Reviews Duke's Public House

Duke's Public House (pretty terrible name, not sure who "Duke" is...) is the restaurant/bar attached to the Delta Hotel in South Burlington, VT (Marriott bought the hotel in 2020 and gave it a "facelift" I guess.). The hotel is right off exit 14E in South Burlington and SUPER convenient to anywhere you might want/ need to go up here. The restaurant has an extremely limited menu (you can see it in the first pic). But all the things on it are very good. Not complex, just good, fresh, real, well executed food. You can also see my Gin and Tonic with Hendrick's in that first pic. A moment about gin and tonics: they seem simple. They are almost always executed very poorly. Either served in the wrong glass (a gin and tonic should be in a Tom Collins class, as shown here) or with flat tonic (UNDRINKABLE) or both. At Duke's they are using Fever Tree Tonic. The Best There Is. The End. Plus the correct glass. So my beverage is always delicious and has bubbles. Perfection. The restaurant has high top seating, but is mainly a huge, L shaped copper topped bar which is LOVELY. There are TVs and last night we had the NBA finals on one and "Moana" on the other. So. Much. WINNING!! The atmosphere, service, set up in Duke's is my ultimate "sports bar" experience. I want to sit at a nice, airy, open, clean, light filled bar (the entire front wall is windows) with good drinks, good service, good food and TVs. Despite the very small menu, there ARE vegan options. The Duke's Salad is Vegan. The Roasted Marinated Beet Salad can be made Vegan if you just request no Creme Fraiche. These salads are meant to be entrees and are appropriately huge. Other, non vegetarian/vegan items come with very good mashed potatoes or french fries or seasonal veggies and you can just get side orders. I like to call it "build your own vegetarian Tapas!" (I'm not sure if the french fries are vegan.) This Caesar Salad is maybe the best I've ever had in a restaurant. As I've mentioned before, I LOVE Caesar Salad, but it is pretty much always disappointing. Not here. This freaking salad is so huge I wasn't able to finish last night (I blame my near death Mother's Day weekend experience and getting over the last of the Baby Germ Death Cold). Excellent, crunchy Romaine lettuce cut into appropriately bite sized pieces. Just enough delicious dressing (i.e., not sopping with dressing). Shaved Parm. I am not a fan of croutons, but these are fine. Some day I'll actually think to request no croutons... You can add a protein to your salad. I always add salmon and they do a beautiful job with the salmon. It comes out perfectly crispy on both sides and piping hot. I don't actually even put it on my salad. Just eat it as a side. There is also a pan roasted salmon entree which I have ordered in the past and is similarly delicious, including the sides of mashed potatoes and seasonal veggies. Duke's is a perfect example of how you can do something in The Food Industry that is simple but also VERY WELL EXECUTED. You don't need to serve everything on earth. Do what you're doing really well and I will show up if I can also get a great gin and tonic and watch Giannis on one TV and Moana on the next! I really think there is room for a lot more restaurants like Duke's out there in the "greater world."

Service was slow which was to be expected as there were only two people working. They did a great job given the challenge. Whom ever the bar tender was that evening deserves a raise! (Sat. 1/15/22) She ran bar and waited on tables. That was no easy task given the number of customers there were.

Good brunch. A little busy when I dined in but good service. A little pricey for the portions but very delicious Eggs Benedict. Will have to try a club sandwich or meatloaf next time. Hope the Sunday breakfast buffet returns eventually.

First time here, wanted to have something on the lighter side. Ordered Salmon with some mash potatoes. The salmon was a bit over cooked but overall very good. Wanted to try the pumpkin cream brûlée but unfortunately they were out. So I had apple pie with some ice cream. It would of been a lot better if the pie was warmed up. Service was fast and the restaurant was clean and quite. Nothing wowed me.