Doc Ponds

We were in Vermont for a family/​craft beer week. We stopped at the bench one night for drinks after dinner. They had some nice lounge areas for our group of 8 adults to hang out and enjoy a beer or two.
Overall the beer list was very good. I enjoyed the Amarillo from Hill Farmstead. We also had an appetizer or two and those were quite good as well. We didn’t try the food so I can’t comment on that, but I definitely liked the atmosphere and drinks. Quality service as well. We wouldn’t hesitate to stop back on another trip to the Stowe area.

Staying in Stowe, VT for Feb Vacation. Found this restaurant on Unilocal and decided to give it a try. Great atmosphere, but a little stuffy. Service was amazing and helpful. I highly recommended the Doc Burger. By far one of the best burgers I ever had. The bun was fluffy and toasted, meat was juicy and tender, and the sauce was amazing. Perfect size. Definitely will be coming back to try their milkshakes & have more burgers. This restaurant is a go to if you are staying in Stowe.

Combination of great food, design, and ambience. Very friendly stuff. Reasonable $$. I ordered smoked half chicken, it was so delicious. Loved the whole experience. Will come back.

2 fussy eaters today but 5 stars from everyone. Fantastic food, great service and just a great experience.

Amazing! When you’re in the vicinity of Stowe this is a must do. The staff is friendly and chill. The restaurant is cozy and clean. Food and beverage selection is top notch! You will not be disappointed.

Stopped in for an appetizer and drink around 9:30pm on a Saturday night. We had their specialty jerk chicken wings. They were delicious! Excellent beer selection! Less crowded then some other places in town. Cool atmosphere! To top it off our waitress was so cool and friendly, the bartenders were on top of things! Excellent service!

My wife and I had dinner here on a busy Saturday night but we walked right in and they seated us at a low table in the lounge area. We ordered a starter of peanuts and they were tasty. We were kind of surprised that they were basically peanuts in the shell like you get them at a ballpark but they weren’t expensive ($ 3). I had a terrific hamburger, juicy and fatty and wonderful. My wife had one of the great pork chops of her life. Deliciously seasoned and perfectly prepared. I had a beer and my wife had a couple of glasses of wine. The bill was $ 85 and we’ll be back.

Came here for lunch and we had the brisket bomb and the doc burger, along with vanilla and salted caramel milkshakes. The milkshakes were thick and creamy, and the salted caramel just the right amount of sweetness.
The doc burger had this amazing sauce (which I can’t recall the kind), wonderful Vermont cheese, and the beef perfectly cooked with a little pink.
If I ever come back to Stowe, I’ll definitely come back here!

Excellent lunch at Doc Ponds… Everything was very well made, interesting and very flavorful. The kids Mac and cheese was especially delicious.

Pros:
Decent food. Not anywhere near what I’d expect out of a restaurant with ties to Hen of The Wood, but I’d rate the restaurant at ³⁄₅ stars if we were only talking about food.
Great beer selection.
Good music.
Cons:
Pretty poor customer service. My party of 4 arrived at 9:15pm on a Saturday night. The restaurant was busy, and we knew there’d be a wait — no problem! The hostess told us that we’d be seated in about 40 minutes — no problem! An hour goes by, and the hostess still had not checked in with us, so I go over and casually ask for an update. She informs us that we *might* be seated in another 20 minutes. I get it, we can’t predict when people are going to finish eating, but that’s not the problem here. I had watched other parties of 3 – 4 people arrive during the hour we were waiting, put in their names, wait, and then get seated while we were waiting.
Another 40 minutes go by (total wait time @ 1 hour, 40 minutes), and we’re finally seated. No acknowledgement of the issue, no offer to comp drinks/​an appetizer/​etc., nothing. The waiter comes up and promptly tells us that we need to hurry up, because the kitchen is closing in 15 minutes. My friend and I bring this issue to the waiter’s attention, pointing out to him what had occurred prior to our being seated, and he apologizes. At one point latee on, he revisits the conversation, and we gently point out that the appropriate and typical response of a restaurant that clearly made some mistakes would be to offer something as a complimentary gesture to smooth things over.
The manager comes over sometime later, and offers to comp us a round of drinks. In doing so, she acts quite indignantly, somewhat rudely, and fails to acknowledge the restaurant’s mistake, only attributing the night’s mishaps to «things they can’t control.»
Poor form.

