PACIFIC CITY – The Riverhouse restaurant was to serve its last meal Nov. 27.

The restaurant, owned by Steven and Joy Neufeld, has been put up for sale.

The Neufelds said they will continue to make their well-known salad dressings at Riverhouse Food Products just north of Tillamook, a growing business with interstate distribution.

But that thriving enterprise is demanding ever more of the Neufelds’ time – a major factor in their decision to give up the restaurant, said Gary Seide, a family friend and financial advisor.

As recent entries in their restaurant’s guest book attest, the Riverhouse will be missed by many local residents and visitors to Pacific City. “Our family has celebrated every special occasion at your restaurant … Thanks for all the great meals,” wrote the Blums and the McKillips.

“Your ham zinger has a permanent place in my heart,” wrote Alisa Green.

“Three generations of our family have been coming here, for 32 years. Losing you is like the passing of a good friend,” wrote Steve and Ellen Chambers.

Steven Neufeld opened the Riverhouse on Oct. 13, 1979. It was located in a small building on the narrow strip of land between the Nestucca River and Brooten Road, about halfway between the village of Woods and the lone flashing red light in Pacific City.

The Riverhouse occupies that same site today, the dining area still small and intimate. Large windows allowed the diners to see birds, fish, seals, otters, boats and fishermen traveling the Nestucca River.

Local artists hung their works on the walls. Live music graced many a weekend evening.

The restaurant featured its custom-made salad dressings. And they proved to be a hit.

Diners would ask to take some home. The Neufelds’ salad dressing business was born in 1988, selling bottles and gift packs in the restaurant.

It has grown to include distribution to grocers in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, northern California and Nevada.

Joy Neufeld said husband Steven came to Pacific City from the Seattle area in the 1970s to learn to build boats. He worked as a dory boat builder and fisherman, saved money, left to travel for a couple of years, then returned to settle in the town he had come to love.

He bought the building, which at the time housed a pizza parlor and café, and modified it to include the heavy tables that he made himself, from a redwood drift piece hauled in from the beach and cut into slabs at a nearby mill.

The newly opened restaurant served open-face sandwiches, soups, desserts, beer and wine. In 1981, Steven added full-course dinners (including fresh seafood, salads and steak) and a bar.

A few years later, he added pasta dishes. The menu essentially is the same today.

It became something of a high-class menu, with Steven as chef.

His food background included a stint at a coffee shop in a college neighborhood in Seattle. But the main influence on his culinary skills was his mother, who comes from Vienna, Austria, and (says Joy) is an “amazing” cook.

Penny Love, now the main chef and baker, has been there more than 20 years. Lonnie Kennedy, the lead waitress, was there when Joy arrived.

Marie Davis, a waitress the last six years, says, “Joy and Steve are the best bosses I’ve worked for. They treat us like family.”