Smithsonian Chowder House Northampton

Best chowder I’ve ever had? No. Was it a great place to grab an affordable lunch? Definitely.
We came in on a weekday for lunch and placed our order. The gentleman at the front counter was a little cold and seemed not too happy to be working that day, but he later was very helpful and very conversational when he brought us our food, so overall service was solid.
The inside is rather low frills and nothing fancy, with small nautical themed items covering the walls. We chose some stools by the window because we enjoy people watching and it was a beautiful day out. The bathrooms were clean and functioning, but reserved for customers only.
We ordered two different lunch combos (same sandwich, different soups). The clam chowder was pretty good, large pieces of seafood and rather flavorful. Most chowder in the area is rather bland and unexciting, this definitely was not that. The grilled cheese on the Texas Toast was DELICIOUS, though I’m not sure how you could go wrong with that… my only other complaint is that we were given our cups of soup in glass cups and then had to wait for our sandwiches, so for you dippers, you either had to not dip or deal with cold soup by the time the sandwich came out (which wasn’t horribly long… but long enough for the soup in glass cups to go cold). The free cupcake for checking in on Unilocal were definitely a great way to finish the meal. Red velvet. Enough said.
Prices overall were pretty reasonable. I’d recommend this place for lunch if in the area.

The place is a tad small but very clean. Friendly staff and a nice variety of soups and sandwiches. I can’t wait to go back.

Good stuff. Great Seafood Chowder & Grill Cheese. Maybe on the pricey side? They also seem a little unprofessional behind the counter, but I think that’s because they recently opened. I’d still recommend them

I went here on a weekday lunch time and thought it would be more crowded considering the reviews. Overall, I thought this was an «ok» spot. I was expecting a little more coziness but it’s got more of a cafeteria feel. I got a popover filled with something but I didn’t find it that tasty or flavorful, unfortunately. The chipotle rice option was cold and hard so I’d recommend the chips instead. Soups are good, I’ll say that. And the workers are very friendly and help you right away. I’ll try it again with some other options, but I wasn’t overly impressed.

I have never eaten better soup, grilled cheese or cupcakes! The soup is warm, comforting, and bursting with flavor. The grilled cheese is made with texan toast. It is so Juicy and delicious! And oh the cupcakes are hands down the best cupcakes I have ever eaten. There are also many choices that range from vegetarian to carnivore and healthy to the greasy you have been craving and sweet to chocoholic.

So i think most people come here for the pop overs. They look huge and i am sure they’re great, just not my thing. I believe this place would benefit from adding additional seating. It is pretty spare in there, not much in the way of atmosphere. And i think on a busy day customers must fight for one of the 5 or so tables. My tomato bisque was good. Not a fan of the bbq chicken sandwich. Very strange bbq and the chicken was chopped up in pieces. Strange. I let my husband finish the sandwich. He had the chowder. Said it was good. The sandwiches come with potato chips.

Honestly, closer to 2 stars but I’m giving a hopeful third because I adore the Hatfield location and want to love this one, too. And judging by all of the glowing reviews of this place, «it’s not you, it’s me»…
Alright, so here’s the deal. If you’re on foot, no probs. But if you’re parking and just popping in for takeout as I was, DO NOT pull into the parking lot that is at the front door of this place; all of those spaces are labeled for specific businesses’ use only and none of them say chowder house… and there’s nowhere to turn around so you’ll have to back all the way out, which is super fun when it’s trafficky. So yeah, save that side trip to nowhere and just park in the big, main «roundhouse» lot. If you can find a spot in the first row, grab it because those ones are metered… the rest of the lot means a visit to the «buy a ticket and put it on your dash» machine. Then head back towards the bus station building and enter the right side door… it doesn’t say Smithsonian anywhere on it, but the door to the restaurant is located off the building’s central interior hall. I was born in Northampton and have been patronizing various businesses in this building for decades. I lived across the street, and also behind it, down the street, around the corner — this is totally my hood, but this quick soup pickup made me feel like a bumbling tourist. All of you standing outside in the cold waiting for the bus, YOU’RE WELCOME; it looked like you could use a little noon-​time entertainment. and in case you were wondering, yes, I finally got my soup… and yes, your applause when I found the door made me feel extra special :)
ANYHOW! I got the meal deal. $ 8.95 for a grilled cheese, a cup of soup, a bag of chips and a can of Polar or bottle of water. First question from behind the counter was «white or wheat?»…“wheat, please”…“that’s an upcharge.“
Ok. Weird, but ok.
Never mind, not really ok… white it is.
«What kind of cheese?»
Resisting the urge to say «whatever is included,» I looked over the menu board and wondered whether any of the five options shown would be an upcharge. Not to sound like a cheapass, but this is a takeout grilled cheese… not a fancy or gourmet grilled cheese; I was fine at $ 8.95 but didn’t really feel the need to upcharge my way to a $ 13 sandwich that would still be a basic grilled cheese. The choices were American, cheddar, Swiss, and a couple other fairly standard varieties. I went with cheddar and tomato (tomato is the kind of elevation that, to me, is always worth the upcharge). The sandwich was disappointing. The white bread is Texas toast, which I can groove on but in this case it totally overwhelmed the skimpy slice of cheddar; it was just way too much bread-​to-​cheese ratio. The tomato slice helped to keep a modicum of separation between the breads, but this was not the gooey cheesy delight I had envisioned… particularly when the menu pitches it as «gourmet.» Also, there was an off kind of chemically flavor that I’m going to call ‘grill prep.’ Not sure what it was, but it definitely didn’t taste like butter.
The seafood chowder was similarly disappointing, though I note that it is «award winning» so again, it must just be me. I found it to be overly thick and starchy — like flour/​roux thickened, not like potatoes/​cream thickened. Pasty. And it was way too salty.
Ah, such a bummer! I love the concept of the Smithsonian, I love the menu, but unfortunately this lunch was a miss.

