Date Night Restaurants and Bars in Burlington, Vermont
Burlington, Vermont — updated August 21, 2026
Burlington eats early: bar seats open at 4pm downtown and most kitchens take their last table by 10. Here are the restaurants, cocktail rooms and taprooms worth planning a night around, ranked by how well the reviews back them up.
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Date night in Burlington runs on an early clock. Bar service downtown starts at 4pm, several kitchens shut at 9, and the walk from Church Street to the Old North End is short enough that a drink in one neighborhood and dinner in another is a reasonable plan. The list below is ordered by how convincingly each place answers the question, with the review counts included so you can tell a settled reputation from a promising one.
1. Hen of the Wood - Burlington
A 4.7 rating across more than 1,300 reviews makes this the most thoroughly tested dinner in the city, and the daily-changing menu is the reason people keep going back. The Cherry Street room serves dinner 5-10pm with the bar open from 4pm to 11pm, every day, which gives you two ways to use it: a proper reserved table, or a pair of bar seats at 4 when the room is still quiet. Menus change daily, so treat any dish you read about in advance as a maybe. There is a Waterbury location as well; this entry is the Burlington one.
2. Honey Road
Mezze built for sharing, which solves the awkward first-date problem of ordering around each other. The rating sits at 4.7 from more than 900 reviews, so the consistency is proven rather than provisional. Hours are simple: 4pm to 9pm every day, with reservations and the full menu available from the moment the doors open. Walk-ins are welcome and the bar takes them. The 156 Church Street address puts you in the middle of the pedestrian marketplace, useful if the plan after dinner is undecided. An early booking is the practical move, since the kitchen stops at 9.
3. May Day
The highest-rated place here at 4.9, though from 229 reviews rather than the four figures behind the two above it, so call it strong evidence rather than settled. The draw is the pairing of seasonal cooking with a natural wine list and craft cocktails, in the Old North End at 258 N Winooski Ave. Open seven nights a week. Part of the dining room is held for reservations through Resy and part is kept for walk-ins, so a spontaneous night is not out of the question. Sunday nights bring a patty melt special, which makes for a low-key end-of-weekend date.
4. Frankie's
A 4.8 from 210 reviews, on Cherry Street, with a menu that changes daily and gets posted to the restaurant's Instagram stories rather than fixed online. That suits couples who like deciding at the table. Open seven days a week at 5pm, with the last seating always at 10pm, which is later than most Burlington kitchens. Walk-in seats are available. The review count is modest next to Hen of the Wood a block away, but the rating has held high, and the late seating makes it the answer when dinner is happening after something else.
5. Devil Takes A Holiday
The pick when the date is drinks rather than dinner: an upscale cocktail lounge at 111 St Paul Street with a 4.8 rating from 153 reviews, the smallest sample on this list and worth treating as promising rather than proven. Hours are the useful part. Monday through Thursday it runs 5pm to midnight, Friday and Saturday 4pm to 1am, and Sunday 2pm to 10pm, making it one of the few options here for a late nightcap or an early Sunday afternoon drink. Handcrafted cocktails and a food menu alongside them.
6. Pho Hong
The most-reviewed place in this guide, 4.8 from more than 1,400 reviews, and the least formal. Vietnamese cooking at 325 N Winooski Ave, a short walk from May Day, for the nights when a shared table and hot broth beats a tasting menu. Plan around the schedule: closed Monday and Sunday, open 3pm to 9pm Tuesday through Thursday, and on Friday and Saturday 11am to 3pm then 5pm to 9pm with a closed stretch in between. The 5 and 6pm hours are the busiest, with waits of up to about 15 minutes; by 8pm the wait usually disappears. Vietnamese coffee and Thai iced tea are on the drinks menu.
7. Queen City Brewery
A Pine Street taproom pouring classic styles across more than 16 taps, rated 4.7 from 266 reviews. Reviewers single out the range of traditional styles you do not find on every Vermont tap list, which makes it a good first stop for a couple who would rather talk over a table of small pours than sit through courses. Hours end early: Sunday through Thursday 1pm to 8pm, Friday and Saturday noon to 9pm. That makes it a before-dinner date rather than a nightcap, and it pairs naturally with anything on this list that seats until 10.
8. Mirabelles Bakery
The daytime option, listed last because it closes at 4pm and will never be an evening plan. Mirabelles rates 4.7 from 630 reviews at 3060 Williston Road in South Burlington, open Monday through Saturday 8am to 4pm and closed Sunday. The case is a mix of cakes, pastries, macarons and mini desserts, with breakfast sandwiches and biscuits earlier in the day. Useful two ways: a morning coffee date that does not require anyone to commit to a full evening, or a stop for a cake to take home before dinner elsewhere.