It might not be Norman Rockwell, but there is an old-fashioned feel to the place. There’s the soda fountain, hardwood floors, and not just hot dogs, but corn dogs, too.

Empire Grill, a new restaurant on Adamson Square, even pays homage to a former resident of the building in which it is located. Empire 5 & 10 occupied the Mandeville building before moving to another downtown location in 1950.

The shelves behind the bar are lined with dozens of bottled drinks such as Coca-Cola, Nehi, A & W, Point, Maine and Fuze. Manager Shawn Cubitt plans for the variety to continue to grow - to 103.

The servers will hand out soda lists to customers, much like the wine lists available in some restaurants.

Cubitt chose to aim for 103 varieties of soda as a play on a famous Empire “ the Empire State Building “ which has 103 floors. He plans to have customers scan cards each time they order a bottled soda. Once a patron has purchased 103, he or she will have their picture hung on the wall to document drinking their way to the top of the Empire.

The goal for the restaurant is to be a fun, family place - a place for families to relax together or for high school students to go after a game, Cubitt said.

The restaurant serves no alcohol and it plans to have local bands play on Friday and Saturday nights.

Miller’s Restaurant owner Scottie Kaylor is the mastermind behind the new concept. Kaylor had been researching the idea and was confident it would work, Cubitt said.

For Cubitt, a woodworker, working in the restaurant is a new career.

“I met Scottie Kaylor when I built this bar for him,” Cubitt said, pointing to the bar in the restaurant which he built five years ago. “I finished in October building the new bar for (the new) Miller’s and then that’s when construction and everything went belly up and I went “ oh man, ’til we did this “ all of November without a paycheck.”

Kaylor offered him the job running the grill and Cubitt jumped at the chance for a steady job.

“I’ve got five kids,” he said. “I’ll do whatever I need to do.”

So, under Kaylor’s tutelage, Cubitt remade Miller’s old location - Miller’s moved to another quadrant on the square - into a family-style restaurant reminiscent of an old-fashioned soda fountain. Cubitt cut off the end of the bar to move in an ice cream freezer and added fountain Coke machines.

The business opened on New Year’s Eve to friends and family, just to try everything out, but the first day the restaurant was open to the public was Jan. 2, said Cubitt.

Empire seats 45 people and averages 120 to 130 tickets a day. The vast majority of those tickets come in three hours from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., he said. Once it warms up and the patio is open, Cubitt expects more people to show up in the afternoons.

“We didn’t know it was going to be so condensed,” Cubitt said.

But he enjoys the hectic schedule and the opportunity to socialize all day.

Woodworking was solitary work and Cubitt loves spending his time with customers. He already has regulars at the restaurant.

“We’ve only been open three weeks and they’re here about every other day,” Cubitt said.

All the food is fresh and prepared when ordered, and because of that customers have to wait for their food to cook, Cubitt said.

“We’re not McDonald’s,” Cubitt said. “The busier we are, sometimes the longer it takes to get things out, but we try to get everything out within 15 minutes.”

Of course, now that the restaurant has been open for a while, the staff is getting faster, too.

“It’s really been a fun deal,” said Cubitt, who is in the process of buying the business. “I love it.”

The restaurant is open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.