The Common Man Restaurant

Highly suggest this spot if your in the area! Bartender, Paul was a great guy! Food was delicious and drinks were even better!

Yum!!! Meals never disappoint great food and service. I’m a vegetarian and I appreciate that they always have something on the menu for me. We even called last week to see if they would accommodate our vegan friends — no problem. This past week we went with a large group and more than half didn’t want mushrooms in their dishes — no problem!
My husband loves the chicken dish and last year lobster pasta. I wish they’d bring back the pea crêpe — so yummy but as I said never disappointed with the meal.
I will say it is pricey but worth it!

brought the family, food and service fantastic! we will definitely go back the next time we are in the area

With our freshly and locally hunted pheasant, chef Adam Longworth of his The Common Man restaurant at basically the foot of Sugar Bush mountain, created an entrée of multi-​toned pheasant sausage and savory pan-​fried pheasant. The sausage was light from the pheasant, but the meat was perfectly distinguished from the anise and other flavors. With the pan-​fried pheasant, Longworth allowed the meat take center stage with all the accompanying players performing perfectly and hitting their notes symphonically. Not yet finished, he took the bones and fashioned a pheasant broth that draped airy mashed potatoes and veggies that created a perfectly UnCommon culinary experience! Astonishing flavor from the freshness of the meat and under the exacting care of this chef, formerly of the Gotham Bar and Grill in NYC, this was a meal as bold and beautiful as the explosive colors we’ve been surrounded by in Vermont. Lordy, these are the experiences that make all that breathing in and breathing out worth it! True thanks, too, to co-​owner Lorien Wroten, who simply could not have been nicer nor more accommodating. Five M’s, my highest rating. Mmmmm!

This place was phenomenal. Wow. I had the steak tartare and the schnitzel. The tartare was great, but the schnitzel was off the chain. Thick, juicy, and delicious (I’m still talking about the schnitzel) and the spätzle and kraut were a perfect accompaniment. Good beers on tap and in the bottle. I had a liquid dessert specially made by Paul, the bartender, some German cake shot. Off the hook. I’m coming back tomorrow to try the ramen. Yes, the ramen, in the middle of the Green Mountains in VT. I trust this chef and so should you. Sit at the bar if you’re a couple or solo. Paul will take care of you.

Great food, great service, cool ambience. I had the red wine sirloin, was really nicely paired with Brussels sprouts, pickled beets, and baby onions. Sounds weird but it was bangin. Homemade ice cream was so so I guess, service was average.

Cannot beat pasta night at The Common Man. The new meatball enterprise fits perfectly with the delectable menu. Service was great as always.

THE BEST!!! Ambience is rustic, casual quite comfy! Service was spectacular! Kudos to our wait staff. Your food is a slice of heaven here on earth! For step by step see pics! Definitely worth a visit!

Lovely ambiance. Nice service. Excellent food — and, as is the norm in these parts, it’s very clean cuisine — flavorful from locally sourced ingredients and low in nasty fats and butter. Even the wine left me hangover free. No complaints. We will return.

Great place in a foodie town, but very popular so definitely recommend reservations during peak season.

Vermont is not known for fine dining, but this place came highly recommended. The food is what you would expect in a place like this– nothing particularly unique, but it was fresh and well executed. The service was another matter– ABYSMAL! Hey, I get it, it’s VT, everything’s chill, dude… This however went beyond even the typical VT level of service– Water glasses not kept filled, entrees took forever, and then came out at different times! Server disappeared, then apologized, «Sorry, I got to talking with some LOCAL customers, you know how it is» No, I don’t know «how it is», I have a house an hour from here, but I’d rather stay down in NYC, happily spend 4 times what I spent here, and at least get what I’m paying for. Like I said, the food was okay, get rid of whatever dipshit is running the front of the house and the stoner servers, and this place wouldn’t be bad.

awful service. It took an hour and one half for them to bring out our main course! We were half way out the door when the manager finally brought out the food. No joke, they have a STEAK that will cost you $ 40. That’s almost half of one hundred dollars for a restaurant in the middle of Vermont. Do the owners think they run a restaurant in the City? They should be ashamed of themselves for making customers wait 1 hour and a half. I will never return to this establishment ever again, and will be sure to tell anyone that I know to stay as far away as possible.
If you like to waste your money then this is the place for you.

Haute cuisine in a rustic setting. Easily one of the best restaurants I’ve been to away from the city (NYC or Boston). Each course was well presented and had multiple layers of well balanced flavors and textures. My favorite dish was the Parsnip Cannelloni, a decadent layering of buttery sweet parsnip purée and bitter broccoli rabe wrapped into a cannelloni topped with a braised short rib ragout and finished with a gremolata of fresh horseradish and crispy bread crumbs. It was washed down with a Cabernet Sauvignon from Washington that went very well with the dish. It sounds like they released a variation previously in the form of ravioli. We also had the halibut set in a citrus foam which was also very tasty.
The setting is rustic and it can get pretty loud. We ate here with a package deal from our B&B, which came out to $ 100 for 2 people for apps, main, & dessert (w/​o drinks or tip).

