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The Wallingford Dram

4.7 (84 reviews)
ModerateCocktail Bars
Closed • 3:30 pm - 11:00 PM

The Wallingford Dram Photos

THE WALLINGFORD DRAM ATMOSPHERE

What's the vibe?
Casual
Intimate
Moderate noise
Outdoor seating

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Recommended Reviews - The Wallingford Dram

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Ambiance
Stephanie C.

Loved stumbling into this vibrant place. Jeff welcomed us at the door with menus and told us he'd get us seated as soon as something opened up (the place was packed). Molly set up us with "Cowboys," her favorite drink on the menu, which ended up being mine too. We met awesome locals and felt like we were home in the NY. Great cocktails without being pretentious. Definitely recommend if you're in the area.

Something from the bemusal section with egg white
Stephon M.

The overall experience is a 4 Ambiance 4.5 Cocktails 3 Cocktail prices 4 Good ambiance place. The prices were great for so many hand crafted drinks (this is my big city perspective though). The drinks looked amazing too. We did not care too much for the cocktail flavor though which was a big let down. Tried 6 cocktails and they all felt like they were just missing something. The prism ice cubes were cool though. Overall good vibe but the cocktail itself may not blow you away

Jenny H.

Super cute cocktail spot in the heart of historic Kittery! A wonderful find attached to Anju which is also stellar! Delicious cocktails and wine and you can order snacks including Anjus delicious pork belly bun! Service was beyond top notch! Will definitely be back!

Dame shrub & The Queen
Casey L.

Sat outside late Sunday afternoon. It was the perfect spot for a drink before dinner at the noodle bar. Fun selection of cocktails that are picturesque. Service was great too.

a table with drinks and a menu
Marc B.

Having lived in Portland, Maine for quite a bit of time, I was spoiled with the amount of cocktail bars in any given radius. I then moved to Portsmouth and found that higher-end cocktail bars are a rarity. The Wallingford Dram is one of those rarities in the Kittery/Portsmouth areas, and it is doing it right. The Wallingford Dram, when not in a pandemic, is a venue that is dark with very dimmed lighting with a nautical aesthetic. The space is very small, but it adds to the Dram's charm. Being that we are in a pandemic, the Dram has expanded itself with outside seating, which allows for them to serve a wider community. The staff at the Dram is always attentive and super, super nice. Need a recommendation? Have questions? They take the time to give you thoughtful answers and walk you through the various flavor profiles. The menu offers a variety of cocktail options, and they also have a fairly extensive local beer list and wine list. They even have some snacks to munch on which range from nuts, cheese plates, and some sandwiches. Their cocktails, in my opinion, are the draw of the Dram. Their flavors are elevated and there is an abundance of options. Why not 5 stars? Because they are using fresh ingredients and are utilizing a variety of cocktail methods, their prices definitely reflect that. I just find that their cocktails tend to be on the smaller side for the larger price point. Does it push me away from going to the Dram? Definitely not. But just a minor critique!

Allison P.

We stopped at this quant bar on our way back from dinner. Our Airbnb was just a couple of blocks away. The bartenders were super friendly and knowledgeable!! They made us some amazing cocktails!!! Definitely make a stop here if you're in Kittery.

Victims of late success and dram spiced nuts

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3 months ago

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10 months ago

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2 years ago

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4 years ago

Seven years after my first review... still the best cocktails north of New York City! Yum.

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1 year ago

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1 year ago

Drinks were awesome, bartenders friendly. Great vibe! Located in beautiful area with noodle bar next door.

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4 years ago

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5 years ago

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2 years ago

Space is small but inviting. Cocktails are well made and the staff are great. I love this place.

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9 years ago

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3 years ago

Best bar in the area - drinks were amazing - service was attentive and friendly. All around great time

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Review Highlights - The Wallingford Dram

“It is definitely the drinks that I love most here but the small, cozy, down to earth vibe is great, too.”

Mentioned in 5 reviews

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Cure - Espresso stout braised short ribs

Cure

4.5(739 reviews)
1.0 mi
•$$$

Many thanks to Yelp for helping us locate a fabulous place for our last evening in Portsmouth…read morebefore heading back to California. I love the vibe. It's pretty chill and classy at the same time. Our server dazzled us with his smile. We had a cocktail that we enjoyed very much. The mushroom melange on the grilled baguette was to die for. My friend and I shared the fried green tomatoes and they were perfection. My friend was quite pleased with her crab cakes that were cooked at the right amount of crispiness. I certainly will return when I visit Portsmouth again!

This was one of the best meals I've had in a while. The food, the service, and the ambiance were…read moreall excellent! It was our first time here. I loved the menu from the first look. A great selection of seafood apps, and a variety of meat options in the entree section (steak, chicken, lamb, short rib, duck) and a couple of vegetarian items. Something for everyone. It was a Tuesday night and pouring rain. We arrived without a reservation. It was very busy. The bar and restaurant were full. There were two side bar seats available which we happily took while we waited for a table. We had a delicious cosmo and a glass of prosecco while we waited. The server let us know our table was ready, and we did not need to settle our bar tab before going to the table. I love that! I find it inconvenient when restaurants ask people to do that. The server even took our sopping umbrellas and put them in the umbrella stand by the door for us. So nice! We tried 2 appetizers, the Caribbean Curry Mussels and the Seared Ahi Tuna. I can't decide which one I loved more. Both were fantastic. The broth the mussels were in was so flavorful, rich, salty, not spicy, coconut deliciousness. I wanted to eat it all like a soup. There was no bread served with the mussels to soak up the broth...which I would have loved, but not having it did save me some carbs. The seared tuna was absolute perfection. Very slightly seared and served with a well dressed seaweed salad and two sauces (coulis style ) a charred jalapeño aioli and a mango coulis. For dinner we shared the arugula salad with strawberries and goat cheese (although there was very little goat cheese) in a delicious poppy seed vinaigrette, and the miso Marinaded seared salmon with sticky rice and mango salsa. The salmon was fantastic...perfectly cooked, very flavorful, the sticky rice was so delicious and chewy, and the mango salsa added sweetness. I love that they split the salad into two dishes for us. I love when restaurants do this. It's a nice touch to acknowledge the server was listening the we intend to share, and to make it easier for us to do so. And we shared a bottle of Pinot Grigio. I will be back!

