Peter Havens Restaurant

Consistently delicious. Zach and his chefs are fantastic. It’s a favorite for my boyfriend and I, and it’s usually our choice on a special occasion. It’s great now that they have an outdoor, less expensive menu, so it’s nice to eat outside on a warm summer night. Great cocktails too! It’s a Brattleboro gem for sure.

A beautiful setting to match a perfect meal with superb service and a menu selection that equally challenged foodies and appeases picky eaters. Particularly good: lamb shank with truffle mash; duck pâté; and the escargot because of its impeccable cream sauce even though escargot were slightly harder than they should be. Highly recommended.

I absolutely love Peter Havens! From the food to the drinks to the people it’s just really fun and classy! I recommend this to people looking for a really nice meal and wonderful atmosphere!

I had the pleasure of dining at Peter Haven’s on 11÷13÷15 on a very special trip to Brattleboro. I had gotten engaged on the top of Mount Wantistiquet in the morning and made a reservation for 6:30 in the evening. Before I go on, a friend of mine who owns Kipling’s a few doors down and the owner of Peter Haven’s are good friends, so there is a little something special about when we arrived. We’d gone in to Kipling’s to kill time before going to dinner. When we left Kip’s and entered the cozy bistro we were greeted by our smiling server who sat us at our table. Two chilled glasses of champagne were waiting for my now bride-​to-​be and myself. Our server said «I heard it was a special occasion».
It only got better from there. I started with the escargots and my fiancé’ got the ahi tuna. The escargots were in a delicious cream sauce and topped with puff pastry. I’d never had snails before and I have to say I’m a believer now. The Ahi Tuna was cold and rare in the middle and freckled with sesame seeds.
Entrees couldn’t get any more fancy or delicious. I had the pheasant roullade, a rich and succulent dish while she had the filet mignon. It was cooked perfectly.
Dinner was rounded out with an apple tart and crème brule’ both outstanding.
Between the service, which was exemplary, friendly, and attentive, to meeting the chef to tell him what a wonderful job he had done with our meal, I recommend this place to everyone. I shall return!

Had an absolute exceptional dinner at this fine restaurant. The staff was friendly and efficient while the food with some of the best I ever had. This is a local gem!

A regular from the restaurant has reached out to me and informed me that I wasn’t taken seriously because of the drinks I ordered — I guess this place, as I suspected is meant only for older snobs.

I rarely give 5* to any establishment. In the case of Zach at Peter havens, he deserves it for incredible excellence of ingredients, creativity of recipes, execution in the kitchen and service in the dining room.
Oysters were fresh, impeccably cleaned and served with an amazing soy based sauce that made my oyster challenged wife a lover. The tuna poke/​tartar had herbal potato chips. The Cesar salad had duck confit in it’. The escargot served in a puff pastry was spiced with fresh basil and thyme. The ribeye had A sauce which included cheese curds. The seafood special of scallops and mussels and chorizo were served over risotto with a sauce perfectly balanced of wine, butter and lemon. The lobster… kill me now. Then Crème brûlée with perfect crust, chocolate mousse not too heavy and a panna cota with coconut and secret ingredients. Special white wine from Greece! Two different highlighted French roses and a special drink called French 77 has sent me to gastro heaven. Praise the lord and all the heavens and special spirits and muses.

we returned after a long absense… mussel appetizer was perfect… plump, sweet, plentiful with a lovely rustic broth… my wife’s rib eye was large, tasteful and perfectly prepared… as usual, the service was professional and welcoming… i think that the young chef his found his stride… we’ll return soon.

We found this gem on a stopover in Brattleboro. Excellent food with tasty combinations of flavors and ingredients. My husband’s duck liver pâté was the best we have had outside France and NYC, and our fish dishes with risotto were delicious. The staff was friendly and helpful. We wish this restaurant was close to us in PA as we would be there often.

Excellent food and excellent service. You won’t be disappointed.

Visited on a quiet Sunday evening and had dinner at the bar. Food was superb and the bartender (Brian) and server (Maggie) were very engaging and friendly. We had a great time! Peter Havens will be in our regular restaurant rotation. We eat out often and this is our favorite in Brattleboro. We are from Deerfield but will get up there as often as we can.

I have been here twice in the last year, under the new ownership, and both times I left feeling underwhelmed, overcharged, and hungry. The magic, is gone. Don’t get me wrong, the food is still good, (although, the mashed potatoes were inedible… dry and tasteless) but, I have no desire to rush back.

This place is adorable, and one of the classier spots in Brattleboro. Their server Maggie is an angel!!!

We visited for dinner with our 2 young kids. It’s not really a children friendly restaurant, but we made sure to be there early (as the doors opened) and they made us very welcome. The food was really good, but the portion sizes were too large. Less would be more, and leave room for dessert.

