I was very disappointed in this formerly charming restaurant. We had a reservation for 4 and were seated right next to the kitchen-- with the fluorescent lights glaring in our friend's eyes and the kitchen activities disturbing our conversation. There were plenty of empty tables available. 3 of our dishes were mediocre, but my husband enjoyed the pork tenderloin. The Whiskey Bread Pudding was excellent, The saving grace of the meal.Our waitress was inattentive & did not refill water glasses or offer wine refills. We felt her priority was to get us out of the restaurant. She did leave as soon as we paid our bill at 8:20. Overall, a poor showing for a formerly good restaurant. read more

Went with family today and while the food and drinks were ok our son who has Celiacs ordered a grilled cheese on gluten free bread. We are not sure if he did receive it as an hour later he was projectile vomiting and continues to do so. In hindsight he did say it tasted like regular bread. We are not sure if this is what happened but will be skeptical if we ever return read more

Went to the back burner to go side of the building and ordered the Cajun chicken Ciabatta and the pumpkin mushroom soup. Waited about 35 minutes for a small, rock hard Sandwich, with two debit card sized pieces of rock hard chicken cold to the touch. The sandwich was literally uneatable. One of my worst restaurant experiences of my life. Will only go back to buy the better cheddar which is amazing who ever started that! read more

This was a great place for everyone. Both picky eaters now adults were satisfied. Picky eater one had the salmon and it was huge! Picky eater two had shrimp and grits and the sliders. He loved the shrimp and grits though the tomato gravy was a little weird. Hubby had the seared scallops which were perfect! I had the braised short ribs which were good but not the best. Also had the very good calamari and cheese plates. House bread was awesome! Will definitely return here! read more

Visited this restaurant for the first time and was just amazed at the service. They went above and beyond to accommodate our special request and it is very much appreciated!!! The The staff was friendly, attentive and courteous and the food was delicious. read more

Went for a GNO dinner and we had a very enjoyable meal and a good time. It's not a hipster bar; it's a grown up restaurant. Mature clientele and atmosphere abound. First of all, they have a good happy hour so look into that for good appetizers and cheaper drinks all week. Bar is cozy with a good size bar, several tables and a nice room off the bar with seats and couches around a fireplace. Good, friendly table service and a atmosphere where we can talk and see the menu. We had the Better Cheddar appetizer because you have to when you go there. It's like crack. It was presented nicely with grapes and nice homemade crackers. So good and so addictive. We also had the calamari which was cooked correctly but I would have preferred a little more flavor in the sauce or coating. Several of us had the NY Strip special which also had bacon and sour cream mashed potatoes and broccoli and kale. Very good. We all enjoyed it. Another friend had the halibut special and it was delicious. I tried it :). Fish was cooked perfectly. Crab cake and scallops were also on the menu. Crab cake was a good size, not a lot of filling and was enjoyed. Scallops were cooked perfectly and had a nice spicy seaweed salad. I had the cheesecake which was homemade with raspberry sauce. It was good but nothing out of the ordinary. Chocolate torte and vanilla caramel salt gelato were also had and enjoyed. read more

I've been here a few times and always left satisfied. However, I went last night with two friends (my recommendation), and it was terrible. Took forever to get a drink (30 mins), finally got an app after 45 mins, and at least 1 1/2 hrs to get our dinner (one of the meals was incorrect). I mentioned something to the manager, but he obviously didn't care. We didn't get the check until 2 1/2 hrs after we got there, and had to take our check to the bar to pay it. I'm sure my friends won't be back, and I doubt I will either. read more

Good place to eat. Great atmosphere. I would go again. Gives off a fancy feeling but the price is not bad. read more

I was making a day of it in Hockessin and decided to have lunch at the back burner. On my previous trips I had had arctic char but all my friends said I must have the mushroom soup and the burger. They were absolutely right. The pumpkin mushroom soup is excellent and I'm not a big fan of pumpkin. The burger was done to perfection. The staff work as a team and are friendly and helpful. They seem to enjoy their work. I will certainly make the back burner my go to place in Hockessin for lunch. read more

