While I've had my fair share of great Maine clam chowders, from rustic lobster shacks to fine-dining restaurants, only a few leave an indelible memory that draws you back. West Street Cafe easily earns a spot in my top five, alongside: Happy Crab in Eastport And the now-closed Jameson Tavern and Muddy Rudder in Freeport. Scales and Gilbert's in Portland. We also had their steamed mussels, and it was delicious! Perfect amount of garlic and spicy peppers. It comes with focaccia and a side of broth; dip it in, and you're in heaven. We sat at the bar and with the gorgeous view of the fall and the bay, service was great from our bartender, Cooper. A good place in Bar Harbor with fair pricing and ambiance is bright, airy, comfortable, and clean. read more

West Street Cafe - New England Clam Chowder - Seafood Near Me - Bar Harbor, Maine

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Came here after a hike in Acadia and was pretty disappointed. This restaurant was recommended by our Airbnb host and I looked at the reviews beforehand and I should've listened. My husband had the better meal by far with the crab cakes. Great flavor with some slaw that was fantastic. The fries on the both of plates were underwhelming. I got the lobster roll sandwich special with came with clam chowder, coleslaw, fries and a slice of blueberry pie. Clam chowder was great, coleslaw and fries were average if not below and the lobster roll was so lackluster and flavorless. Ended with a blueberry pie and it was alright but it's disheartening to have your main dish fall flat. Everything else I might have been okay with if the lobster was redeeming, but instead we drop $$$ on a below average meal. Waitstaff was kind, but inconsistant with checking on us. The inside of the restaurant was beautiful with overflowing plants and nice music. Personally, I wouldn't come back and I do not recommend but in a pinch it's okay. read more

Closer to a 3.5. We made a reservation and had a window seat downstairs. Our server was great. Decided on the lobster roll meal and salmon salad. (For the meal the chowder was very good, lobster roll was full but lacked any seasoning for flavor, vegetable side was good (I though soup would come out first but this was not the case). Ended with Maine blueberry pie and ice cream which was excellent). For the price, I expected a more flavorful roll. Salad had yellowed romaine lettuce and again, salmon that lacked seasoning. This was the biggest rating drop. Fries were meh as a side. Great drink list. I hate to say it, but this place comes off to me as like an old people early bird special place where they hold the seasoning so as not ruffle the feathers of the regulars. read more

Nice place right across the street from the waterfront. Service was quick and efficient. I wanted a whole lobster but I had bad visions of the last time I tried to tackle a lobster claw about thirty years ago so chickened out. I got a lobster roll instead, I had never had one so why not. Their clam chowder is outstanding. My dish only came with a cup and if I could have eaten more when I was finished I would have, yum! The other real good thing was the blueberry pie, not over powering and very flavorful. I'd get brave if I went back and try the whole lobster . Highly recommend this place. read more

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We made a reservation and had a lovely window seat upstairs. Our server was very efficient and friendly. We decided on the lobster roll meal - chowder to start, a wonderful lobster roll full of meat, and end with Maine blueberry pie. Loved every bite! We both had lobster martinis with Maine blueberries at the bottom which were delicious. Highly recommend! read more

West Street Cafe - Maine blueberry martini - Seafood Near Me - Bar Harbor, Maine

Came here for lunch, the space is beautiful with lots of seating both upstairs and downstairs. Our server was kind and gave us great drink recommendations. I loved my lobster pasta and the blueberry pie was delicious and warm. read more

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Our family had a great experience at dinner tonight at the West Street Café. We had delicious onion rings as appetizers. The clam chowder was rxcellent! Then we had an assortment of main courses, including lazy, lobster, boil, lobster, vegetable pasta, salad with lobster, along with lots of sides. The blueberry pie with ice cream was good, not great... The service was excellent. The room is spacious inside. We had a wonderful time. read more

West Street Cafe - Lobster - Seafood Near Me - Bar Harbor, Maine

Stopped in for lunch and really recommend it. The waterfront location is great, the interior is so pretty, and service was fantastic. Food was very well priced and all pretty good! My crabby patty was definitely more breading than crab meat, but my husbands haddock sandwich and both of our soups were awesome. Definitely worth a stop! read more

The food was great! Lobster roll was good and the lazy lobster was amazing. Quality was excellent. The service was okay could have check up on us a bit more. That's the only thing I would say could get worked on. read more

West Street Cafe - Lobster Roll - Seafood Near Me - Bar Harbor, Maine

We had a terrific visit to this cafe. We were so pleasantly surprised by the friendly team, quick service and food quality. This cafe sits farther down the street away from the Main Street area, so we didn't notice it at first. Convenient but quiet. However, this spot is definitely a hidden gem. We started with the stuffed mushroom caps, and the seafood stuffing is so good. The cheese sauce on top is so freaking delicious. The. My husband tried the haddock au gratin, which also has that same cheese sauce and absolutely loved it. I went ambitiously with the Seaside Special which has a cup of delicious clam chowder, a lobster roll which was super good (and came with fries and Cole slaw--all terrific). The whole thing ends with a slice of blueberry pie--and we added a scoop of vanilla ice cream. We left happily stuffed and talking about the cafe being a great, unexpected choice. read more

