10 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.