35 Best Restaurants in Southern Vermont, Vermont

Originally a tiny bottle shop when it opened in 2017, the cozy beer-and-wine bar now has an excellent restaurant, a weekend morning café, and spacious summertime backyard serving wood-fired pizzas. It's a destination for hyperlocal drafts, seasonal small plates, and brimming Vermont cheese boards, plus a thoughtful stock of unique ciders and natural wines to go.

Seating no more than 16 guests per night, this oasis of seasonal and local cooking feels like your coolest friend's dinner party. It was the area's first farm-to-table restaurant when co-owners Abby and Rogan Lechthaler opened doors in 2010, and it has continued to be a mainstay thanks to excellent hospitality, warm-spirited creativity, and nightly changing menus. The interesting wine list and cocktail menu are among the best in the state.

This red-roofed sugarhouse on the edge of Lake Rescue has one of the best maple creemees in the state of Vermont. Locals Ann and Doug Rose have owned the sugaring house since 1985, and almost four decades later continue to uphold their destination-worthy reputation for award-winning maple syrup. Grab a jug of rich amber syrup to bring home, or try it spun into on-site treats like fudge and soft-serve ice cream.

So many Vermont restaurants claim the farm-to-table, local-sourcing, organic approach to cooking, but the chef at the Inn at Weathersfield is more passionate and rigorous than most, with more than 75% of ingredients coming from within a 25-mile radius in season. Enjoy the exquisite French-influenced regional dishes inside the inn itself, on its back patio, or in the separate "Hidden Kitchen" at the back of the property, where monthly cooking workshops and tastings take place.

For the best of French-inspired fine dining, look no further than the signature restaurant of the luxury boutique hotel, The Weston. Cozy wooden interiors give off English countryside pub vibes, but the menu, which changes seasonally, is all French bistro. You might start with the exquisite onion soup gratineé, followed by the fantastically tender beef cheeks braised in red wine and served in creamy polenta. While seafood, chicken, and vegetables all make appearances on the menu and don’t ever miss (the Brussels sprout chips are a particular highlight), beef is really where the kitchen shines, with other standouts being the steak au poivre and a simple but pitch-perfect burger. And of course, don’t skip dessert—if it’s on the menu, go for the espresso crème brûlée.

May and Wes Stannard opened this counter-service spot in 2018, spotlighting May's native Burmese cooking in Wes's childhood hometown. In one of the best stops for Burmese fare on the East Coast, you'll find vibrant noodle bowls like nan gyi thoke (thick round rice noodles with chicken curry), fermented tea leaf salad, and "Burma Bowls" with sprouted peas and chicken curry.

A longtime Brattleboro favorite helmed since 2012 by chef Zachary Corbin, this chic little bistro is known for impeccably presented cuisine that draws heavily on local sources. One room is painted a warm red, another in sage, and a changing lineup of contemporary paintings adorns the walls of both rooms.

Husband-and-wife team Mark and Melody French spent years in Puerto Rico absorbing the flavors of the island that are reflected in their eclectic international menu. In 2020, the couple moved their restaurant from Main Street into the newly renovated, 123-year-old Skinner Library, fashioning a bartop from the 1897 wooden shelving. Reserve a table ahead of time, or sit at the bar for a casual and romantic dinner with a maple martini or a bottle from the impressive wine list.

This converted 1925 lunch car (diner) is one of Vermont's most romantic restaurants. The sleek red and black space amounts to an intimate, candle lighted theater, thanks to an open kitchen whose flames flare in production of French-influenced, new American cuisine, drawn heavily from local ingredients.

The big red barn with a sprawling lawn and walk-up ice cream window is a quintessential summer snack shack. It's where paper boats holding cheeseburgers, loaded hot dogs, and lobster rolls make way for soft-serve sundaes, stacked ice cream cones, and root beer floats.

Classic American breakfast and lunch is served all day in this greasy-spoon diner, fashioned from a circa-1945 railcar. The line may be long, especially on weekends; locals and tourists can't stay away.

The sourcing and gathering of local ingredients at the heart of chef--owner Cai Xi Silver's cooking is inspired by the food memories of her childhood in Chongqing, China. Her family's Sichuan and Shanghai influences come to life in a to-go menu that includes delicate steamed buns, perfect dumplings, and abundance boxes highlighting regional home cooking backed by Vermont ingredients. Cai's offers take-out and delivery only from her Brattleboro art gallery, with options for private in-home cooking and catering.

