I was with a tour group, 2 busses, over 120 people. Everything was excellent! The service, the food. Everyone raved about it. The only complaint is the small restrooms; however, during a normal lunch/dinner you don't generally have over a 120 people trying to use the restrooms. Our server asked if we wanted a beverage as she poured our water, I had decaf, which was piping hot! Next came the "bread", some kind of cracker, it was good. The salad was delicious: fresh greens, not overdressed, candied walnuts, tomatoes. I had the steak, cooked to perfection, so tender I didn't really need the steak knife. The mashed potatoes and green beans were scrumptious. Vanilla ice cream that actually tasted like vanilla! The next time we get to Delaware, we are going back. read more

While I pick the 4th star on this scale, I do this with hesitance. Usually, this place charms my pants off, but today, I had a so-so experience. I refuse, however, to write it off. I still have hopes for this place. Today I was greeted by a mediocre hostess who looked like she was about to teach pre-kindergarten kids. My waiter was a bit pushy, and kind of a bull-shitter, but I'll get to the part that matters most: the food. Both salads were fantastic. The Caesar was seasoned with asiago instead of traditional parmesan, which was delicious. The iceberg wedge is another one not to miss. On the downside, I am an avid, faithful follower of the pumpkin mushroom soup. But, today it was sweetened with honey so much I had to pucker. And that's a problem. Also, the crab cake was turning. Between the scary service and the soup and crab mistakes... I'd say allow the new chef to adjust. (He just came in this weekend). Love this place. Has a good setting, but needs to save itself. Fast. read more

This is our go to place for special occasions, birthdays, anniversaries, etc. And sometimes just for a nice lunch. Often has unusual items on the menu in addition to the standards great soup and mushroom appetizers. Food is well prepared, staff is attentive. One night we were there when the power went out and they lit candles and did the bills by hand. Only lunch that was ever average was an overcooked omelet, but that is the rare exception. The menu can be a bit pricey, but the quality is excellent and, as noted, often some very different choices. Farmhouse type atmosphere, but clean and well maintained. great choice for a special trip. read more

BB's rollercoaster continues,.....good dinner, bad dinner, etc.........Food is always really good, service can be anywhere from outstanding to terrible........I really like it on the good nights read more

Recently we have come and have had amazing food. However most of the time it's hit or miss. When it is good it's great but when it is bad it is really bad. Bar scene is nice and the food in my opinion is nice but over priced. read more

We have been here before and had decent meals, today this was not the case. We started with the Maryland crab soup. It tasted very canned. The green beans were not fresh. Next we had lobster salad and crab salad. Mediocre at best. Our server started very pleasant but disappeared after she brought our meal. Overall the lunch was overpriced and disappointing. read more

Great little spot. Sandwiches and soup are tasty and reasonably priced. They also have pretty good fish tacos.

We were looking forward to a nice romantic evening at what used to be an upscale restaurant but we left there very disappointed. We were seated in a row of 2 person tables which ended up feeling crowded and I faced the kitchen which was not particularly chic. Our waitress was late to the table and then in her haste, forgot to mention that it was Prime Rib night which was very disappointing to find out after the fact. The boy who served us water and cleared our plates provided excellent service but the waitress was not particularly attentive. We did call the next day to talk to the manager about what had happened to us but never received a call back. read more

Cozy and very inviting atmosphere. Very classy bar area and great service. Personable bartenders and wait staff who care about providing a positive experience. The food is not cheap, but it is delicious and I've always left feeling like I've gotten what I paid for. Try the salmon it's wonderful!! I love this place. read more

I had an amazing meal here! The plate presentation on both my side salad and filet mignon were incredible but what really made it was that it tasted fabulous, too. The only thing I didn't *love* was the crispy breadstick-esque thing. My preference would have been to have fresh bread rather than something crunchy, but that's a personal preference. 10/10 will be back when I'm in the area and absolutely would recommend you go. The server was a sweet older woman who was very attentive and the atmosphere was great, too! Really, a hidden gem worth a visit! read more

My fiancee and I gave the Backburner another try last evening. I must say, I was absolutely floored by the service and food. It was truly an amazing experience. We found ourselves seated in a corner table that was near another couple, but felt like 1,000 miles away with the charm and ambience that the main dining room exudes. Its classic yet cozy at the same time. Candles are scattered throughout the dining room to give it a rustic charm. For the food, the salmon was moist and flaky to the touch of a fork, the salad with apples, cranberry, grilled brie cheese and duck was absolutely phenomenal. The flavors were so fresh and familiar, yet suprising and inventive. We finished the evening with a peanut butter and chocolate pie- just no words to really describe how delicious this desert truly is- what a topper to a delightful evening. Their wine list is quite extensive- I highly recommend checking out their menu. The Backburner really stepped up their game for our second visit- their wait staff and food are both confident and innovative. I highly recommend this gem hidden in the hills of Hockessin. A+ read more

