the tillerman

Really good dining experience. Attentive and friendly service. Was a hard descision just picking a…read morecouple menu items because it all looked so good. Everything we ordered was super yummy and our cocktails and beers were great. We were in a rush and they were happy to accommodate. We need a place like this in middlebury!!

I know this is a local bar and apparently locals really like it, but staff need to work on their…read moremanners and attitudes toward customers. They are in the service industry after all. We were in town and our friend, who lives in the area, was very excited to take us to this place so we went as his guests. I was unimpressed and very disappointed with our experience. For a brewery they don't have much beer on tap, and my burger was burnt and had no flavor. Bar tender, a very young girl, was rude and ignored us the whole time we were there. I added one star because they let us eat on the counter behind the bar, otherwise they would only get 1 star. I left the bar smelling like burnt food and grease.

Awesome signage out front

Vermont Farmer's Plate

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Saison

Babes Bar

5.0(22 reviews)

30.3 mi

I have been going to Babes for the past three years. It's a dive bar in an old train station in…read moreBethel, Vermont. The food is solid. I had a chili dog and a Chicago dog today, and they were good. But that's not really why I keep coming back. What makes this place special is Owen and his husband. They run it with real care. They know the people who come in. They know their families, their stories, where they've been. When I walked in today, Owen said "Hey, it's been a long time. Welcome back." This is the kind of place that holds a community together. People show up regularly because they belong there. They see the same faces. Someone knows them. We need more places like this. Places where people aren't alone. If you're in the area, support it. Thank Owen and his husband for showing up and keeping the doors open.

Good service. Friendly local bar with a twist. ...............................................read more

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Chili Dog

Jessica's

4.5(66 reviews)

11.1 mi

This was my third visit and I was pleased as always with both the food and the service. I had the…read morescallops and my companion had the Misty Knoll chicken. The plating showed care. For dessert we shared a maple creme brulee. The waitstaff was attentive but not intrusive. I think this place deserves a Michelin star.

This might be the best restaurant we have ever been to in Vermont. The service was exceptional -…read moreMyra has the nicest way about her...attentive and calm. I can't think of one thing she did wrong even after she got a little busy towards the end or our meal. The food was outstanding. My wife enjoyed the halibut special and I had the scallops which were both exceptional. Tuna sashimi was perfect and the Caesar salad was the first Ive had in Vermont that was not over dressed - light yet flavorful. But our favorite thing was the duck fat French fries. They were hands down the best French fries we have ever had. Crispy and hot - the insides were like butter. I can't even imagine them as a poutine base! Thank You to all for an exceptional meal. We can't wait to come back! -T

Lamb shank

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Steak and onion rings

Emily's Bar and Bistro

4.8(34 reviews)

10.6 mi

Emily's is a true local bar! Always amazing service and I love that she has yummy…read moresnacks/tapas/dinners to go with your drinks.... One of my favorite stops when out and about in the valley !

Very cute local spot. Everyone knows the owner and greets her personally and she is such a ray of…read moresunshine! The Cosmo I ordered was so great and they have a small dinner menu as well. given the chance, come early and order dinner. you won't be disappointed... tasted like the best home cooked meal ever. they also had live music and the band was awesome, I will definitely come back here!

Bar Area

Falafel

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The Mad Rose

4.8(4 reviews)

38.0 mi

Great cocktails. Very friendly service. Full bar with a wide range of liquors. I had a last word…read morecocktail.

Staying in Woodstock for the weekend and we decided to check out Rutland. My husband wanted to pop…read morein here spontaneously on Halloween 2025, despite knowing how much I rely on yelp reviews before walking into any establishment , and I am glad we checked it out! The cocktails are great and the bartenders are really friendly.