Peter Havens works hard to make their customers happy while serving up principled and smart dishes. However, an unattractive interior paired with heavily underseasoned and pretty dated food makes this a solid three-​star for me.
I want to first say the service here is superb. The man who waited on us was incredibly nice and over the course of the night he treated every single person in the restaurant with respect and kindness. How do I know this? Because like all ten tables are crushed into the back of this single room and a pretty huge empty (and I imagine at times loud) bar area takes up the other ²⁄₃ of the space.
The food here is definitely trying but falling short in some fundamental ways. One is underseasoning. Each dish we had needed a huge pinch of salt within virtually every element. A gnocchi dish had a nice sauce which, like every sauce here, was a bit over reliant on butter. The gnocchi themselves were a bit gummy but the hunters-​style sauce of crispy pancetta bits and diced aromatics served on top was definitely good.
Next was a Braised Rainbow Trout that was supposed to come with some kind of truffled filling but it seriously had no truffle taste whatsoever. The risotto it was served with was straight up cold, but it tasted good which actually bummed me out the most since I bet it would have been awesome if they just served it like warm at least. The trout itself was fine, a bit overcooked but very fresh. It just needed, you guessed it, salt.
A Grilled Game Hen was excellent but served with the predictable and somewhat dated side of straight up white mashed potatoes. These again were supposed to be truffled but definitely had no truffle taste whatsoever. The Hen, as mentioned, was yummy but it had a strange bacony tasting filling stuffed beneath the skin that looked a little unappetizing when you actually started cutting into the bird.
The apple tart dessert was probably the worst part. The tart was really doughy and tough and the caramel on top had not been cooked long enough, so rather than it being an amber caramel color/​taste it was more like yellowish sugar syrup. The ice cream on top was great, though not made at the restaurant.
This is by no means a bad restaurant and the service here alone makes it worth visiting, if they just fix a few issues in the kitchen and maybe improve the layout a bit they could be one of the better restaurants in the area.

The food was delicious and our bartender was nice and friendly. I had the beef and my friend had the chicken and we both found it delightful. The bread and dipping oil was also very good and the duck pâté. The only issue I would have is the bar chairs I found slightly uncomfortable, and we would have had a long wait for a table. Also they were out of the specials by 8pm. Although we probably should have called for a reservation. They did bring out a birthday surprise which was nice as well. The new owner seems to have done a lot for the place. I will go back again sometime.

Absolutely wonderful experience. We had a nine o’clock reservation on Thursday, which was unnecessary because there were only a few tables seated, but we were still greeted and served with utmost care and attention. Our server was excellent, even though she was still training she was extremely informative about the menu, and knew when to ask for help from the bartender for a wine recommendation (which was fabulous). My partner and I weren’t celebrating anything in particular, but it was one of the most memorable and romantic dinners we have had together. Everything we had was beautifully prepared and exquisitely executed. I highly recommend the Duck Pâté for an appetizer, and we had the soup of the day (New England Clam Chowder). I have had my share of chowders in my life and this one surpassed every single one!
I had the Rainbow Trout with mushroom risotto, my partner had the lamb T bone. Both cooked to perfection and beautifully paired with the sauces and sides. I can’t wait to go back!

Freaking amazing.
I booked this restaurant several months ago for my honeymoon last week. When we walked in, the hostess walked us to our table, seated us and said congratulations. Nice touch, she made a note!
Service was at a nice relaxing pace. Meals were not rushed out, which made me think someone was in the kitchen taking extra special care of our food.
To start, we split the mussels appetizer. I do not eat mussels normally; they’re not something that appeals to me. But these were incredible. I kept saying «just one more» and «after this one, I’m done» … but I couldn’t quit eating them.
I had the oven roasted chicken breast for my entrée. And sure, chicken can be boring. But for me personally, I LOVE chicken. This one, however, I think everyone would enjoy. The mustard sauce on it was so creamy, velvety and delicious. It was perfection. The chicken itself was incredibly moist. Hubby had the lamb chop, and he loved it. I took a bite and, not one to ever order lamb, I was pleasantly surprised at how good it tasted.
Our dessert came out with candles in them to celebrate our wedding/​honeymoon. So very nice. I had the apple tart with vanilla bean ice cream, and hubby had the chocolate flourless torte. Both were beautiful and sweet. My only regret was not finishing it as I was too full.
I will come back to Brattleboro again some day, and when I do, a visit to Peter Havens will be at the top of my list.

We had a nice little dinner at the bar here the other night. it was Saturday so we should have made reservations, but we showed up right when they opened so they made room for us at the bar.
They opened with some bread, oil and olives. The fresh-​baked bread and oil was delish. The dude got some scotch, which the bartender cooled in a shaker. That never happens!
We started with the mussels (amazing) and cauliflower & carmelized onion soup (also good!). I got a new york strip, but was bummed they didn’t have the bleu cheese ribeye they featured online. The dude got a veal shank which he enjoyed too.
My only nitpicky complaint was that the potatoes tasted like they came from a box with some truffle oil drizzled on them. But… I’m SURE by the looks of everything else that they did not come from a box.
Great atmosphere, elegant dinner. We had a great time.

Excellent meal, I ordered the scallops and they tasted amazing. They were cooked perfectly. The presentation was nice also.