image description — David Reyes and Jose Reyes, cousins, opened the steakhouse Rare297 in Hotel on North last year.

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Rare297 Bringing Fine Dining Experience for a Year

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
06:54AM / Monday, October 13, 2025Print Story | Email Story

The Reyes' focus is on bringing elevated dining to downtown Pittsfield.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Rare297 has been open for a year delivering fine dining in the heart of the downtown.

Cousins David Reyes and Jose Reyes sought to bring a new dining experience to Pittsfield. After noticing the restaurant space in Hotel North, the former Berkshire Palate, was vacant the two decided to purchase the building to turn it into Rare297.

"We started with RJ's [their restaurant on First Street] in the beginning, and then this place became available to our business. We come up with an idea of something that is not in Pittsfield, something that we don't have around here, like a steakhouse," said Jose Reyes. "And that's how the idea Rare297 to bring something different to the city of Pittsfield."

The two hope customers have a satisfying experience when they sit down to eat at the restaurant.

"We want them to know that we care about the customer. We care about what we do. We do this with a lot of passion. We love what we do," Reyes said. "We want customers to tell us we are the best in what we do ... And I think we're getting there."

Reyes said the last year has been a lot of really hard work, but that they have a wonderful staff who are very knowledgeable about the menu and the restaurant's offerings.

The restaurant also has private rooms, a conference room, and a banquet hall for special occasions. Rare297 hosts many parties, proposals, and conferences.

"We do every type of function that you can imagine, when they have a banquet facility, we have a room that can [accommodate] 125 people," he said. "We have two other smaller rooms can be used as conference rooms; actually, we got three other rooms as a conference rooms. Or it can be a family together dinner, or like rehearsal dinner."

Reyes said anyone planning to open a restaurant has to like what they do and be involved in the community. He said they should also expect different busy days.

"Go around and see what is going on, get involved a little bit in the community, and see what is around ... what diverse restaurants are in town, what the issues or problems the city might have," he said. "Because when they open up a business, not like, 'Oh, you open it up today and tomorrow, you're gonna be full, or you're gonna be like, crazy busy every day,' you have to be ready for good and bad days.

"Like on the end of the day, you just gotta be happy what you do and enjoy what your doing."

The restaurant has a raw bar and offers salads, sushi, seafood, pasta, pork, chicken and, of course, steak including filet mignon, New York strip and ribeye. Some of its most popular dishes are the tomahawk steak and a variety of sushi dishes.

"On the steak side, the tomahawk is one of our signature dishes that we have — a porterhouse for two," Reyes said. "Sushi and the lobster roll, people love that. We got good feedback with sushi, caviar, things like that, you don't see that in every restaurant everywhere around here."

The two have a long history in the restaurant business. Before opening Rare297 last year and RJ's Restaurant in 2021, Jose Reyes had worked in the restaurant business for nearly 30 years and has operated his own since 2005. Before the Pittsfield venture, he was the proprietor of venues in Long Island, N.Y., but wanted to expand his operations outside of the big city. David Reyes has also cooked and co-owned other restaurants before opening RJ's.

"To be where we are, this didn't happen yesterday. This is something that we've been working for a long time, over 30 years, over 28 years, you know," Jose Reyes said. "And things don't happen on the first day in the very beginning, and then we have to work really hard and work astray and move forward to do everything that we want to reach our goals. And I think we're getting there."

The restaurant recently was awarded the Best Steakhouse Rated in 2025 from Best of BusinessRate.

Rare297 is located in Hotel Downstreet at 297 North St. and is open Monday from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. with bar service until 1 a.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Tags: downtown, fine dining, restaurants,

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Companion Corner: Princess at Berkshire Humane Society

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
02:17PM / Wednesday, August 05, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — There is an energetic girl waiting to find her new home at the Berkshire Humane Society.

iBerkshire's Companion Corner is a weekly series spotlighting an animal in our local shelters that is ready to find a home.

Princess is a six year old shepherd mix that has been at the shelter for just over a month.

Canine caregiver and adoption counselor Simone Olivieri told us about Princess.

"She's very social, very friendly. When you're out walking her, she just wants to go say hi to every single new person. Loves to make new friends. She's a lot of fun. She's very active. She's very spunky. She's very playful, and she's going to need a very very active family who's going to do a lot with her."

But Princess is no stranger to the shelter. She was a puppy five years ago and got adopted quickly, but now she needs a new family to take care of her.

"She was adopted out fairly quickly as a young puppy. She's been in the same home for the past five years. Unfortunately, they were moving out of state somewhere," Olivieri said. "They could not take her with them, so she ended up coming as a return to shelter, and she came back to stay with us."

Princess needs to go to a home as the only animal or with other male dogs that are her size or bigger.

"Her perfect home would be kids eight and up. No cats. No small animals. She has quite a prey drive. She could go to a home with another dog around her size or larger, preferably a male dog. She does a little bit better with male dogs, and she's looking for a home where people are home quite a bit, so that she's not left alone for too long. She has some separation anxiety," Olivieri said.

She also needs a very active home that can let her use her energy every day, as she is very rambunctious. Especially with playing with her favorite toy, the flirt pole.

"She could use a home where people are going to give her a lot of attention and more than just a few walks a day; she's going to need lots of exercise, lots of playtime, lots of mental stimulation," Olivieri said. "She likes to learn, so someone who would be willing to take her to training classes or work on some training with her, as well as hikes, getting out and about, doing new things, different things. She is very athletic. She'd excel at things like agility, some dog sports. Just someone who is really going to want to engage and do a lot of different kinds of activities with her."

Once you let her get her energy out, she is a cuddler who wouldn't mind being held like a baby from time to time.

"She's very sweet. She's very cuddly. She's very affectionate, but she is not a couch potato. She will stay on that couch with you for a little bit, and then she's ready to go off and do something else. So she's very busy. She's very active," Olivieri said. "Once all of her exercise needs are met during the day, she will settle down nicely, and she will want to be right by your side, cuddle with you at night on the couch, sleep with you."

Princess is very healthy but does experience some anxiety and is not fully potty trained and might have the occasional accident.

"She does have a little bit of anxiety, so she is on some medication for it right now," Olivieri said. "So a lot of structure, a lot of outlets, and familiarity, getting used to a new routine and everything is gonna be really good for her. I mean, she's just lovely. Like I said, she's very social. She likes to play with other dogs. She likes to meet new people."

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