I heard about this place and heard about this place. I went with a friend at around 2:00 in the afternoon. Wow, what a disappointment! There was only one other table in the restaurant and there was no music! No kinds of sounds at all except for quiet. I couldn't figure out if I was in a morgue or someplace else. No ambiance at all! Then obviously they didn't have everything that was needed to fix the burger that I got with bacon belly and pickled onions so they just left some of that stuff off. That's okay no one will notice! Well believe it or not people notice. And I am all for an independent out of the way place. I normally look for those types of places. But when you get there and it just feels weird and odd, not like a restaurant, like you're sitting in someone else's kitchen and you're not supposed to be there. I think I'll keep my money and go someplace else. read more

I had the pulled pork on hoe cakes, it was super good. Had a chutney/salsa on top, excellent. Good atmosphere and a great setting.

Stopped here after visiting Buffalo Trace. We were seated right away, but reservations are recommended (and sometimes required). We were able to bring our dog on their screened in porch and he received so much love from all the staff. The fried tomato sandwich (with pimento cheese - so good!) and bbq sandwich were very good. Definitely worth a stop. read more

Loving this spot. Elevating Kentucky classics hidden away on the bourbon trail. Kentucky brown fries, bourbon, crafts and wine lists are superb. Brings just enough city slicker to the country. Tip: try the bologna sandwich! Our waiter T-Bone was awesome...! Yes I said T-Bone! read more

The atmosphere here is awesome, but there were not many highlights after that. Our server was attentive but also forgetful. My friends beef stroganoff overdone and dried out. It sat under the heat lamp for too long. My blackened catfish was cooked perfectly but for whatever reason the chef dumped Buffalo sauce all over it ruining the dish. The corn bread was also very dry likely because of the heat lamp, but my fiancé's salad was very tasty. read more

Local place with great Bourbon selection...we will come back every year when on the Trail

Wendy is amazing! The food was great and the atmosphere is super cool. 10/10 (fire pits not on Sunday:-( but everything else is cool)

Doing the distilleries and found this little gem! Fabulous cocktails and even better food! Definitely the coolest place we have been yet and this is day 4 of our trip! A must if you are in the area. read more

Wow!! A pretty little country drive to truly authentic Kentucky cuisine! Cornbread like my grandma always made, deviled eggs better than any others, friendly service, great atmosphere! First time here and looking forward to many more visits! A+++++ read more

A cute lunch spot for a Sunday drive! We went here with friends after receiving gift cards to go. Well worth the drive! We got the grilled cheese and tomato soup which was to die for! We got cornbread, their seasonal vegetable - green beans - and French fries for the table as sides. So delicious! Very reasonably priced. Would recommend making a reservation as that seems to be the only way to sit in their indoor space. They do have heaters and an enclosed outdoor sitting area but the indoor space is really beautiful as well! read more

I was in Frankfort visiting friends and a distillery or 3. I arrived at my hotel, checked in and got the list for locally owned restaurants. Honestly folks, if you are skipping these gems for national chain restaurants that strive for mediocrity, stop now! I walked in and was immediately greeted, sat and within 1 minute my waitress (Deandra) had introduced herself and taken my drink order. If you are curious, it is sweet tea with lemon and a flight pour of Old Rip Van Winkle 10-yr ($25 and worth every penny). I asked Deandra for her recommendation and went with it which was catfish & grits, dear God in heaven it was delicious! For those of you that like soup, The Stave has a fantastic soup du jour....Bourbon on the Rocks. I was still a little peckish at the end and am a sucker for Bread Pudding, so I got that and flight pour of Van Winkle Special Reserve, 12-yr ($34 and don't judge me). The bread pudding was huge and delicious. Truth be told, I preferred the buttery smoothness if the Old Rip Van Winkle and it saves you a little coin. If I come back to Frankfort, I will visit again. read more

