The White Horse Tavern

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

America's Oldest Restaurant, Still Setting the Table

The White Horse Tavern has been welcoming guests since 1673, making it the oldest operating restaurant in the United States and the tenth oldest in the world. That is not a marketing claim — it is a designation backed by its status as a National Historic Landmark on Marlborough Street in Newport, Rhode Island. The clapboard walls, gambrel roof, giant ceiling beams, and cavernous fireplaces are original to the 17th century. The cooking is decidedly not.

Three and a Half Centuries of History

The building began as a two-room residence constructed in 1652 for Francis Brinley. William Mayes Sr. acquired it in 1673 and converted it into a tavern that soon became the meeting place of the Colony's General Assembly, the Criminal Court, and the City Council. His son William — a notorious privateer who returned from the Red Sea with considerable bounty — inherited the license to sell "all sorts of strong drink." Jonathan Nichols gave the tavern its name in 1730. During the Revolutionary War, Hessian mercenaries were billeted here by the British. After years of neglect, the Van Beuren family helped the Preservation Society of Newport County restore the structure in 1954, saving it from demolition. A Newport-based ownership group took stewardship in 2014, becoming the ninth owner in the tavern's history.

The Kitchen Today

Executive Chef Kevin DeMarco grew up in Binghamton, New York, trained at Johnson & Wales University, and earned his degree in Culinary Arts in 2011. His résumé includes time at Hemenway's, Waterman Grille, and the well-regarded Castle Hill Inn in Newport before he became the opening Executive Chef at The Barn on the Williams College campus. At the White Horse Tavern, he draws on deep relationships with local purveyors to build a menu that changes with the seasons — fish, clams, and lobsters sourced directly from Narragansett Bay, just-picked produce, artisan cheese, local honey, prime beef, and quality chops and poultry from Rhode Island farms. The approach is the same one generations of innkeepers practiced here: serve what the land and water around you offer at their best.

General Manager Jarred LaPlante, a Rhode Island native who started in the restaurant business at fourteen, brings more than six years of experience managing high-end dining operations across the state, including several years with Newport Restaurant Group.

The Room and the Wine

Dining inside the historic rooms — low beams overhead, fires burning nearby — feels like eating inside a piece of American history without any of the mustiness that phrase might imply. The contemporary American cuisine sits comfortably in the setting: sophisticated and local, never precious. Wine Spectator recognized the cellar with its Best of Award of Excellence in 2023, reflecting a wine program that pairs Rhode Island's vibrant food scene with bottles from around the world. Outdoor seating is available for warmer months, and the tavern accommodates private parties as well.