The first thing Pops does is make sure you cannot pretend you missed it.
That 66-foot soda bottle out front is doing exactly what a Route 66 landmark is supposed to do: stand there, glow, and make people pull out their phones before they even get inside. Pops 66 Soda Ranch sits right on Historic Route 66 in Arcadia, just east of the Oklahoma City area, and it still knows how to make a simple lunch stop feel like part of the drive.
We stopped on the way to the lake, mostly because we needed food before continuing on. It had been several years since I’d been in, and I had forgotten how much fun the place is when you slow down and actually wander the aisles.
Inside, Pops is part restaurant, part gas station, part souvenir stop, and part soda museum that lets you buy the exhibits. The building itself has that modern Route 66 look, not old-diner cosplay, and the walls of bottles give the whole place its color.
For lunch, I ordered the onion burger. Luke got chicken tenders, Caila went with the Buffalo chicken salad, and we split fried okra for the table.
The onion burger was the right kind of simple. It reminded me of something you’d get at a small-town Oklahoma diner, where the point is not a tower of toppings or some burger contest nonsense. It was just beef, onions, bun, and enough grill flavor to make it work.
The chicken tenders and salad did their jobs too, and the fried okra was the kind of side that makes sense on a road trip through Oklahoma. Nobody needs a lecture about fried okra. You either understand or you learn eventually.
The soda is still the main event
The food is useful, but the soda is the reason Pops sticks in your memory.
Pops has hundreds of bottled sodas from all over the place, lined up in a way that turns adults into kids staring at a candy aisle. There are root beers, sarsaparillas, cream sodas, fruit sodas, imported bottles, old-school labels, and novelty flavors that probably exist because somebody lost a dare in a bottling plant.
Years ago, I remember buying a Sopranos-themed soda here and thinking that was one of the coolest things I’d ever found on Route 66. I didn’t see that one this time, but the spirit is still there.
One company had a whole run of gross-out sodas with names like Alien Snot, Kitty Piddle, and Zombie Brain. I’m not saying I want a cooler full of them at home, but I am saying I respect the commitment.
I usually drift toward root beers and sarsaparillas because every brand seems to have its own little personality. Some lean vanilla, some go heavy on wintergreen, some taste like they were brewed in a shed by a man with strong opinions about cane sugar.
Luke picked out a Black Cherry Cream Soda that was better than expected. It tasted almost like a melted cherry snow cone, which sounds like a complaint but absolutely was not. He also grabbed a Butter Soda, which we are still working up the courage to try. That bottle may need its own emotional support group.
Make Arcadia more than one stop
Pops is the big, obvious stop in Arcadia, but it is better when you treat it as part of a little Route 66 loop.
Just down the road is the Arcadia Round Barn, built in 1898 and still one of the more interesting roadside landmarks in Oklahoma. There is also John’s Place, a quirky Route 66 museum and memorabilia stop that feels like someone’s personal obsession got big enough to become public property. The Paul McCartney Route 66 sign is nearby too, marking the spot tied to his 2008 stop along the road.
That is what makes Arcadia work. It is a small town, but the Route 66 pieces are close enough together that you can turn lunch at Pops into a couple hours of wandering without making a complicated plan.
Pops is not a quiet little secret. It is not trying to be. It is bright, busy, bottle-shaped, and built for the road-trip camera roll. But the thing still works because it gives you a reason to stop, eat something straightforward, pick out a weird soda, and remember that Route 66 in Oklahoma is at its best when it lets itself be a little odd.
Details
- Address: 660 W Highway 66, Arcadia, OK 73007
- Phone: (405) 927-7677
- Hours: Store open daily 6:00 AM-10:00 PM. Restaurant open daily 10:30 AM-9:00 PM. Breakfast Saturday-Sunday 7:00 AM-10:30 AM.
- Website: https://pops66.com/
