51 Main at the Bridge

Great spot to have drinks and hang out with friends. The menu seemed decent if limited. Service was great. Had the nachos w chorizo which were really good. We’d go back.

Why go to 51 Main? Well, unless you are a tourist, there aren’t many options in the area. The aesthetics of the place are fine – nothing glamorous, nothing bad. The food is more American comfort cuisine – lots of butter, oil, and cheese. The beer selection is pretty good; the wines just above 2buck chuck, to be honest. While I can overlook these mediocre food, the service has consistently been subpar. The wait staff take forever to take your order, bring any item you might need, and the check. The music is fun and often good – so beer and music would garner them four stars. But, the service needs to be addressed. I can’t recommend this place unless you are going solely for the music.

Not bad but not great either. Service was good, our waiter was pleasant and personable and food arrived in a reasonable amount of time, but food quality was average to below average at best. We would go back for drinks and live music, the atmospgere is great, but there are several restaurants in Middlebury that serve WAY better food! Also, they need to do away with the games and toys for kids and focus on this being a cool spot for adults and young adults.

This restaurant is a really good experience waiting to happen if you come here. The food is great! Also the dessert fondue is to die for! Come to 51 Main if you are in the area you will not regret it:)

Our waiter was gracious and helpful. It was a cold dark night and we were seated by the brick walls and large window. When we asked about the temperature, the staff responded immediately by turning up the radiator nearest us. The food was delicious and the local IPA was memorable.

I have eaten here 4 times and every time was very good. On Tuesday nights, they have a killer special: hamburgers, vege burgers for $ 6.00 and local tap beer for $ 3.00.
The ambiance is great. There are board games on some shelves and some of the tables make for great game tables.
The burgers are great. The salads are delicious. They have a vege curry type of a stew that is flavorful.
The flan is some of the best I have ever had. A friend talked me into trying it and I am so glad I did.

The service here is particularly bad. I think it has something to do with the fact that it is run by the college, and therefore lacks a need to provide quality food or service. I went every other week for half price burger and beer night this summer, pretty much because it is a really good deal for a local beer and a burger. The burger, however, is always cooked the same way regardless of how you order it.
The layout of the restaurant is nice for live performances, of which there are many that the college generously supports and brings to Middlebury on weekend nights, but it is terrible for actually going to try and have a dinner. There are many lounge areas with couches and small tables, and many high top tables, but very few places to actually sit at a normal table. Usually I wouldn’t complain about this, but 51 Main does a particularly bad job of managing the space, and the service is slow and sloppy.
I’ve come back a couple times since writing the first post, and realize that its slowly improving in terms of service and food.

The most underrated restaurant in Middlebury! A small menu, but definitely the best burger in town (gotta get it with bleu or cheddar cheese and bacon!!)! And on Tuesday nights they have $ 6 burger and $ 3 beer night. Also the cheddar bacon ipa mac and cheese is to die for! I never thought that I could be so enthusiastic about a restaurant’s mac and cheese! The brownie sundae dessert is also delicious! Also the overall environment is great with normally good live music most nights. Of course every now and then there’s a subpar band, but not often! Prices are very reasonable. A must try!

We didn’t even get as far as eating here. The service was so bad and amateurish that by the time we got a table, we just sat there for a moment to call a different restaurant and make a reservation (The Lobby on Baker’s Lane — highly recommended).
When we arrived at 51 Main, we were told there was one party of two ahead of us and the wait would be five to 10 minutes.
We wait. The other party of two is seated. A party of three that came in after us gets seated at the next two-​top, with an extra chair pulled up. A communal table with space for at least eight people stands empty. A table big enough for five opens up, and a party of three (one a little baby), who came in after us, is seated there. We are still waiting.
After about half an hour, a table opens up that is apparently considered suitable for us. We are seated and THEN informed that they are only serving the «pub» menu tonight, basically a bunch of unappetizing fried items and burgers. We call the Lobby, are told they can give us a table right away, and we leave.
You would think a bunch of college kids were running this place…