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Starry Night Café

4.3(134 reviews)

10.8 mi

Booked Mothers' Day breakfast based on online reviews and was not disappointed…read more Ambience was nice. Great music on the speakers, for sure. Service was good, but the kitchen was a bit slow. The food was excellent. 3 of us chose steak and eggs. The steak was easily the start of the meal. So delicious I wished I ordered it. The home fries were also amazing. I had the Starry breakfast. Basically it was bacon and eggs. Over medium eggs were perfect. Bacon was good not great. My son ordered French toast and it was super sweet but delicious. The orange cream on it was especially good. Definitely recommend brunch here.

I was treated to dinner here. This, the Starry Night Cafe', is not the sort of place I would…read morepatronize and I'm still asking myself if I really dined here. It's that a friend treated me here because I did all the driving in and around the Green Mountains of Vermont to look at the scenery. Starry Night Cafe' is about fine dining. It's also about "new" cuisine, so that means creative culinary takes on what could be ordinary dishes. Sometimes I'll buy into the concept of "new" and sometimes I won't. Either way, the food here is not meant to be just like it is at all those other restaurants! The two chosen starters were a Caesar-like salad and a cheese plate. I liked my salad, but felt the cheese plate didn't have much to it, although the cheese was of high quality and good. The entrees selected were the mafaldine pasta and the salmon. My friend thought the salmon was good, and I thought my pasta was very good. Portions were about right for fine dining and, thankfully, not abysmally small. The mafaldine's presentation looked green as if it the sauce might be pesto, but it is not. It's a spinach pasta. Also, note that these are pronounced "mah-fahl-deen-eh" and not "mah-fahl-deen." A dessert was ordered and it featured berries and cream. I tried a little bit of it and it was delicious. The bread that arrived at the beginning of the meal was excellent. The serving staff seemed excited about the vaudouvan butter. This name doesn't mean anything to me. Should it? The menu mentioned that the butter was flavored with curry. I hesitated and was told that it was a French curry. I wondered how that might be different. Still, no matter how much or how little you use of it, the aftertaste lingers for too long. I did not like this nifty butter. Starry Night Cafe' looks inconspicuous from the parking lot. Once inside, there are several nice rooms in which to eat and you initially see a tastefully appointed bar. Each of the dining spaces has a slightly different personality. There are even outdoor spaces flanked by a large pond that would have worked well if it wasn't as humid as it was that day. Even the restrooms are decked out, right down to what might be oil paintings by local artists ... and the restrooms even smell good! The name of the restaurant does indeed refer to the work of Vincent Van Gogh. The service is excellent. They both explain the dishes you inquire about and answer other questions you might have. Being my usual self, I was observing and making assessments of the situation, such as the service and its style. It was funny in that it tried to be informal and even a little folksy, given that it's Vermont, when it is in fact fine dining. In reality, the real vibe was that the interaction was more formal than in many nicer restaurants, whether rural or urban. With that said, Starry Night is an expensive restaurant. I asked my friend about all the 5 star ratings. My friend said that, for Vermont, it is probably a 5 star event, but if it was in New York City and its environs, it would most likely fetch 4 stars. I'll go with that logic. The entree and the dessert were very tasty, but I did not like there being a polarizing spice in the butter, nor the small portion of the (other person's) cheese plate. I did appreciate the curated atmosphere and the professional service. Starry Night Cafe' made for a very interesting experience. I chose things from the menu that worked for me. I'm glad that I was taken here to eat, and I'm (humorously) stressing the words "taken here."

Starry Night Café - This might be the biggest and most rustic of the dining rooms, and it would probably look great during fall color or when snowing outside

This might be the biggest and most rustic of the dining rooms, and it would probably look great during fall color or when snowing outside

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This bar is what you see opposite the reception area upon entering.

The Reks

4.1(21 reviews)

7.6 mi

Fun local dive bar, a great place to talk skiing with friendly folks at the bar, right in the heart…read moreof the village. Very unusual movie choices. Good beers on tap and in cans. Decor wise, not much, and only 2 tables to sit at. It was chilly inside and we kept our jackets on Food - the good- the sandwiches are large and inexpensive. The bad- they were verging on inedible. The chicken was hot and the bread was ice cold, like the meat was microwaved.

