Review: Union Leader 09-20-1998

Manchester, regularly ranked among this country's top 10 cities, now hosts a diner with the same bragging rights.

USA Today, the nation's largest circulation newspaper, placed the Red Arrow on Lowell Street among the nation's top 10 diners in a Sept. 18 article.

The Red Arrow in Manchester placed along-side diners in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Jersey City and Providence. "By sticking to the simple formula of good food, low prices, courteous service, and clean atmosphere, the Red Arrow packs 'em in." wrote Randy Garbin, who also publishes Roadside Magazine. The ranking has meant a boom in business, said owner Carol Lawrence. And that comes on top of an 8 percent bounce in sales that Isabelle attributes to going smokeless earlier this year. Nowadays, the lunch time line snakes out the door. "It's just been amazing," Lawrence said. "I didn't realize the notoriety would be this big."

Customers have shown up from Baltimore, Oklahoma, Ohio and Scotland. One Chicago man read the article while flying in to Manchester, rented a car and drove up for meal.