This review is for the hotel restaurant, Shearwater. We stayed at the inn and our stay came with vouchers for 4 breakfasts and 4 happy hour drinks. And we had one of our evening meals there.
Bottom line: Ok if you're staying at the inn to eat there once, but definitely not worth a visit otherwise. I'll review in order of our visits:
First, drinks at happy hour. (Yes, happy hour! 1/2 price drinks 4PM to 6! Still legal in Maine!) Our drinks were better than half price; they were in fact free due to the vouchers (or at least the first 2 were). Pay only the tip, which you won't forget because it's automatically added when you use the vouchers - fair enough. Excellent unique cocktails made with craft spirits. We had an "Always Dreaming" and a "Scotland the Brave" - sorry, I don't remember the details. Perfectly mixed, strong, well chilled, and large. Mine not only filled the martini glass to the brim but I got the leftovers that didn't fit in another glass. No problem there. Our bartender's shift ended and the next bartender wasn't quite so generous but still good drinks.
Next, the evening meal. Disappointing. Appetizer of asian style chicken wings was room temperature, soggy, and bland. My seafood stew: shrimp, scallops, mussels, and fish in a broth. Ample size and fresh seafoood but pretty unmemorable, flavor-wise. DW's hanger steak, ordered medium, was almost rare, and was also practically room temperature. Blueberry pie and gelato for dessert. Ok, it's not blueberry season so of course they had to use frozen or imported blueberries but even allowing for that it was disappointing, with a crust that did nothing to add any interest to this forgettable dessert.
Breakfast was buffet style, with lots of the standard items one would expect: eggs, hash browns, fresh fruit, waffles, sausages, bacon, cereals, and more. Generally at breakfast buffets I just stick to a couple of items so I can only comment on those. The hash browns were very greasy but tasty. The sausages, which I used to make a sandwich with a toasted waffle, were bland and also very greasy, and there was no mustard (admittedly that is not a standard breakfast condiment but it would have helped). Then the strangest item: homemade donuts! These were an absolute disaster: misshapen lumps of dough so saturated with grease that you could literally squeeze them and see the fat ooze out! In two flavors: chocolate and plain. I took one bite of the chocolate and that was too much. Then I tried the plain - no better. I mentioned it to the server and he said "some love them, some can't stand 'em." I guess you know where I stand. But surely they must have screwed up the recipe that day? So I tried one again the next morning - no better. I'm at a loss to understand how anyone could eat even one of those travesties, let alone count it as the "best anywhere". read more