Republic Cafe & Bistro

I’ve been coming here pretty much since they opened (I have fam that lives in the area) and I’m never disappointed.
I always enjoy the interesting takes Republic has on standard fare like flatbreads and salads-​fresh and local ingredients I may not think to pair on my own like caramelized onions and pears (who knew they’d work so well together?) is what makes this place really worth the stop.
The décor is all wood and open with dim lights, the staff is friendly and knowledgeable, and I always have to get at lease one cocktail here because they make them so well.
Republic is great for a family brunch, a lunch meeting or an intimate dinner with a cute guy ;)

Wasn’t too hungry so just had a salad and appetizer. The falafel was actually nice, with decent tahini on the side (nice heat on the tahini — chili powder?). Hummus that comes with it was meh — too much cumin. Chopped Greek salad could’ve used more lemon for some zest — was rather bland. Pickles were limp, instead of crunchy — left the behind. Overall serviceable and potentially more than serviceable on other portions — flatbreads looked really good. Three stars for now, with potential for more.

Unique menu items in a casual spot, great variety and a nice blend of Greek and American flavors. Good beer selection including local brews. Overall good experience.

I am a huge fan of Republic’s farm to table concept. My family and I come here weekly to see their new menu offerings and fresh baked desserts. From breakfast to dinner this place nails the organic dining experience. I love getting their Falafel salad with Vegetable Tagine all the produce tastes incredibly fresh. Definitely one of the trendiest restaurants in downtown Manchester.

Stopped by to enjoy a rewarding late lunch/​early dinner after a summer day’s hike. Stepping in, I was immediately impressed with the blackboard they had hung up next to the front door that listed all their in-​house ingredients along with the corresponding local vendor names. I love that they take great pride in the «farm to fork» concept and are transparent about where it’s sourced.
We started off with a couple of their signature cocktails, the Morrocan Old Fashioned and the Love Child. I’m usually a creature of habit and order the same old thing but I was sold when I saw the Love Child being described as the «margarita and martini [that] met and fell in love». Both cocktails were excellent. Highly recommend mine if you like either margaritas or gimlets.
For tapas, we ordered the Falafel, Red Lentil Cake, Kefta, Mushroom Flatbread and the Mussels. All the dishes were delicious but the Falafel was definitely the showstopper. The dressing in the salad along with a forkful of falafel and greens had me doing the happy dance between each bite. And of course, how can I forget the portion sizes?! So HUGE! I highly recommend just 2 dishes per person max even if you’re really hungry. These shouldn’t be called tapas because each dish was entrée-​sized.
Awesome spot to stop by on the way home and kudos for Manchester having a hidden gem of their own!

This is the best restaurant in Manchester, hands down. Always something inventive. Every bean dish we’ve tried as been amazing. The mussels are some of the best. The special frittata lunches never disappoint; neither do the salads.

Excellent dishes, unique and tasty. Great service. Dishes are a bit on the smaller size but worth it.

Love this place and visit whenever we are downtown. The food is locally-​sourced and delicious. The menu is small but it’s nice to know you’re supporting smaller local farms and eating fresh food cooked perfectly. The drinks are delicious, unique and well-​made.
The mussels with meyer lemon are always amazing and the spanish meatball app comes in the most delectable sauce, full of flavor and spices. Salads and paninis are very good too.

If you like fresh (farm-​to-​table, doesn’t get fresher!), creative, delicious and unpretentious food, then I suggest you hotfoot it down to Republic! Had arranged to finally meet Deepak S; Republic is his favorite haunt. Now I understand why. He wanted to meet Hannahbelle, and said they were dog friendly with outdoor seating. It’s a very small al fresco area but we went before the dinner rush and not overly busy. They even put out a fresh bowl of water for my girl. Not that she deigned to use it. Ingrate.
We didn’t go inside at all, so I can’t comment on that. Service was great. Not intrusive since we were chatting so much. It was just right. I saw our server, Christine, look out the window a couple times to check on our progress. Water glasses and a nice little carafe of water were provided to start. Apparently we both had late lunches, so not looking for anything substantial. Deepak submitted to his sweet tooth with Greek doughnuts. I was more interested in savory. He suggested one of the flatbreads. Score one for my friend! The wild mushroom sounded appealing. Oh, hello! Mushrooms, caramelized onions, Parmesan and a little bit of fresh sage. My favorite herb. Really nice toasted base, not dense at all. Mmmmmmm. Deepak said it wouldn’t be dinner size, but even so I only managed half of it, took the rest home. If my appetite had been bigger, definitely no leftovers.
Had to try the drinks Deepak often raved about. They’re like a refined version of the old fashioned float. No heavy ice cream, just flavor (vanilla, maple, citrus mint and others) with cream soda and fresh cream. I had the vanilla one. Surprisingly light and refreshing! Have to try citrus next time. And there definitely will be a next time! :)

Mostly overpriced food lacking any good flavors, but Yuppies who develop some cognitive bias that more money spent equals better tasting food love to talk about how awesome the place is. Highly overrated, don’t recommend.

Since moving to Manchester I have struggled to find a reliable good place to eat. Not anymore!
I have been to Republic several times and never been disappointed. The food is always in the range of good to great. And the drinks strong and inventive. I am a huge fan of the housemade cream soda thats actually made with cream and vanilla.
I also stop in in the morning for coffee, for a mere 2.25 you can get a cup of Manchester’s best.
The servers and bartenders are super knowledgeable and engaging without being pretentious or annoying. The kitchen staff is always clean kept and calm, which is great since they are in view of the public.
I have not tried Campo yet, their sister restaurant, but look forward to doing so!

