Newport Restaurant Tips by Gypsystravels Top 5 Page for this destination

Yesterday's Ale House: Our favorite pub in Newport Yesterday's and the Place Review

The bar/restaurant is located at Washington Square and very close to central Newport. Its a really nice place to enjoy a meal or just drinks. We always make it a point to stop in here on all our visits. The atmosphere is very comfortable, the food is good and Ferni likes that I am a happy girl cause I can find my Leffe Blonde Ale here.

We will usually sit at the bar making it a more casual and relaxed feeling, not to mention that the bartender always remembers us, which is a nice touch.

They have daily specials which all look quite scrumptious as well as a large selection of your usual pub fare. On my first visit I ordered the "Asian Wonton with Sesame Dipping Sauce" mmmmmmmmmm.... It surely hit the spot!!! Ferni is very predicable and will always order his chicken tenders and a beer. I have tried many of their items on the menu, but give me my Leffe Blonde Ale and I am happy...

*Note* Pre-Movie specials from Sunday thru Thursday 4 pm - 6pm all entrees are only $12.95

Favorite Dish: A Leffe Blonde Ale (or two or three, lol). Anything else on the menu. Depends on my mood, but I have had their burger, very juicsy, the Asian Wonton with Sesame Dipping Sauce, soups and Ferni has had their chicken tenders on all his visits.

Address: 28 Washington Square

Comparison: about average

Phone: 401-847-0116

Price: US$11-20

Rating: 4

Theme: Pub/Brewery

Website: http://www.yesterdaysandtheplace.com/frameset.htm

Cafe Zelda: Cafe Zelda Cafe Zelda Review

We were looking for a place where we could grab a late night meal and a few drinks within close proximity to our hotel and we happen to come across this place. You enter from a corner door which is directly in the bar area with the dinning area just behind in a separate room. The restaurant was empty aside from us and another table but the bar was pretty packed. We decided we wanted to sit and grabbed a table in the dinning area. The decor was quite nice, but the food and service was horrible.

Although the restaurant was empty, it took the waitress a long time to bring us menus and take our drink order. This was the beginning of what Ferni would describe as one of his worst meals ever. We both decided to go with the burger and fries and Ferni ordered a Heinekin and I decided to stick with water.

It took over 1/2 hour for our order to come out and when it did, it was horrible. The fries looked like they were sitting on a grease vat, they were limpy and super greasy. The burger was burnt on the outside beyond recognition but raw on the inside. It was horrible. I took a few bites of my burger before I decided I just couldn't take another. Ferni was so disgusted with his meal that he lost his appetite.

The waitress came by one more time to ask if we wanted dessert, we both looked at eachother and said NO. She looked at our plates and just shrugged and wisked them away bringing our check thereafter.

Ferni was quite upset about our meal and wanted to say something to the waitress but I didn't want this horrible meal experience to ruin the beginning of our weekend and asked that he not say anything. We decided to just pay and chalk this up to a really bad meal experience. We did leave the restaurant hungry and decided to have some pizza instead. We were laughing cause we could have avoided this whole bad experience if we would have followed our instincts and just have pizza and beers instead.

Oh well, needless to say we will not be eating here again.

Address: 528 Thames Street

Comparison: about average

Phone: (401) 849-4002

Price: US$11-20

Rating: 1

Theme: American

Website: http://www.cafezelda.com

Kilwin's Chocolate & Ice Cream: Yummy treats Kilwin's Chocolate & Ice Cream Review

We were walking back towards our hotel after some shopping on Bowen's Wharf when I spotted this place. I wanted a small treat to hold me over til dinner, so we popped in to see what they had.

They carry a large selection of caramel corn, chocolates of all sorts (like my fave, the chocolate covered pretzel), caramel apples, assorted candies, chocolate covered rice crispies and of course ice cream.

There was a large line to order, but it definitely was well worth the wait.

Favorite Dish: I settled on a few pieces of the dark chocolate covered pretzels at $1.75 each, a caramel covered pretzel rod at $2.25, some caramel popcorn, I think the bag was $6.95 and a cute gum ball buddy which was $3.50 for Leo's Easter basket.

Address: 262 Thames Street

Comparison: about average

Phone: 401-859-0181

Price: less than US$10

Rating: 4

Theme: Bakery

Website: http://www.kilwins.com

Cooke House Restaurant: Cooke House Restaurant Cooke House Restaurant Review

The Cooke House Restaurant is conveniently locted here on Banister Wharf. They have a very large brunch, lunch, dinner menu to suit anyone.

