McKee’s Island Pub & Pizza

Food was decent but the wait was unacceptable — especially since they were not busy when we arrived. We had read the reviews that mentioned issues with service but thought they might have been isolated incidents — not the case, fortunately. Took over 45 minutes to get our food after ordering and several attempts to get the waitress’s attention and then we were told ‘I haven’t forgotten you.’ and ’ the kitchen was slammed’ but no apology per se.
I apparently forgot dining rule #14: Avoid restaurants with «Help Wanted» signs displayed; Especially those that appear like the sign is permanent. A sure indicator that they are either understaffed or a poor working environment that drives high turnover.

Fabulous food at a good price, excellent beer selection, super cool owner… GO HERE!

Stopped at McKees for lunch as we passed through South Hero. …what a find!!! We had a fabulous meal for a short price. Great conversation with the owner. This place is a «must stop» if you want great food with a low price! We will return every time we pass through this town.

Stopped for lunch after riding our bikes up the causeway from Burlington. I ordered chef salad my wife had the Asian chicken salad. Must say they were both fresh and well portioned and the beer was cold. We also tried the black bean soup, also good but I found it a bit salty. All in all a good meal would stop here again.

after a long drive up mckees hit the spot. oven baked chicken wings were just crispy with sticky sauce (we tried garlic bbq). my stuffed shells were piping hot and tasted like dinner at a friends house. his lasagna was super meat filled and he cleaned up all the sauce with the garlic bread.

I ate here with my boyfriend, my sister and her husband during a long and strenuous trip to Isle La Motte on ⁰⁸⁄₀₆. This place has the general feel of a «just plain folks» establishment, but the food was pretty good.
For starters, we split an order of nachos. They came toasted with melted cheese, peppers, tomatoes, onions, olives, etc on top. One thing I noticed was that the cheese did not dominate the overall flavor of the nachos themselves, which was good, because I was able to fully enjoy all the ingredients at once. The other thing I noticed was that the nachos were not overly salty or oily. Maybe they were multi-​grain, I don’t know. But they were good.
For my entrée, I decided to get the Shepherd’s Pie, which came with a toasted garlic breadstick. The Shepherd’s Pie was huge and I almost couldn’t finish it all, but it was pretty decent, although I think this place interpreted the definition of «Shepherd’s Pie» very loosely: ground beef, mashed potatoes and corn were all mixed together under a layer of starchy goodness. I searched for peas, but did not see any. Also, it was spelled «Shepard’s Pie» on the menu. Clever pun, or lazy spelling? You decide.
The best thing I had was the breadstick, which was seasoned with the right amount of salt, pepper, and garlic and toasted perfectly.
Our server was nice, if a bit slow; the place wasn’t crowded and I imagine not much happens on a Thursday afternoon up in South Hero. If I ever find myself in the vicinity of North/​South Hero or Isle La Motte again, I might give McKee’s another try.

Friendly service; good soups and wings. Good local beers. Full size bar.
Overall nice place.

Food was excellent, but it took over an hour to arrive– peeking into the kitchen, the two waitstaff were also cooking and washing dishes. Three staff total. A group left as we arrived and by the time we left, their plates were still on the table. We got our food, ate, paid and left in the time it took the table next to us to get a glass of water. Myself and other customers often got up and got their own menus and boxes because they were tired of waiting. I’ve had nice experiences here before, but it seems to be under new management that doesn’t understand the meaning of «understaffed». (The icing on the cake was when we asked for the check and our waitress said she «didn’t realize we were in a hurry”– as if spending an hour and a half eating a single meal counts as being in a hurry!)

It’s a shame this is one of the few sit down pizza places around. Their pizzas are really good and I realize it takes a while to cook pizzas, but the wait was almost not worth it. We ordered three pizzas and were almost there for two hours. There are no refills on the fountain drinks and our waitress barely came by to refill our waters. The North Hero pizza was my favorite, their take on the spicy buffalo chicken. It was as spicy as I would’ve liked. They had a delicious chicken pesto pizza but their veggie pizza looked carelessly covered with random vegetables. We had a big group so the wait time to get our table was thirty minutes. Their house salad was good and the maple dressing was a nice curveball as far as salads go. Their Caesar salad was ok.
You’re better off getting your pizzas to-​go.