We had a 7PM reservation for Saturday, 9/23/17. We arrived at 6:59 PM and were seated at exactly 7PM! Our hostess at the door (Kylie) was sweet & kind. Our server Samantha immediately took our drink order, as we reviewed the specials: Coriander Seared Tuna & NY Strip Steak. We started with the Back Burner's renowned Pumpkin Mushroom soup. It was Even Better Than We Were Told. AMAZING SOUP! It was a nice size portion served with a GIANT SPOON the size of a small shovel. (I don't really understand the giant spoon concept, but it's cool) The large spoon did allow me to devour the soup quickly. YUM. Did I mention it was AWESOME We received a nice basket of fresh baked rolls; crispy & chewy; Very Warm; fresh from the oven. We ordered the specials. Samantha asked how we wanted these cooked. Steak was medium rare; cooked to order. I asked for the Seared Tuna to be cooked so that "As soon as you hear the SIZZLE it is done. RAW". It was PERFECT and Delicious. This is a favorite dish of mine and this serving was about the best I have tried. We strongly recommend the Back Burner and WE INSIST YOU TRY THE PUMPKIN MUSHROOM SOUP WITH THE GIANT SPOONS!! read more

You walk in and see white table cloths and silver cutlery and you think nice, but then you start seeing the stained chair pads and the dirt and dust encrusted areas. Getting quite run down. The menu is intriguing, and a lot comes down to your choices. An app that is amazing is the Better Cheddar, but they paired it with the most salty baked thins that it overpowers the cheddar and you don't get to enjoy what an amazing creation it is. The crisps were so salty, and there must have been lots of salt in the Italian Wedding Soup, that I could no longer taste any flavors. The Pear salad was lovely with fried goat cheese, jam, nuts and gorgeous pears. The champagne vinaigrette clashed with the pears tho. My friend loved her meal, service was good. I'll give it another try, but I wasn't overwhelmed. read more

What a hidden gem! From the outside and from the font on the sign you'd think it would be a dark bar with outdated food but when you walk in... wow! It is light and airy. The menu is straightforward but elegant and ambitious. We had steaks which were cooked perfectly. Staff were very friendly and service was fast and attentive. read more

We were there a couple of times. The food was okay. The staff were friendly. The location is good, plenty of parking.

My husband and I went here for lunch yesterday,11/17/2014. He ordered the game burger. It was Raw and cold on the inside. Nasty!!! He ordered it medium. He normally can eat something even if it is red. I knew it was bad when he couldn't eat it. The waiter asked if he wanted him to send it back to be cooked. Like it was no big deal! He lost his appetite! The manager came over, she agreed it was raw. She nicely apologized and took it off our bill. A comp or free dessert would of really made us happier customers. Service recovery is crucial. We won't be going back there anymore. read more

Very disappointed two of us had the halibut special which was incredibly dry and no flavor whatsoever, another one of had the surf and turf salad and the turf was so over cooked and dry and hard it looked like it had been cooked multiple times... read more

Quiche is delicious, but it is time to replace the rice salad served with it for the last 30 years with a small side salad! This would be a healthier choice. read more

This place has charm a-go-go and is so conveniently situated near my parent's house. The pumpkin mushroom soup is a MUST; run, do not walk to it. My husband and I went on a date here recently and had their prix fixe for $30, it was freaking awesome, and a pants-splitting amount of food. We had our rehearsal dinner here before our wedding and we LOVED how accommodating they were. We love this place! read more

Eating here was a great mistake. Our waitress kept disappearing for extremely long periods of time (30+ minutes) which was quite frustrating. We also ordered some appetizers when we arrived around 6:30 and didn't see them until 7:45. We didn't see our actual entrees until around 8:30 (we ordered before we even got our apps) which is when we complained and our food came out not even a 5 minutes later. Where had it been sitting this whole time? The food was lukewarm which suggests it was just waiting there. Finally, while the burgers were delicious and our appetizers all right, I was not the only one in our group that felt ill afterwards. The food did not agree with me and that night wasn't very pleasant. None of us plan on returning to the restaurant any time soon, as it was frustrating to watch other tables get served and leave while we sat there with nothing. We were polite to the staff for the entire visit and they did give us some drinks on the house, but the wait time was inexcusable considering there the restaurant wasn't particularly busy. Overall, terrible experience and if you go I hope you don't deal with what we did. read more

My wife and I went here for the first time recently and we couldn't have been more pleased. We will definitely be returning. I got the peppercorn steak and she got a filet. We both enjoyed our entrees greatly. We don't go out terribly often so I really like it to be good when we do. Our server was superb as well. She sold the menu without pressuring us and suggested reasonable things that we ended up getting (such as desert with coffee). Some reviewers mentioned the ambience and while it is fairly odd it did not IMO distract from a very positive experience. I can't wait to go back! read more