Went here for drinks and dinner on a Saturday Night. They had live music (jazz, our least favorite type of music), but we stuck it out because we had little other options in the town that were still open at that time. The house made fruit infused vodka was pretty good, I had the Mango cosmopolitan which was very strong but hey I’m not complaining on that one.
Staff seemed disorganized, there was one waitress running around trying to take care of all of the tables. When we were first seated the a girl who worked there just told us to «sit anywhere» and it took ten minutes for the bartender to realize we were sitting there and came over to see if we wanted anything. Once it was established that we were in need of service, the one waitress who was rushing around (a pleasant girl with glasses) waited on us for the rest of the night.
Food came in a reasonable amount of time, we ordered the mac and cheese and the grilled chicken sandwich. The chicken sandwich was so delicious and just what I wanted. My boyfriend loved that he could taste the beer in the mac and cheese.
Overall I guess I would eat here again, maybe just for the chicken sandwich!

6 dollar burger /​3 dollar beer nights on Tuesdays are the best deal in town. Delicious food, local ingredients, quick service and fun atmosphere. Sometimes the wait can be a bear… But shouldn’t be a problem if you’re alright with eating any time other than 6:30.

I love the atmosphere and the unique menu but EVERY TIME I go there, the service is so bad I want to scream! The last time I was there, the place was packed @ 6pm and one of the servers was sitting eating while the others were gathered around the table talking to her! It takes forever to get someone to even come to the table. The place is run by young college kids who are just there to socialize. They need a grownup in the building to improve the service.

3 stars due to awful service. 5 star music. 3.5−4 star food. Sadly, we consistently get an attitude, things forgotten or ran out of, or entire order messed up. We do still go on a regular basis exclusively because of their music bookings. That is all.

Owned and operated by Middlebury College, they’re aiming for trendy farm to table high end gastrowhatever, but the result is something like a mix between a really good college dining hall and a nightclub. Now, mind you, «really good college dining hall» is an exceptionally low bar.
The food is… OK. Really, just OK. The right ideas are there if you read the menu descriptions, but the execution is lacking some… professionalism. The veggie burger was greasy and felt like it had been deep-​fried. The tuna burger was actually sliced up pieces of tuna rather than a large hunk or a patty, so it fell apart in my hands. The steak was tough. And so forth.
On the plus side, the space is perfect for kids, big and open so it’s hard for them to bother other diners, and they have a boatload of toys near the front to keep the kiddos occupied. Good local beers on tap, too.

I went on Vermont Burger and Beer tuesday :) It was very good food and the service was good. A little slow but they were very busy. I would definitely return.

Space: Huge, open, «eclectic»
Service: Pleasant, relaxed, efficient
Food: Delicious, delicious, delicious
Beer: Local, cheap, satisfying
Margaritas: Color-​changing, light-​up, glass
Final word: Get the nachos, get the nachos, get the nachos

Really great, healthy food. Perfect. Good local beers.

I thought this place was Brazilian when I first looked at the menu, but it’s not. It does have some good Brazilian dishes, like the shrimp stew. The atmosphere is nice too. You can sit on couches to eat, which I really liked, and sometimes they have live music. All in all one of the better places to eat in Middlebury.

This is a modern and upscale restaurant in downtown Middlebury. It advertises as a casual place where someone could visit for dessert or a meal as well as for their musical entertainment. The interior of this historic building is clean and modern. The service was careful and attentive and their pride in their menu was evident in that they provided us with samples of a couple of menu items. Another remarkable nice touch was their much better than average quality iced tea.
They have french fries including a variant of the gravy and cheese Canadian origin poutine. Their fries are fresh cut with some skin. They are reasonably crispy and flavorful.
Their menu ranges from a very good (but not quite sharp enough) macaroni and cheese to thoughtfully put together Mediterranean plates and Indian curry variants. We have tried several of these and while they are not authentic, they represent a fresh and creative approach to these ethnic dishes.
For lunch, they offer crepes, usually a favorite of mine but unfortunately the crepes here are more typical of American crepes than French. The crêpe is stuffed with a moist fillings and turns out quite soggy. While this was the case, at least their fillings were pretty good.
This is a very interesting and creative restaurant and may be a best bet in Middlebury.

Overpriced (think: NY prices) and without an air conditioner? My one experience here left me sweating and without that delightful buzz after a beer or two.
The one plus to this place is the ambiance — they have the décor down nice, sort of Moulin Rouge meets New York Night Club but classy-​like.