Soak Up Summer at The Spot On The Dock: Relax With Good Food and Drinks in a Spectacular Setting

By Suzanne Podhaizer

Photos by Jamie Carvalho

At The Spot on the Dock (SOTD), customers can arrive by land or by water. “We encourage people to arrive by paddleboard or kayak,” says owner Russ Scully. “We make it really easy to stash boards and boats. Forget the dress code. People come in boardshorts, wetsuits, whatever.”

The seasonal Burlington restaurant is open from mid-May through the end of September. Since it opened in the summer of 2017, SOTD, with its capacity of 400 seated or standing guests, has been so busy that the wait for a table can crest the two-hour mark. Because of demand, the restaurant doesn’t accept reservations. “There’s nothing that makes people madder than waiting in line when they can see empty tables,” says Russ. Both he and manager Shannon Lipkin attribute the restaurant’s success to a simple and foolproof formula: take an enviable location and add simple, delightful food.

“You don’t have a better sunset in the world than you do here,” Shannon suggests. Some waterfront eateries lean on the pretty location and ignore the quality of the ingredients they use, but not Spot on the Dock, she says. “To have good, fresh food along with that [view] is pretty special.”

Order Up

What’s on the menu? The entrées honor the restaurant’s waterside location with a heavy roster of seafood dishes: there’s ahi tuna crusted in black sesame and served with veggie fried rice. a coconut-crusted mahi sandwich, and shrimp in red curry sauce. There’s plenty of lighter fare, too, in the form of sandwiches, salads, smoothies, and shakes. When it comes to starters, classic items such as crispy chicken wings and fried calamari share real estate with a less ordinary best seller. “Avocado fries are one thing that’s different that people really fell in love with,” says Russ.