A truly enjoyable experience. The Pumpkin Mushroom soup was excellent. Entrees well prepared and tasty. I was very pleased with our table next to the fireplace and last but not least our service was excellent. I have eaten in many restaurants and would rank this as one of the best. read more

Great crab cakes (gluten free, too)!! But the evening will ruined by our sourpuss waitress who "wasn't permitted" to bring bread to my friend until after we ordered our meal. It was 6pm - we were ravenous and she was completely unhelpful. I am gluten free and she knew very little about the gluten free offerings. She recommended a soup and I had to instruct her that it contained. gluten (which she then confirmed with the chef). I asked if the sauce had gluten. She "didn't think so." WTF??? Lady - I get sick if I eat gluten - could ya ASK your chef please?! My friend wanted decaf iced tea - which wasn't available. So she ordered decaf hot tea and a tall glass of ice. This did not sit well with grumpy who asked my friend if she "really wanted to go through this much trouble" [for iced tea]. Translation: it's too much trouble. Good thing the food is great. I'll go back for the crab cakes - but will go out of my way to be served by someone more accommodating. Or maybe stick with takeout. $120.00 dinner for two -but, apparently, extra for good service. read more

I had lunch today and everyone was very kind. I had a special request that was granted with no problem. They even put my request in before I could even sit down. The food was great as well. read more

I think this place has an identity crisis or a split personality. On one hand it is a country type place, looks like an old barn, has country decor, etc. On the other, they strive to look like a fine dining establishment with fancy place settings, etc. It was an odd mix so going in, I had no idea what to expect. Our waitress and the service here was a bit slow for lunch time on a Saturday. It was not insanely packed so I am not really sure why. We sat at a table by the kitchen which is behind glass for all to see and they didn't look overwhelmed so I still can't figure out what took so long. Anyway - after a little wait (not so painful I would knock the rating to 2 stars) we received our first course - soup for most of us and a salad. Since The Back Burner claims that their mushroom pumpkin soup is their signature dish, I had to give it a try. Eh, it was good but not great, certainly not what I would call a "signature dish." For my main course, I ordered the omelet of the day - bacon, onion, red pepper and mozzarella cheese - an interesting combination. It came accompanied by some sort of cold rice salad that was in a word: disgusting. I moved it to the far corner of my plate and ate my omelet. It was well done, if not a bit dry but I don't mind my eggs like that. I would not have put those ingredients together myself and probably wouldn't order it again but it was good. A nice lunch option amongst sandwiches and entrees. While I probably won't find myself in this area of Delaware again or for a very long time, I wouldn't hesitate to go back to The Back Burner if I was. But if I know I am heading that way, I might consult Yelp for other suggestions around. read more

Fiance and I came here last week when visiting family. For a little place in Hockessin, DE, I wasn't expecting anything so delicious! I had the pork tenderloin with the vanilla fig port sauce. It was cooked perfectly and the broccoli rabe was delicious. Fiance had the Steak Frites. He said the steak was pretty good. We would return to try other things on the menu. Our server was a little over eager and I couldn't get into the rustic decor. Oh, and the dessert was delicious! read more

Outstanding meal. We decided to share a bunch of the lite plates, which we really enjoyed. So much that we ordered a second pork belly! The beet salad was the only dish we would call...lackluster. all else was stellar. read more

Very nice atmosphere with light jazz playing in the background. Our server was friendly and attentive. We enjoyed our dinner tremendously and especially the chef's attention to detail. We had the salmon, the rack of lamb for dinner and they were cooked perfectly. read more

Had a great meal for New Years Eve. The rockfish and the lobster were outstanding. This is one of our favorite places to dine. read more

The Back Burner - Had a great meal for New Years Eve. The rockfish and the lobster were outstanding. This is one of our favorite places to dine. - New American Near Me - Hockessin, Delaware

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The food here is excellent. The menu is not huge but everything we have tried has been delicious. The atmosphere is just ok. It probably needs a bit of a facelift. It seems to appeal to an older crowd and a bunch of old time regulars. read more

We just celebrated my mothers 50th birthday at this wonderful establishment. The food was absolutely delicious and the service was top notch! Thank you to the staff and management for making our celebration a success. read more

My go to restaurant when I don't feel like making dinner. Great food at a fair price.