Ferni doesn't eat seafood because of allergies, but I love my seafood and this resaurant was an excellent choice for a lunch stop as they have a very large menu to please anyone.

The restuant is decorated in nautical theme and is quite appealing. We were seated at a nice table for two and were given our menus. We both decided what we wanted and the waitress came over and took our drink menu along with our food order.

Ferni ordered a burger with fries and I had the cup of Newport Clam Chowder and the Calamari Fritta. They were both excellent. Ferni was surprised that his burger was good.

We definitely had an excellent lunch here and would definitely come back on our next trip.

Favorite Dish: Ferni order a burger with a side of fries, the burger was $8.95 while the fries were $4.25. I had the cup of Newport Chowder which was rich, creamy and so delicious for $5.95 and also ordered the Calamari Fritta which was excellent, crispy and quite delicious for $10.95. Ferni had a Coke and I ordered a club soda with lime.

Comparison: about average

Price: US$11-20

Rating: 4

Theme: Local

Brick Alley Pub & Restaurant: Enjoying our Sunday Brunch Brick Alley Pub & Restaurant Review

We've been here a few times and during this particular trip, we had lunch one day and then Sunday Brunch the following morning as it was pouring outside and we weren't in the mood to go looking for another place to eat.

The restaurant is quite large and gets very crowded. It has a really nice pubby atmosphere with all the walls filled with all sorts of photos, many of which are sports related. There is a front dinning area as soon as you enter the restaurant, then the bar and to the side another dinning area with a large truck in the middle of the dinning area. It is here where they have the salad bar. If you past the bar you continue to walk with a small area with booths on each side, and at the end of that area is a larger dinning area, with a large bison head mounted on the wall.

They have a pretty large selection of items for brunch/lunch and dinner. The wait staff is quite nice and the service was excellent. You get free drink refills as well, but only non-alcoholoic.

You may need to wait a bit as this restaurant gets quite crowded, but the food and service is worth the wait.

Favorite Dish: For brunch I had the French Toast which came with yummy authentic syrup and a side of assorted fruit, I also orderd a side of bacon. Ferni had the steak and scrambled eggs, with fries and a side of fruit as well as toast. Ferni said his meal was good as the steak was cooked to his liking, my French toast was excellent and way too much, so I left half of my breakfast.

For lunch I had the calamari which was excellent, Ferni had chicken fingers which he said were very good.

We will definitely come back to this restaurant during our next visit.

Address: 140 Thames Street

Comparison: about average

Phone: 401-849-6334

Price: US$21-30

Rating: 4

Theme: American

Website: http://www.brickalley.com/

Busker's Irish Pub: Drinks are good...food, so, so Busker's Irish Pub Review

We were walking along Thames Street doing a little shopping when I suddenly became a bit hungry and decided to try this place out.

The restaurant/bar is quite nice with a few booths large enough to sit a party of 6, a nice size bar, scattered tables and an upstairs dinning section. As we entered we were immediately seated in a booth and handed menus. The menu has the typical Irish fare and a few other interesting items as well as a nice selection of beers including my Leffe Blonde, bur I decided to have a soda with my lunch.

We looked over the menu and I decided to have the Bourdock's Fish and Chips and Ferni had the chicken strips with Busker Fries (he later changed it as the fries weren't good at all).

The waitress brought our drinks, took our order and disappeared. The restaurant was crowded but manageble, but we couldn't understand the long wait for our food. When our order arrived we noticed the Busker fries looked a bit burnt! Yuk, I don't like burnt fries and Ferni doesn't either. I was a bit displeased but figured the fish should be good, but that too was not so good. It had way too much batter masking the fish. I decided to remove most of the batter and see if the fish was good, which to my surprise what quite good. I didn't touch my fries and when the waitress came by to ask how was everything, Ferni mentioned the fries, whcih she promptly removed and said she would bring another plate. She later brought him a plate of regular shoe string fries which were so much better.

The service was okay, nothing extraordinary and the food was the same, okay....I'd give this place another shot when it comes to the food and probably order something along the lines of a burger, which everyone esle seemed to be enjoying.

** Ferni and I decided to come back later on that evening as I had noticed they carried my Leffe Blonde, my favorite beer. As the bar was quite crowded we sat a yet another booth. To my disappointment, they were out of Leffe Blonde**

Favorite Dish: I ordered the Bourdock Fish & Chips which was a bit of a disappointment. The fish had too much batter, but the fish itself was quite tasty, I dissected the batter off the fish which made a big difference. Ferni had the chicken strips which he said were just okay...the Busker fries weren't what we would call good, so we changed them for shoe string fries.

The food was okay, nothing great, so if I do come again for a meal, I will probably try their burger.