We had the Moroccan spiced beets and quinoa (excellent), white bean dip (yum) and olives (good quality, wish they had a little zip to them, did not seem spiced), followed by falafel (this is a lunch plate in itself, wish there was more garlic and lemon but the hummus still had good crowd pleasing flavor). We finished with splitting the falafel fried fish, which was tasty and came with plenty of fries. Server was good and we loved the atmosphere.

Republic appeared as a top choice after searching for $$, Open Now, in Manchester, so we gave it a try. A smiling hostess brought us to a table in the rear, in spite of the fact that the place was rather crowded. Before we sat down, however, we asked to instead be seated at the bar. Unfortunately, the tables at the rear are unbearable due to the noise from the adjacent, open-​to-​the-​dining room kitchen. Unbearable.
Once seated at the bar, the friendly/​efficient bartender quickly brought water and menus. We didn’t hear any kitchen noise in the front of the restaurant and were impressed by the successful mix of modern and old fashion for décor. What we ordered:
~ Roasted Beet Salad — excellent flavors
~ Lamb Merguez Sausage Flatbread — Very tasty! However, I would argue that this was a pizza, not a flatbread, although I will admit that I don’t know what defines one or the other. I call it pizza because the dough was thicker than a typical flatbread. It was more bread-​like, but as far as I’m concerned, that was a good thing. The crispy crust was incredibly tasty.
~ Bottle of Durigutti Malbec, which is a very good value in Argentina, as well as in the U.S.
Food: 4 stars
Service: 5 stars
Ambiance: 4 stars (see notes below)
Note 1: The ONLY negative at Republic Café & Bistro was the incredible noise emanating from the kitchen at the tables at the back of the restaurant. Suggestion to owner: Install thick glass between the kitchen and dining area back there. You will still have the visual connection/​excitement that the kitchen provides (if that is important to you) and your patrons can dine in peace. As it is, if there were not seats at the bar last night, we would have moved on to one of the other nearby restaurants. There is NOTHING positive about the noise. Sans noise, I would give Ambiance five stars, hands down.
Note 2: Thank you for not having huge flat panels; just one discreet flat panel that is thoughtfully located in a far corner.

I have been to Republic twice, the first time we sat outside on a tiny table very close to our neighbors. The food was good but i certainly wasnt wow’ed by the experience.
This past time the wife and I sat at the bar and a much better experience.
The bar tender was very friendly and helpful, the food was very good, I recommend getting the 3 for 10 appetizers. Best part of the meal. They also had deals on drinks and appetizers at the bar only. (Friday evening)
They had a vanilla coconut cake on special for desert which was also very good.
I look forward to going back to Republic as we have not paid it enough attention in the past.

The food is really good & the service is even better. The Atmosphere there is really great too.
A Great place to go out dinner to. Really great place for a date or meeting friends or family. If I lived in Manchester I would go here most nights.
One of my favorites in the city

We had a lovely lunch at the bar at Republic last Sunday. We were in town visiting a friend and he had heard good things from coworkers about this place. We tried to go on Friday night but it was a 45 minute wait so we looked for another restaurant since we were hungry. They called us when our name came up on the queue. They are super nice and our food was delicious!

Thumbs up from me. This is a bar with good food. Long room — not a ton of seating. One tiny TV behind the bar, which I thought was hilarious until I realized what a good idea it was not to have 10 giant flat screens behind a bar glaring at you. You focus on your drink, your food, the company. Bartenders were awesome. It was an hour wait for a seat on a Saturday night around 7. But we snagged two bar seats from a couple who was leaving. We returned the favor when we left. Bartenders were pretty funny actually. Food is great — some tapas stuff, mostly main LARGE dishes. The osso bucco is one of my favorite things at restaurants, and this was nicely done. Like mac n cheese for grownups — pasta with pulled pork. Good stuff.
Not much for ambiance — but a nice clean place. And the food was great so I’d go back!

I’ve been to Republic several times, both alone as well as with a co-​worker. This place has a cool bar style vibe but with high end restaurant quality food. The service is very attentive and knowledgeable about the menu. I love the chalkboard displaying all the farms they receive their meat, cheese and produce from as well as the locations of the mostly local New England farms! Very impressive. Republic has an excellent happy hour with discounted wine, beer, and tapas.
The menu has great variety, changes seasonally, and they have nightly specials. The food is absolutely delicious! I’ve thoroughly enjoyed everything I’ve consumed here!

If there’s a reason for this Bostonian to come back to Manchester, it’d be Republic. There’s a reason why the average rating is a 4.5 star. Exceptional service, Exceptional food, Exceptional price. What more could you ask for?
There wasn’t a single thing about my experience here that I didn’t enjoy. The restaurant wasn’t too loud, our waiter was really nice and attentive, and the food exceeded beyond expectations. My party and I ordered some mussels for an app, chicken confit, and the seafood specials of the day: Pan Seared Scallops and Redfish. Admittedly being a seafood snob, the freshness of the seafood was unreal. When our waiter told us that they were known for their seafood, he was right for sure. The chicken confit was also flawless. Crisp skin on the outside, and juicy delicious on the inside. Definitely making a trip back.

This is a great spot for brunch/​lunch in downtown Manchester. It’s reasonably priced, and a lot of the food is sourced locally. I tend to gravitate to the simple dishes, and my personal favorites are the flatbreads and banana and nutella panini with blueberry compote. The highlight for me though are their lattes and mochas. They’re less expensive than Starbucks, and much higher quality.
I try and make it here at least once or twice when I’m in town, and the only thing I have consistently had an issue with is the staff. They can seem a bit snotty/​unapproachable, which is annoying. Sometimes I’d like to just pop in to grab a latte at the bar, and you’re not always received warmly for that. But, the quality is well worth it.