While the food here is pretty good, the portions are pricing are a little confusing. I ordered the crab cakes, which came with just one. My date ordered a steak with asparagus, which ended up being a steak garnished with 3 or 4 pieces of asparagus. The dinners we had left us satisfied, but the price was more appropriate for a legitimate steakhouse, where everything is bigger, better and tastier...we certainly expected that we were going to get more than what was on our plates. Adding to the confusion was the fact that our desserts were bigger than our entrees, not that I'm complaining about that :) Service has always been very good in my experience, but the place could use a bit of a face-lift. It's a little dark in there, and not just the lighting - dark wood, dark upholstery, etc. I love dim lighting for a romantic date, but this was a gloomy version of that ambiance. The Back Burner is lucky that there really aren't too many other fine-dining spots in Hockessin. read more

I grew up in this area but never appreciated what this restaurant had to offer. I've come back repeatedly each time I'm in town to visit and several thing stand out: -Pumpkin mushroom soup -Amazing thin well-seasoned lavash served in lieu of bread at lunchtime -Bourbon flight paired with my husband's entree including discovering the delicious Sortilege Maple Syrup & Canadian Whisky Liqueur -Crab tomato soup (so good we bought a pint next door to-go) -Better cheddar (an amazing cheese spread that you must serve when entertaining -- only available to-go next door) read more

I didn't understand the food. I ordered a chicken something, and I got this teeny mash that tasted of nothing at all. There was no salad with it, just this soggy mush. My husband was confused about his food as well. We were there to meet someone and upon their recommendation, but we left confused and unsatisfied. read more

Great place for a special family event. Mushroom soup is superb.

This restaurant was a big disappointment. We have been there before and the food was good. Not this time. I ordered the blackened salmon salad which came to the table with the salad separate from the salmon. I actually had to cut up the salmon myself and add it to the salad which was missing the dressing. The salmon was overcooked and dry. We ordered soup which arrive barely warm. My husband ordered the crab cake sandwich and the crab cake entree arrived at the table. Not sure if the server or the chef made that mistake. I heard him order it so I know he ordered the sandwich. The crab cake was dry and filled with mostly back fin crab as opposed to lump crab meat. At the price they were asking I think you should get mostly lump meat.The bartender is doing a great job even if the kitchen isn't. I had a cranberry mule and is was delicious. Sadly we will not be returning to the restaurant. Every restaurant has an off night but we won't be risk being the subjects of another off night. I have lived in Hockessin since 1995 and this was once a premier restaurant. I am not sure what happened but they definitely need to pay more attention in the kitchen. read more

Classic, delicious, upscale, timeless. The pumpkin mushroom soup is absolutely killer, filled with fresh and unique flavor. Specials are always on point and the red meats are paired nicely with awesome red wine offerings. Filet mignon here is always a killer dished, cooked to perfection. Service is excellent! Come during lunch without a reservation for no wait, great service, and an upscale feel. Highly recommended! read more

We made reservation but when we arrived our table was not ready. We waited 25 minutes for a table. The food was good and overpriced. We will not return. read more

I was with a tour group, 2 busses, over 120 people. Everything was excellent! The service, the food. Everyone raved about it. The only complaint is the small restrooms; however, during a normal lunch/dinner you don't generally have over a 120 people trying to use the restrooms. Our server asked if we wanted a beverage as she poured our water, I had decaf, which was piping hot! Next came the "bread", some kind of cracker, it was good. The salad was delicious: fresh greens, not overdressed, candied walnuts, tomatoes. I had the steak, cooked to perfection, so tender I didn't really need the steak knife. The mashed potatoes and green beans were scrumptious. Vanilla ice cream that actually tasted like vanilla! The next time we get to Delaware, we are going back. read more

Excellent place for a group party-and delicious food We had our annual Christmas Family party here and it was great. We had a separate room since there were almost 20 of us. It was set up well, enabling us to all talk together and yet not be crammed together. Service was very good. Food was excellent and we all felt like there were enough food choices that everyone found something they liked. And Back Burner also helped us surprise a relative with a 75th birthday cake! read more

BB's rollercoaster continues,.....good dinner, bad dinner, etc.........Food is always really good, service can be anywhere from outstanding to terrible........I really like it on the good nights read more