Okay, I have no idea how great food like that comes out of such a tiny kitchen. It was amazing - well prepared, flavorful, gorgeous in presentation. All the while, the prep is happening in a kitchen the size of a postage stamp. Great vibes, everyone is upbeat and positive. Wonderful service with a smile. It was fun to sit at the bar and watch the kitchen at work (elbow to elbow)! This place is a gem. So glad we stopped in and had a chance to experience it. It was BUSY when we left on a cold March day, so I can only imagine how packed it will be on a warm summer afternoon. Worth it, though. read more

Stopped in while visiting bourbon distilleries. It was mentioned to us because of its proximity to Woodford Reserve. Small place with more outdoor seating than indoor, and reservations are required. The service was very good, but the food was not. It was not inedible but it just wasn't that tasty. Neither my husband or I finished our sandwiches even though we were still hungry. The cocktails we had were so-so. Overall, it seemed touristy and I would not recommend going out of your way to stop here. read more

Very disappointing. The waitress said the kitchen was backed up so we placed our order soon after being seated. Sweet tea had no flavor, I ask for a new glass thinking maybe just bad batch. Again no flavor. Fifty minutes after sitting we got our appetizers. The pimento cheese was bland. I thought I had lost my sense of taste, so I asked my husband to try. He agreed no flavor. We got our entrées a few minutes after the appetizers. Our soup followed the entrées. Burgoo is usually a combo of meats, this had only dried out chicken. Pinto beans were unlike any my southern self has ever had and not good. The pork chop was good. The plates were chipped, if I tried to scoop some potatoes,, my fork would get hung. My husband said the catfish was good. For the price we could have gone to Malones. read more

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We stopped at The Stave for lunch between distillery tours. The restaurant was busy, but they were able to seat us right away at the bar, which was perfect! Andrew was quick, pleasant, and funny. He had great recommendations for food and drink. We will definitely be back!! read more

The Stave - Pulled pork sandwich - Southern Near Me - Frankfort, Kentucky

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The location is perfect, the drive there is always peaceful and beautiful, as is the setting around the restaurant. The food is incredible and an explosion of taste, made with quality ingredients and tastes so good! Will be back for sure. read more

Disappointing! They were not overly busy and there seemed to be sufficient staff. The negative: It took over 30 min for our cocktails to arrive, I was served a dirty /filthy glass twice, and the pickle brined chicken was so tough. The positive: location/atmosphere, delicious potato salad, and the staff was nice. read more

Incredible little spot!! Very friendly staff and cozy atmosphere. The sandwiches were all delicious, and the dessert was to die for, especially the chocolate bread pudding with bourbon sauce. If you're visiting the Frankfort/Versailles area, absolutely make time to stop here! read more

This is a wonderful little hidden gem not too far off the main drag. The menu is an interesting mix of trendy and down-home. The pimento cheese grits bites were incredible. And the boilermaker beer cheese plate was refreshing and a nice chance from the usual appetizer options found most places. If I lived locally, this would be my go too for something good. read more

The Stave - Pimento cheese grits bites with pepper jelly and the Boilermaker cheese plate. - Southern Near Me - Frankfort, Kentucky

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1 1/2 hour wait on food. Definitely not worth the wait. 45 minute wait on Brussel sprout appetizer it was the best thing we were served. Over priced dry meat loaf and ok fried chicken small portion and served at room temperature. Beautiful drive from Lexington. read more

Stopped in last Sunday with another couple. Great food, I got the biscuits and gravy, and we shared the deviled eggs. The drinks are good. We had Bloody Mary's, but despite being asked to have them spicy, we weren't impressed with that. Our server was friendly, but while seated outside, we figured that the staff is very open in their front of house conversation. There is one shared bathroom, so time your visit accordingly. read more

The bomb!!!! At 3:00 pm on a Sunday afternoon - standing room only!!! Very welcoming, attentive and caring staff! The food was delicious and the drink selections on point! It was both a fun and fabulous find for a hungry group on the bourbon trail! read more

We had such an excellent experience at The Stave tonight, mostly because Heather took such good care of us! The food was excellent as always, in a beautiful outdoor setting that was so, so beautiful and tranquil. And Heather spoiled us, anticipated our every need, mixed the best drinks EVER! We will continue coming to The Stave, and know now to ask for Heather read more

