Cider House BBQ and Pub

I went about a month ago with ten other people to take the tour at the Ben and Jerry’s factory, and we arrived early, so we decided to find a place to eat. We made a call to The Cider House and they said they didn’t open for another two hours, but they could make an exception and opened for us anyways. We arrived, and the exterior was a little beaten down, but staff was friendly and food came out for ten of us in the time it takes other restaurants to serve five

We always passed this on our way home, so we stopped and ate here. What a disappointment. The pulled meats were cold and flavorless. The buns were cheap and crumbly, like day old bread. We enjoy our BBQ but this was bad.
Vt offers so many local venders for restaurants to make their offerings great, they seemed to choose none of them.

We’ve passed this place many a time while traveling on route 2 or 89, but somehow I always presumed it was just a dive bar. It’s a very pleasant find. It’s great to have BBQ without having to go to downtown Burlington for it. I had ribs and my husband had brisket; for sides, we had beans and mac and cheese — and really good cornbread. Overly sweet cornbread is one of my pet peeves. This not-​to-​sweet cornbread comes in mini-​loaves, so get one per person. I also enjoyed the salad special, and a $ 5 pint of sangria. Nothing served was in gut-​busting portions — until dessert; one dessert should be shared, IMHO. I could not finish my bread pudding (which automatically comes with ice cream). It’s a «Lemon Blueberry» bread pudding — but it only had a few blueberries on the bottom, and was mainly like a lemon pound cake. But I’m not complaining. I look forward to returning. Oh — and four craft beers on tap, a nice selection. I’d like to give it 3.5 stars or even 4, but would like to return one more time. The night of our meal, there was a festival (featuring BBQ) literally right next door; so I don’t think we got a representative sample of the usual atmosphere (i.e., it was pretty dead). And I didn’t even mention the live piano and singing entertainment. We’ll be back!

Love this restaurant it always has cider on tap! Macjack is a favorite but I also love the new varieties that come in and always have to try anything that is not too sweet. The mac and cheese is to die for I like it with broccoli. My husband loves the brisket and almost always gets that when we go there. The chili cheese fries are a must to try and the fried pickles are always great. I like going here because its nice and casual and relaxing and after a hard day at work its nice to just unwind and relax with an ice cold cider :)

Stopped in for a beer after skiing and stayed the night. Brisket sliders are terrific, and the sauce should be bottled — absoultely loved it. Bar was filled with locals, who were so friendly that it felt like Cheers! Owner was attentive and entertaining. We look forward to our next visit.

love this place!
food = delicious
atmosphere = awesome (where else is there a piano bar in central vt?!)
service = friendly and accommodating!

Glad we stopped here on our road trip!
This place has such a relaxed, rustic feel and the smells of the food coming out of the kitchen was amazing. Since we were at a BBQ joint, I had to try their pulled pork, with my choice of their bourbon sauce – the pork was moist with a nice smoky taste, the sauce was sweet, thick and complimented the sandwich nicely. I chose fries as my side – cut fresh in house, nicely salted. Tom had the Cider House Local Beef Burger– home made BBQ sauce lightly mixed with Vermont Highland Cattle beef, topped with chipotle mayo, mixed greens, blue cheese with a side of hush puppies – juicy, cooked to his liking, and the hush puppies were also pretty good. Overall, food was good, our server was friendly, funny and helpful and their focus on using local farmers and producers whenever possible led to us having a nice lunch.

Good food. Good service. Good atmosphere. I had the pulled pork and ribs with sweet potato fries and mac and cheese. I would do this again but next time I’ll try the burgers which look great. I will be back.
The GPS directions from Unilocal are wrong — they take you in exactly the opposite direction from the resturant. If you look for 1675 Theodore Rosevelt Highway, you will get the correct directions.
I like the vinegar sauce better than the bourbon sauce. This is a pretty good sized place with a great deck out back. you can feel pretty confident of getting seats for a large party.

When I found out there was BBQ as close as Waterbury, I was so excited I bit my tongue by accident. Which is an unfortunate pre-​barbeque injury, of course, what with the upcoming spice and vinegar. But I was not deterred.
Do be sure to order the Spicey Corn Fritters. They are everything this Southern-​girl-​in-​Vermont wants in a cornmeal-​based delicacy: crispy on the outside, mushy custard-​y on the inside; nice and onion-​y with sweet and hot sauce (7.00). I could eat three orders of that all by my lonesome and still hanker for more.
Oddly, the cornbread that came with our meal was only okay.
The fried okra was undercooked, and I found the cole slaw ketchup-​y, but everyone else seemed to like it.
These two sides came with the combo of 2 that my husband and I shared for $ 22; our children got the same. The kids loved their brisket, declaring it «smokey» and «real good» ($ 18 for brisket alone). They got as their sides the cornbread stuffing (pretty good) and the mac ‘n cheese, which we agreed was nice but could have been cheesier.
I loved the pulled pork ($ 16) — but that’s no surprise. I never met a pulled pork I didn’t like. The larger ribs were good, but the ones on the smaller end were inevitably overcooked and hard. (Ribs: small (3 – 4) $ 15, large (7 – 8) $ 18, whole $ 29, 13 – 15 ribs) Now, I am willing to overlook this somewhat as an expected result of the science and physics of cooking one slab that has two sizes, but my husband was not so forgiving. I think he may hold it against Cider House for a long time…
which is too bad, because I am hoping to get a taste of that fried catfish ($ 16)…
However, I think the memory of the key lime pie may soften his heart, and that is definitely the approach I will use to entice him back. Not too sweet, just the right tartness for $ 4.50.
Just cause it is barbeque doesn’t mean it is not vegetarian friendly! Vegetarian options are marked throughout the menu.
Final note: I loved out server, Laurie Ann. She was real friendly and seemed to know lots of regulars. She answered all of my questions and made lots of good recommendations. I had asked for ACME IPA, she brought me smuttynose IPA, which was not on the drink menu. Good call.
It’s not Sonny’s BBQ, but it’ll have to do me for until I can get back down south again…

We came across this quaint BBQ place during our short trip to Vermont.
Be ware that the GPS may navigate you to the east side of Route 2 instead of west side of Route 2.
The hard cider was amazing. It was very light and refreshing. We also loved the corn jalapeño fritters. It was fluffy and was excellently accompanied by the aioli sauce.
We went on a Friday night and there was jazz piano playing in the background. Our waiter was quite friendly as well. This was a wonderful place.