$3.50 for 4 Oz of soda $24.00 3 Oz of cod and a handful of frozen fries. Thay should be enbaresed but there not.
Jim B
We arrived in town on a Saturday night and was looking for a great local vibe restaurant downtown near our hotel. Found it! Directly across the street from the hotel!! Staff was personable and friendly, and food was what we desired - a burger, beer & wine. My wife had house wine that was good, and Alaskan beer is always good. Owner was on site and we enjoyed jawin’ with him about life. Note: they do add 3% up charge for credit as most small businesses do.
b m
Went on lunch break from bus tour. Greeted by friendly staff. 1st time to Alaska. Gave great suggestion for local beer. Great suggestion for lunch. Extra fast service. Other buses arrived & filled up quickly. Owner came in & entertained us all. I love locally owned & operated businesses. They’re the heart of our country. Food, service, atmosphere was perfection. Come again? Definitely….
TheNightKitten
This place is super cool inside. It feels historical and I loved that the owner shared his own stories about Fairbanks. Thank you for the great service Rambo! I got the king crab burger and was surprised how good it is!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Jed
Very disorganized when I came in. A mixture of people waiting to get a table and people trying to check out. While I was waiting I was able to get the menu and not much to choose from but then again it's more of a tourist diner. Got a table that a previous customer had and was not clean. I waited approximately 30 minutes and no one came to take my order. I gave this place a chance most likely will not be coming back.
Atmosphere: 1
Service: 1
Dan M.
Service was Great! I had the Big Crab cake Sandwich. It was very good. When I was there the ambiance was great too.
368gregh
After eating at Soapy Smith’s I understand why the place was pretty much empty on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. There were five of us eating lunch and out of the five only my wife was able to say that her Ruben sandwich is was really good. My burger, on the other hand, had no taste, dry and reminded me of a frozen burger that you pop into the microwave at home when you just want a quick something. Our friend had the clam chowder and said it tasted more like potato soup. The young man that waited on us told us he was new but he did a very good job of providing quick, efficient service. The owner, in my opinion, should spend less time bragging to customers about the history of his restaurant and more time focusing on trying his staff and on the quality of product he is serving. I would not go back and I would not recommend.
JAMES PATTERSON
We eat here on 7/6/23 - The owner Nick Stepovich is a great host and a wealth of local information. The food was good and milkless chowder was very good as well as the crab sandwich.Thanks for a great meal and we enjoyed talking to you and your brother.
First, let me say that Ian was a wonderful server. However, he spent most of his time helping in the kitchen. I watched several groups of people walk in the door, wait for a couple of minutes, take a look at a menu sitting by the front door, and then leave. There was no one to greet them or answer questions. I ordered the King Crab Burger and Potato Salad. The potato salad was bland and there wasn’t much of it. The crab burger is a crab cake that they purchase frozen by the case from a distributor. I know this because the delivery guy showed up while I was there and d landed payment on delivery because they are apparently behind on their payments. The owner showed up just before I left and was giving folks on the sidewalk a hard sell trying to pull in customers. By the way, it was $26 for my sandwich and potato salad.
LeslieG_8
We were in the downtown area with a tour group and only had an hour for lunch. This place was close to where we needed to get the bus after lunch - we walked around the area for a few minutes trying to find a place to eat. I was immediately turned off to see the owner/manager standing out front hustling people to come inside with his hard sale of how the food was the best in town and no need to go anywhere else. And if people walked away he made rude and sarcastic comments to them as they walked away - because of that, I didn’t want to go inside. I had bad vibes and figured if the food was so good and it was so wonderful he would not need to be outside the restaurant hustling tourists. However, because we were short on time and the only other place close by was a small sandwich and wrap place, my husband said he wanted to go inside and try it. We both ordered the fish and it came with a choice of fries or small salad. I ordered the salad as my one item and my husband got fries. We waited 25 min before the food came out and there were only a few tables of tourists inside. The owner/manager was talking down and sarcastically to the wait staff in front of everyone while trying to brag to guests about his family and family history and showing family photos displayed around the restaurant. Again, quite touristy. I was shocked at how small the 2 pieces of fish were. About 3 inches by 3 inches. The fish tasted good- not wonderful, but OK. For $24 an order (see attached photo), it is a major rip off. We had to wait for several in front of us to pay, and owner/manager encouraged paying in cash would be quicker. We waited to pay by credit card and a $1.41 service charge was added- without anyone advising us in advance- for paying by credit card. I know some establishments are now doing that, but they advise in advance. If you don’t mind waiting a while for super small portions that are overpriced then it would be OK. Because of all of the hustle and then slow service, small portions, sarcastic attitude of the owner/manager while inside and even worse when those he was trying to hustle walked away, and the added service charge for using a credit card, I would give it a poor rating and advise you to go elsewhere to eat and avoid being hustled outside of the restaurant.
Lynn J
Went for lunch with a family group. Decor is interesting with Alaskan artifacts. Owner is very friendly and welcoming. However, the food was mixed. The sandwiches are good - we ordered the salmon Burger, crab burger, and halibut. However, the soup was not good at all, tasteless other than garlic. Fries were cold and the potato salad had a strong taste.
Melissa S.
The menu isnt very big, the food is expensive and it was just okay. Sandwiches were $20-$25 each and weren't anything special. Service was good though.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 4
Art K.
There's not much in downtown Fairbanks, so we took a chance. The owner came out and invited us in. It was 75 degrees and a cold Alaskan beer sounded good. The mugs were cold and frosty. After a few minutes we decided to split the king crab sandwich and salad. It was good, not great2 beers 8 each, sandwich and 2 sides of salad 49.00. Yup a bit high but you are in Alaska. I wouldn't come here again, but if you needed lunch downtown it will definitely work.