The Stave - Southern Near Me - Frankfort, Kentucky

We had a reservation, so seating wasn't an issue. The time between being seated and served our food was about 50 minutes. This was expected as they told us they were short staffed (management needs to fix this!!). They had a special's drink board that suggested the Bloody Mary. Came with a lemon and lime as garnish, weird. All I could taste was cheap vodka and cheaper tomato juice. I'm thinking the bartender was new or something, but it was gross. I got the Stave burger with fries. Delicious! However, the fries were flaccid, which told me the oil was not hot enough. But they tasted great otherwise. My co-customers ordered the 8 Oz ribeye and thoroughly enjoyed it. 8/10 would recommend anyone and everyone to make reservations and perhaps come earlier in the day, as the distillery tours are dropping people off constantly. read more

Food and drinks were delicious!! Only disappointment was feeling rushed by our waitress but the good snd drink overshadowed that.

Unfortunately like a lot of places, this place has suffered with getting anyone to work. We have been to this place a couple times and this was the worst. We ate here for lunch and and had to sit on the porch to eat. Looks like they get deliveries on the weekend and during a nice day they had the truck back up to the side of the building and blew exhaust on everyone on the porch mostly for a while and they left the truck running very loudly next to us. Just stupid not to stop that. Then our very spazzy waiter -almost felt like twitchy type if you know what I mean-forgot what we ordered. Got us mixed up with the next table. More to come on that table later. Finally got some drinks going. Bourbon here is fairly high for the area. Even the daily drinkers (and I do know bourbons). Water glasses are small and tasted like dishwater. No lie. Nasty. Food is always pretty good but unique here. However when the kitchen ran out of the menu vegetable then they just substituted with something else which most people don't eat without even asking. Spazzboy couldn't bother to tell us and just brought it out and then ran off. After waiting for the food a while we just had to deal with it. The next table was complaining they had ordered some food and then ordered something else as well. They finished their food and waited a while to get the other and gave up and canceled and got their check. This restaurant had to limit its hours recently I saw due to shortage of employees. I suggest they hire some better people. At least two of the ones we talked to casually seemed to have questionable intelligence so just beware of what you are likely to get while everyone sits at home collecting govt checks not to work. People spend a lot of money at this divey-feeling hole in the wall place. The owner must be getting pretty nice payday not to spend a little money on some better help or improvements. Our bill for 2-3 people with drinks is always around 100 dollars. read more

Great place, super customer focused, excellent food. We stopped by in between distillery tours, and we were really short on time (but also hungry). We asked the waiter if we could get in-and-out in 20 minutes so that we wouldn't be late to our next tour. He was extremely helpful, got us a table quickly, recommended items that would be quicker to cook, and really prioritized us. The food was very good as well, and we really were grateful to have lunch before heading onto our next stop. I highly recommend this place and cannot emphasize enough how customer focused this place was. 12/10 read more

The audacity of charging 1x, 2x, even 3x the price of a BOTTLE for a single shot is mind numbing. How little do you have to think of your customers to do that? read more

The restaurant is lively and food was good. Our server was the best part of the experience! She was excited about her job, and was always anticipating our next need. The burger was good the desserts were nummy especially the bread pudding and cheesecake. Would return again because the overall experience was pleasant! read more

We just drove into town and looking for food. Glad the chain restaurant was full because this was a gem of a find along side the road. Service was prompt and friendly. Food was amazing this will be added to our list of must visit places when in Kentucky. read more

