Hen of the Wood - Burlington — Restaurant in Burlington

02/03/25 I am dropping my original review from three stars to two stars. The "owner" responded to my original review asking me to email him, which I did the following day. It has been almost three weeks since then, and to this day, I have not heard a response. It is sad to see such a poor customer service from a reputable establishment. My wife and I went to this restaurant for a birthday celebration based on high reviews and because we also heard great things about it, our expectation matched the reviews. The location and atmosphere are top notch. The server was very friendly and helpful. The drinks came out on time, and they were delicious. However, things started rolling downhill from here. We were surprised that our food took as long as it did even though we were among the first customers at 5:00 PM. We both ordered steaks; one medium rare and one medium. To our surprise, both stakes were lukewarm when they were delivered to our table. Fortunately, or unfortunately, which becomes a matter of perspective, we could follow the activity at the grill station from our table. Besides the grill chef there were at least two people at the grill station. We later found out that one of them was the food runner as he delivered our food. All of them were having a good time, chatting, and the food runner being busy with his phone. Our negative impressions started when our food was delivered to the table. There was no kindness, no friendliness, no professionalism in it at all. Even before taking the first bite, both my wife and I noted the “poor attitude” how the food was delivered. We watched with amazement how the food runner got back on his mobile phone once he made his delivery. Once we took the first bite, we were shocked how lukewarm the steaks were. This is unacceptable at any restaurant, especially at one of this high-caliber. We travel around the world and are accustomed to all sorts of cultures, service, and food. Lukewarm food is unacceptable. Period. We are not the type to complain on the spot as sometimes it might come across that one does it to get a freebie. However, as a regular Google reviewer I could not wait to write this review. Hopefully, it will come across as a constructive criticism and management will look into it and make the necessary corrections. They are more than welcome to contact me if they want to hear...

Despite good service and a very cool decor, this pretentious, expensive restaurant completely missed the mark for our group of five. We left frustrated and hungry despite spending nearly $300.

This is one of two locations and is helmed by famed chef Eric Warnstedt, a James Beard nominee who's concept is to try and reduce the gap between your plate and mother nature. The restaurant's decor is very unique and is a combination of modern and rustic, with wood accents and modern lines. We felt very comfortable but found it too dark. We could barely read the menu.

Our friendly waitress brought us some menus, some waters and after telling us a bit about the menu, gave us a few minutes to soak it all in.

In the menu itself are both 'small' and 'large' appetizers as well as bar bites. These tiny morsels of food known as the 'small' will jack up your bill anywhere between $5-$15 and are designed to be shared. We were strongly advised to get a few of them, and obliged accordingly. We got a few of their panisses fries as well as wood fired bread ($7) and another side of some grilled vegetables as well. The bread while overpriced was pretty good and baked in their wood oven. The panisses frites were good and the vegetables were really good as well but the price to value ratio was slightly off. The portions were somewhat smaller than we had anticipated.

Then our entrees came a few minutes later. I ordered their hanger steak medium rare ($29) which came platted with some roasted onions and beets as well as some Bayley Hazen blue cheese. It was pretty tasty but again, the portions were small. The steak was slightly over, but the vegetables tasted awesome and the chefs made great use of their fancy wood oven. The flavors were bright and everything was very fresh.

That being said, all five of us were unanimous. The place felt pretentious and was too expensive. We also left hungry which is pretty sad after we dropped that kind of money on a dinner. Now I'm not saying the place isn't good, it is, but it's a special night-only kind of place, not the kind of place you'd want to hang out at too often for the sake of your wallet. I'd happily return to sit at the bar and have a beer or two, or a cocktail with a couple of bar bites, but the full dinner treatment is just too unaffordable. and frankly...

WOW John was a phenomenal bartender and server. His recommendations were spot on. I absolutely could not have asked for a better server or experience as a walk in guest here. If there’s a gold star chart, I’ll mail in my stars just for John. PS, John if you’re reading this, I changed my mind. The vibe you give is Mac Miller

Okay on to the things that matter besides service. Let’s get into it. For starters, I didn’t know that I wanted a cheese list for appetizers and desserts. A cheese plate happened for both occasions …not to mention the special that we also had as a …3rd appetizer? First we ordered the 12month aged cheddar. I’m a sucker for an aged cheddar and it hit. John recommended or at least mentioned the special. Special was a triple cream truffle blah blah that was a combo of melt in your mouth, and how do I not lick this off the plate. We had OYSTERS. This was the first time I ordered oysters and felt like I could’ve eaten 1000 of them. The limit did not exist. Was it the horseradish? Wrong. It had to have been the habanero dropper?? It was awesome. Flavor in mouth explosion in literally the best way. We had the pork belly. It slapped. (It was really good and paired well with the kimchi slaw). We had hanger steak. It was perfectly cooked. Tender, exactly what you want in a steak. Instead of desert, we had cheese again. Mt. Alice, another great rec from John.

I would highly recommend this place. Hopefully, that’s obvious. We did not make a reservation, we sat at the bar as a walk in.

Thank you for a...