Kipling’s Restaurant & Pub

Limited menu, tasty food but too much added SALT… Waiter says you need to request No Added SALT… We were blown away by this

We stayed in Brattleboro for a week and are upset we didn’t find this place until the last couple of days. This place has the best Bloody Mary that I have ever tasted and a great margarita. The wait staff is attentive and congenial and the food is great! This place is worth the time to stop in and check out!

Favorite bar hands down in Brattleboro. Whenever we decide to go out, this is our first stop, and we could hang out for hours. The food is great, and Jill and Kip are the best bartenders you could ask for. Attentive, good conversation, a great liquor selection which they are knowledgable about, at reasonable costs. A classic Brattleboro bar, loved by the true locals.

For those of you who are looking for that trendy spot that has live local folk music, reclaimed hardwood floors, organic vegan selections, and 55 microbrews, that the waitresses boyfriend is fermenting in the back room. This place is not for you. However, if some of the things you enjoy about Vermont are its simplicity and timelessness, than you may enjoy Kipling’s Pub. This appears to be the spot the locals come to in order to get away from the earth muffin, snow boarding, beer snobs. It has the usual pub fare for a good price. The food is simple and tasty like the décor. So if you want a good beer, decent food and friendly local staff. This is your place.

Out of towners, went to Kilplings Saturday night (¹⁄₂₃) when Whetstone had 45 minute wait, and glad we did! Kilplings is small and cozy. Pub atmosphere, great burgers, fries, and beer selection. Staff very nice and helpful. Great music on the juke box (70’s and 80’s classics). If you want to chill in a cozy joint and have a great burger, look no further.

This place was great! We had the maple BBQ wings and my family had burgers and chilli cheese fries! The blue cheese burger was dripping with blue cheese crumbs. The chilli was amazing. The service just topped it off, fabulous and friendly! We will be back, kids loved it!

Nice fun local bar!!! The bartender was very nice and friendly and very attentive. Drinks were good, cash only which was interesting but no big deal. I had a great time!

Simply put: The greatest drinking establishment in the world!

Great local bar with an impressive beer selection. Definitely worth a visit when in town.

Great friendly staff however the food was terrible. Chicken wings looked like they went through the meat grinder — pieces of bone chips. Fish and chips were awful. Thin, overcooked in old oil. French fries soggy. Beers were small. CASH ONLY, so obviously owners are avoiding taxes or too cheap to pay 2% credit card fee. I would never go there again.

All around great! The bartender Jill was welcoming and friendly. We were the last eating customers of the evening, nothing felt rushed and the food was delicious. Well be back… a wonderful local spot!

Pretty good. Decent burger and fries. Friend had fish and chips and said they were pretty good. Nice waitress. Wings were only so so.

We aren’t locals, but the amazingly friendly and accommodating bartenders made us feel more than welcome! Great cozy atmosphere. We will definitely be back next year, I will most certainly be craving the Chili. It’s homemade and some of the best Chili I have ever eaten at a restaurant. I highly recommend this place on a cold day for some chili and a pitcher of beer.

Great burgers (named after famous authors), nice assortment of beers and attentive and friendly service made this place a perfect end to a day of skiing. Try the Hemingway or the James Joyce. Authentic pub ambience – low light with as many seats at the bar as there are tables. Note the Cash Only policy.

Pros: Cute. Small. They’ve got a nice beer list but not extensive. Nice vibe.
Cons: CASH ONLY. If you’re not a beef eater, forget it. There’s not much beyond wings and a chicken wrap (more like chopped salad with chopped chicken and guacamole, it was pretty good). My husband opted for the fish & chips. Now, okay, we lived in a coastal community for a few years and we’re spoiled when it comes to seafood. But this looked pretty horrid, way over fried. It was, according to him slushy and probably previously frozen. I thought the fries were over seasoned, we both thought they were greasy.
It appears they specialize in burgers. I’d suggest getting a burger based on other reviews.

We were just passing through on our way North, and stopped in for a short dinner. This is an adorable little wood-​paneled bar with menu items named after writers, a simple selection of drinks, and superb food. It’s all simple standard pub food — we got a burger and a reuben — but it is very well made, with really great service. We were well pleased, and will probably be back!

My husband and I were visiting Brattleboro on our recent trip to New England and had planned to go to another pub but it was closed that day. We decided we’d just grab a small bite to eat before heading back to where we were staying in MA so we ended up at Kipling’s, probably the only place open at 2:30pm on a weekday.
We decided to order the chili cheese fries. Being from Texas, we’re pretty picky about chili and such, but the chili had really good flavor, very meaty with spices and beans. There was also a lot of cheese. You definitely get your money’s worth for $ 10.
We didn’t have any beers as it was really hot outside and Kipling’s is not air-​conditioned (or the A/​C was broken the day we went) so we just wanted to stick with water. The bartender/​server was very nice, and my husband and I enjoyed overhearing the conversation between him and a patron about the ’86 World Series between the Mets and the Red Sox. Then the conversation went to hockey and we were lost.
Kipling’s is cash only so be prepared! Should we find ourselves in Brattleboro we’d definitely go back to try other menu items and beers.

I wasn’t a big fan when I first went, but after living in brattleboro for a few years I have come to the conclusion that overall, this is the best all-​around pub in town.
They definitely don’t have the same variety of beers as, say Flat Street, but the beers they do have are tried and true staples, like Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (which is good in any season) and Sam Smith’s Oatmeal Stout. Good selection of spirits, and they are not stingy with the drink orders — a single serving of scotch here would count as a double anywhere else.
The food is pretty much the best pub food in town. Although the Unilocal page notes fish and chips, I have to say that the burgers are this pub’s strong point. The chili burger and the barbecue bacon burger are amazing; you’ll demolish one in two minutes and start thinking about ordering another. The food is usually ready pretty quickly, and although it might be a wee bit pricey, I think you get what you pay for.
The atmosphere is nice. It can take some time to «settle in» as the place is usually heavy on regular customers, but once you’re a regular yourself everyone tends to open up. Staff is friendly, people at the bar tend to be friendly, and it’s as good a place to catch up on a book while you have dinner as it is to enjoy good conversation.
The only drawback is that the TV is poorly positioned for sports viewing — if you want to catch a baseball game then Inferno or Rocky Top are far better. But only for that — for everything else Kipling’s is the best game in town.
(Also very kid friendly — I enjoy bringing my daughter here and they always accommodate us very well. Big bonus points for that.)

Kipling’s continues to be a terrific place for a great pint, specialty beers, good people and a terrific jukebox.
A cornerstone of Brattleboro!

Had to come in here because McNeill’s wasn’t open yet. Had never been in before and while I won’t go back, I was impressed with the beer selection and thought it was okay. The staff definitely favors regulars and the regulars are definitely there in full force. Unfortunately, they’re not my type of regulars… of course I’m basing this on one experience. Loud cell phone man who thought he was important, drunk fighting couple and annoying parents who let their kids take over the bathrooms were enough to keep me from going back unless desperate.