Dining review: Sofia’s offers well-executed classic fare in a friendly atmosphere

Sofia’s Restaurant is the kind of spot that I most love to review. A small business with a big buzz, this modest, family-owned eatery is serving homey classic fare with an emphasis on quality and hospitality.

I met my friend and dining partner-in-crime Justin Williams of Justin Eats Alaska for a weekday lunch and catch-up. The dining room is tiny, with fewer than half a dozen tables and a makeshift lunch counter with high-top tables and stools. With all the tables full, we took a spot at the end of the counter and perused the menu.

It reads, more or less, like a list of the things my daughters want me to cook when they come home to visit. Hearty sandwiches, burgers, pasta and house-made soups make up the majority of this old school-focused menu. These are simple dishes that require loving execution.

Interestingly, it’s what they don’t cook that has gotten the attention of a lot of online foodies: the salad bar. After COVID, it seems that many of the salad bars around town have gone the way of the dinosaur. The excitement surrounding this one proves that they’ve been missed. Full disclosure: I don’t know that I’ve ever opted for a side salad when something else was on offer. What’s more, I couldn’t see myself driving across town for a dish I’d have to make myself. I now see the error of my ways.

According to Paul Charalambous, one of the owners and our server, there are over 50 options at this salad bar, adding that the dressings are all house-made from family recipes. Located in Spenard, Sofia’s is new, but the Charalambous family have been Alaska restaurateurs for over 40 years.

I’m a salad bar convert, especially when it comes to one as fresh and well-stocked as this one. Who doesn’t love a healthy dish that is also a creative endeavor? My Franken-salad included cucumbers, feta cheese, chickpeas, kimchi, mushrooms, Brussels sprouts and roast potatoes. Did I also add two pieces of pepperoni? I did. Was it weird? Yes. Did I like it? Also, yes. I dipped up a cup of ranch dressing for dipping (my favorite dressing when done right, which this was) but almost had buyer’s remorse when Paul described the Italian dressing made by pureeing fresh herbs into the base for a thicker, more fragrant result. But in the battle of the dressings, there don’t appear to be losers.

Entrees come with a choice of a trip to the salad bar or soup. I hedged my bets, ordering an extra entrée to go so I could try one of their many soups. Among that day’s offerings were clam chowder, chicken noodles, spicy chicken tortilla, tomato and lemon chicken rice. I opted for the lemon chicken rice and Justin opted for the tomato.

Justin declared his soup a winner and appreciated the rusticity of the tomato chunks hidden in the summery bowl. My chicken rice soup was so thick, creamy and comforting, it was almost like a congee.

But the dish of the day was the French dip and, honestly, it’s one of the best sandwiches I’ve eaten in Anchorage full-stop. The beef is tender, flavorful and well-seasoned. This is real food, not a processed deli meat hiding behind bread and cheese. A generous blanket of cheese melds the ingredients that are beautifully packed into a perfect roll — soft enough that you can actually take a complete bite but robust enough to keep the sandwich intact when dipped into the house-made jus. I could eat one of these every day. I shouldn’t but I could.

The club sandwich, which I ate later for dinner, was a delightfully nostalgic construction, stacked high and expertly and held together with a club sandwich’s trademark frilled toothpicks. This club is stacked high but so well assembled that you can take bites without a detachable jaw.

All of our dishes were served in takeout containers, which, at first, felt like a strange choice for dine-in. But in the end, it was convenient to just close the lids on my leftovers without the messy job of moving food from the plate to a container. This is especially handy for those on a short lunch break. And trust me — you will have leftovers. If the dining room is small, the portions are big.

But it’s Sofia’s welcoming, neighborly atmosphere that I liked best about it. This is the kind of place where you feel like a regular on your very first visit. Our lunch took place about a week before the city’s first real snowfall but on that afternoon we could see a few flurries falling benignly outside and it made this cozy space feel even cozier. Justin put it best saying that eating at Sofia’s feels like “going to a friend’s house for lunch instead of a restaurant.”

If you go:

Sofia’s Restaurant

3801 Lois Drive

907-748-1010

Sunday – Saturday: 10 a.m.-10 p.m.

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