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Tried this place 7 years ago and remember it was good. Today 9-29-26 was even better!! For us southerners the fresh brewed "sweet" tea was an extra special treat! The down east special was fantastic and everyone in my group of 4 loved their meals as well! A definite favorite in Bar Harbor!! The blueberry pie is also a must! read more

Only went to the bar to watch a World Cup game that they had on tvs. Friendly bartender, good beers on draft, clean place and cool sea breeze coming often through the front. Onion rings were okay. read more

Solid fish and chips with great service in a really nice space. Clam Chowder was really good too.Far enough away from the crazy Main Street foot traffic to provide a really relaxing lunch stop. Blueberry pie is a must try as well, the best we have found so far in the area. read more

Came here for a late lunch, enjoyed food very much and especially the ambiance! It's gorgeous inside, very modern and inviting. They have great high ceilings and lots of air circulation. Service was attentive and friendly. They have a nice kids menu as well. I had clam chowder and burrata salad. I enjoyed it very much. read more

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Looked at reviews for lobster dinners in Bar Harbor. Despite some negative reviews decided to go with West Street Cafe as there were many positive reviews as well. Our experience was mediocre. I ordered the sandwich special with clam chowder, a lobster roll, cole slaw and fries. I asked for the chowder to come first. It did not. The chowder came after the rest. The lobster was a bit soft and the chowder was just OK . Lobster on my wife's salad was also less than fresh and firm. The cabbage Cole slaw and fries were unremarkable. Blueberry pie was decent. Ambience was satisfactory. Overall an OK meal experience but not good enough to bring me back. read more

This place is amazing. Solid ambience. Great service. I had the lobster scampi and the seasonal veg (broccoli). The flavor was exquisite and the lobster meat was fresh. Couldn't ask for more. read more

West Street Cafe - Seafood Near Me - Bar Harbor, Maine

Disappointed. wife got fried clams. A small portion, lots of fries, but the texture of the clams was " off". They tasted just okay but nothing to revisit. Seemed like they may have been frozen? Not had Maine clams that looked like that before. Taste was just okay. Ditto my lobster roll. The lobster was "soggy", edible but disappointing. Both had clam chowder and it was hot & tasty. Server was great, very attentive, and seating was quick for 630 pm. Nope, not likely to revisit. read more

Afternoon snack of blueberry pie was terrific! Sat at the bar, also enjoyed the spiked blueberry lemonade. The tart drink and the sweet pie tasted great together! read more

Solid experience for us yesterday at lunch. They seated us on the second floor and we had a nice view of the harbor. I got the clam chowder and my husband got the lobster bisque-- both were creamy, delicious and plentiful with the seafood. I got the mussels, which I really enjoyed. My husband got the crab cakes, which we both agreed were really good. We skipped desert but the menu looked really good. I'd recommend it and return! read more

We' had a big lunch so just stopped in for pie, as recommended by Robin at Olli's Trolley. She was right! Best blueberry pie ever and a great lemon cake. Very nice restaurant and great service. All they need is an espresso machine!! read more

West Street Cafe - Best blueberry pie EVER!! - Seafood Near Me - Bar Harbor, Maine

Get the lobster! We got the Downeast special and lobster scampi and it was amazing. Service quick and drinks were delicious! read more

West Street Cafe - Seafood Near Me - Bar Harbor, Maine

The sign outside says "we are awesome" and it's not wrong! The staff is super friendly and accommodating. Prices are very fair for a cafe just steps from the cruise tender landing. The dining room is airy and bright and beautifully renovated. read more

This place is very very nice, their staff is very friendly and helpful, the decoration is maritime simple and elegant, I personally love their bar area, it's big and at the end it has a table for 5-6, the boots for large parties were also very big and comfortable we like that we were very comfortable. we order a few appetizers and whole lobsters and all absolutely amazing just perfect, their food flavors were on point with each course, even their bread with rosemary was delicious, the lobster was perfectly cooked, the crab cakes were also exquisite and the stuff mushrooms were my favorite. Really really good restaurant. Keep in mind that they are very busy and waiting time may be long also the food takes its time. read more

West Street Cafe - Entrance - Seafood Near Me - Bar Harbor, Maine

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Incredible food. Everyone in my party loved their meal. I ordered the salmon house salad with a cup of clam chowder and it was to die for. The restaurant has wide open windows alongside the building so it gives you a chance to people watch while enjoying your meal. So good! read more

