Ellsworth's best known little brew pub is also a friendly little place to get the best beer in…read moretown. The food is above average (I recommend the baked potatoes!). Flights of beer in a small cozy setting. Oatmeal stout among the best I've had. Famous for their Red Ale. You really can't find better beer In Ellsworth!

They have traditional Cornish pasties, which my husband says are the best thing he's ever eaten. He…read morealso loves the Steak and Ale Pie. I like the Blackened Haddock Tacos and the pretzel sticks. Pro Tip: get BOTH the "beer cheese" and the "beer mustard" and get extra of both. You might have extra, but you can use the extra on sandwiches tomorrow. The extra mustard is also great with cheese and crackers as a snack. The blueberry cobbler is fantastic! The peanut butter pretzel pie did not impress my husband; he said the pretzels themselves tasted cheap, like grocery store pretzels. I have been trying to get them to add a vegetarian pasty to the menu. They have almost nothing vegetarian in there, and a Greggs style cheese and onion pasty would also be extremely traditional and surely wildly popular. PLEASE ADD A VEGETARIAN PASTY!! And/or a fish pasty, which would also be very traditional. Oooh, what about a Stargazy Pasty with leeks and cream? Now, THAT would be traditional and would certainly get some media attention. I will raise my rating to 5 stars as soon as this place adds a good vegetarian or fish Signature Entree (preferably a pasty!!). That is literally the only reason they're not getting 5 stars, that it's way too oriented towards meat eaters. (They do have a grilled cheese toasty and a vegan garden burger, so I would still go there if you are vegetarian or vegan, but keep your expectations low when it comes to selection.)

I was in town for work. I've heard great things about this place- all true. I wasn't super hungry…read moreso I got an appetizer and I wanted room for pie. Sticky fingers are chicken tenders in a sweet and spicy sauce. Amazing. Now for the pie. I got the Strawberry pie. It was perfection. I wanted to try their world famous blueberry so I took a whole pie home to share with my family. It didn't disappoint. My mother hates blueberries and she asked for a second helping. My only problem is it's so far away. If you're in the area please check this place out.

I neglected to post it at the time of the review. It's the raspberry pie I spoke of. It still makes…read moreme drool just thinking about it!

A couple of friends of mine took me and my wife to this restaurant for a Sunday Brunch where I had…read moreclams & chips. A huge plate of them arrived at our table and the clams were consumed, they were super. I will return this weekend for more of the same. Have to give credit where it is due and I was more than pleased with the meal and the service. Thanks for a great lunch! Ron & Linda. 5 stars for this review.

It doesn't look like much - kind of like a roadside rest stop - but the quality of the food sure…read morepacks a punch. My husband and I split the seafood platter on my uncle's recommendation and the small platter is more than enough. The batter was fantastic. Heaping portions of clams, shrimp, scallops and fish. And the chocolate cream pie was the cherry on top.

Absolutely delicious! Arrived at 11:30am on. a Thursday and…read moresnagged the second to last table. Beware it's very small so you may have to wait but it's so worth it. Bonus is you have great river views. My colleague and I had the lobster roll hot with butter and it was incredible. Huge delicious pieces of lobster. And the fries were fresh and perfectly crunchy. I have nothing bad to say! Everything was so good, we each got a lobster grilled cheese to go for later. Parking- free spots in front.

Great service, clean restaurant and the best food. It's a local establishment and's not a chain…read more You can not go wrong and would love this place. These dishes feed at least 2-3 people. Large portions. Enjoy!!

Their blueberry pancakes are worth the wait! Fabulous service and a groovy old school diner vibe…read moremake this a fun place to get breakfast.

Hot and humid and the AC was either broken or nonexistent. doors propped open…read more Service was good, food was meh.

Disappointing Experience at The Thirsty Whale…read more We were looking forward to dinner at The Thirsty Whale during our visit to Bar Harbor, but unfortunately, our experience was just mediocre. Our first impression wasn't particularly welcoming, as the hostess was abrupt and unfriendly. Thankfully, our waitress was wonderful--friendly, attentive, and definitely the bright spot of our visit! I ordered the Blackened Fish Sandwich, which arrived with two lonely onion rings, what appeared to be the end slice of a tomato, and a plate overflowing with French fries. The fish itself was somewhat dry and just wasn't particularly flavorful or memorable. Having enjoyed an absolutely delicious fish sandwich at The Oasis in St. Augustine Beach, Florida, I couldn't help but compare the two. Unfortunately, The Thirsty Whale didn't come close. We weren't expecting fine dining, just a good, satisfying meal in a friendly atmosphere. While our waitress delivered excellent service, the food and initial welcome left much to be desired. Overall, not terrible, but certainly nothing we'd go out of our way to experience again.

It was a good thing that we showed up absolutely starving. We hadn't eaten a proper meal since…read morebreakfast about 10-12 hours before, but lo and behold, Yelp and the hotel did not steer us wrong in recommending Thirsty Whale to us for dinner. We polished off the blackened haddock sandwich, the lobster bisque, and a lobster roll (not pictured), in about ten minutes. This was everything we were looking for in a New England meal, loads of seafood, flavor, and the atmosphere to go along with it. Personally I appreciated the size of the blackened haddock sandwich, the picture may not do it justice, but it was massive! Along with a side Cesar salad! We came (very) hungry, and left even happier!

