the hosts says that when they ask longtime visitors about the pond, they often reply "What pond?" because they knew it as the swimming pool, "quite a destination back in the '30s and '40s." Visitors also bring their own memories. The feature points out photos in the bar from a wedding reception once held in the old dining room, and says a guest donated them.
Under the current team, the building's history is on view in the dining room itself, from the exposed logs to the fire in the stone fireplace, and outside at the pond by the stone pavilion.
Same Address, Different Dinner
The menu shows the shift most clearly. In 2025, Kessel told WFMZ that the menu was "largely influenced by requests from people in Saylorsburg and the surrounding community," collected on Facebook. The current team describes its approach in the video as "middle of the road fine dining" that is "worthy of a special occasion" and also works for a spontaneous Sunday dinner.
| Ye Olde Saylors Inne, 2025 | Saylors Inn, 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Who runs the dining room | Owners Gary and Deb Kessel | Galen and Juliana Balinski of Homecoming Winery |
| Dinner nights | Tuesday through Sunday, 4 to 9 p.m. | Thursday through Sunday, 4 to 9 p.m. |
| Weekend brunch | Not listed | Saturday and Sunday, 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. |
| Entree prices | Mostly $14 to $22 | Fireside Pot Roast $24, Steak Argentine $33 |
| How the menu is built | Community requests via Facebook | Staples refreshed seasonally, plus weekly chef specials |
The current prices come from the menu on OpenTable, last updated July 22, 2026. That menu also lists crab cakes at $29.50, linguine and clams at $28 and grilled salmon at $28. In 2025, the crab cakes and a Yankee pot roast sat in a range where most entrees ran $14 to $22, along with a kielbasa-topped burger called the Dutchie.
The pot roast carried over. In the video, the kitchen calls it "really what we're known for." The team says it always keeps a steak and a salmon dish on the menu and gives traditional dishes some kind of twist. For later in the fall, they mention brussels sprouts and sweet potato dishes, and they carry desserts from a local baking company. The restaurant's OpenTable page also lists a Sunday Prime Rib and rotating weekly chef features.
The regular who dated the management change to February 2026 says the menu "changes frequently, and is fairly small," and calls that part of the fun.
The Room Downstairs
Homecoming Winery is the reason the building ended up with the operators it has. It sits in the lower level directly behind the restaurant, in a space Kessel improved, according to WFMZ. Balinski calls it "a little hidden speak easy" in the video, a small room that is "exactly what you need for a tiny little winery." The winery's own site describes the decor as the building's original Gothic architecture mixed with "a touch of dark academia."
The winery pours seven wines: Concord, a red blend, Cabernet, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and rosé. One OpenTable reviewer noted that the winery uses a separate entrance in the same building.
The winery keeps a different schedule from the restaurant upstairs. According to Homecoming Winery, it is open Monday and Thursday from 2 to 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 8 p.m. It is closed Tuesday and Wednesday. That leaves Monday as the one night the wine room is open and the dining room is not.
The two businesses also host events together. A diner who attended a "Taste of Jamaica" evening on September 5, 2026, wrote on OpenTable that it was held at the stone pavilion beside the pond. The reviewer said Galen opened with a history of the inn and Chef John served jerk chicken, red snapper, Rasta Pasta and Jamaican punch.
Planning a Late-October Night on Route 115
Saylors Inn is about a quarter mile from the Saylorsburg exit off Route 33. Here is what helps on a first visit to the new version:
- Reserve for weekends. Saylors Inn takes bookings through OpenTable or by phone at (570) 856-6591 and says walk-ins are welcome as space allows. One OpenTable reviewer reported no wait on a Thursday. The same page lists peak weekend dinner hours as roughly 5 to 7 p.m.
- Book brunch for Saturday or Sunday. It runs 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on both days.
- Pair it with Mazezilla while the corn is still up. The 11-acre maze at 415 Route 115 is on the same road. The Pocono Mountains visitors bureau lists its 2026 season on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through November 8. Mazezilla's schedule lists maze admission at $15, or $14 cash, with free entry for children under 4. Hecho Bien Empanadas is on site October 30, October 31 and November 1, and Barley Creek Brewing Company is there all season. The maze closes in bad weather or when the ground is wet, so call (570) 402-7378 if conditions are in doubt.
For a Saturday, that plan looks like this: the maze in the afternoon, a pour downstairs at Homecoming Winery once the light goes, then pot roast by the fireplace upstairs, all on one stretch of Route 115 and all within one weekend of Halloween.
If the restored Saylors Inn has you thinking about the older properties along Route 115 and around Saylorsburg, Kelly Realty Group follows how buildings like this one change hands and get a second life. Schedule your free Poconos market consultation, and we'll talk through what the West End's historic properties are doing right now.
