“Really good vibes here.  Always a great time.”

“It’s always very casual.  Really relaxed…It’s like a place that you can hang out and really enjoy the food.” 

“They’re very welcoming and very homey.”

“Honestly you won’t go hungry coming here.”

“You always feel like you’re at home.”

“Between the staff, the food and the beer and the atmosphere.  It’s awesome.” 

If you’re looking for a location where you can dine and unwind, set your GPS to River Road.   

Located in Bedford, New Hampshire, The River Road Tavern is a casual spot that’s set up like a lodge according to General Manager, Christoper Laws. 

“We’re trying to go for the ski lodge feel.   We want it to be a place that you can just know you can come in and relax and we want it to feel like a home away from home.” 

So they decked out the lofty space with casual high top tables, a stone fireplace surrounded by comfy couches, and a busy friendly bar. Then, they filled the walls with decor you’d find in a cabin along with customer created plaques from their Brewser’s Beer Club.

“With the Brewser’s Club, if you drink 100 different beers that aren’t major domestics you can get a plaque that you can put on the wall. It feels like a mug club, but a personalized mug club you can design it any which way you like. ” 

Back in the open kitchen, you’ll find Executive Chef Joseph Carey making food the way he likes it.  

“What we’re doing here with the food is taking things that you maybe grew up eating, taking classics and kind of breaking the rules on them.”

So there are Steamed Mussels steamed with Pabst Blue Ribbon and big plates of comforting Poutine which gets added flavor from the addition of garlic cheese curds.  

“We roast them in garlic.  If you have that flavor on the cheese curd it just gives it a little extra hit, which I think makes the dish.”

“You get the crunchy crispy shoestring fries smothered with the melted warm creamy garlic cheese curds and then with our house gravy, with our secret seasonings put on top of that, it’s to die for.”

You could start with River Roads Super Bad wings. Or just get all of that flavor in dip form.  

“It’s a creamy buffalo sauce that we have put together with shredded chicken.  It comes with pita chips and tortilla chips. It has a blue cheese crumble on top but there’s also blue cheese mixed in to kind of balance out the flavor for you.  If anybody’s looking for something to get a great starter, that would be kind of one of the ways to go.”

But THE app you’ll usually find at every table is the cup of Applewood Smoked Bacon- a treat that tends to have customers in disbelief. 

“I can’t tell you how many times you see it get to a table and people are just like, “Wow, I can’t believe I can actually just get a cup of bacon.” 

“It’s thick slabbed bacon, it’s fried off, so it’s a little bit crispy, still got a little bit soft texture to it. We serve it with our maple bourbon dipping sauce for anyone who’s craving bacon, it comes to your table, served right in a cup with the dipping sauce and you can share it.”

When it comes to main dishes, Kobe burgers are River Road’s specialty- cooked to perfection on a flat top.

“We actually went with a flat top because we like to give all of our burgers, whether it’s well done, or rare, that nice beautiful sear on the outside with a juicy inside.”

“I won’t personally get a burger anywhere else just because I think it’s one of the best in the state.”

The straight up Kobe burger is a classic.   

“We serve it plain just so that whatever you are feeling that day, you can get it just the way you like.”

“It’s on a Brioche bun. It’s a seven ounce patty, you can get cheese, bacon on it if you like, and on every plate we give you lettuce, tomatoes, onion, and a pickle. That way you can dress it yourself that way you can kind of make it your own.”

Or, if you’re looking for something small to share, order the sliders.

“Sliders are excellent. They’re miniature versions of our regular Kobe burger except they come dressed with American cheese and caramelized onions and they are just perfect succulent. The meat speaks for itself. You get a little bit of sweetness from the onion and the creaminess from the cheese and the buttery bun. They’re just delicious.”

Other options include the tender Tavern Steak Tips- perfectly marinated and cooked the way you want ’em….

A Crispy Chicken Sandwich that will rival any others you’ve tried….

And a tremendous Reuben.

“Everything we can possibly do with the Reuben we do in house so that’s from the homemade thousand island to the homemade sauerkraut, to cutting the product here, and making sure that we get it to the table in such a fashion that a nice presentation but yet you know you’re about to get into a really good sandwich.” 

For dessert, you could opt for the Cinnamon Sugga Donuts- presented with a maple bourbon dipping sauce.  Or try the uniquely delicious Dessert Ice Cream Slider- made with the same buns they use on their burger sliders- which may sound strange- but trust us, they’re delicious.   

“I can’t really explain them except for the fact that they’re simply delicious. They don’t really make sense.  We take our slider buns, we fry those up so they get a nice crisp to them, vanilla bean ice cream on top of that, our house maple bourbon sauce drizzled over that and then our cookie crumble on that.” 

“Comes out tasting like fried dough with ice cream. You would think with it being bread it would give you a weird taste.  It plays on all senses.  It’s something that when you bite into it, you want another one. It’s not your traditional ice cream sandwich. “

So whether you get your burger off the flat top or topped with ice cream.

Your wings on the bone or in a bowl.

You know your destination will always be delicious at River Road Tavern.