Friendly service, great cold beer, good food and fantastic puzzle games to work on over lunch!

Food was ok, beer priced fairly. Service quite slow even for a Tuesday when it isn’t crowded. We waited over ten minutes for the bill to be picked up and finally just walked it to the register ourselves.

HUGE, delicious sandwiches. This spot also knows how to cook French fries. I love that. Their waitstaff is friendly too. I haven’t tried the pizza.

We had dinner at McKees and also stopped in for lunch. Neither the food nor the service was anything to write home about. The pizza was actually pretty good, but the chicken parmesan was not. For lunch, we had an italian sausage sub and nachos. The onions and peppers on the sub were burned beyond recognition and the sausage was nearly burned, as well. The nachos were downright weird. Nacho chips covered in spaghetti sauce, not salsa, with cheese. Despite the decent pizza, which saved them from a 2-​star rating, I don’t think I’ll return for a third meal.

Where to begin…
My wife and I, her dad, and four others all decided to go here for Father’s Day. My wife had been here before and said the food was good, but they were a little slow (possibly an off day). We went for lunch, and during our time there it was pretty full (like 20 – 25 people). It seemed nice to begin with and we were sat right away. That’s basically where the good things end.
It literally took 10 minutes for our server to come over and give us menus. It took another 15 minutes for her to come back with drinks, and from the time we were sat until we got our two pizzas, 45 minutes had elapsed. There appeared to only be one server for the five or so tables sat.
We were not the only ones that had problems. For example, the table across from us had to send back food because they forgot a main ingredient, and the people who were at the next table over didn’t get their meal until literally an hour after being sat. You could hear everyone within earshot loudly complaining of the time it took to receive food. With how long it took to receive food, you would think the food would be cooked and delicious, but that was mostly wrong.
Here are the things that went horribly wrong:
1. The ice in my cup had visible dirt in it.
2. The poutine that my brother-​in-​law ordered had undercooked fries and dark, disgusting beef gravy rather than the light gravy every other poutine I’ve seen is made with.
3. We had to ask for plates and napkins — and when we got them, we were still short one plate.
4. The waitress NEVER came over to ask how our food was or if we needed anything. I said that the restaurant was busy, but more often than not she was sitting in front of the computer.
5. Again, 45 minutes for food in our experience — longer for others.
Other things that are wrong with the restaurant:
1. No free soda refills
2. If I don’t want dirty ice in my cup, it’s $ 0.50 extra.
3. They did NOTHING to resolve the complaints.
Things that went right:
1. The pizza was very delicious and made with fresh and ample ingredients.
2. The waitress had a good personality the two times I saw her.
All in all, the pizza was good, but the experience was probably the worst restaurant experience I’ve ever had. It’s actually so bad, it inspired me to write my first Unilocal review. Would not go back.

We have been to McKee’s multiple times over the past 5 years and only recently has it proved a good decision. The restaurant has seemed to finally find its identity as a pizza and beer place and it suits it well.
The pizzas are good and fairly priced. They have a good amount of specialty pizzas and the ones we ordered were full of toppings.
The atmosphere is what you would expect of a pizza bar in rural Vermont but the staff is friendly and prompt.
I also recommend the garlic bread as an orhdourve it was delicious and McKees overall as a good place to stop on your way through the hero islands

This is a pub as well as a family friendly place to dine. You can get your average pub fare, but they specialize in pizza and calzones. Their calzones are what stands out — HUGE and delicious! Also, their pizza has gotten much better since I first started eating here 5 years ago.

I’ve always been very happy with the service in McKees. But the last couple of times it’s been a bit slow. I’m not sure if it’s because they are short staffed lately or not. The food is always very good and I do like the pizza, although not a stand out. I recommend going for one of their hot sandwiches. They always satisfy.