Local Republic — Restaurant in Lawrenceville

Had a good experience at Local Republic... great ambiance and our waitress was really awesome. She was honest about her knowledge of the menu, and her personal favorites. So we started with smoked chicken wing as an appetizer. Apparently you get only two options on the flavor, Hot Fresno or the weekly special. We opted for the weekly special flavor and so glad we did! Smoked Cajon Butter wings! Immediately I could taste the smokey flavoring, they had a nice soft crispy (as opposed to cur your gums crispy) texture on the outside. The chicken itself was moist and flavorful. However, they were kind of bland and needed a little salt. But, that was no big deal because their dill sauce (likened to a house-made ranch) was flavorful enough to hide the fact the wings were a bit bland. So for our main course, I had the Celine Dijon burger. Apparently it is one of their most popular menu items and rightfully so! Can you just imagine fried white cheddar cheese and a sweet jam sauce made of bacon??... it is a harmonious blend of sweet and salty that is ever so pleasing to the taste buds. Oh and that's not all, it was served on a perfectly toasted brioche bun. Absolutely amazing! The burgers are served a la carte so I ordered the garlic and smoked gouda mashed potatoes. That was good...once I added salt and pepper to it... So hubby ordered the chef special, item was not on the menu, Saffron Chicken tagatelli. Marinated grilled chicken and some other stuff, lol. It was likened unto an alfredo type sauce but not really. Anyway it was gooood. Seasoned just right! He also ordered a side of the bacon mac'n cheese because... why the heck not! That, was surprisingly really really good. The only thing is that the sauce was a little liquidy. We would have preferred the sauce to be a bit more creamy/thicker, but that did not stop me from nearly eating it all before hubby could get a bite. It really was good! And finally there was dessert. Hubby had the peanut butter cake... an oreo cookie crust, peanut butter cheese cake made with real cream cheese, drizzled with chocolate and caramel. Can we say rich and sweet! That was soooooo good. I got one of my favorites, creme brulee, made with vanilla bean. Hands down, this was probably the best creme brulee I've ever had! Hubby even agreed that it was BUSSIN' lol, and that is a lot coming from him because he doesn't care for the simple dessert like I do. We were surprised to hear that the pastry chef is only 20 years old! With her talent I would have guessed that she was much older. Because both desserts were so good! Not much negative to say except, some items needed a little salt. Flavoring very good but a little salt would have taken it up notches. Also, we really went there to try the pork cheek fries, but they were out...for the day? So you're telling me at 2 pm on a Saturday you're out of one of your most popular menu items!?! Very sad indeed. But, definitely worth another trip as there are plenty of other items on the menu to try as well. So if you're in the downtown Lawrenceville, area, I'd highly recommend Local Republic......

Local Republic is a nice 3 story restaurant in downtown Lawrenceville. Parking can get a little hairy on the weekends, and I’d recommend reservations. We arrived 15 minutes early for our reservation and were greeted by the friendly hostesses and seated immediately up on the third floor. Our server arrived shortly after abd took our drink orders. They have some fun NA options which we always appreciate because my husband doesn’t drink, but likes to try drinks other than your basic soda options. He ordered the Preventative Healthcare which was so fruity, tropical tasting and delicious. I ordered the Darling Vikki which was also very tasty, sweet, but not overly so like some cocktails. I enjoyed it very much. For appetizers we ordered the Sweet Potato + Rocket and an order of fries with the 3 dipping sauces. The sweet potatoes were excellent with the feta cheese and arugula and drizzle of lemon sauce. The flavors were all really good and complimentary. We liked it a lot. The fries were equally delicious. We picked the Chipotle sauce, dill cream and mojo. Husbands favorite was chipotle, mine was dill cream which is their house ranch- super fresh tasting with a really nice clean dill flavor, the mojo was very yummy but I’d probably like it better with chicken and not necessarily for dipping my fries in. It’s a thinner sauce with a nice bright citrus flavor. For our entrees my daughter got a kids cheeseburger and fries. My husband got the Celine Dijon burger and I got the salmon with a side of Gouda mashed potatoes. My 6 year old liked her burger. My husband really liked his burger. I tasted it and agreed it was quite yummy. It is a smash burger so not the same as your typical big beefy burgers where they would cook them to temp. These are smashed while cooking creating a more flat and closer to well done patty. With that said, I didn’t think it was dry and the toppings really enhanced this burger. My salmon on the other hand was a bit disappointing. While it was cooked very well in the sense that the skin was nice and crispy and fish was tender and juicy, it was fairly under seasoned for my liking. It came with a carrot purée which was pretty and tasted exactly like what it is, but really did nothing for the dish. I would’ve loved some kind of sauce or a better seasoning on the fish. I had high hopes for my Gouda mashed potatoes because I love Gouda, but again was disappointed as I felt it needed more salt to bring the flavors out. We finished with a creme brûlée which was delicious. I forgot to take a pic until a few bites in, it was so good. The prices are a little on the higher end, but pretty much what I would expect from this type of restaurant. I’m happy to pay those prices if the quality of food matches. This came close, but unfortunately fell short when it came to the most expensive entree- mine. Overall we still enjoyed our meal and would return especially for the drinks and fries! I would love to try some of their other dipping options...

This might be lengthy, but bear with me! Two weekends ago, out of the blue, my husband decided to relent and let me throw him a nice dinner party for his 50th... But it needed to be the following weekend. A nice dinner party. In a week. For 20 people. Oy. So I frantically called (on a Saturday) every restaurant I could think of... Pappadeaux, Marlow's, everywhere. "Sorry, can't help you" was the response every time. I started to panic. Then I tried to do a reservation online at Local Republic... But I was referred to an email address for something called "Feast". Well... Fast forward to Monday, when I finally got a chance to communicate with the event planner, Damian. Despite the fact that they normally need 2 weeks in advance to create a Feast... He was up for the challenge! Within a few hours we had finalized the menu, decorations, price, EVERYTHING. He asked all the right questions, made amazing suggestions, and I was set. Fast forward to this past Saturday night. It was, without question, one of the best meals I've ever had... We had 2 dedicated servers who were FANTASTIC. Hustling, attentive, knowledgeable about everything! The cocktails the bartender created just for our party were perfect, and never stopped flowing! They printed custom menus, timed the courses perfectly (including a champagne toast!), and made us feel like our party was the most important table in the house. The food: OMG THE FOOD. Feast food is served family style, which we loved! There wasn't one thing served that wasn't the perfect temperature. We had wild mushroom tarts, fried chicken livers, shrimp and andouille, pimento cheese grits, and divine roasted carrots. But there were a few stars of the show... Namely the beef tenderloin and the goat cheese & sage potatoes... And peanut butter pie! Everyone RAVED about all of the food! I'm still hearing from guests about how much they loved the food and drinks and the atmosphere. We spoke to the new chef at the end of the night to thank him... It turns out they were "in the weeds" all evening long. We never had a clue! That's how great the staff was! So if you need to do a group dinner... Get in touch with Damian!! I promise you won't...