West Street Cafe - Cup of clam chowder - Seafood Near Me - Bar Harbor, Maine

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We have been coming here for years (since it was a little hose with a porch). This was the best tasting lobster I had this trip. The lobster meal was $37, which is great for the area. Our waiter was nice. There are beautiful plants hanging from the ceiling. The windows were open and we had a nice breeze. One of the staff members found out the name of a fern for me. read more

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We haven't eaten in every restaurant in Bar Harbor but we have in several. I would highly recommend the West Street Cafe. The food is prepared very well. The staff is professional (the hostess could be a little friendlier) and the ambience is light and modern and clean. Bathrooms immaculate also. read more

This was our second time to this restaurant, and we absolutely loved it. We came at an off peak time and we're instantly seated and taken very well care of. We were served by the bartender who was wonderful. The restaurant is spacious yet has a cozy modern coastal clean feel which we loved. We think the boat in the sky is a pretty neat feature, as are the maps on the tables. Our server was knowledgeable and helped us make choices when we were torn between two items and the food was delicious. Great value for the price. The muscles came highly recommended by the server and he was totally on point. It was a great serving and the sauce had a slight spice to it that made the muscles really stand out. My husband enjoyed his chicken sandwich too. We have reflected that we would totally returned to the restaurant even on the trip we're on now. Regardless whenever we're back in Bar Harbor we will be back. read more

West Street Cafe - Mussels - Seafood Near Me - Bar Harbor, Maine

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It was a busy Sunday night and we walked up to an estimated 25 min wait. We found a seat at the bar, ordered a drink and waited less than 25 min for our table. I chose the stuffed halibut which was baked with stuffing on top. It was super hot, tender, and nice tasting. My sides were mashed potatoes and broccoli which were also very good. Great comfort food. They had a local Maine wine on the menu, Ned Said Red, which was light and tasty. Fun to try local wines. Our service was excellent! The server helped us with the menu and pointed out which were the favorites. Food was delivered piping hot. She was great. I loved the atmosphere. It was modern and had a cute loft for addition seating. Large windows provided views of the water. Great stop. read more

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My friend highly recommended this place so I had to check it out. We had lobster bisque and clam chowder soup. Husband liked the former one more and me the latter one. All in all great experience and quick service. The ambience was quite chill, we wanted to try lobster rolls but they only had the cold ones so we had to skip that. The weather demanded a hot rolls. Was super tempted to try the blueberry pie but gotta keep a tab on my sugar intake! read more

West Street Cafe - Clam chowder soup - Seafood Near Me - Bar Harbor, Maine

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Service was great. The food was impressive. I had special 1 lobster 1.5 lb come with bowl of steam mussels , end up with blueberry pie. Everything was so so good. I will bring my friends next week. The have to roll me out of here. read more

Our lunch was delicious! Everything came out in a timely fashion, and the restaurant itself area feels very coastal. The decor is exactly what you would want it to be for a coastal restaurant. Service was great. read more

West Street Cafe - Beautiful entrance - Seafood Near Me - Bar Harbor, Maine

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My girlfriends and I decided to grab lunch here after walking the land bridge nearby. This place is so spacious and open and they were able to seat our party of 3 fairly quickly. I loved the nautical decor everywhere too. For my lunch, I had a blueberry ale and a lobster roll with chips. The blueberry ale didn't have a great blueberry taste, but it was still crisp and delicious. The lobster roll however was absolutely delicious!! SO much lobster meat and I loved the seasoned chips. Absolutely wonderful lunch! read more

West Street Cafe - Lobster Roll - Seafood Near Me - Bar Harbor, Maine

The food was overall good. I got fish and chips and the fish was not over breaded and it wasn't oily. The fries were a little soggy. I also got crab cakes for an appetizer and they had good flavor and were nice and crispy. I was a little disappointed by the impersonal service. read more

My wife and dined in for an early snack including dessert before dinner. We ordered the crab cakes and 1 slice of blueberry pie with a wild Maine lemonade! Crab cakes were a 4 star dish! The cakes had cook flavor and were crispy. We likes the sauce and celery salad with the cakes. The cakes were a little dry. The lemonade was definitely 5 stars with a great lemonade and blueberry flavor! It was so good! This was the best drink I had in Maine. The blueberry pie was phenomenal! Delicious wild Maine blueberry filling with a flavorful buttery crust. This is the best blueberry pie I've ever had! The service was 5 stars! Ambience 5 stars. Our table was near a window. This is a cafe that had to be on your must visit list for bar harbor! read more

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West Street cafe located at the corner of West Street and Rodrick in downtown Bar Harbor. An upscale charming restaurant with budget friendly prices. I decided on the Fish and chips, which was crispy and tender.... Delicious! But the fries could have Been a little more crunchy. Our server was friendly, courteous and answered all our questions. I would definitely come back again for some quick eats ! Follow me on insta x, facebook, yelp and YouTube as I travel the world in search of the best dinning experiences. Instagram: @noodlesoupr Instagram: @zarasiii read more

