The Boot Room — Restaurant in Durham

I grew up in an Italian restaurant family so have some experience on good versus great, Americanized or authentic, and fresh versus wholesale package. This gem in Durham isn't as authentic as being in Emilia-Romagna but the quality of the ingredients, coupled with the rustic preparation, certainly provides some of the genuineness missing from most Italian places. The bread and pasta are fresh, the pasta having that distinct bite and mouth feel that you can only get from hand made. We had the mussels and sausage appetizer as well as the chicken liver marsala mousse with fig confit, both very good starters. We tried the Parmesan, both chicken and eggplant, and each was competently made (not as good as some but certainly better than the chains). They were served with (our waiter detailed) the only dried/non-fresh pasta on the menu, spaghetti properly cooked al dente. My son had the orecchietta (not their spelling) with rabe and it had the feeling and depth of Italian home-cooking. I had a duck ragout special with pappardelle which I couldn't have prepared any better (and I'm pretty good in the kitchen). Dessert and coffee were both very good and I was happy to see them offering coffee from local roasters. Beer and wine selection was respectable and not overwhelming.

Our waiter, and the other wait staff, were attentive without pestering and certainly knowledgable of the menu and ingredients. Questions were answered immediately and our waiter clearly understood the preparation of each dish.

If it doesn't come through, my family and I were pleased and will certainly be back. I was disappointed that the place wasn't packed on a Saturday night and wish the owners the greatest success. They deserve to be noticed by those craving dishes which could have been proudly made by an Italian grandmother (or...

I had been wanting to try The Boot Room for awhile. I’d heard good things. I kept seeing social media posts about it. I finally suggested to a friend we meet there for dinner and it was definitely the right choice. I was told by another friend to try the cheese curds and sweet potato fries for sure. So I did. The cheese curds were SO good. We ate most of them before I remembered to take a pic. Oops. They’re served with two sauces for dipping (one was like a pepper jelly and the other was something creamy - both were delish!). I ordered the kielbasa sandwich with sweet potato fries, my friend ordered the egg roll bowl.

My food was really good! The sandwich was huge so maybe cutting it in half would’ve been the move lol. It was a little messy and hard to eat but my daddy didn’t raise no quitter. It was served on a pretzel roll with sauerkraut and brown mustard. A classic combo done very well here.

My friend’s egg roll bowl was also really good. And also a big portion. She ended up taking half home for leftovers.

Prices were super fair. Staff was very friendly. The restaurant was clean and felt casual comfortable. I’ll definitely be back...

I actually feel deeply disturbed that I have not posted a review yet for my top 5 Favorite Place. This place is the perfect mixture of local watering hole, delicious/indulgent/slightly-healthy food, football club watching, limitless beer option place. Like ever.

I can't emphasize enough how much I like the food here. And the single first picture is all you need to know really for food. This is the coup de grace of the food choices. The "digger" sandwich with a side salad w ranch (not pictured) and a side order of sweet potato fries with the literal world's best honey mustard dipping sauce. I mean The. World's. Best.

But I've actually eaten almost almost everything on the menu and I honestly love each and every item. The whole menu is diverse and unique and has healthy options and creative options. Really next level.

And the cornucopia of options on the beer side coupled with the endless sea of tables to sit and enjoy, or invite friends and gather together, the cultural Soccer vibe from The Back Room, and everything in between. This place is a small slice of heaven, on like 15...