Soda Chef

Delicious bacon cheeseburgers and fries from the grill. Time honored favorite at this place. Old time vibe.

This place belongs in the pantheon of great Pittsfield eateries. King Cone, East Side, Teos, Soda Chef… Not familiar with the place? Well you better hurry up and get acquainted! What I love about some of the long time Pittsfield spots are that they’ve been around since your parents were kids, or in this case since your grandparents were first thinking about having kids. They also care about their customers and know how to make great food.
The prices are so reasonable I figured they must’ve been grandfathered in on some early 1970’s lease or something. You get a cup of joe for less than a $ 1.50 and they don’t forget to fill it up when it starts to run low.
I remember hearing that Friendly’s took out the stools and the bar seating because retirees were going there and hanging out all morning nursing a few cups of coffee. Look where that landed «Friendly’s.» From the feeling I got, the Soda Chef is a place where they would really throw out the welcome mat for their customers. We showed up around 1:30pm and randomly figured we should give it a try, we didn’t realize it was just about their closing time, but they had absolutely no problem with us ordering off the grill and taking time to enjoy our food. My GF even asked for another helping of whipped cream on her hot chocolate and within a moment a saucer full of the stuff was in front of her (sanitation reasons wouldn’t allow them to put it on the drink after she had drank from it —- so they care about cleanliness — another huge plus).
The food was very affordable and tasted excellent. They have all the breakfast foods and sandwiches you could want and it tastes great.
The interior is clean but hasn’t been updated to some drab characterless nonsense, it’s completely old school and super cool.
The service was very friendly and prompt and exactly what I would have hoped for.
I left wanting to spread the word or buy them a huge neon sign to attract customers because it seems like a hidden gem. You’ve probably seen it driving by, but never gave it much thought. I do wish they were open later though since 1:30pm is a bit early for me sometimes, especially when I want to get diner style food. We also made one mistake in ordering one of the breakfasts because the menu was a little bit hard to figure out. In the future I’ll double check.
Highly recommended… now if only it was a late night spot too!