The fun is being there.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Sandwiches
Didn't eat here but good local
Atmosphere: 5
Service: 5
$3.50 for 4 Oz of soda $24.00 3 Oz of cod and a handful of frozen fries. Thay should be enbaresed but there not.
We arrived in town on a Saturday night and was looking for a great local vibe restaurant downtown near our hotel. Found it! Directly across the street from the hotel!! Staff was personable and friendly, and food was what we desired - a burger, beer & wine. My wife had house wine that was good, and Alaskan beer is always good. Owner was on site and we enjoyed jawin’ with him about life. Note: they do add 3% up charge for credit as most small businesses do.
Went on lunch break from bus tour. Greeted by friendly staff. 1st time to Alaska. Gave great suggestion for local beer. Great suggestion for lunch. Extra fast service. Other buses arrived & filled up quickly. Owner came in & entertained us all. I love locally owned & operated businesses. They’re the heart of our country. Food, service, atmosphere was perfection. Come again? Definitely….
This place is super cool inside. It feels historical and I loved that the owner shared his own stories about Fairbanks. Thank you for the great service Rambo! I got the king crab burger and was surprised how good it is!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Very disorganized when I came in. A mixture of people waiting to get a table and people trying to check out. While I was waiting I was able to get the menu and not much to choose from but then again it's more of a tourist diner. Got a table that a previous customer had and was not clean. I waited approximately 30 minutes and no one came to take my order. I gave this place a chance most likely will not be coming back.
Atmosphere: 1
Service: 1
Service was Great! I had the Big Crab cake Sandwich. It was very good. When I was there the ambiance was great too.
After eating at Soapy Smith’s I understand why the place was pretty much empty on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. There were five of us eating lunch and out of the five only my wife was able to say that her Ruben sandwich is was really good. My burger, on the other hand, had no taste, dry and reminded me of a frozen burger that you pop into the microwave at home when you just want a quick something. Our friend had the clam chowder and said it tasted more like potato soup. The young man that waited on us told us he was new but he did a very good job of providing quick, efficient service. The owner, in my opinion, should spend less time bragging to customers about the history of his restaurant and more time focusing on trying his staff and on the quality of product he is serving. I would not go back and I would not recommend.
We eat here on 7/6/23 - The owner Nick Stepovich is a great host and a wealth of local information. The food was good and milkless chowder was very good as well as the crab sandwich.Thanks for a great meal and we enjoyed talking to you and your brother.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
First, let me say that Ian was a wonderful server. However, he spent most of his time helping in the kitchen. I watched several groups of people walk in the door, wait for a couple of minutes, take a look at a menu sitting by the front door, and then leave. There was no one to greet them or answer questions. I ordered the King Crab Burger and Potato Salad. The potato salad was bland and there wasn’t much of it. The crab burger is a crab cake that they purchase frozen by the case from a distributor. I know this because the delivery guy showed up while I was there and d landed payment on delivery because they are apparently behind on their payments. The owner showed up just before I left and was giving folks on the sidewalk a hard sell trying to pull in customers. By the way, it was $26 for my sandwich and potato salad.
We were in the downtown area with a tour group and only had an hour for lunch. This place was close to where we needed to get the bus after lunch - we walked around the area for a few minutes trying to find a place to eat. I was immediately turned off to see the owner/manager standing out front hustling people to come inside with his hard sale of how the food was the best in town and no need to go anywhere else. And if people walked away he made rude and sarcastic comments to them as they walked away - because of that, I didn’t want to go inside. I had bad vibes and figured if the food was so good and it was so wonderful he would not need to be outside the restaurant hustling tourists. However, because we were short on time and the only other place close by was a small sandwich and wrap place, my husband said he wanted to go inside and try it. We both ordered the fish and it came with a choice of fries or small salad. I ordered the salad as my one item and my husband got fries. We waited 25 min before the food came out and there were only a few tables of tourists inside. The owner/manager was talking down and sarcastically to the wait staff in front of everyone while trying to brag to guests about his family and family history and showing family photos displayed around the restaurant. Again, quite touristy. I was shocked at how small the 2 pieces of fish were. About 3 inches by 3 inches. The fish tasted good- not wonderful, but OK. For $24 an order (see attached photo), it is a major rip off. We had to wait for several in front of us to pay, and owner/manager encouraged paying in cash would be quicker. We waited to pay by credit card and a $1.41 service charge was added- without anyone advising us in advance- for paying by credit card. I know some establishments are now doing that, but they advise in advance. If you don’t mind waiting a while for super small portions that are overpriced then it would be OK. Because of all of the hustle and then slow service, small portions, sarcastic attitude of the owner/manager while inside and even worse when those he was trying to hustle walked away, and the added service charge for using a credit card, I would give it a poor rating and advise you to go elsewhere to eat and avoid being hustled outside of the restaurant.
Went for lunch with a family group. Decor is interesting with Alaskan artifacts. Owner is very friendly and welcoming. However, the food was mixed. The sandwiches are good - we ordered the salmon Burger, crab burger, and halibut. However, the soup was not good at all, tasteless other than garlic. Fries were cold and the potato salad had a strong taste.
The menu isnt very big, the food is expensive and it was just okay. Sandwiches were $20-$25 each and weren't anything special. Service was good though.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 4
There's not much in downtown Fairbanks, so we took a chance. The owner came out and invited us in. It was 75 degrees and a cold Alaskan beer sounded good. The mugs were cold and frosty. After a few minutes we decided to split the king crab sandwich and salad. It was good, not great2 beers 8 each, sandwich and 2 sides of salad 49.00. Yup a bit high but you are in Alaska. I wouldn't come here again, but if you needed lunch downtown it will definitely work.