Not sure what's going on with this place- it used to be a great restaurant to go to for a nice dinner but the last three times have had major issues. First- the service feels very rushed when trying to order. Draft beer list is very limited and cocktails are heavy on the sugar/syrup. Ordered oysters to start- first concern was the were NOT served on ice. They came with cocktail sauce and a thin wedge of an old hard lemon. Oysters were caked in dirt and sand and contained pieces of shell in each one. They were so dirty there was literally mud on the plate under them. Surprised I'm actually alive today to write this review after eating them. Asked for chicken wings to be well done, came out barely fried. Sent them back, came out correctly second time which took 20 more mins while everyone else was eating. Blue cheese sauce tasted "fishy". Order of clam served with broth and garlic bread came out with steamed clams, no broth no garlic bread. Bread arrives a few mins later and is so hard it is inedible. Sent back to get broth added- ten mins later came back with probably a 1/4 cup of broth barely covering the bottom of the dish and they decided to throw half a jar of minced garlic on top of it. Couldn't eat it- sent back- ordered shrimp lejon instead. It was ok. Calamari was rubbery and over cooked. Stuffed mushrooms were room temp and crab meat had shell in it. Candles on the table have strong odor from cheap oil used to fill them and were filthy and covered In fingerprints. The server was very nice and that's really the only reason for the two stars. Manager was uninterested and could care less, also seemed condescending when bothered with having to "deal" with us. She actually didn't even say anything to us when the server asked her to come over initially, which is baffling. The server was more apologetic and offered to comp the clams- which they should have- but the manager should have been the one to do so and offer the apology bc this was clearly a "kitchen" issue. Worth noting we have NEVER eaten at ANY place and sent ANYTHING back EVER until this. Most likely will not be going back here again which is a shame bc it has a lot of potential and a nice setting it's just no one is interested who works there. read more

Came here for the Sat half price tavern menu and ordered everything under the sun. We shared 6 appetizers between 2 of us. See pics from Sherry J. The amount of plates that took up half the bar was quite an embarrassment. We started with the lemonade drinks. They are lemoncello with lemonade and then you chose between iced tea, raspberry or strawberry vodka to put in it. They were fantastic but pricey at 10.00 a pop! Our 4 drinks were more than half the check! But they do get a 5! garlic clams-5-fantastic! scallop salad-4 due to mini scallops stuffed mushrooms-4-good but not wowed! pretzels-5-came out hot and soft like aunt annies and the cheese dipping sauce was spicy and very tasty. pork belly with duck egg-4-a little fatty but I guess that is what pork belly is. the combinations of flavors went really well together. shrimp wrapped I bacon-5-they were giant shrimp and cooked perfectly. also a nice little sauce on the side for dipping. They were better than I remember on my last visit. Maybe because they were half price? Too bad we were too full for dessert. The white chocolate raspberry cheese cake that passed by looked great! I would like to give a 4.5 but since not an option will go with 5 since the fact that the appetizers were half price can totally get me there! We will return Back Burner! You might have to expend the bar for our order next time! read more

The Pumpkin Mushroom soup is to die for! Great place, great for lunch. Great service and atmosphere.

My husband and I had not been to the Back Burner for quite sometime, so we made reservations for 6:45 Saturday night. We were promptly seated when we arrived @ 6:40. We sat for 6 minutes before we got a glass of water. There were two tables of two seated on either side of us, with two different waiters. We sat there for 20 minutes, and not one waiter took our drink order or acknowledged us. Menus sitting on the table, no one acknowledged that we were there. We got up and left, will not return. Very sad, we were looking forward to a nice dinner there. We ended up driving to our favorite sushi restaurant up the street and had a very lovely dinner there. read more

My husband and I had brunch here on a Sunday. We had made reservations a week in advance. We arrived at 1:00 and were seated at 1:05. Our order was taken at 1:25. I thought that was a long time to wait for our order to be taken. By that time we had finished our water. The roasted beet salad that I had ordered was presented at 1:45. It was missing the candied walnuts and grapefruit - 2 of the 5 ingredients. Our entrees were presented at 2:00. My husband's steak was cold and tasteless. He had to ask for steak sauce to make it edible. My quiche was missing 1/2 the crust and had a suspicious semi-circular piece out of it. The waitress actually said, "I know that looks like a bite but I guarantee it's not a bite." Well, I was pretty hungry by then so I took a bite from another corner. Yuck! Cold eggs! They couldn't even heat it up. I can't believe they would plate that let alone present something like that. I had to go to the bathroom to get water. I asked to speak with the manager but was told he was, "too busy." Well, our Groupon was for 60 bucks and our bill was for $57. The waitress suggested a dessert to go which we ordered. When we got home we found out the dessert we paid extra for wasn't in the bag. I called the restaurant to speak with the manager - no answer but I left a message for them to return the call. Two days passed and I hadn't received a call so I phoned again and spoke with a manager who promised me she would talk it over with the other two managers and get back with me the next day. Two weeks later I called again. There has been no resolution to this matter. This restaurant fell extremely short in their alledged 4 star rating. As a sidebar, the upholstery is very dirty. read more

