This restaurant is located at Basin Harbor Club. It's a seasonal resort, boat club, and I guess…read moregolf thing. Always had a reputation of the "flatlander upper-crustaceans" from a Vermonter perspective. But the restaurant is open to the public so decided to try it for a birthday dinner for my spouse.
The ambiance is a Buffy and Biff are visiting from Montauk motif, complete with a wedding staged off to one side by the bay with nothing but classic WASPs. The dining area is part of a semi-circular adjunct to the main building, with large windows offering garden and lake views, generally spectacular when not marred by people. Linen table cloths and a general aura of classical fine dining complete the picture, with color tones reminiscent of a boat club, which is what Basin Harbor is, in part.
The service was good. Our server, from Jamaica, didn't seem to understand why anyone would forego an appetizer. Something about the way the question was asked was off putting in a way that I can't quite place. It conveyed a "oh you can't afford the appetizer, there goes my tip". When really, I just generally keep meals to the entree because Americans super-size everything. She was attentive however, and did check in an appropriate amount.
On the other hand she almost overlooked the wine. Timing overall was also a bit off.
The food - was decent. Not amazeballs. Not up to par for the appearances of the resort. I had a nice cocktail full of bitterness, called the Buckley, which was served in a juice glass. It had promise, but the mix was off, leading to mouth-puckering, but OK. Some people like that I guess.
I ordered the lobster cappuccino bisque. I love a lobster bisque generally. This one was an interesting take. It wasn't bad, but it was devoid of lobster, only the lobster taste was there. It WAS brilliant in the counter point of the cappuccino, which really did make it work well overall, even if I could long for a morsel of actual lobster meat.
Then there was the filet. It was resting upon a baked potato mashed down and to the same cut, with a few sprigs of asparagus in between. It was a wonderful presentation. The filet was decent, of the quality you could buy from Omaha Steaks. The glaze was good, and actually worked well with the steak.
As we dined, the executive chef came out to an adjacent table (several times) and checked in on them. Apparently they were staying at the resort, were regulars, and thus, big spenders so they needed to be courted. The rest of the diners had no such benefit. But in that conversation I overheard a possible reason my bisque had no lobster. The chef told the other table he had a special "lobster tartare". But he clarified that it wasn't raw lobster, but lobster with tartar sauce. OK, if you are peddling lobster with tartar sauce, you don't really belong in New England at least. I hope I'm wrong and I could be. Please let that be the case.
As other reviewers observed, if you accept bread, you WILL be charged for it. We were charged the smaller portion (up to 4 people), for three rolls [we were two people mind you].
They do have a decent wine selection. Try the 1905 - a Willamette Pinot Noir that was very berry tasty.
