A Raleigh favorite expands with famous smashburger, raw bar and giant patio
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- Standard Beer & Food opens its new North Hills location on Tuesday, July 14.
- The new location includes a 15,000 sq ft outdoor space and a 5,600+ sq ft dining room.
- The menu expands beyond smashburgers to include a raw bar, steak frites and mussels.
One of the Triangle’s most popular restaurants will debut its giant North Hills expansion this week.
Raleigh’s Standard Beer & Food will open its new North Hills location on Tuesday, July 14, unveiling a massive new restaurant and bar in the development’s new Innovation District.
Since it first opened in 2020 near Person Street in Downtown Raleigh, Standard Beer & Food has been a local hot spot, with upscale pub food, simple classic beers and frozen cocktails. That original location is known for its backyard patio, handsome bar and skylit dining room. Its combination of a comfortable space, exciting comfort food and sublime drinks helped Standard land on The News & Observer’s Top 50 Triangle restaurants list.
The new North Hills Standard looks to build on what seems to have made the brand popular. That means a new 15,000 square foot outdoor space, the largest in North Hills, built around a modern, all-black, stand-alone restaurant. The inside dining room is more than 5,600 square feet.
Standard menu
While the original Standard is famous for one of the Triangle’s best smashburgers, the new location has greater ambitions with its regular menu, such as steak frites, a raw bar with oysters, tartare and ceviche, fried oyster lettuce wraps and mussels.
Co-owner Cov DeRamus said Standard always planned larger plates at the original location, but the kitchen constraints and smashburger demand held those plans back.
“We always wanted to do larger plates and a more diverse menu and really built the new kitchen with that in mind,” he said.
In another departure, the new Standard will be full-service rather than sharing the QR-code model of the original location, though the mobile ordering system may be available for parts of the outdoor dining tables. There are future plans to build an outdoor bar out of an antique trailer, serving drinks and cold snacks for folks waiting for tables or just stopping by for something casual.
On the drinks side, Standard is serving a half-dozen frozen drinks, including a frozen espresso martini and a frozen painkiller. There will be house beers and guest taps, classic and innovative cocktails and Standard canned beer for on-site consumption.
Soft opening
North Hills announced the new Standard more than two years ago, with plans to open in early 2025. After more than two years of anticipation, DeRamus is proud of what diners will experience.
“The soft opening felt like we had been open for quite a while,” he said. “It’s been a long process, but we’re so appreciative of all the people who have been a part of this. All of us wanted to create a great vibe and create a causal neighborhood restaurant, where you can share the good times with good drinks and good food.”
Standard Beer & Food is located at 560 St Albans Dr. in Raleigh.
This story was originally published July 13, 2026 at 3:21 PM.