Haven't been in that place in years but I remember being great. I wanted to take my family to a nice place for New Year's Eve. It was hard getting a reservation and later we decided to change it to an earlier time. The person on the phone was really rude and after waiting 15 minutes on the line another person told me we can change the time. She made it sound like they were doing me a huge favor. We arrived to the restaurant to find it completely EMPTY!!! The waitress was rude and poor mannered, the food ok I will say average but the whole experience was totally unpleasant. Needless to say we are not going back for average food and horrible customer service. read more

Had dinner here on the 18th, really enjoyed our evening! Nice selection of beers, delicious muscles, and an awesome $6 burger deal at happy hour. A well oiled machine... we'll be back! read more

We went to our 20th Anniversary Dinner tonight. The service started out well at 5:30 with Tina, but quickly went downhill. They brought our dinner and my husband's dinner was completely wrong. He got the ribeye, but they left the mushrooms that he is allergic to on the steak. I finished my dinner and waited another 20 minutes for his steak to be done. I had to ask the water guy to see where the steak was. We were tired of waiting and just took the steak to go. We explained to our waitress of our disappointment, she apologized and asked if we wanted any dessert! We just asked for the food to be wrapped to go. Although the manager, Alex, came to our table when this first occurred, I had no idea that we would have to wait an additional 25 minutes for the ribeye to cooked and he never returned. We were not offered anything complimentary- the waitress tried to take the card without giving us a check! I have never been to a restaurant that didn't offer something for their huge mistake. So we get home and the ribeye was 1/2" thick and WAY too overcook- too dry for $32. What a way to spend your anniversary. We will NEVER return- poor customer service on a very special day. read more

Went here for a second visit for dinner and was not disappointed. Not sure if they have a brunch but I'm thumbs up for lunch and dinner here. I had an enjoyable, reasonably priced lunch here on my own, and on another visit had a fairly priced romantic dinner date. I mean, dinner is not cheap here but I'm shocked that you get exactly what you pay for, where, in a big city you would pay a lot more and probably get a lesser quality meal. I tried the pumpkin mushroom soup since that is what they're known for and it's definitely not just hype - it is that delicious. Even my date who is an accomplished gourmet cook raved about it. The mussels appetizer was good...I have to say the mussels at Jessop's Tavern are the best I've had thus far, but Back Burner mussels were tasty. The crab cake was good...but, really, the steak en croute is to die for and makes everything else just taste good by comparison. You need to get it en croute, which is wrapped in a light pastry with a touch of brie. I'm not sure the last time I've had such a perfectly cooked steak. My date and I shared all of our food and she wanted the steak cooked medium and I wanted it medium rare, and even though I let her have her way it was like the chef knew how to appease us both. The wine was also good and they have a great blackberry cocktail with mulled berries in it, which is the only way to go. I really hate when restaurants scrimp by using imitation syrups. I have to say The Back Burner really exceeded my expectations both times but I suppose if this is a place my mom used to go to all of the time when I was a kid and it's still in business and hopping there's a reason. I think it's fairly crazy to say that after living in Los Angeles for over 20 years I would actually travel to Delaware for food. But after trying several restaurants between Hockessin, Greenville and Wilmington I did not have a single bad meal in the bunch. In fact, they were all good or excellent and all of them I felt I got what I paid for and had excellent, friendly service. I suppose it's the different between getting your food locally and restaurants where the owner is involved in the restaurant and actually cares about the quality and customer experience over everything else. In LA they just care about getting rich and it shows in a lot of the overpriced lack luster restaurants. You honestly have to really dig to find great food there and then just stick with those. And paying a lot of money, unfortunately, most of the time does not guarantee you a great meal in LA. I'm not saying New Castle is the next food mecca but it's definitely a great place to enjoy good food. read more

I was there with a group of seven and everything was perfect. We ordered seven separate entries and all we're served as advertised and served hot. We were all happy to see that half sizes of most entries were offered and many of our group ordered them. Noise level was fine and, thank god, we were not seated near any small children. read more