Great local establishment. Dino and his family have it going on! Their NY style sandwiches are…read morenamed after family members. Huge subs!

The current menu. Changing in may.

Bar owner Dino

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Handcrafted elk antler chandelier

Fire & Ice Restaurant

3.9(223 reviews)

11.3 mi

Dinner at Fire & Ice was a highlight of our month-long sojourn in New England. Housed in an old…read morefarmhouse just outside of Middlebury, Fire & Ice features locally sourced fresh and natural ingredients in an ambitious menu that will satisfy most palates. The restaurant has been around for more than half a century and has an eclectic decor with walls covered in black and white photos, hundred year old Hackercraft motorboat, biplane propellers, and wooden skis that likely were used to carve up Stowe and Killington. We started with a watermelon margarita and an extra dry Hendricks Gibson up. The drinks were perfectly chilled and hit the spot after a long day touring Fort Ticonderoga. We were told that their prime rib was the belle of the Fire & Ice ball so we made that our dinner. Roasted slowly overnight, the meat is perfectly medium rare inside with a delectable crust. Served with a range of sides and a generous dollop of freshly grated horseradish, we could not have been more pleased with the quality and quantity of the prime rib. They have an interesting dessert cart but, after 40 ounces of delicious prime rib, we gave the sweet course a miss. Fire & Ice is a compelling option for those spending time in Middlebury. We highly recommend this venue.

Best prime rib I've had including Tennessee and Texas. Love the staff. Mashed potatoes creamy…read more Good selection of spirits for the area. Decor is utterly unique. Expensive but I never feel like... it wasn't worth it. Amazing filet mignon and chicken boursin is a stand out.

The interior

Chicken tenders

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Interior

The Cork & Fork

4.8(17 reviews)

41.3 mi

excellent food and service. Right on the main drag of town, this eatery was a real find in the…read morewoods of VT!

I have been here often and had excellent experiences each time. Food has always been reliably good,…read moreand service has always be great. It has a really nice vibe, and the decor is lovely. They are doing a wonderful job, and I am so, so glad they didn't come and go like the other restaurants in that spot before it. You probably knew that from the other reviews, but I have another reason I am writing this. I came here with my husband one night months ago, and he got a cocktail that had cherry and bourbon as the main flavors. I stole most of it from him :D. It was so good that every time I get another cocktail somewhere else, even if it is good, I just wish it was the cherry bourbon one. So, if you're there and they still have it on the menu, I suggest you get it. And if the establishment is reading this, my vote is to keep that one around.

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Salt & Rind

4.8(17 reviews)

19.2 mi

Vermont has many hidden gems, and I don't think any gleams as bright as Salt & Rind. Their…read morecocktails are impeccable and the food is next level - their deviled egg is one of the tastiest things you'll ever put in your mouth. And who would have thunk super fresh, well shucked oysters would exist in Vermont but here we are...they overnight their oysters from MA and every one was shucked to precision. The warm and friendly staff rounds out the experience, and you won't want to leave.

Shitty service. We were ignored and then they gave our table away to people who were there after us.read more

Oysters. omg effing delicious

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1 review that is not currently recommended

The reviews below are not factored into the business's overall star rating.

