Bar Harbor Restaurants
We’ve compiled the best of the best in Bar Harbor - browse our top choices for Restaurants during your stay.
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We’ve compiled the best of the best in Bar Harbor - browse our top choices for Restaurants during your stay.
An early standout in Maine’s farm-to-table movement, this acclaimed establishment not far from Bar Harbor in tiny Otter Creek sells to-go foods—prepared (including breakfast pastries) and ready-to-cook, all made on-site and largely featuring ingredients from the owners’ extensive gardens. The retail side has a small gardenside outdoor eating area and also sells small-scale wines (natural, organic, and biodynamic) as well as ciders. Seafood has been a specialty of the restaurant, with signature dishes like oven-poached cod and gray sole stuffed with asparagus, pea tendrils, and chevre. To-go items include halibut salad with dill and lemon and smoked salmon.
A lively yet intimate spot on the edge of downtown, Havana serves Latin-inspired dishes like seafood paella and panko-crusted lamb chops with lemon mojo sauce paired with robust wines from an award-winning, passionately curated 73-page wine list. In season, have a bite on “the Parrilla,” the informal no-reservations patio (separate menu); year-round, dine in a pleasant indoor space with a modern aesthetic, featuring clean lines and cheery colors. The menu has staples yet varies with the seasons. Lamb chops might come with cheesy grits and grilled veggies in July and sweet potato puree and ratatouille in September. Seafood paella piles in lobster, mussels, shrimp, scallops, chorizo, tomatoes, peppers, and smoked chicken with saffron rice. You'd do well to finish off your meal with a serving of affogato made with Mount Desert Island vanilla-bean ice cream and something from the also-extensive “Cigars & After Dinner Drinks” menu (yes, cigars are to go).
On a side street near the Village Green, this place (and its sister arm, The Annex) hops on busy summer evenings as folks line up for its comfort food like fish tacos and burgers. Outdoor and indoor dining spaces, one anchored by a horseshoe bar, flow together and exposed brick, and a cork wall and ceiling, add warmth to the welcoming, modern, family-friendly vibe; friendly dogs are allowed outside. The main restaurant and The Annex (no lunch) serve from the same menu until 9 pm when the former closes and The Annex offers appetizers, desserts, and mac-and-cheese for its final hour.
Glass walls let you see this busy craft brewery spot in action even before you enter, but look up or head up—there’s rooftop seating with great Bar Harbor views. After ordering a flight or glass of beer, choose from a food menu offering soups, sandwiches, salads, and lobster and crab rolls. Founded in Bar Harbor in 1991 and later acquiring another local brewer, Atlantic Brewing Co.’s farmstead brewery eight miles away in the town’s outlying Town Hill area ( 15 Knox Hill Rd.) has a seasonal tasting room and restaurant, Mainely Meat BBQ. Private tours of the brewery are available for parties of four or more.
Ogling the assorted goodies makes for a fun wait in the often long lines at this cheeky, old-fashioned candy and ice cream shop. Most of the candy, including numerous varieties of fine chocolates and fudge, is made right here, as is the ice cream (64 flavors) and gelato (8 flavors). Folks congregate, generously scooped cone in hand, by the large "lobster" out front. Be forewarned: kids will clamor for "penny candy" and a cone.
A sign points customers to this tucked-away eatery set back from Mount Desert Street near the Village Green, which is breakfast-only (a change from years past)—the pancakes are quite popular. Opening at 6:30 am to catch the crowds who’ve worked up an appetite savoring sunrise atop Acadia National Park’s Cadillac Mountain, it stays open until 1 pm for those who want breakfast for lunch. Seating is divided about evenly inside and out, making this a great choice for nice summer mornings.
This large year-round café features coffee from a local coffee roaster, but you can get much more than a cup of Joe—for breakfast, grab a breakfast sandwich or avocado toast; for lunch or dinner, a salad or taco. In a town without a lot of quick bite spots, it's a good choice for picking up lunch to enjoy in the park, at your lodging, or at a table here; in summer, some tables are out front.
Don't be fooled by this tiny takeout-only joint's no-frills storefront: many praise its lobster rolls as the best around. On summer mornings, the line often stretches around the corner by 10 am as folks come to get lobster rolls as well as wraps, sandwiches, salads, and slices of blueberry pie for outings to Acadia National Park and elsewhere around Mount Desert Island. You can also pick up items for dinner after a day of exploring.
Open much of the year and filled with Maine art, this large restaurant has a classic New England vibe, several dining rooms on two floors, and a large menu to match. Offerings range from sandwiches and small plates to lobster dishes, steak, and seafood, including a bouillabaisse with shrimp, scallops, fresh fish, and lobster, served with steamed mussels and grilled ciabatta bread. In an 1890s building, once a boarding house for seamen, the trim and tin ceiling are original; the Galley Lounge has diamond windows from a Rockefeller estate that was torn down, and the bar itself is an old bank tellers counter. Not for sale, the restaurant’s artwork is touted as Maine’s largest private art collection on public display.
With a big menu that’s big on seafood (there's a pick-your-own lobster tank), this lively longtime establishment would be easy to spot even without a lighted moose on the roof. Humor pervades inside: kids meals come on Frisbees; quirky plastic animals on sticks adorn the cocktails; and old photos, murals, signs, license plates, and other bric-a-brac fill the walls, adding a sense of coziness to a large restaurant with a large bar right in the middle. Harbor views are lovely but only available from a few seats upfront. You can enter the large gift shop downstairs, which has a treasure chest with freebies for the kids, from the street or the restaurant.
After enjoying the sunrise atop Acadia National Park's Cadillac Mountain, snuggle into a wooden booth or grab a table at this homey, yellow-walled eatery that opens at 6 am to catch the crowds who flock to the spectacle. Signature items include homemade oatmeal bread, stuffed French toast, and the Great Maine Breakfast, with three eggs, meat, pancakes, and vegetarian baked beans—the tradition here is to eat leftovers from Saturday night's bean supper on Sunday morning. Whatever you order from the extensive breakfast menu, which also includes lobster Benedict and a lobster omelet, the portions will be big.
Tucked away on a lane-like downtown street, this laid-back spot with a bocce court on the shaded patio out front is back in the groove after two sisters, both former employees, took over in 2022. Signature dishes include seared scallops with Korean barbeque sauce, the falafel plate, and the peanut sauce and pita bread (both house-made) appetizer; new are weekly cocktail specials that, say, mix elderflower, blueberry shrub, vodka, and mint to honor a supermoon. You can dine on the patio, in one of two clean-lined dining rooms, or at the L-shape bar.
Madagascar Vanilla Bean has specks from beans scraped from vanilla pods—just one example of the prep work that goes into creating these heralded artisanal ice creams (and a few sorbets), made at a nearby production facility with as many local ingredients as possible. The shop's double doors open like a huge window, welcoming passersby right in; grab a seat or head across the street to the Village Green to savor every bite.
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