You know that the place is going to be good when they’ve won two «best of» awards in 2014 and 2015.
Have a terrific pop over with homemade butters of many types. And the guy actually explained how he makes them — including his secret idea of putting the hot popovers into the freezer to keep their shape.
Great food, with simple décor.

Delicious butternut bisque! the stuffed popover with chicken pot pie was good. I didn’t like the iced tea, but it may be someone else’s taste. We had the cookies and cream cupcake for dessert. It was very rich and a good treat. I recommend splitting the cup cake! Enjoy!

CHOWDAH!
Stopped in ¹¹⁄₁₅ and sampled the regular while my friend tried the Alaskan (salmon) chowdah! We loved them both. And the gigantic popovers for an extra $ 1– I have never seen popovers that big! We did not try the cupcakes, but they sure looked good!
We do feel that there could be a couple of more tables-​for-​two, but that will not detract us from returning~!

Very pleasant people and a wonderful selection of food. Their soups are hearty and delicious, and their salads are filling. Gluten friendly menu and free wifi. No AMEX but everything else is a go.

This place is great. The food is simple and quickly served. It’s not over the top or super gourmet but sometimes all one wants is simplicity and Smithsonian chowder house provides that. In all honesty, the service is what makes this place so amazing! I’ve been twice and they recognized me from the last time. It gives it a small town, know your neighbor quality. Which I love. Overall a great experience!
P. s. The popovers are soooooooooooo tasty!!!

Delicious seafood CHOWDA and very friendly staff. The sandwich options looked good too but we were just in to try the soup. Would come back for sure

I couldn’t be happier that this great soup and sandwich spot opened so close to my pottery studio! I have never had a bad cup of soup from here. You get one of their warm, eggy, crusty popovers for $ 1 with a soup purchase. Seafood chowder is thick and creamy and loaded with seafood. Veggie bisques have just the right amount of seasoning so you don’t even need to add salt.
Lobster stuffed popovers are overflowing with house made lobster salad.
And don’t miss out on their cupcakes! Whoopie pie and Chocolate PB Cup are faves.

I only ate here once, and am really surprised to see such high marks from other Unilocalers. If you are coming or going from the bus stop this food is a pretty phenomenal option compared to most towns, but in Northampton the competition is stiff and many places emphasize fresh local ingredients.
At Smithsonian I had the clam chowder and one of the oversized popovers. The clam chowder was quite rich/​creamy but was a pretty uninspiring texture/didn’t seem freshly made. Later I saw bags of soup getting unloaded from the trunk of a car. So yeah, it looks like a chain that once won an award somewhere and then franchised out. Lest I give the impression of being really picky, I used to get dining hall clam chowder all the time in college and be perfectly happy. The popover was chewy and stiff and as exciting as it looked was barely worth eating. I’m sure they are made the same day but maybe with popovers they have to be really fresh to be good? Maybe if you get there right in the morning?
Maybe someday I’ll try again.

Grandma said it was the best chowder she’d ever had and she’s had her share of chowders. I also enjoyed mine.

Really nice place. The wifi broke down as I was ordering my food. So I couldn’t pay with my card. The staff ended up giving me everything for free. They didn’t even take my muffin, chips or soda out of the bag. Instead they asked me to pay next time I was in town. And then they wished me a safe trip to NYC. Everybody in North Hampton is so nice. Such a great town! I’m definitely coming back!

Stopped in for a bowl of their chowder, a grilled cheese and a cup cake to travel. When I’m in town, this is one of my favorite restaurants to frequent. Highly recommend. Discovered they have a location in West Hatfield right off the highway — stopped once there for a breakfast sandwich and coffee for a travel to Brattleboro, VT.

Best.Soup.Ever. They get comfort food right: soups and salads, soup and grilled cheeses, soups and popovers. Many gluten free selections. A testament to their cleanliness: I am highly allergic to seafood, and their food handling is so safe that I’ve never had a reaction. And did I mention the cupcakes? Yeah.

Bowl of cheeseburger chowder was awesome. Tasty popover too! Perfect lunch on a snowy day.