Entering the small cozy diner, customers are welcomed by walls covered in vintage license-plates from around the country, signs covered with Betty Boop and fun sayings, and a warm welcome for regulars and new customers alike from the waitresses. The smell of pancakes and freshly cracked eggs and the scent of coffee is the air.

Now under its fifth owner, Lisa’s Coffee Shop has been in Covina for 72 years and is believed to have been named after the original owner’s granddaughter. Lisa’s Coffee Shop serves All-American homestyle food to customers that fill the small diner. But for owner Cindy Ogata, 40, her favorite thing about Lisa’s Coffee Shop are the customers.

“Lisa’s is like a second home,” Ogata said.

The diner sits next to a large church, and on the outside, its windows are decorated with advertisements for their signature dishes and specials. A small patio sits to the left, and on the inside the diner is filled with blue booths, a blue counter, and a small selection of larger tables.

Rosie Natividad, a server at the restaurant, said, “Our customers, the regulars are really good people and we all work well together.”

Natividad, who went to breakfast at Lisa’s Coffee shop before beginning work there two years ago, said that the people at Lisa’s are always friendly and that the diner always has good food and good service.

Cathy Jaynes, 56, a longtime customer, agreed.

“I like the staff, how friendly they are, it’s always a clean environment and you’re always made to feel like you’re appreciated and that they are happy you are there,” Jaynes said.

Ogata, who has owned the restaurant for nine years, said she always wanted to own a coffee shop and thought it was a good idea to own an establishment that’s been in Covina for so many years.

Lisa’s Coffee Shop’s signature dish is a breakfast sandwich, covered with gravy, filled with sausage and egg between two biscuit halves, called the Heart Attack. The creation of the dish is told through a story in Lisa’s Coffee Shop’s menu.

“A stranger once came into the diner and ordered a “Heart Attack” explaining that it was a sausage and egg biscuit sandwich covered in country gravy.”

The original single sandwich is now called the Mini Attack and the two sandwich Full Attack now being the most standard size, but the dish now goes up to the recently added R.I.P. that includes six of the breakfast sandwiches.

The story continues that the stranger is now a regular named Bill and warns customers that custom orders from Lisa’s Coffee Shop may one day be added to the Lisa’s Coffee Shop menu.

Ogata hopes to open more restaurants.

“My plans moving forward are to have Lisa’s two, and Lisa’s three and four. My plan is to work really hard and make more Lisa’s,” Ogata said.

Lisa’s Coffee Shop is located at 1530 W San Bernardino Road in Covina.