Address: 178 Thames Street

Comparison: about average

Phone: 401- 846-5856

Price: US$11-20

Rating: 3

Theme: Pub/Brewery

Website: http://www.buskerspub.com

Griswold Tavern: Griswold's Tavern Griswold's Tavern Review

Ferni and I needed something light in our tummies after touring The Elms and decided to stop at Griswold Tavern for a drink and a quick bit to eat. The bar/restaurant/pub is a casual place, although a bit dark, it was quite welcoming with wood paneling and hardwood floors. I'm glad we decided to stop by for a quick bite and a drink.

The menu has the typical foods like sandwiches, burgers, soups and salads. They have some beers on tap including local beers as well as some yummy hot drinks for those cold days. We usually choose to sit at the bar when we are here

Service is good and the food was decent. Prices are quite reasonable, and we both enjoyed our choices.

Favorite Dish: Ferni decided to have a burger and finished it off with a beer. I wasn't hungry so I ordered an onion soup with a club soda.

Address: 103 Bellevue Avenue, Newport

Comparison: about average

Phone: (401) 846-4660

Price: US$11-20

Rating: 4

Theme: American

Gaslamp Grille: Wonderful place for dinner Gaslamp Grille Review

This is a really nice restaurant here in Newport, the food and service are quite good, but be careful if you think you'll enjoy a quite dinner especially if you happen to be here on a Saturday night past 10:00 pm. There is a band that starts playing at that time and it can get quite loud and you'll find yourself shouting at your party over the music.

We hadn't made any plans on where to have dinner, but after reading some really good reviews about the place, we decided we would have dinner here. We were coming back from a day out and decided to ask our hotel concierge who said it was an excellent choice.

She called and made reservations 9:15 pm, but we didn't think you needed on, not on the night we were here. We were seated promptly at a table near the right hand side wall closer to the steps to the second floor. I didn't care for the location of the table, but it really wasn't bad.

The waitress was extremly nice and bubby and brought us our menus and took our drink order. I was planning on having lobster, so I orderd a glass of savignon blanc, Ferni orderd a Rum and coke. Our drinks were brought our promptly and the waitress took our order. I had seen the menu on line back at the hotel, and had already decided to order lobster, but to my surprise it was no longer on the the menu she handed us and neither was the filet mignon. We were bummed as we had actually decided on what to eat before we arrived and we asked her as to why they were no longer on the menu, and she said she wasn't sure, but would ask the owner.

A few minutes later the waitress returned to us to take our order and said that the owner said he would bring back the lobster as so many people request it. She also said that he apologized for not having our choices and our appetizer (scallops wrapped in bacon) were complimentary.

At that time, the waitress also told Ferni that for $1 more he could enjoy a larger drink.

We thought the service was very good, the food even better, but we weren't expecting the loud band playing just a few steps behind us while we were having dinner. Apparently, the band starts to play sometime around 10pm (Saturday). My recommendation, if you want to enjoy a very good meal, come before the band starts, we'll make a note to have dinner much earlier next time.

Favorite Dish: We started with the scallops wrapped in bacon. I decided to have the "steak tips" with baked potato and a side of carrots. Ferni had the NY Strip steak with fries.

The scallops were the best I have had in a long time, very fresh and not overcooked. My steak was excellent, the steak was cooked perfect in a "teriyake" sauce, but the sauce did not overwhelm the steak, the carrots were cooked but not soggy. Ferni liked his steak, but said my steak tips were much tastier and much better than his steak!

Overall, we totally enjoyed our meal and plan to come here again on our next visit.

Address: 206 Thames Street

Comparison: more expensive than average

Phone: 401-845-9300

Price: US$21-30

Rating: 4

Theme: American

Website: http://www.gaslampgrille.com/index.php?page=contact

22 Portside: Enjoy a glass or two of wine 22 Portside Review

We were walking around the wharf and decided to stop here and grab a freshing drink. It's a spring and summer patio bar loverlooking Bowen's Wharf.

You can also enjoy a great steak or seafood meal at the award winning restaurant. They have an extensive wine menu.

Favorite Dish: A few glasses of wine before continuing to explore beautiful Newport.

Address: 22 Bowen's Wharf

Comparison: more expensive than average

Phone: 401-841-8884

Price: US$11-20

Rating: 4

Theme: Wine Bar/Wine Tasting

Sambar: Excellent Food with great service! Sambar Review

Address: 515 Thames Street

Comparison: about average

Phone: (401) 619-2505

Price: US$11-20

Rating: 4

Theme: Eclectic/International

Website: http://www.thesambar.com/