Places to eat in Maine

This place was packed to the gills. The menu is large and has everything from simple sandwiches to steaks lobster and several unique creations. Our food came quickly and it was well prepared. This is a down home casual diner in every sense of the word. We plan to go back and try out some other dishes. My wife had the salmon pie and I had a grilled Reuben. Bot were beautifully prepared and delicious.

I have never been more disappointed in a restaurant. This buffet restaurant had an international set up with tables set up with Mexican, Italian and other types of food. Overall I found the food to be bland, unseasoned, boring and about half of it was barely warm.
The Mexican table did not have any tortillas, the Italian table had pizza and some noodles, and the rest of the tables were equally badly arranged. I would not recommend this place to anyone that actually likes food with flavor.

2 more images

Before leaving, I was said that Maine is famous for offering the best lobsters in the world. I was not said that the best place where to get them is a "shack". It is a sort of very well organized street vendor on a busy road with a tiny cooking area, a big bowl with still alive lobsters and tables for pic nic. You have to stay in a line, order what you would like (better as speedest as you can), pay (credit cards are accepted only in the biggest shack) and wait to be called. In the meantime, an alive lobster will be put in boiling water for 20 minutes more or less. You can order sodas as well but forget alchool. Actually I did not understand the reason of this rule. Anyway, you can bring your own beer or wines. Lobster price varies on market. Anyway we do not spend more of 20-25 USD each of us. One of my favourite shack was the one near Portland (see the proper tip) but every shack I went was good.
On my opinion, the best way to get a lobster is simply steam-cooked. But you will get a whole lobster and proper instrument to break it. Such an hard job (but very well paid!!!!). If you are more lazy, you can order a lobster roll (a sandwich with juicy fresh lobster pieces inside) or a cocktail (a salad with lobster meat). Like in every restaurant in the US, ask if any sauce will be provided with ordering it otherwise you could run the risk to eat a spicy and awful sauce with some lobster upon. Last but not least: lobster are killed in a very cruel way. If you are an animalist, do not go there (but probably you would not have gone).

I was unimpressed with the Portland branch of this Portland institution but the Freeport one was much more friendly. The inside was much like its sister city pub but there was a great outside eating area and as you can see, on this glorious fall day, we took full advantage of it. It was a great place to go for lunch after a morning of shopping around Freeport's outlets.

Favorite Dish: They have a fairly eclectic menu but we were not so hungry so we opted to share an order of nachos. The waiter assured it was enough for the two of us. Oh, and it was, it was....lol. It was one of the best plates of nachos I have ever had, seemed every chip had cheese and other goodies on it. At $8.50, it was a real bargain too. Washed down with a cask-conditioned Best Bitter, it was heavenly sitting outside in the sun. It was just a shame we found it on the day we were to drive to the White Mountains in New Hampshire. :S

1 more image

1 hr from Portland airport is the small town of Bath. Stop for lunch at the CABIN restaurant. There is a signpost for it on the road as you enter town and it is in the shadow of the (still functioning) steel works where ships are still constructed. The building is over 100 years old and has been a restaurant since 1986. They serve great pizzas and hoagies at reasonable prices. It’s low wooden beams and tables and wooden booth type benches give it the look of an old English pub. Maritime paintings and replica ships oil lanterns add to the naval ambience. Be aware that only cash or checks are accepted here (though there is an ATM on the property).

The Café Bluefish in Bar Harbor is a very unpretentious restaurant. Frankly not much to look at from the outside and simple and homely inside. "Full of character" would be an apt description. Entering the restaurant is like entering someone's home - there are books and Trivial pursuit questions on the tables - which means you don’t have to engage in polite conversation ! Lobster Strudel is a must try – the recipe has been featured on the Food Network.

3 more images

Originally our friends had intended to just show us the village, but we happened to find parkings for the cars and so we decided to have lunch there in a highly recommended restaurant named MC Perkins Cove. It had opened only a half year ago or so (?) in a renovated old fisherman's house right by the ocean. The interior is modern with an all-glass front opening to the water offering spectacular ocean/coast views. The owners are also chefs of the "Arrows" restaurant in Ogunquit, one of the leading restaurants in America (as we were told). So, expectations were high and we were not disappointed. Staff was super nice and very attentive.

Favorite Dish: While the whole lobster was not on the lunch menu our friends persuaded the staff into serving one for the German guest. Yay! So I had my first steamed whole Maine lobster with sweet potato fries ... absolutely fantastic. Eating the lobster was fun, fingers involved and such :-) My parents had burger with french fries which were excellent (but no fun - unfortunately they don't like fish and seafood much). If I recall our friends had tuna carpaccio, steamed mussels and sweet potato fries resp. Peekytoe crab cakes and cole slaw (but I could be wrong) - everything was delicious.

This is the best well known hole in the wall in Portland. Great food, great prices. The food at the "famous" restaurant next door is overpriced and flavorless. Every time I hit the Old Port for dinner, I go to J's. I always get delicious food, great service, and local "Mainahs" chatting me up.

Favorite Dish: The BOUILLABAISSE!!! It is a big bowl full of mussels (in the shell) haddock, sea scallops, Jumbo shrimp(oxymoron) and oh yeah baby LOBSTAH. It's served over shell pasta in a sauce that is tomato/ butter something I don't know, but its incredible. At about 25$ It's the highest priced meal. If I wasn't going to get that, I'd spend less than 20 on a great meal, but I've just got to get the seafood indulgence.