EVANSVILLE — At the age of 14, Kellie Anderson started waitressing at the cafe in Millerville. Since then, working in the restaurant business is all she has known – and loved, some days.

“Since I’ve done this for years and years, some days the people are 100% why I keep doing it. But some days, they’re also the reason I hate my job,” Anderson said with a big grin on her face. Recently, an opportunity to own her restaurant came up and since it was something she always dreamed about, she took the opportunity.

In March, Anderson opened her own restaurant in Evansville – Somedays Bar and Grill . It’s located on Railroad Street west of the Central Lakes Trail in the previous Railroad and 2nd Event Center .

The name of the restaurant, she said, came about from a very heartfelt decision.

In the restaurant industry, Anderson said customers become your family and you get to know them and learn them. You get to see these people on their good days and on their bad days, she said. Some days customers will come in and have some magnificent news to share and some days, on their bad days, customers want to just sit in the corner by themselves.

“So, some days, there are reasons to raise a glass to celebrate and cheer and some days really suck and maybe you need a beer and a cry,” Anderson explained. “So that’s basically the reason behind the name.”

Prior to opening the restaurant, Anderson said she put a post on the restaurant’s Facebook page asking people to submit pictures of their good days when they’re really happy and also for pictures of people on their bad days. She didn’t want any pre-posed family pictures, but instead wanted candid shots of people at their happiest moments and at their worst.

“I did get some really great ones,” she said. “There was even one with somebody at a funeral.”

She said people responded really well to the whole thing and she received a variety of photos. Anderson edited them all into black and white and then framed each one. She said the wall filled up nicely, but that she wants to continue adding to it.

Since she opened the restaurant, Anderson said it has been quite busy and there have been some long wait times for her customers. The name of the restaurant fit perfectly for the post she made on Facebook. It said, “Some days, we practice patience.”

Anderson said her staff is having a great time with the name and wants to start putting different sayings on their T-shirts. One of them they talked about, she said, was, “Some days there aren’t enough swear words to handle this day.”

“You could run with this in some many ways, the whole some days thing,” Anderson said, laughing. “So, it has caught on to be something pretty catchy.”

What’s on the menu?

According to Anderson, the menu is huge and has a variety to suit everybody from burgers and steaks to seafood and pasta. They also have pizzas, which she has heard great things about from her customers.

But there is one item on the menu you don’t find very often – beef franks.

“They’re like loaded hot dogs,” said Anderson.

There are three options for beef franks found on the menu – chili cheese, coney style and a slaw dog.

Anderson said when her cook suggested adding these to the menu, she was not so sure. But she said she’s not really a “hot dog” person.

“People are responding so well, it just blows my mind,” said Anderson. “People are loving them. And you can’t really find them anywhere else, so they have been really, really popular.”

Other items on the menu, she said, are similar to what you would find in any small-town bar.

She couldn’t have done it without her family

After Anderson bought the building, it was gutted and renovated, she said. The building has housed several other businesses, including the event center, a bowling alley and numerous other bars and/or restaurants, she said.

She kept the event center that is connected to the restaurant so people still have a place to host events. Anderson said she already has two wedding receptions booked later this year.

Many of her family members helped “in a big way” to turn the building into the Somedays Bar and Grill. She said there were even some of her past customers who helped out.

Her mom, dad, aunt, Tyler Anderson and her three sons – Carson, 18; Jaiden, 17; and Nolan, 14.

“There was a lot of work in a very short amount of time, like about two and half months,” said Anderson. “There were so many people who helped. My kids were a huge help and they still are. And without Tyler and everyone else, I couldn’t have done this.”

During the process, Anderson said there were a lot of people who would stop by asking when it was going to open. One in particular she shared a little about.

“This older gentleman, who was a previous customer of mine, came in and asked when we were going to open,” said Anderson. “I said we needed one more month and then he told me he didn’t have anywhere to go and that we were his people.”

Anderson said that made her tear up and is truly why she opened Somedays and is still in the restaurant business.

“Those are the people that make some days great,” she said. “We provide them a place to go and give them a sense of belonging.”

Why has she continued in the restaurant business?

Working in the restaurant isn’t always easy, some days are hard and frustrating, so why does Anderson continue to do it?

She said she likes being around people, making connections and socializing.

“It (the restaurant business) is super hard, I’m not going to lie. I’ve wanted to go sit in the cooler some days and cry,” she said. “But then there are the customers who make it really fun and you just enjoy it. Yes, there are some who make it awful, but there are many who make it fun. And it is also super active.”

One last part of her story she shared is that previous staff members she worked with are now working at her restaurant.

“We became like family because we all worked together,” Anderson said. “I love who I work with and that makes the job even better. I still consider them all my co-workers. We have all worked together for so long, I don’t want to be their boss. We just all do it together.”

Below are some other photos provided by Kellie Anderson.