Beautiful space and wonderful food; loved it. The large dining room, all in dark wood, is warm, rustic and casually elegant with small chandeliers providing just the right amount of lighting. The menu is small, but the 4 of us all found appealing choices, including me, a vegetarian. My salad of beets, goat cheese, red grapes and mixed greens was delicious. Two of us enjoyed the mushroom soup to start, and the fourth, another salad. My entrée of crispy eggplant served with fergola (little pasta), and red pepper sauce was very good. The two who had the chicken cleaned their plates and the fourth enjoyed her cannelloni stuffed with ricotta and spinach and topped with a mushroom sauce. I’m big on ambiance, and I will remember this place as being special.

Go. Just go. Get a sitter. Save the money and splurge. It’s worth it.
Boston ain’t New York but I’ve had my fair share of great meals. This makes the ‘Top Ten’ list. Food, service and ambiance combine to make the whole more than the sum of its parts.

Loved the ambiance with all the candles, antlers and the roaring fire. Loved our server, who was always there but not pushy. My husband LOVED his steak (too much pepper for me), and my small piece of halibut was ridiculously flaky and tender. The food is great quality but there wasn’t enough for me — and I don’t usually have a big appetite. Also, the menu is a bit small. I believe there were 5 choices of apps and 5 choices of entrees, and nothing jumped out at me at all, so I felt rather stuck.
Highlight of the meal for me was definitely the maple pot de crème, which surprisingly came laced with caramel popcorn! Definitely do yourself a favor and order two of them because it is teeny tiny!

Lorien, Adam, and their staff continue to amaze. New York strip was a beautiful cut cooked perfectly with a side of au gratin potatoes that were out of this world. They now have house made blue cheesed stuffed olives for you martini people. The desserts were unbelievable too. The service was impeccable. The Common Man is hands down my favorite restaurant anywhere right now. Do yourself a huge favor and have a meal here next time you are in the Mad River Valley!

I’ve experienced better — and it was here, under the old ownership. I really, really, wanted to like it. The ambiance is nothing short of spectacular. And the food used to be the best in the valley –right-​on french bistro style. It was like Hammersley’s in Boston but with less pretense (ok, almost the same amount of pretense) and a smaller bill.
But that’s since changed. Gone is the fillet mignon, replaced with a skirt steak for what seems to be the same price. No more rabbit or cassoulet. Farewell, too, to the local beers (I’ll miss you most of all, Lawson’s Finest!).
And the Schneeball, that kitschy concoction of vanilla ice cream, toasted coconut and hot fudge? Gone. Replaced with a differently named Schneeball. Why rename it? I guess because you can.
Instead, we get the cheese plate with Keebler-​esque crackers, sharp Cabot Vermont cheddar and vt summer sausage. Thanks, but I can get it much cheaper at Paradise Deli down the street. Sure, the entrees are still good — and can be very good — but for the price, I used to get better… and it was here.

I love the ambiance of The Common Man! We started with the VT cheese board, which was a great! A nice diversity of cheeses. For the entrée, I had the roast halibut… perfectly cooked with a nice crust. I wasn’t sure about the «grain salad» when I read it on the menu, but it was a nice complement. Unfortunately, the dessert didn’t match the quality that I would expect from The Common Man. I had the toasted coconut covered vanilla ice cream ball… hot fudge sauce on the side. The ice cream was very airy… almost the consistency of breyer’s… no hint of real vanilla bean. The toasted coconut was nice. The hot fudge sauce definitely didn’t taste homemade… and when asked, was told it was Hershey’s.
I’m keeping this as 4-​stars… hopefully, dessert will be better… will report back.

The Common Man has new owners since I started dining here oh so long ago, and I think it has improved quite a bit. From being a rather common place (no pun intended) to what is now rather inventive modern cuisine, this place is now a favorite of mine.
I’m really late on this review (sorry!) but we all had great appetizers and entrees. The charcuterie board was great, and most of us had various salads, I had one with beets, very good.
For my entrée, I had the rib-​eye steak, it was done perfectly, and the accompaniments were also.
For dessert, I had the famous Schneeball, which is about the only item left from the original menu. It’s basically an oversized ball of vanilla ice cream rolled in coconut flakes, with hot fudge sauce drizzled around it. very old-​fashioned, but still great.
Greeat and friendly service to top it all off.