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Cure - The side bar stools

The side bar stools

Cure - Korean BBQ Pork Belly

Korean BBQ Pork Belly

Cure - Espresso martini & a sazerac

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Bistro 1828 at Pepperrell Cove - "Medium rare" more like medium well steak

Bistro 1828 at Pepperrell Cove

4.2(120 reviews)
2.1 mi

An amazing spot right next to the water. We've had a difficult time finding good clam strips this…read moreyear, but we found great ones here! Delicious! Great service and relaxing atmosphere!

I wanted to love it here so badly. The reviews looked good, the views are incredible... but when…read moreyou're paying for a nice dinner, you expect the food to be as good as the view. It even says on the bottom of the menu "no substitutes. Our chefs make the menu for a specific purpose." Or something like that. But if that's the case, then I'd like to think the food would be good! Maybe our chef was out or something because it was bland and cooked improperly. First of all, it took forty five minutes just to get appetizers. And then our waitress took another 30 to take our food order. And then it took another hour for our food. We were there for three hours. Which is fine, but we were starving!!! The drinks were delicious but one was a bottle of wine, so that seems like the bare minimum. Beside service being slow (our waitress nice but very busy), let's get into the food which was the most disappointing thing... the flatbread was dry. The Brussel sprouts were good but the lardons were hard as a rock (clearly they cook things too long here). The salmon was good but portions seemed small. The soup was fine. The steak was supposed to come medium rare, but as you can see, it was closer to medium well (for $48 that is upsetting and embarrassing they couldn't cook a steak properly). My aunt got the chicken dish and she said it was the blandest thing she's ever had. But the biggest issue was the burger... It was my dad's birthday. So it was extremely frustrating when the burger, the thing he ordered, came out black. And there is a picture of it if you want to take a look. BLACK. Why bring it out? That is so bad on the restaurant! Our waitress immediately came over and said "we are making a new bun right now." So why bring it out? And the fries were cold. Same with my mom's haddock (everything was cold). He also asked for the burger to be medium rare and it was quite literally gray. I think when you go to a nice restaurant, you expect good food. And it was disrespectful to my father on his birthday. Thank goodness they took it off our bill (for that we are grateful), but clearly the kitchen needs some assistance because it ruins the experience when everyone is waiting to eat because one dish is done wrong. And clearly done wrong. It's expensive to go out nowadays. I'm not spending money on food that is mediocre at best. This was frustrating. Thank goodness for the nice view otherwise I feel like this restaurant wouldn't exist. sadly we won't be coming back and waiting weeks for this dinner was not worth it. Don't waste your money here. Or go for cocktails. That was at least good.

Photos
Bistro 1828 at Pepperrell Cove - Bar with a view! poblano artichoke dip

Bar with a view! poblano artichoke dip

Bistro 1828 at Pepperrell Cove - Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Bistro 1828 at Pepperrell Cove - Malbec High Tai'd mocktail

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Malbec High Tai'd mocktail

Cava - Basque-style cheesecake

Cava

4.3(431 reviews)
0.9 mi
•$$$

This little restaurant was a fantastic find on our visit to Portsmouth. It was tucked away along a…read morelittle alley and had seating outside, which was perfect because we had two dogs with us. They were very dog friendly. We had the set menu, which was four courses of small plates, and it was perfect. The food was excellent.Well prepared and delicious.. The staff were very friendly, as was the owner. I also had a whiskey and cider based cocktail, which was delicious. I would wholeheartedly recommend this wonderful restaurant for anyone in the Portsmouth New Hampshire area.

I honestly am not sure where to start and end with my wife and l anniversary dinner at Cava this…read moreevening. My wife and I have close to or more than 1000 dining experiences in our time together. If Cava wasn't the best overall, it was an extremely close second. Our server Dan was awesome from start to finish. On point, Attentive, professional, and exceeded expectations on every level. Cava is a very intimate dining experience with a warm comfortable indoor and outdoor seating option. It is also very practical as a stop before going to the Music Hall, an important date or like us an anniversary. Cava is unlike many of the places we have visited over the years in the food category. Every course was exceptionally prepared, thoroughly thought out and professionally executed with excellent plating. I won't go into detail on every dish but suffice it to say there was enjoyment with every mouthful of every course. I ordered: Espresso Martini An Italian Pinot Grigio (with dinner) We shared the charcuterie plate First course - Mussels Second Course - Italian Meatball dish Third Course - Braised Flank Steak Fourth Course - Torte My wife ordered: A wonderful Rum with blackberry cocktail An Italian Pinot Grigio(with dinner) First Course- Warm Potato Soup Second Course- Stuffed and wrapped dates Third Course- Shrimp with Polenta Fourth Course- Blueberry Cheesecake

Photos
Cava - Lower level bar

Lower level bar

Cava - Stuffed Dates and Stuffed Peppers.

Stuffed Dates and Stuffed Peppers.

Cava - August 2025 cocktail

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August 2025 cocktail

The Wallingford Dram - cocktailbars - Updated November 2026

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