Laconia Local Eatery

The Local is easily the best restaurant in the Laconia area. Kevin Halligan is a truly gifted Chef. Food is always fresh and delicious and the presentation is amazing. Five stars for sure!
Lisa

AMAZING food! The service was awesome too. So much attention to detail. You can clearly tell that the folks who work there actually enjoy their jobs. That’s so refreshing! We were there for 3.5 hours & weren’t rushed out the door. That was a welcome change! I can’t wait to go back!

My wife and I came here late on a Saturday evening the hostess was very friendly and accommodating. Our male server was very pleasant. He had great recommendations and knowledge of the menu. We got the pork belly app, which was out of this world along with everything else we ordered, even the coffee was delicious! This is hands down some of the best food I have ever had! The menu is fun and exciting and the atmosphere is warm and inviting.

My partner and I stopped by the Laconia Eatery to grab a bite after several hours of driving. We were surprised that it as small and cozy, but we really liked that because it meant the place wasn’t loud and crazy. We thought it was nice and intimate, a good place to have a conversation with your dining mate.
Our server was super-​nice and timely, she was quick and answered all our questions. Their were a lot of excellent fresh beers on tap. The food was spectacular. I don’t think we could have gone wrong with anything on the menu, but I was a huge fan of their gumbo and their scallops. The environment was casual, but the food definitely wasn’t casual diner food. Great place for a date or a birthday meal. (We probably spent about $ 80 for a meal for two, with drinks and before tip.)
We would love to come back here again if we’re ever in the Laconia area.

All I could say at the moment was WOW.
I haven’t had food this good in a really long time. My fiancé and I were stopping through town while hunting for wedding venues and decided to give Laconia Local Eatery a try.
Let’s start with the bread. Crisp, warm, and maple butter. Do I need to say more? It was fantastic.
Their beer selection was fantastic with some of NH and VT’s best small brews.
For dinner, my fiancé got their scallops with risotto, and it was incredible. Lots of garlic, lots of flavor, and the scallops were well cooked, not too dry. The fiddlehead mushrooms also lent something quite nice to the dish.
For my dinner, I got the gumbo, with chicken and fried clams. My fiancé was worried it might be too greasy and heavy, but it was neither. It was light and full of flavor. I tried my best to finish the whole thing, but sadly my stomach couldn’t handle anymore. The portions were quite large!

Took my wife to Laconia Local Eatery for a birthday dinner after a day of shopping. Lucky for us it was restaurant week. On a Tuesday night, they were running a special. Beer and wine were all half off (even bottles of wine!). Be cause of restaurant week all small plates were half off as well, and they also had a three course menu for $ 35 per person. The entrees on the three course menu didn’t do it for me so we ordered from the normal menu. We couldn’t have been happier with the experience!
Our waiter was the front of the house manager. He was knowledgeable and courteous. He was also able to read my personality and trade jibes with me.
The menu at this restaurant changes every two weeks so you may not see the items reviewed here but the quality of the food and service was exceptional and I hope readers will take that into consideration.
We started with a bottle of Pinot noir. Peter Paul «live free or die.» Not a traditional Pinot. The waiter warned us and offered a sample to our enjoyment. The wine was fantastic and we ordered the bottle.
Starting, we had the beef carpaccio. Served with pickled squash and haricot verts, dressed in the side with a tangy house made Dijon mustard it was fantastic. The crostini could have been a bit less crispy, but this wasn’t really a problem as it was delicious! (While writing this, my wife said the crostini were prefect and that I’m an idiot)
Along with this for starters, I ordered the stuffed little neck clams. Truly fantastic, they were great! 4 clams stuffed high and beautifully prepared.
For dinner, she had the gnocchi with root veg. Delicious again, prepared in a rustic style. It was very good.
I ordered the wild boar pannacotta. Served with roasted potatoes and sautéed spinach. The boar loin was cooked flawlessly, but could have used a bit more salt but otherwise wonderful.
For afters, my wife had the crème brûlée. Prepared in the traditional style, torched on top to form a nice candied crust. I would have ordered the token chocolate thing, but I was stuffed (to this restaurant’s credit).
She and I are both whiskey fans. We each ordered a different bourbon from a reasonably long menu (the owner is an aficionado). When it was served, I was completely taken aback! They gave us each at least a double (I think it was a triple)! The people next to us, when I commented on the pour, said that was normal! For $ 10, I had about 3 shots of a craft bourbon in my glass!
I cannot recommend this restaurant enough! Local New England ambiance, with a touch of avant garde. Truly a great value for the quality of cuisine and service.

