Lisa told me about the cute and quaint Griffith & Feil Drug and Soda Fountain in Kenova, so the next change I had to visit Kenova, I stopped through.



The pharmacy occupies that back portion of the store, and the aisles are lined with products, but the remainder is dedicated to the soda fountain and seating.

According to the menu, the pharmacy was born with the town of Kenova and has been remodeled to an old-time appearance with a 1929 soda fountain, tin ceiling, hardwood floors and walls filled with pictures of history from the Ceredo-Kenova area. The pharmacy began in 1892 and moved around to a few locations before settling into its current position in 1943.

The menu is huge. I was thinking it was just ice cream and handmade sodas. False. They also have burgers, chicken strip baskets, pulled pork, chicken salad croissant, club sandwiches, BLTs, hotdogs, grilled cheese, corndogs, salads, reubens, wings, Italian subs, monte cristo sandwiches, and more. Tom ordered the monte cristo, which he seemed to enjoy.




I knew I wanted something from the soda fountain. And they have a ton of tempting desserts - milkshakes, banana split, brownie supreme, turtle sundae, drumstixx sundae. Gosh I would so go for ANY of those, but I wanted to go a little bit more traditional.

I narrowed it down to an ice cream float or an ice cream soda. The ice cream floats have a hearty scoop of ice cream added to a phosphate. The ice cream soda is a phosphate blended with ice cream topped with a second scoop, whipped cream and a cherry. The more, the better, so I went with the latter.

I got cookie dough ice cream with coke. I don't even know what this combination is, but it's very, very tasty. The coke ice cream was fizzy and sweet. And the ice cream - uh, can't go wrong with cookie dough. So good!

The pharmacy is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. The soda fountain is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.

Grade: A

I'm not sure how often you see a soda fountain still in existence, but this was my first. They harken back to a simpler time when people would gather around them to chat. Trivillian's Pharmacy is located in Charleston, and I did feel like I was stepping back in time when I went inside.

It's not every day you see a dining area right beside nasal decongestants and band-aids. But that is the case at Trivillian's.

There is a long counter with stools and there are a few dining tables set up in the center, which are covered with red and white checkered tablecloths. We sat down and the man who was working the register came and supplied us with menus.


There are sandwiches - like pimento cheese, turkey, BLT, peanut butter and jelly, reubens, BBQ - and there are hotdogs. I was feeling the hotdogs this day.

So I ordered up two in a West Virginia fashion: chili, slaw, mustard, onions. Oh, and a milkshake, because who can resist?

My hotdogs were pretty good. The slaw was pretty loose - not a ton of sauce to hold it together, but otherwise, it was a pretty solid dog. The chili wasn't spicy - which is good for me. It has ground meet and a good flavor.

The milkshake was just lovely. Homemade goodness.

The West Virginia Hot Dog Blog has their say - and they are the masters when it comes to West Virginia Hot Dogs. And the folks over at Fork You also chimed in.

Grade: A