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Cute restaurant and the prices were better than most in the area, which got us in the door, but the food just wasn't very good. Our group had the Lobster Bisque, Crabby Patty, Haddock Sandwich, Caesar Salad, and a kids grilled cheese. No one was impressed. The restaurant was half empty but they still put our party of 5 at a 4 person table and just stuck an extra chair at the end, which is always tight and never fun read more

The food was honestly pretty solid, they did things well I was impressed. They presented it in a nice way too which just aided the flavor aesthetics. The only gripe was the servers were not very personable and obviously didn't want to be there. read more

This place was high on my list of places to try in Bar Harbor for one particular reason - the presence of "Lazy Lobster" on the menu. I enjoy eating lobster but I don't enjoy the work that comes with it. And I love that a place calls it what it is. Once we got to town and I could see that it was a nice place, so I was even more interestged in checking it out. Unlike many of the other restaurants in Bar Harbor that all seem to be located in old houses, West Street Cafe is a throughly modern, open and airy space with a tastefully pleasant nautical theme. A couple of us started with the Lobster Bisque, which was smooth, creamy and tasty. My daughter had the crab cakes appetizer as her entree and it was more than enough to fill her up. My wife started with the Shrimp Cocktail...which is pretty much the same anywhere you order it. For her entree, my other daughter went for the Baked Stuffed Haddock. I tasted a piece of it and it was delicious. Now for the big moment - the LazyLobster Sautee. I was not a huge fan ouf the tiny plate/bowl it was served in. It looked nice, but there was no room to cut a piece of the lobster, which was definitely needed because some pieces were a little rubbery. The flavor of the lobster was quite good, but I would have preferred a different presentation. It was priced at $40, which was definitely less than what I expected. read more

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What's the difference between 'Good' and 'Great' in your book? In mine, Great means this place is firing on all cylinders: Great food. Great service. Great ambiance. Plus, the little things--like experienced wait staff and 'tenders, and enough of them--that result in you wanting to come back again. And again.  West Street Cafe could make my 5-star list one day, but not yet. Apparently, the "old" West Street Cafe was a local favorite. Then, in 2017 it was torn down to make room for a fresh rebuild that could offer a more modern dining experience. I'm not exactly sure when they reopened, but I left West Street Cafe recently (summer 2024), feeling like I had just visited a new restaurant still ironing out some of the kinks.  Example: Our crab cake appetizer was deep brown and crispy, and maybe that's how they're always served. But we felt like ours was a little too crispy. Luckily, the delicious celery slaw & red pepper aioli and the tender, juicy crabmeat inside the crisp outer shell saved it. (A restaurant firing on all cylinders wouldn't have let those crispy critters out of the kitchen. Or, they would have advertised them as 'crispy' crab cakes to begin with.)  Example 2: We like to eat at the bar where we can sit side-by-side and easily hear one another. But, if the one and only bartender is totally slammed and having a tough time keeping up with the drink orders from the dining room(s) and, therefore, having a hard time serving her bar patrons, that results in poor service. (That's not her fault, that's management's fault. If you own a busy establishment, put at least two bartenders behind the bar.) ~~~~~~~~~ With those complaints out of the way, we liked this place. Overall, the food was delicious (previous complaints notwithstanding). The new, modern environs result in a pleasant, comfortable dining place. And the drinks (when we could get them) were very well made.  After the crab cakes, my partner had the Lazy Lobster Saute with Cole Slaw and a vegetable that we've forgotten. She enjoyed it! I had the Downeast Special and requested a lazy man upgrade on the lobster of my own. Everything--lobster, chowder, blueberry pie (which I was too full to eat unitl two days later)--was fantastic. I'm not sure when we'll get back to Bar Harbor, but if West Street Cafe is still around, I will gladly give them a shot at convincing me they are 5-star-worthy. read more

West Street Cafe - Crab Cakes - Seafood Near Me - Bar Harbor, Maine

We went to West Street Cafe in June while visiting Acadia. Overall we enjoyed our meal and had an awesome waitress as well! To start, and not pictured, I got a blueberry mojito. It was not sweet and personally I didn't enjoy it. I got the baked haddock and really enjoyed the homemade seafood stuffing on top. That's what originally intrigued me most about ordering it. The herb focaccia side was just ehh. Fries were good. David got the cafe delight and thoroughly enjoyed it! The cheese sauce wasn't too overpowering and all the different seafood had wonderful flavors. West Street Cafe allows reservations which would be nice during the busy months of Acadia! Check it out if you are looking for solid food and a nice ambiance. read more

West Street Cafe - Baked Stuffed Haddock - Seafood Near Me - Bar Harbor, Maine

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