Traditional güveç pots aren't the only elaborate housewares at this Turkish restaurant, which consists of tables in the middle of a high-end antique showroom. The wood-fired oven yields masterful results—and piping hot pide (a flatbread)—making this a great place for lunch or a satisfying dinner.

Built in 1796, this inn has been continuously operating ever since, and the comfortable tavern and formal dining room serve a Colonial-influenced bistro menu. A member of the Vermont Fresh Network, the restaurant benefits greatly from its strong connections with local farmers.

Under a classic neon sign at the main corner in downtown Wilmington, Dot's remains a local landmark and a reminder of diners of yore. Residents and skiers pack the tables and counter for American comfort food classics, starting at 6 am with the Berry-Berry pancake breakfast, with four kinds of berries.

Books and coffee collide at this café and roastery, where the beans are sourced from women-owned farms in Central and South America and the espresso drinks are always on point. In the stacks, Antidote Books stocks a highly curated selection that leans literary; the shop also hosts frequent readings and author signings.

This place has the best wood-fired pizza in town. It also has character to spare: sit in chairs from old ski lifts and step up to the counter fashioned from a vintage VW bus to design your pie from 29 ingredients.

This nanobrewery in the heart of downtown Bennington is a haven of craft beers with English-style porters and inventive brews like Melon Grab fruited IPA. All of these beers become the perfect palate cleansers for good pub fare like loaded nachos and deep-fried chimichangas.

You won't find a better meal at any other general store in the state. This is really more of a classic American restaurant, serving farm-to-table breakfast, lunch, and dinner, than a place to pick up the essentials, but like any good general store, it's a friendly and relaxed gathering spot for locals.

Hidden away in the back of a parking lot behind The Anchor, La Casita is a favorite haunt for Mexican fare, including homemade bottled hot sauces, shatteringly crisp flautas, and loaded burritos. The drink menu is no slouch either, with a variety of local beers and seasonal margaritas on hand to wash down platters of tacos and sizzling fajitas.

Since opening in the 1990s as the area's first brewpub, this enclave of exposed brick and bubbling brewing tanks has become a watering hole for fresh IPAs and stacked burgers. A full bar and myriad pub fare offer plenty of reasons to elbow up to the wraparound bar.

This classic French restaurant is tucked in a grotto on the climb to Bromley Mountain. The two dining rooms are perched over the Bromley Brook, and at night a small waterfall is magically illuminated—ask for a window table.

Located inside the former 19th-century-era Grafton Village Store, this modern general store is a meeting spot for locals and travelers seeking groceries, deli sandwiches, prepared foods, and homemade pastries. It's an idyllic stop for a cup of locally roasted coffee and a cider doughnut on the front porch.

The team at this spot for coffee and conversation takes great pride in sourcing direct-trade beans from the Organic Farmers Cooperative in Cameroon, West Africa, and pairs them with an assortment of cookies, cakes, and muffins. This is ground zero for Brattleboro's bohemian contingent and fellow travelers.

In 2014, Jodi and John Seward opened their funky, casual watering hole fusing Mexican and Cajun cooking; it flooded in 2023, and in 2024, they reopened down the street. Tacos, burritos, bowls, and po'boys frequently feature Vermont meats and produce, while craft beers and specialty cocktails continue to highlight the state's bounty in local beer and spirits.

This wood-clad restaurant with a second-floor loft, hanging tea lights, and Vermont-inspired pub fare was originally a carriage house for the guests' horses at the Grafton Village Inn. Today, it's a beautiful and rustic spot for eating local, from cocktails with local spirits and muddled berries to a Vermont beef burger capped with Grafton cheddar cheese.

The dining room at this luxurious inn is a large, modern space where rich woods and high ceilings meld into a kind of "nouveau Vermont" aesthetic. The contemporary American cuisine emphasizes farm-to-table ingredients and has earned the restaurant "Gold Barn" honors from the Vermont Fresh Network.

A brewery, music venue, and New Haven–style pizza place in one, this multipurpose hangout has brought a vibrant energy back to an old inn just up from the village's main intersection. A large deck overlooks the river in summer, and there are simple yet clean rooms for rent upstairs if you have too much fun at the brewery.

This bigger-on-the-inside café and lunch joint comes with ample space, especially in the barn-chic back room that serves resting travelers, gaming locals, and conferring coworkers. Keeping them oiled is a menu of organic, non-GMO, locally sourced sandwiches, burgers, soups, and salads.