Cornerstone Pub & Kitchen

Walking down from the Maplecroft Bed & Breakfast, defeated that we failed to stop at our preferred restaurant on the way back from Hill, what a pleasant surprise it was to see a taplist the likes of which Three Penny and Blackback would have on any given day. And that seems to be par for the course here even in 2025.

I actually snagged a Hill draft I'd never had before, as well as some classic old school VT juice, while munching on some poutine and clam chowder, leaving me happy as one (uncooked, of course). The food was pretty basic, perhaps the only slight against an otherwise solid bar, but it stuck to your ribs just fine. I've actually left Three Penny quite unsatisfied before, so I'd recommend Cornerstone over them these days anyway, especially if you're staying in Barre like we do anymore.

This place has the typical lots of dark wood pub style atmosphere. Good amount of tables, good sized bar.

Nice tap list including many of the better local brews. Lunch, Sip of Sunshine, Heady cans.

The food is pub fare, decent amount of selections. Good, fairly well-prepared, but nothing extra special. I would expect to be happy with your meal, but not super excited.

The service is attentive. They do a good job. Not a ton of beer knowledge from the bartender on my last visit, but at least they didn't try to pretend.

 

 

IMO Cornerstone rates not much better than decent. They do have an extensive (20+) tap list but on my visits there was nothing out of the ordinary for the Barre/Montpelier/Waterbury area. For a restaurant as opposed to a bar the tap list is very skewed toward IPAs. I love good IPAs as much as the next guy but if you are emphasizing food I think it only make sense to also offer saisons, hefeweizens, pilsners and pale ales (American, British or Belgian) but these styles were either poorly represented or entirely absent.
The food was lackluster. Roasted Red Pepper Ravioli was served sans any discernible roasted red pepper. The Banh Mi Pork Burger was over cooked and a poor substitute for a food Banh Mi or an exceptional burger.
The service was perfectly adequate but not exceptional.
The Ball caning jar water glasses seemed completely out-of-sync with the rest of the decor and service.
The Cornerstone is not terrible by any means but it simply needs to try harder

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This place is the place to be for everything good in central Vermont. Great food, and even better beer. The huge selection of beers of tap here is the best part of the restaurant. Cornerstone could rival as one of the best stops for beer on the east coast. They constantly offer some of the top beers in the world, such as: Heady Topper, Lawson's Double Sunshine, and Hill Farmstead's Abner (3 of the top 15 rated beers) as well as a wide variety of other amazing beers from Hill Farmstead Brewery and Lawson's. There are ~ 20-25 taps behind the bar, almost all filled with top of the line beers, most that someone would have a hard time getting outside of the restaurant. But there's still the PBR tap for those of you that want an easily drinkable alternative.

I can't say enough about the beer selection, if you're in the area you HAVE to go out of your way to get here for lunch or dinner! The food is also amazing, but the beer selections far surpass that of any around.