Penobscot Bay Restaurants

We’ve compiled the best of the best in Penobscot Bay - browse our top choices for Restaurants during your stay.

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  • 1. 18 Central Oyster Bar and Grill

    $$$

    18 Central Oyster Bar and Grill produces excellent, creative dishes in a cozy spot high above Rockport's working harbor. Seasonally inspired, locally harvested seafood plus dishes with a hint of Southern comfort make up the backbone of the menu—think fried green tomatoes with local peekytoe crab, chili oil, and microgreens, or crispy fried chicken accompanied by collards and heirloom grits. More northerly flavor shines in such choices as finnan haddie (cold-smoked haddock), roasted mussels, and diver scallops.

    18 Central St., Maine, 04856, USA
    207-466--9055

    Known For

    • Evenly paced, well-balanced dinners transition gracefully from one course to the next
    • Lively atmosphere encouraged by botanically infused cocktails
    • Packed as soon as the door opens for dinner

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Closed Tues.--Thurs., Reservations strongly advised; credit card required to secure reservations for more than 4; max party size 8 people
  • 2. Archer's on the Pier

    $$$

    Standing on the edge of the harbor, with dining decks on three sides, Archer's is the prime spot in Rockland for dining with a view—even when the weather keeps you indoors, there are plenty of windows. The large menu is heavy on traditional preparations of fresh, local seafood—including old-fashioned haddock cakes—but also includes plenty of contemporary dishes. Chef-owner Lynn Archer emerged victorious on the show, Throwdown with Bobby Flay. The dish? A triple-decker club sandwich with lobster. Happily, it's on the menu. There are many nonseafood choices, too. Everything on the wine list is available by the glass, and there are lots of creative cocktails, too.

    58 Ocean St., Maine, 04841, USA
    207-594--2435

    Known For

    • Broad harborside views
    • Welcoming atmosphere
    • Great menu

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Closed Sun.
  • 3. Atlantic Baking Company

    $

    Classic European and American breads such as batards, baguettes, ciabatta, focaccia, sourdough boules, and rolls come out of French ovens every morning at this popular little spot. The cases are also filled with just-baked croissants, scones, muffins, cookies, and more. Various specialties are available on different days of the week. There's also a selection of sandwiches and salads for lunch. It's a quick walk across the street from the Farnsworth Art Museum.

    351 Main St., Maine, 04841, USA
    207-596–0505

    Known For

    • French macarons
    • Apricot pistachio oat cookies
    • Classic sourdough

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Closed Sun.
  • 4. Franny's Bistro

    $$$

    This little bistro on a side street near the center of town is unassuming from the outside, but inside, the pleasantly cozy space features an ambitious menu flavored with hints of Asian, Italian, and modern American cuisines. Dishes are very well prepared, but service can be slow when the restaurant is full.

    55 Chestnut St., Maine, 04843, USA
    207-230--8199

    Known For

    • Intimate atmosphere
    • Inventive dishes with international flair
    • Lobster fritters

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Closed Sun.--Tues. No lunch
  • 5. Friar's Brewhouse Taproom

    $

    You probably wouldn't expect to find an eatery run by Franciscan friars in this little town, but you'll be glad you did. Dressed in long brown habits, your hosts happily serve excellent European-style beers brewed in their nearby mountainside friary, which pair well with sandwiches on freshly baked baguettes, or hearty entrées that blend Maine and French Canadian flavors like family-recipe meat loaf, from-scratch soups, pâté, and fresh local fish dishes. Sit at the bar and watch Brother Don cook, or choose a table with a view of the Penobscot River and the Penobscot Narrows Bridge. Be sure to grab a loaf of friary-baked bread or a sweet treat from the to-go selection by the door.

    84A Main St., Maine, 04416, USA
    207-702--9156

    Known For

    • Fresh-baked breads
    • Thoughtfully prepared dishes
    • Warm and welcoming friars

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Closed Sun. and Mon.
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  • 6. Homeport Tavern

    $$

    With tufted green leather settees and a wood-burning brick fireplace, the Homeport Tavern, part of the Homeport Inn, exudes an English-accented coziness. While bangers and mash and fish-and-chips give a nod to the old country and New England seafood is well represented, many dishes on the lunch and dinner menus have a distinctly Southern drawl. Items such as a shrimp po-boy, filé gumbo, smoked pork belly, and bread pudding with bourbon praline sauce hint at the chef's Louisiana roots. There's a good selection of Maine craft beers on tap.

    121 E. Main St., Maine, 04974, USA
    207-548--2259

    Known For

    • Welcoming hosts
    • Snug atmosphere
    • Louisiana comfort food

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Closed Mon. and Tues.
  • 7. In Good Company

    $$$ | Vegan

    As the name suggests, this is an excellent spot to slow down and catch up with good friends over a bottle of wine while savoring small, internationally flavored plates or a full meal. The creative blend of textures and flavors that comes out of the kitchen is exceptional. Desserts include a crème brûlée that garners rave reviews. The intimate space, formerly a bank, is furnished with comfortable couches as well as tables and chairs.

