Jack O’Connell knew he was taking a big chance when he opened Runyon’s Restaurant in Coral Springs on October 1984.

“Back then, the city did not look anything like it does now. We are talking of a time when Sample Road was just two lanes,” Connell said. “The city had a population of about 30,000. There were no fine dining restaurants in the city. All we had were pizza joints. I did not know if we would succeed, but I sure hoped we would.”

After 25 years of seeing Runyon's grow with the city, O'Connell says he is happy with the way things have turned out. “We took it from a nothing place to a $4 million a year business. We never advertised. It was always word of mouth. One thing we get to hear often is how consistent the quality of food is.”

O'Connell attributes much of the success of the restaurant to the fact that many of the staff members have been working at the restaurant for more than two decades.

“We had the same chef for 21 years. He moved to Indiana, but that did not affect us as he had trained the chef we now have,” he said. “The bartender who opened the bar all those years ago, he is still with us. We have original waitresses, original dishwashers. It’s a very close-knit group. It’s a kind of a unique place. ”

Visit www.runyonsofcoralsprings.com to try out the restaurant's 25th anniversary special menu.