Gave this place a try and it was great! Smaller menu but plenty of options to choose from. They took a basic bar and upped the ante! The blue balls appetizer while sounds funny ordering is amazing and I would definitely order again with its savory sweet mixture. The service was great along the with the atmosphere. Will definitely be back to Doc Ponds!

It’s a bit outside our normal driving distance, but totally worth the drive! We came the Sunday after New Years and the place was packed for apres ski. While packed, the place was nicely organized. Bar tables, dining tables, lounge seat by the fireplace, and bar seating… something for everyone! When the weather permits, they even have seating space outside!
We started with some drinks while waiting for a table. Kate, from ProPig, was manning the bar! She was great in helping sorting through the draft beers available, based on our preferences.
If Hen of the Wood was a bar… yes, it would be Doc Ponds! The service quality is a match for Hen of the Wood, as some of the HOTW team is here at Doc Ponds!
After having dinner, we came back the next day for some x-​ski apres ski. So over 2 days, we tried the Housemade Hummus with Pitas, Fried Oysters, Chicken Wings, Burger, and Turkey Cuban.
Hummus — smooth and creamy, and the pitas were seasoned perfectly! The combination is delicious.
Fried oysters — a welcome comeback from the HOTW menu — same batter, with a twist of kimchi spice. SO GOOD! Great pairing with their draft beer selection.
Chicken wings are like chicken lollipops, with the meat pushed up on a bone. This make is easy to dip and eat.
BURGER! BURGER! BURGER! Flavorful, crunchy crust, juicy, perfectly cooked center. This burger easily bets the other burgers in the Waterbury /​Stowe area.
Turkey cuban — not better than the burger, but a great balance of flavors, without the greasiness (butter/​oil) of traditional cubans. Made with real turkey, not processed turkey /​deli meat.
Normally, I would’ve taken photos, but the aroma of the food as they arrived hypnotized me away from taking photos. Trust me that the food looked awesome, and tasted even better!

The brisket sandwich was ridiculously good. I also had a glass of local white wine which tasted great as well. The family ordered the burger, mac and cheese and the cuban sandwich and he said it was the best cuban sandwich he ever had (he’s 20). Everyone was happy with the food and the service. We also sat close enough to see the fire. If we had a smaller group we would have definitely sat in the fire room because it looked so cozy, but we had way too many people. The only issue I had was with the peanuts. I ordered the spicy peanuts, but they weren’t spicy. I received a small bowl of bar peanuts and I’m not sure if that was a mistake or what, but they definitely were not spicy. I won’t ding them on this though because everything else was so good.

Amazing addition to the Stowe dining/​bar landscape! Nicely modern and on point, from the logos/​postcards/​stickers to the well designed interiors, to the super affordable a la carte dinner/​lunch menus. Came for dinner, sat by the beautiful fireplace for a drink before being sat, and decided to just stay there for dinner. Such a cool cozy lounge area. Our server, a well spoken tall guy, was very friendly and professional and knowledgeable.
Burger was amazing, hand cut fries were great as well, not too greasy, just right. The cocktails were well crafted, including the two classics we ordered off the list (a Negroni and a French 75). As noted, they have an impressive list of beers/​wines. Smoked Bluefish melt was such a nice surprise (I grew up eating smoked blue around the chesapeake bay, I was not disappointed. Mashed potatoes were delicious, rustic, skin on, not overly done with milk or butter etc.
This spot is now on my radar and will be a definite stop at least once every trip here to Stowe. I also plan to go again on this trip. Whoever is behind this place is a great restaurant operator who knows what is current, yet this place is classic as well and will never go out of style, it will just increase in character over the years. A+

Great beer selection with something for everyone.
Chips and dip were spectacular. The BBQ chips were light, crispy flavor bombs. The French onion dip was the best we have had. It was so good, we kept going back for more.
The Brisket Bomb was amazing! This sandwich is well balanced but extremely flavorful. The thinly sliced brisket had an impressive smoke ring attesting to the length of time and care spent on the meat. The purple cabbage sauerkraut added salty, vinegary goodness. The French fries were an unexpected element of fun.
We had the brown butter lemon chess pie. The brown butter and lemon flavors complemented each other quite well. The filling was texturally perfect.
Three beers, two sandwiches, two apps, a side and a dessert, two happy adults and one happy two year old, with a price tag of $ 60. You can rest assured we will drive the 45 minutes again.