We visited the Stave on a Friday afternoon because of it's proximity to Castle & Key and Glen's Creek. It was a beautiful day, so we choose to be seated on their newly constructed giant deck built toward the back of their property. It's a flight of stairs up, so you feel like you're up in the trees and has a view of a small creek. The sun sails offered a lot of shade, so it was a comfortable spot to hang out and listen to the live music. The food and drink menu on the back deck is much more limited, which was unfortunate, but understandable considering it's not next to the main kitchen. We opted for canned beverages since the slushie machine couldn't handle the August heat. We both ordered their hot fried chicken sandwich and a side of zucchini fries. The sandwiches were really simple, but delicious! Spicy, crunchy, and exactly what we were craving. The zucchini fries were a little soggy, I think they needed to be dried out a bit before dredging because the breading wasn't crunchy. I'd come back next time we're in the area, but would opt for the main restaurant to have more food and drink options. read more

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Aaaaaaamazing food! You must try the pan seared catfish and cheesey grits!!! Bourbon selection to die for. Some rare tastings to which they are quite proud of. Great service and employees are all full of Southern Hospitality!! A must go when in the area. read more

Amazing brunch! Everything was delicious and the atmosphere was great. Such unique spot with great food- Always going back! read more

The Stave - Brunch at the Stave! Chicken and Waffles& Biscuits and gravy - Southern Near Me - Frankfort, Kentucky

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This place is great. My wife and I had dinner here one night and enjoyed it so much we came back the next day for brunch. The atmosphere and servers are great. Huge bourbon selection, being on the bourbon trail and all, and some great specialty cocktails. I went with the biscuit board and it was awesome. The next day I enjoyed the hot chicken and how cakes which were amazing. We also had bloody Mary's. They were some of the best we've ever had. We were lucky to dine here twice just before they had to shut down for the health scare. We will definitely be coming back when we visit the area again. read more

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This was a pleasant surprise out in a beautiful scenic area just pass the Woodford Reserve distillery. We went at 3:30 on a Friday which seemed to be a good time bc the restaurant is small, not a lot of sitting area, but it wasn't busy so we got to sit outside on a screened in porch. I will give the ambience of the place 5 stars, the food 4 stars, and the service 3 stars! My explanation is as follows: beautiful scenic area And afterwards we stopped by the distillery, the Burgoo was similar to Keeneland and a cup was large in size, the cornbread was good but I'm from western Kentucky and so it didn't compare to my moonlite burgoo but was still good! My husband got the burger and it was very good, hand cut fries were excellent, but I was not a huge fan of the chicken bites! Too much seasoning and a little dry. I ended up eating half my husband's burger. The fried banana peppers were good. My complaint about the service was it wasn't busy and it seemed to take longer than I expected for the waitress to get our order, and the food took longer to arrive as well! I cannot imagine what kind of service we would've got if it was busy!! Overall I enjoyed it and will visit again. read more

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Great hidden place in bourbon country. Top notch food. Try the hot chicken sammie! It is worth looking for.

This is absolutely the best place. After coming here we were in and out in 20 minutes from one distillery to another. The green tomato pimento cheese grilled cheese was maybe the best thing I have ever eaten drunk. Such a cute environment as well. Highly recommend going from Key & Castle to Woodford and stopping here. read more

Stopped here on the way to Woodford Reserves. Neat place, food is ok, nothing to scream about. The pulled pork sandwich was good, the ham and cheese is your basic ham and cheese. Server was a bit on the rude side with us, as we were waiting for her to finish with the other customer, she turned to us and to please put your mask on. We already had them on, meanwhile the customer she was dealing with didn't even have one. Someone else made a comment to her about the lack of the mask of her customer and she basically ignored them. We got our drinks which were not worth the $$$$ we paid for them. 3 oz Manhattan in a 9 oz glass for $13.50 . read more

Thank you to Yelp for allowing The Stave to get noticed! While traveling through KY we found The Stave just a few miles off the beaten path. What a unique outstanding restaurant offering southern food. They had many choices of food prepared by the owner/chef with his own take of wonderful flavors When I saw 4 1/2 stars with over 100 reviews it had to be great Also the service and the people working there make this a must when your near the Lexington/Louisville area Thank you The Stave for a great experience! read more

Was super excited to try this place. Was super disappointed. The chicken on my salad was chewy and inedible to the point where it was unappetizing. The ambiance is nice and I think if you drink there is a lot there for you. read more