F. X.

4 years ago

I wanted to like this place, I really did. The setting is gorgeous, the menu somewhat appealing, and the "vibe" given off by the website, while a bit silly, seemed harmless enough. Sadly, the reality was not so great. The slice of lime in my cocktail was not a slice, nor even a twist, just a piece of lime rind, giving off neither oil nor juice. Not a big deal, to be sure, but a blunder that a good bartender wouldn't make when mixing a summer highball. Then the shishido pepper "snack" we ordered to accompany our drinks turned out to consist of peppers that were quite a bit bigger and far hotter than any we had ever had before, in all our years of eating shishido peppers in a variety of restaurants. But OK, we rolled with that. The two salads we ordered were fairly good. The smoked flavor of the beets (which I presume had been "wood fired") was a tad too aggressive, almost crowding out the beet flavor itself. The red currants consisted of a very small branch, a half-dozen currants or so. The kale Caesar was surprisingly bland, with none of the tang a good squeeze of lemon juice would have provided, nor the nutty, mild funk of a generous lashing of good parmesan. The anchovies were whole filets, laid across the top-- a setup that probably works well for those who want to avoid them altogether, but not nearly as good as the traditional whirred-into-the-dressing-itself method. Though the owners seem to go out of their way to claim that this is not a pizza place, one look at the menu reveals that, um, it's a pizza place. No other main courses on offer. And yet the word "pizza" is anywhere to be found. Instead, pizza is rebaptized with the twee appellation "wood-fired fare." Um, OK. Speaking of pizza, that is where the real problem arose. We had arrived at 4:45, the only reservation available. The first salad came out fairly promptly but there was a very long delay before the second one arrived, a good 45 minutes in between. If, for some unfathomable reason the two couldn't be served at the same time, which would have made the most sense, at least they could have come in relatively close succession. After the second salad had been cleared, we proceeded to wait some more. A lot more. At 6:35, just ten minutes shy of two full hours since our arrival, we ended up asking if our pizza (oops! my bad! our "wood-fired fare!") could be boxed up so that we could just take it home. Astonishingly, we could see that, despite our having inquired about the status of our order several times, the order *still* had not been placed. We actually saw with our own eyes the order being placed, presumably for the first time, and then promptly filled as we stood there, *almost two hours* after our arrival on the premises. Who knows how long the delay would have gone on if we hadn't physically approached the pizza station? Three hours? Four? The "wood-fired fare" was good. An interesting combination of good-quality ingredients on a one of those nicely crisp, wood-fired crusts. But this is New England and this is 2022. A good, "artisanal" wood-fired pizza is hardly a rarity and no great accomplishment. We thoroughly enjoyed this one but no more than we have thoroughly enjoyed similar kinds of "wood-fired fare," in numerous restaurants throughout the region since that kind of thing became commonplace some 15-20 years ago. Perhaps worst of all was the attitude of the employees of this fledgling establishment. Our server was quite pleasant but disappeared for long stretches of time and offered neither explanation nor apology about either the *extreme* delay or the fact that she didn't even place the order until we were literally standing right in front of the pizza-making station, as the clock ticked on toward the two-hour mark. The owner, a late-middle-aged guy with long, 70's style blond hair, who had been diffident and taciturn upon our arrival, giving forth zero welcome and no charm, completely (and presumably, willfully) ignored the situation unfolding before his very eyes as we struggled to get our food after a very, very long wait, making no secret of our profound displeasure. The customer isn't always right but this kind of nonchalance about truly dysfunctional service taking place in your own establishment is pretty stunning, definitely at the extreme low end of the spectrum of hospitality-industry standards. Make no mistakes, folks: this is a pizza place. A pizza place with food that ranges from pretty good to good but not great and that does not not apologize for, well, any of their multiple blunders, but especially not for keeping people waiting for a truly inordinately long time for their "wood-fired fare." PS The early-70's-soft-rock soundtrack, while a cute conceit in principle, gets *really* old after the first hour or so. It certainly doesn't help the very, very long wait for one's food pass any less painfully. read more

the tillerman - pizza - Updated September 2026

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Excellent food, excellent service! Nice atmosphere!…read more A+++++++++++++++++

I love the ZB and come to hear the bands at least monthly. The food used to be good- burgers,…read morepulled pork, fries, and lately a big fresh salad with homemade chicken tenders - but the recent change to basically hot dogs and tater tots is awful. Pretty heavy and not very interesting. Please reinstate the big salads and protein additions. Until then I guess I'll eat a sandwich in the car before I come in.

Mad River Barn

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Just returned from a weekend wedding here and we had a great time! EVERYTHING was…read moreterrific...Especially the staff. Everyone was friendly, accommodating, professional, etc. The rooms are mediocre but we knew coming in this isn't the Ritz Carleton. Overall very solid experience.