Cute place with great décor. Came in for snacks and drinks. Very home-​y den area, which is perfect for having a few drinks and warming up by the fire. Server was very attentive but felt like he was rushing us a bit since we weren’t ordering meals. As for the food… the «Chips N’ Dip» were great — house BBQ chips were delicious and full of flavor. We also had the «Hummus» — the homemade pita chips were amazing and possibly the best tasting hummus I’ve had… EVER.

SOOOOO GOOD! This place is what Stowe needed. Delicious high end comfort food and an unreal beer selection. It was so good I went for lunch and dinner. Lunch — alone at the bar with a very knowledgeable but not pretentious bartender who talked beer with me and made the awesome recommendation of the Smoked Bluefish Melt. Perfect combination of a smoked bluefish salad, pickled onions, Swiss cheese and greens on lightly grilled rye.
Dinner — party of five just chilling out at a low round table in the lounge. Comfortable seats and delicious food. The hoagie salad was killer. The cauliflower and cucumbers were crisp and delicious. The Bailey Blue Balls were awesome despite the name (may want to rethink the name. Funny but doesn’t fit the mood of the restaurant.) Then the entrees came. I had the brisket sandwich. HOLY COW (pun intended) melt in your mouth brisket with house made kraut and FRENCH FRIES in the sandwich. SO GOOD. Definitely going to try to recreate this at home and will most likely fail in comparison. If they can keep this up they will break the curse of this location. Can’t wait for my next trip back home to try out more of the menu. BRAVO!

Utterly amazing. I dragged my parents here for a late Sunday afternoon lunch so they only had their limited Sunday afternoon menu available. This ended up being fine since all their food is good. They had $ 4 draft specials, which I think were only for Sunday afternoon. The choices of the day were Long Trail Limbo, Switchback Connector, and Rock Art Limited Access. Again for emphasis, these were only $ 4. To start we ordered the giardineira and Blue Balls. The giardineira was simple; just a mixture of spicy pickled vegetables. It was good and probably a decent idea to eat some veggies given what was to come next.
My parents both ordered the burger and after taking a bite of one, I knew I had to order my own. The Doc burger is 6oz of perfectly cooked, probably local ground beef, cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, French onion dip, and topped with home made potato chips all served on what I can only describe as the ideal roll. It was light and soft, but still held up to the juicy burger and all the toppings. They put a lot of French onion dip on the burger which I think was supposed to be balanced by the crunch from the chips. Even to me, it sounded like a strange topping combination, but it worked incredibly well. The Doc Burger is one of the best burgers I’ve ever had. And it was only $ 7.
Sorry, I forgot about the Blue Balls, I was too excited to tell you about the burger. Think arancini but with the world renowned Bayley Hazen Blue Cheese inside, perfectly fried, and drizzled with honey. Unlike arancini, you don’t need to dip these in anything.
Finally, we also got the loaded fries. Generally most places use these as an excuse to pile up the profits since they’re really just some fries with cheese and not expensive to make. Not here. Instead of some crappy crumbled bacon, Doc Ponds serves their loaded fries with brisket on top. I’m not sure how they achieved this, but the brisket was sort of like a super tender pull apart bacon. Oh, there were also hot peppers and a spicy dipping sauce. Order these.
I know I shouldn’t have expected anything less from the chef behind Hen of the Wood, but my high expectations for Doc Ponds were if anything exceeded. I expected the food to be good, but unlike the unaffordable extravagance of Hen of the Wood, Doc Ponds is a place you could eat at weekly or just stop by for a beer.

Came here for some amazing food after a fun hike! Alex, the bartender, was really nice and knowledgeable. I have a difficult allergy and he was really quick to help me sort through the menu and worked with the kitchen to give a great experience. I will definitely be back and would highly recommend Doc Ponds! AND they have great draft beers!

We came here Sunday night on vacation and had a great experience. Ate hummus, ham, Caesar salad, radish toast and brisket bomb sandwich — all were fantastic. My son is picky and didn’t like the mac and cheese so we ordered him a burger. Our waitress (Katie) ended up taking the mac and cheese off our bill which was very nice.
We had such a great time that we went back the next night. Friendly waitstaff remembered us from the night before. This time we got the house salad, fried oysters, and the falafel and turkey Cuban sandwiches. The food was actually even better than the night before. Our server Brent was AMAZING. He had my son laughing the whole night and was super attentive. We ended the night with the hot fudge sundae — also delicious. Sadly it’s the only picture of food I got. Overall the service at this place is second to none and the food is incredible. Oh and I have to mention the awesome beer list too. 5 stars all around.