This is, by far, our favorite restaurant in the Lakes Region. If you are looking for consistently outstanding food, please find yourself here some night — it’s worth the drive whether 2 minutes or 2 hours, seriously! The menu changes regularly, so the dishes we have tried are probably not available all the time. But I’m pretty certain you can’t go wrong, at least I never have. Standouts would be anything with the smoked pork, or any fish. Portions are big, I always end up taking stuff home. You can always peep their Facebook page for their current menu and some pictures, or their website is always up to date also. The owner is super friendly and the service is efficient and friendly as well. They sometimes run a salad that has 3 amazing salads in one (like a beet/​goat cheese, tom/​mozz, and maybe greek? idk) like 3 little towers of each which is perfect if you’re indecisive but want everything all at once! Love this place.

Awesome food that changes every two weeks! Been there many times and never had a bad meal! If your looking for something new that will spark your taste buds. This is one restaurant not to miss. A truly great place to eat.

This is my second visit to the Local and the first time I was blown away by the atmosphere, the service and the portions. Before this second visit I looked it up on Unilocal and read the reviews. Someone had pointed out that the open kitchen chef had a full grown beard. I didn’t think much of it but as I took my first bite into my scallops/​risotto there was a beard hair poking out of the risotto. My boyfriend quickly picked it out and tossed it to the side. He doesn’t believe in reporting that stuff in fear of some strange consequence. I felt like someone needed to know.

I love this place so much. The food is consistently delicious and the menu is always changing. The owner/​chef is so nice, funny, and really knows his way around a kitchen.
I take about 2 hours to figure out what I want to order every time because there’s always at least 5 apps and 8 entrees I want to try at the same time. I’ve never ever had a bad meal here and always look forward to the next time we get up to Laconia, Local is always one of our stops.
Pretty much everything is locally sourced, from the pigs to the tomatoes. I always appreciate that. They always have some kind of smoked pork entrée that my husband orders and it’s amazing. I try whatever looks good, even though it all usually does. It’s like they take 10 of my favorite ingredients and put them in one dish in a really delicious way.

Let me start by apologizing to Local Eatery. We were late for our rese but the hostess said «she was not turning the table over anyway», so not our fault. There was a couple waiting to eat, when we arrived, but again our table was not being turned over. HOSTESS FAULT.
We tried everything. You can see from the pics taken. Food was awesome and fresh. The only let down, food wise, was the pork chop. It was described that; but should’ve been called pork ham chop. Two totally different entrees. He got a lot fat from a ham portion (I know cuz I worked for a ham company). Also, I was surprised that I received 6 jumbo shrimps in my entrée, a plus (usually 5 only).
The restaurant is LOUD and SMALL so go early to avoid the noise. Reses make a better experience. I would only recommend this place with a warning; knowing the chef hated our late arrival made the experience all CRAP. Banging plates, pans and any other utensils DOESN’T make you a better person chef, to show anger. You actually SHOWED your TRUE colors.
My last comment is that with so many places in Laconia and northern NH area, this place doesn’t rank anywhere I want to visit. I’m so CLOSE to SKI LODGES who can offer better. We spent over $ 200 bucks for 3 people, SERIOUSLY CRAZY??? One last recommendation, GET RID OF THE FULL BEARD CHEF, YOU DIDN’T WEAR A BEARD NET. Hello, food compliance PLEASE. THANKS…
If it wasn’t for the negativity, this place would’ve received a 5 star, no questions.

