Historic restaurant at Knott's Berry Farm reopens

BUENA PARK, Calif. (KABC) -- The historic Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant at Knott's Berry Farm has reopened after a renovation that added more seating space while preserving its traditional hometown feel.

The lobby area was expanded to give more room to wait inside rather than lining up outdoors. There's also a new outdoor patio and banquet rooms that can be closed off for private partiees. A bar was also added to what used to be the garden room.

"We opened up the inside, we raised the ceilings," said Knott's Berry Farm general manager Raffi Kaprelyan. "It's more of a farmhouse look to it. There are wooden chairs and tables. The decorations are more of a rustic look to it."

The restaurant started as a five-table tea room in the 1930s, when Mrs. Knott herself served chicken on her own wedding china.

After the expansion, it now serves 800 people at one time.

For now the restaurant is just serving lunch and dinner but the breakfast menu will return next month.