    415 Maine St., Maine, 04841, USA
    207-593--9110

    Known For

    • Outside dining in summer
    • Excellent wine pairings
    • Pared-down aesthetic with a focus on the food
  • 8. Long Grain

    $$

    The celebrated Thai chef at this Asian-fusion restaurant places an emphasis on authentic noodle and rice dishes. The atmosphere is casual and open, with rustic wood tables and bentwood chairs. As it's very popular with both locals and visitors, reservations are strongly encouraged—though you might be able to squeeze in at the tiny bar without one if you're dining solo. 

    20 Washington St., Maine, 04843, USA
    207-230--8735

    Known For

    • Chef Ravin Nakjaroen is a James Beard--nominated chef
    • Consistently excellent
    • Great take-out options

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Closed Sun. and Mon., Reservations necessary
  • 9. Natalie's Restaurant

    $$$$

    Located in the stylish and elegant Camden Harbour Inn, this fine-dining restaurant serves imaginative, beautifully plated creations starring local seafood, meats, and other seasonal ingredients like vegetables and herbs from the property’s garden. Probably the most sophisticated dining spot in Camden, Natalie's is the creation of Dutch owners Raymond Brunyanszki and Oscar Verest, who have brought in talented chefs to create splurge-worthy dishes that are served by a polished waitstaff. The indulgent, five-course (plus a few surprises) lobster tasting menu is an ambrosial experience for lobster lovers. There is also an à la carte menu. If the weather is fine, dine on the deck surrounded by gorgeous views. 

    83 Bay View St., Maine, 04843, USA
    207-236–7008

    Known For

    • Phenomenal service with true attention to detail
    • Signature five-course lobster tasting menu
    • Grand views of the Camden Hills, harbor, and bay

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Closed Sun. Nov.–May. No lunch, Reservations essential
  • 10. Owl and Turtle Bookshop and Café

    $ | Coffee

    This pint-size but well-stocked independent bookstore with a tiny café has been serving Camden for more than 50 years. The full menu of coffee drinks is based on locally roasted beans and includes a selection of homemade baked goods. It’s closed Sunday and Monday.

    33 Bay View St., Maine, 04843, USA
    207-230–7335

    Known For

    • Locally roasted coffee beans
    • Homemade baked goods
    • Independent bookstore

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Closed Sun. and Mon.
  • 11. Primo

    $$$$

    Chef Melissa Kelly has twice won the James Beard Best Chef: Northeast, and she and her world-class restaurant have been written up in such magazines as Gourmet, Bon Appétit, and O. Named for the chef-owner's Italian grandfather, Primo serves masterfully prepared pasta, fresh seafood, and local meats. The restored Victorian house offers a variety of atmospheres: downstairs rooms with white-tablecloth-covered tables have a formal feel; a new Primo Room offers a more contemporary feel; and upstairs dining rooms tend to be livelier. Reservations, the earlier the better, are strongly advised. Behind the restaurant is the 0km (as in zero kilometers) Bungalow, a rustic structure where you can enjoy a drink before or after dinner. It's also the place for $1 oysters on the half shell on Sunday afternoon, along with live music. No matter where you sit, it can't get more farm-to-table: the restaurant raises its own chickens and pigs, cures its own meats, produces its own eggs, and grows its own fruits and vegetables.

    2 N. Main St., Maine, 04841, USA
    207-596–0770

    Known For

    • House-made pasta
    • Fresh Maine ingredients with Mediterranean influences
    • Consistently excellent
    • $1 oysters every Sunday

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Closed Tues.
  • 12. Suzuki's Sushi Bar

    $$$

    Trained at the Tokyo Sushi Academy, Keiko Suzuki is an artist when it comes to preparing and presenting sushi---everything is almost too beautiful to eat. The fish is sweet and ultrafresh, and nothing on the menu is fried. Many say this is the best sushi in Maine, and some claim it's even better than what they've had in Japan. Order the omakase---it changes according to Keiko's whim and what's available. In addition to sushi, there are a few cooked noodle dishes. The restaurant is small, and very popular, meaning reservations are a must.

    419 Main St., Maine, 04841, USA
    207-596--7447

    Known For

    • Authentic sushi with Keiko's creative touches
    • Superfresh fish
    • Beautiful presentations

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Closed Sun.--Tues.
  • 13. The Scone Goddess

    $ | Coffee

    In a petite gray Cape (look for the mini red-and-white-striped lighthouse beside it), the Scone Goddess makes what are almost certainly the best scones you've ever tasted. Tender and a little crumbly—they bear no resemblance to those stone-hard lumps so often passed off as scones—flavors, which change daily, include ginger lemon, wild Maine blueberry lemon, raspberry cream, and bacon cheddar. You can order a latte, Americano, tea, iced tea, or lemonade to go with your treat. You can also buy mixes, in about a dozen flavors, to bake at home or give as a gift.