When you’re somewhat in the middle of nowhere and nothing pops up on the internet for vegan-​friendly options what do you do? You ask the locals! We were lucky to have chosen to stay at the B&B, Lake House at Ferry Point. They had absolutely no problem offering up suggestions once they knew I was vegan. The top of their list? Local Eatery. They could do nothing but rave about them.
Hearing they were the exclusive farm-​to-​table restaurant in the region my interest was definitely peaked. Since they source most all of their ingredients locally they change their menu approximately every 2 weeks. That means you never know what surprises you’ll find. The good news? They always offer a vegan-​friendly dish.
While chances are you can more than likely grab a seat on the night you’d like they highly recommend reservations. In our case it was more like call-​ahead seating.
Eating a vegan dish at a farm-​to-​table restaurant had me pretty stoked but learning it was also in an old railroad station made it even better. However, when you enter you’d have no idea you were in a railroad station. There aren’t that many tables (hence why you need a reservation) but we didn’t feel like we were dining alone. In fact, the restaurant had a lively spirit which gave us the hint that this was a place the locals liked to frequent.
While it is a higher end restaurant there’s no need to get all dressed up. In fact, we both wore jeans as were most of the other patrons. I opted to indulge a bit by ordering a sangria that had a splash of Fireball (whoa, excellent!) and DH chose the local cola they offered (note: they do not carry Coke or Pepsi).
As for our entrees I chose the Curried Cauliflower with japanese eggplant, brussel sprout greens, basmati rice and my husband chose the Local Burger with bacon, cheddar, fried egg, lettuce, tomato, brioche bun, fries. Both entrees were legit. While they were SO delicious the serving sizes were beyond generous… to the point we couldn’t finish.
As we completed our meal I can see why Local Eatery topped the list of places to try. It did not disappoint!

Another night of amazing food. All I have to say is WOW! 25^th anniversary bliss. Perfect seasoning, light fare and filling. Want to eat well this is the place.

This place was a lovely little spot. Very friendly staff. The flavor of the food was phenomenal! The only reason I didn’t give 5 stars was because my boyfriend ordered the jumbo shrimp meal and there was about 10 bowtie pasta pieces on the plate. If the portion size was a bit bigger it would have looked more appealing as the thin layer of pasta wasn’t even visible underneath the sauce. Otherwise I would definitely go back.

Kevin and his team never cease to amaze. We have been to local several times and while the menu always changes, the quality never does! If your in the area, local or passing through, you owe Local a visit!

Went back to the Local Eatery after about a year Boy have things changed. Had 7:30 reservations arrived at 7:07 and was seated right away. Best part of the whole experience. It took one hour and 10 minutes to get two meals after several times of asking where our meals were. When they finally came risotto was burned and scallops were tough and chewy. My husband had shrimp which was ok pasta and sauce it was cooked in was bland. The waiter/​bartender did take my meal off the bill and did give us a gift card for a future visit which we left behind. Sorry but will never return and cannot recommend inconsistent food and service

Very well presented.
Excellent flavors.
Blueberry Bellini — mmm hmmm

Delicious food, but expect to wait. Went there on a Thursday in August at 6:30 PM. (We made a reservation, which I recommend.). We waited about 35 minutes from when we ordered to when we received our dishes. The kitchen is small. The food was delicious– I had crab stuffed veal cutlets and my aunt had the diver scallops. They also have a wonderful selection of local wines.

What an amazing experience. The drinks were phenomenal as was each dish. The rhubarb purée mixed cocktail with some fresh mint was perfection. Not too sweet with perfect farm fresh flavoring from the rhubarb. The crispy lobster ragoons with the wasabi cream and sweet chili sauce was the perfect balance with the fresh lobster cream oozing out of the ragoon. A must have. The jumbo scallops with the corn cream sauce melted in my mouth and made the scallops that much sweeter. But not too sweet once you had a bite of the lobster risotto lying beneath. Beautiful! The service however overpowered even the best of food and will bring me and my family back for years to follow! Belle took the time to explain each and every beverage, dining opinion, and made our entire experience unique and special. The best waitress I have encountered in a very long time!

I’m happy for most of the other reviewers that their food was outstanding but 4 of us had dinner here. 2 were quite happy. One’s pot pie arrived cold and she sent it back to be heated properly. Didn’t make it back to the table till the rest of the party was almost done eating. I had duck breast that was ordered med/​rare and arrived well done but I ate it. However the potatoes were bland and underdone and the special rice was bland and kinda dry, didn’t eat either. To their credit my meal was taken off the bill but it was pretty poorly prepared for the prices.
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