The best burgers and macaroni!! Super nice guy! It was the cutest shack with fast service.read more

Food is great and creative, service is great, it stands above almost anything else in the area!read more

The vibe of this location was lowkey and upper scale for a taproom and pizza house on the main…read morestrip of Bar Harbor. We ordered 2 pizzas for the kids- one cheese and one pepperoni. The pizza was well cooked and delicious. The kids enjoyed it. My wife and I had the surf and turf for two. A perfectly cooked and encrusted tomahawk steak and a split lobster on a bed of potatoes and broccoli florets. All of the food was flavorful and delicious. The service on point and keen to provide input and recommendations all while being aware and attentive to the needs of the customer.

I'm not sure where the poor reviews come from as we had an amazing experience at Blaze... So much…read moreso that we came back 2 days later to have it again. After trying lobster at numerous, highly rated restaurants in the area, we found the fire roasted lobster at Blaze was the best in town & the most lobster for the money. The fig & ricotta pizza was amazing as well. The service was excellent and attentive. We sat on the patio under the heaters & enjoyed the Bob Marley playing over the sound system. Is it cheap? No, but pricing is in line with other restaurants in the area & we greatly enjoyed everything about our experience. A+

We rolled up to Side Street after a full day of hiking in Acadia. We joined the online waitlist in…read moreadvance and were seated about 10 minutes after we arrived. Food: I ordered the Bangin' Shrimp Mac as my entree. The shrimp was delicious, however I wish the pasta was just a bit saucier. I cannot emphasize this enough - the blueberry pie here is a must try! It's served piping hot with a side of vanilla ice cream. It 10000% lives up to the hype and I am strongly considering having one shipped to me in LA. Service: The staff here was wonderful! Multiple people came over to check on us and kept our waters topped up throughout the evening. They even put the White Sox game on TV per our request.

On our first night in Bar Harbor, we decided to walk the little town and venture to find a spot to…read moreeat. After walking by a few different spots, we decided to walk into Side Street Cafe and put our name down. We had about a 45 minute wait, which allowed us to walk around a bit more, and got a text less than 40 minutes later that our table was ready. We were sat on the bar side (vs restaurant) but the menu was the same. The server seemed extremely busy and that we sat there for a solid 5 minutes before menus and someone greeting us. She was kind but clearly handling a lot of tables on her own. Given that the menu didn't really speak to a ton of us, we decided to split the lobster roll and buffalo wings! The lobster roll was pretty good for market. There were large pieces of lobster with little mayo and not a lot of butter. It was a bit too much for me without a ton of flavor, so it was not my favorite (especially since I'm not a huge fan of shellfish). The wings were good though. Pretty typical and nothing overly special, but were piping hot and enjoyable! There was a band starting to play, which got really loud, and another reason we decided to leave. But otherwise, I'd try it again.. maybe hope for the restaurant side instead.

The Public House is the best restaurant in Machias, hands down. Good food, good service. Six of us…read moredined and had an excellent experience. My 'steak Oscar' at 30 bucks was outstanding! The fish and chips others had was met with compliments. And our diner who had the Ribeye thought it one of the best she has had (though the most expensive dish on the menu!). Drinks were good,though, like most establishments now, expensive...12+..... for dining in this area of Maine, only Helen's comes close.

So several years ago, this place brought a new restaurant and event venue to Downeast Maine…read more Sit-down restaurants for dinner are scarce in these parts so if you don't want to make dinner at your rental or eat at a picnic bench, it's nice to have another option. We heard some good things so we made a reservation for an early supper. Decor is modern farmhouse. We arrived on time for our reservation and were seated promptly with menus. We were one of two tables in the room, the other seated a couple of minutes before us on the opposite side of the space. For the next 10 minutes a waitress went back and forth to this other table bringing drinks and taking orders. Another staffer was clearing tables near us and resetting them. Puzzled, one us went to the hosting station and a minute or so later a waitress appeared at the table explaining that someone did not check us in and that's why she did not come to our table. An apology (for the restaurant and/or herself) would have been appropriate but was not forthcoming. The food here runs from good to ok, but occasionally bad due to execution. We arrived hungry and ordered several appetizers. The winner of this course was the lobster bisque which flavorful and full of lobster pieces. The hot crab dip was cheesy and tasty but was served with bland commercial and perhaps stale tortilla chips;some nice toasts points might have been a better option. Our third diner ordered the shrimp cocktail hoping for a taste of the local Gulf of Maine shrimp, but that was not the case. For entrees, the most pleasing was the fish and chips, a generous piece of flaky, nicely fried haddock served with fries and Cole slaw. The smash burger was a double patty with all the trimmings but it lack seasoning and the usual crispness that is associated with the smash of the cold patty against the hot metal of the grill. The smoked salmon BLT was a fail. The bacon was cut to bits, the avocado schmear barely covered half the bun, the lettuce was part of the heart that was curly and made the sandwich fall apart and there was no tomato on the sandwich. For dessert , we shared the blueberry crisp with vanilla ice cream. While the blueberries were tasty as was the ice cream, there was no crisp here on the top except for a bit of oats that appeared to be added before the ice cream without being baked on. Generally, I can overlook some fails like the ones reported but there is no excuse for dirty dishes and unsafe conditions. Drinking water comes in a carafe that you serve yourself by pouring into short blue tinted tumblers. I poured for our table and two of the glasses were not used by us as there were lip prints of lipstick on them. We took two glasses from an adjacent table that was just set and again, one of them was also marked with a lipstick lip mark. Lastly, I asked for a table with a view, if possible. We were seated in a corner with a view of the trees for one of us and a view of the water. I noticed a door with an exit sign near us. It's a door you would not be able to exit as it was a clear 15ft drop to the ground. A wooden 2x4 was affixed to the frame across the door handle so you could not use it. But in case of fire, there was no way to safely escape through this door to no where. I might return under the right circumstances for the bisque and the fish, but I would walk out if I encountered the same safety issues again.