A group of my neighbors & I chose to go to The Back Burner during Delaware's October Restaurant Week. We made reservations via Open Table for 5 of us. We were seated promptly but had to wait a considerable amount of time before receiving a drink menu (we asked 1x and recieved 1 drink menu; then asked a 2nd time and received a 2nd menu for the 5 of us). When the waitress finally came back to get our drink order, we decided to also place our meal order. We had been at the table for 30-35 minutes before receiving our drinks. The appetizer course came out fairly quickly but then we waited another 25 minutes for the meal (remember, this is for a restaurant week meal of set menu items). We had 3 tenderloin meals; 1 ravioli and 1 swordfish. Of the 3 tenderloins, 1 was missing the blue cheese stuffing completely which was disappointing. All of us commented how much "white space" was on the plate too - meaning the meals were very small. The swordfish came with an olive tapenade that was extremely salty. The restaurant was less than half full and after taking 2 hours to get a pre-fixe meal that was so-so, I don't think I'd make a return trip to The Back Burner. read more

Ok so I usually come here and everything is amazing, but today everything was off. First I came in with my family and the waiter was really nice and asked what we could get to drink immediately, but it was all downhill from there. We got no bread and butter until we had to ask for it 20 minutes after we placed our order and the waitress didn't even come over and we had to walk over to the bar to ask. As our appetizers came in we had no cocktail sauce for the oysters and again we had to get up and ask for it. Right before we got our main order our waitress came up to us and asked what one of us got cause she forgot to write it down?? We told her that we got fried chicken and as the orders came out it was a grilled chicken with fries. It tasted like they dropped it in the ocean and continued to add a pound of salt even after. We told them thy had gotten the order wrong. The shrimp and grits were ok, could've been better if it was less salty. I got the house burger and asked for lettuce tomato and onion on it but no mushrooms. The order came out with the patty bun and radish on it. We had to call her over and ask for lettuce tomato and onion for the third time and it only came out 15 minutes later along with the fried chicken. As we left no one even apologized and just acted as if everything was ok. Normally I would think of this as an excellent restaurant, but today everything was off. Overall, the service was slow, the food was extremely salty, our orders were forgotten and butchered... read more

We stopped here for lunch on a weekend. The decor is pleasant and the waitress was friendly and attentive. Good variety on the menu with daily specials on top. I opted to try the soup of the day, which was avocado soup. Bad choice-- it was super thick and heavy-- more like a dip. In fact, that's what we used it as with the fantastic crisp flatbread they serve. Crabcake sandwich was good and the shrimp and blueberry salad was an amazing combo with super tasty dressing. I think the food quality is good and fresh-- you can see right into the kitchen through a huge window. Wait staff seemed good for all tables, but was actually surprised by how many staff they had on the floor for 3-4 tables. We would return, but would be more cautious about what we order. read more

I really wanted to like the food we were served, I ordered some of my favorites. But lord, I couldn't get past the salt. Even stopped drinking the relatively good glass of house chardonnay I ordered and went straight to the agua. And lots of it. And I actually like salt and generally think it adds a lot to a meal. But not in the quantity used here. Completely ruined our meal both times we ate here recently, and made me wonder what they were trying to accomplish. And even though the place was pretty empty our waitress seemed harried and generally unwelcoming, like it was all too much for her. Now that House of William and Merry is open, it is our preferred fine dining restaurant in Hockessin. read more

I've been going here for years. It's great for nice dinners or the quick half price burger night. Love the pumpkin mushroom soup. Can even get it to go. Love the Better Cheddar cheese spread as well. read more

Would like to enjoy this place but the last 3 experiences have been blah. Service is just ok. It moves on only two speeds, high and slow! I never feel totally relaxed there. The food is mediocre, at best. The menu is not exciting and does not change very ofter. read more

excellent, excellent, excellent! sorry to repeat myself but no other words can really describe the food and service each and every time we have been. one of the best restaurants in the area for any occasion. kudos to the chef and staff! read more

My wife and I had a generous Groupon for $60, paying only $30 for it. With that kind of deal, error at a restaurant is tolerable. We had not been to the BB for many yrs because we are from eastern Baltimore area. The decor was very nice. The menu didn't offer my wife a whole lot since she is very pasta, vegetable oriented. She was pleased with the salad and eggplant dishes she had. These were not entrees, but appetizers. The portions were fine though. I had the filet mignon which came with asparagus and fingerling potatoes. All were terrific, though pricey at $30. Then again, maybe not for the area. Our server was nice but very slow. She was not in any kind of hurry to take orders and spent a lot of time chatting. I think this was fine under our circumstances, being in no hurry. Our in/out time was 75 minutes. A bit lengthy if we were in a hurry. She performed a couple of server errors though, Twice she reached across my plate to remove serverware. One when I was eating. She also sat next to my wife in our booth to write on our Groupon. Chummy but not something that is done, particularly in a class joint. read more