This review is for the inn only. The restaurant at this point in July 2022 wasn't open on Tuesday…read morenights (the only night we stayed). Also, just FYI, most of the restaurants in town are closed Mondays, Tuesdays and some on Wednesdays as well. Or the deli is open till 7pm but you can't order sandwiches past 2pm. ‍ We were only in the area for a day but weird closing times or days were highly prevalent. But I digress, Mad River Inn has lush gardens and thoughtful landscaping throughout the expansive property. It seems like a wonderful place to hold a rustic themed wedding as they have an outdoor chapel with seating and a dedicated indoor hall. The inn, tap room and restaurant are all very tastefully decorated in modern farmhouse style, with a lot of greige (gray-beige) paint that was very popular a while ago. Thoughtful touches are every where. Our check in person was very nice and helpful. We loved our room for our family of three where we could spread out and not be all in the same room all the time. The twin beds were wonderfully soft (my personal favorite) but the queen bed was definitely not as lush. I slept in one of the four twin beds as my husband snores. The bedding was soft and inviting. AC was great as it was a very hot humid day/night. The complimentary breakfast the next morning was next level good served by a very friendly, very accommodating chef. Homemade granola, breads, bagels, pastries etc but also a cooked to order breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon and home fries. Juice coffee etc of course as well. So I would actually give this place 5 stars but took off some for not having a dining room open for guests every day and the fact that our whole family mentioned the constant low level banging noise we heard below us as we were all trying to sleep. As there were no guest rooms below us we surmised that it was probably a washer and dryer making the noises. Husband said an easy fix to this is an arrester on the dryer that can be added to lessen the banging. Or skip doing laundry past 10pm. Still would highly recommend. Wish we could have tried the restaurant for dinner.

Stone Corral

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The Stone Corral has a great atmosphere and a great beer and drink selection. The food menu offers…read morea diverse selection and was a highlight of our visit. The quality is definitely there. The disappointing part of our experience was the service. We ordered two appetizers that never came to our table. Our server never actually returned to our table after taking our order. We never had the opportunity to check on our appetizers or had the chance to order additional beers and cocktails. A different server did finally come to our table to check on us and he was very attentive. He removed the appetizers from the bill right away and brought us our check. The good food and drinks made the lack of service tolerable but from a business standpoint this establishment lost additional revenue from the lack of attention to detail when placing the order and failing to get additional alcoholic beverage orders. This also resulted in the minimum tip rather than the generous tipping I typically give good service. I would visit the Stone Corral again to see if this was a one-off experience.

Great vibe. The kale salad is outstanding. I hope they don't change it. Everything else we've had…read morethere was good.

Rumble's Bistro & Bar

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We had such a fabulous meal at Rumble's a few days ago. They have completely revised their menu…read moreand their prices. I had the lobster ravioli, and it was delicious. Not only that, but it was an ample portion: I actually gave some bites (okay, only a small bite of the actual lobster) to my dining companion, but he got some whole ravioli! His order was the salmon and he wanted to lick his plate, it was that good. This was a special occasion (just for two) with my dining companion coming from far out of state, so I (the local) had checked out numerous familiar venues in the Mad River Valley, including Rumble's, at which we had enjoyed so many meals in that spectacular setting in the past. I was impressed by the very reasonable prices on Rumble's new menu. We actually stopped by that afternoon to inquire whether the online menu = tonight's, and it was the same, so we went and had a delicious meal and a wonderful experience. We especially loved our server, Debra, and fully appreciated what, in today's world of fine casual dining, were very affordable prices.

Pretty good! Got the smash burger and gyro, both were solid 8/10. Fries were good too! Drinks are…read moregood. Great service, beautiful views. Would come back!

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I just enjoyed the best Caesar salad ever! My last best Caesar was in Moab, Utah. I traveled from…read moreAlabama and I wish we could return again soon. My husband ordered the Angus Burger and said it was "Spectacular". Our server Claire was kind and courteous and very positive. We liked the atmosphere of the restaurant and the whole vibe. Thank you so much for caring for us.

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