    1390 Atlantic Hwy., Northport, Maine, 04849, USA
    207-505--0004

    Known For

    • Easy-to-mix-and-bake mixes
    • Lattes and other beverages
    • Unusual flavors

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Closed Sun. and Mon.
  • 14. Young's Lobster Pound

    $$$

    Right on the water's edge, across the harbor from downtown Belfast, this corrugated-steel building looks more like a fish cannery than a restaurant, but it's one of the best places for an authentic Maine lobster dinner, known here as the "shore dinner." Lobster rolls, surf-and-turf dinners, steamed clams, steak tips, and hot dogs are popular, too. As this is a real-deal lobster pound, with absolutely no frills, lobstermen tie up at the dock to unload their catch. There are numerous tanks of live lobsters at the front of the concrete-floored building; lobsters can be shipped as well. Order your dinner at the counter, then find a picnic table inside or on the deck, just remember it's BYOB. Don't leave your outdoor table unattended—seagulls are quick and determined food thieves.

    2 Fairview St., Maine, 04915, USA
    207-338–1160

    Known For

    • "shore dinner": clam chowder or lobster stew, steamed clams or mussels, a 1½-pound boiled lobster, corn on the cob, and chips
    • Family-friendly environment
    • BYOB

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Takeout only Jan.–Mar.
  • 15. Anglers

    $$

    This little restaurant has been around for a long time and has a large local following so it can be a little hard to get a table on a busy night, but it’s worth the wait. The traditional seafood dishes (fried or broiled) are good, the prices are reasonable, many dishes may be ordered in a "minnow" portion, and there are also a few choices for those who don't enjoy seafood.

    22 E. Main St., Maine, 04974, USA
    207-548--2405

    Known For

    • Friendly service—it's the kind of place where the waitresses call you “Hon”
    • Welcoming atmosphere
    • Traditional seafood dishes
  • 16. Belfast Co-op

    $ | Coffee

    Established back in 1976, the Co-op is a very special place in Belfast, and it’s not unusual to hear the expression, “I’ll meet you at the Co-op.” As the name implies, this full-service market is a members' cooperative that sells organic, locally grown vegetables, and other provisions, but you don’t have to be a member to shop here or visit the popular Co-op Café for coffee, tea, sandwiches, soups, prepared dishes, and homemade pastries. It's an excellent and inexpensive place for breakfast or lunch with one of the best selections of wines in town. There is no waiter service; you just order at the counter and pick up your food when it’s ready.

    123 High St., Maine, 04915, USA
    207-338--2532

    Known For

    • Excellent and inexpensive place for breakfast or lunch
    • Coffee, tea, and to-go items at the Co-op Café
    • Great selection of wine
  • 17. BOWA

    $

    Under the same ownership as Long Grain around the corner, this tiny bistro—whose name is an acronym for "Best of What's Available"—serves a well-priced lunch menu of street food from Asia, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean. Popular menu items include bibimbap, pho, and a Mediterranean bowl and many options are or can be prepared vegan or gluten-free.

    31 Elm St., Maine, 04843, USA
    207-230--8292

    Known For

    • Yummy pastries
    • Lively flavors
    • Fresh, healthy take-out or eat-in

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Closed Sun. and Mon.
  • 18. Chase's Daily

    $

    For more than two decades, this Main Street mainstay has been serving farm-to-table food to an enthusiastic Belfast community. Straight from the Chase family's farm to their restaurant, everything on the menu is vegetarian, including many entrées that are rooted in Indian cuisine. Produce and flowers from the farm are also available for sale, as are baked goods. There's seating in a large indoor space, plus a seasonal patio behind the restaurant.

    96 Main St., Maine, 04915, USA
    207-338--0555

    Known For

    • Fresh-from-the-farm produce
    • Excellent vegetarian cuisine
    • Home-baked goods

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Closed Sun. and Mon.
  • 19. Chocolate Drop Candy Shop and Dave's Old Fashioned Soda Fountain

    $

    The real focus of this little shop is an old-fashioned soda fountain, complete with Formica tops, red stools, and paper-hat-wearing soda jerks. Order an ice-cream soda or shake, and complete your stroll down memory lane with a selection of sweets from your childhood, such as candy cigarettes, jawbreakers, licorice, Chuckles, and even clove gum. Despite the name, there are only a few chocolates for sale.

    35 Main St., Maine, 04915, USA
    207-338--0566

    Known For

    • Maine-made ice cream
    • Old-fashioned soda fountain drinks
    • Nostalgic candy selection
  • 20. Claws

    $$$

    Set right beside the road at the northern end of town, this lobster shack gets consistently enthusiastic reviews—many say the overstuffed lobster roll is one of the best. The large menu includes all the usual suspects plus a great selection of "snacky things" and entrées, and even a taco bar—butter-poached lobster tacos, anyone? Order at the counter and take your food out back to enjoy on the outdoor deck overlooking the harbor.

    743 Main St., Maine, 04841, USA
    207-596--5600

    Known For

    • Wild Maine blueberry shortcake
    • Lobster rolls stuffed with a pound of meat
    • Award-winning lobster bisque

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