14 Best Restaurants in Acadia National Park and Mount Desert Island, Maine

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 scrumptious "creative comfort food" like fish tacos and burgers (there's a handful of entrées, too). Outdoor and indoor dining spaces, one anchored by a horseshoe bar, flow together; exposed brick and a cork wall and ceiling warm up the welcoming, family-friendly vibe. The main restaurant and The Annex (no lunch) have the same menu until 9 pm, when the former closes and The Annex offers simpler fare for its final hour. Flanking Side Street and The Annex are the establishment’s two sister businesses: Thrive Juice Bar & Kitchen, serving breakfast and lunch (you can eat at tables in The Annex), and Side Treats Bar Harbor, a frozen yogurt place with self-serve toppings.

Glass walls let you take in the action at this busy brewpub before you enter, and when you do, you may want to head up—there’s an outdoor deck off the second floor. Order a flight or glass of beer to pair with food like soups, sandwiches, and appetizers. Founded in Bar Harbor in 1991, Atlantic Brewing's farmstead brewery outside of town has a tasting room and Mainely Meat BBQ and gives tours. A few miles beyond the causeway onto Mount Desert Island is the company's Bar Harbor Cellars, with a tasting room in an old barn as well as outdoor seating.

A sign points to this tucked-away breakfast-only spot set back from Mount Desert Street near the Village Green and opening at 6:30 am to catch folks who worked up an appetite savoring sunrise atop Cadillac Mountain; others order a Bloody Mary or whatever from the full bar and enjoy breakfast for lunch (it's open until 1 pm). Art pops on the maroon walls, and there's lots of seating inside and out—the place to be on nice summer mornings.

Known around town simply as “The Colonel’s” and serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner, this restaurant offers traditional fare from lobster rolls and fried seafood plates to burgers and pizza; eat in the dining room, at the bar, or out on the deck in the warm months. In front, the bakery turns out delicious bread, rolls, croissants, turnovers, and muffins as well as cookies, cakes, Maine’s famous whoopie pies, and other sumptuous desserts. Try one of the glazed doughnut twists, with or without chocolate drizzled over the top. You can also get an ice cream cone here.

Long serving what may be Maine's best steak and traditional New England fare, offerings like the curry entrée and pork lumpia appetizer were added after the business was sold in 2021 to a family with roots in Asia. Their overhaul of the 1884 property added deck and granite patio seating, a bar/lounge, and more dining space; the large bar/lounge has a cool curved bar and sleek custom wood chairs—some resemble traditional Maine camp furniture. If you're looking for a place to stay, the stylish rooms have beadboard and soft blue hues.

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.

Breakfast and lunch can be full-on carnivore or vegan at this downtown café, also a go-to for coffee, tea, cookies (some are gluten-free), and pastries, including sweet or savory croissants. Breakfast sandwiches have a choice of meat or veggie sausage, while lunch offers soups, salads, and inventive hot and cold sandwiches—the Vietnamese banh mi with pickled vegetables, cilantro, cucumbers, jalapeño aioli, and pork, chicken, or tofu on a demi baguette is popular.

In business since 1986, this large restaurant in an 1890s downtown building—originally a seamen's boarding house, now filled with Maine art—has a classic New England vibe, dining on two floors, an upstairs lounge, and a large menu to match. Offerings range from sandwiches and small plates to lobster dishes, steak, and seafood, including bouillabaisse with shrimp, scallops, fresh fish, and lobster, served with steamed mussels and grilled ciabatta bread. Painted walls nicely offset the art, which is touted as Maine’s largest private art collection on public display, and the pressed tin ceilings and banister are original. Among the treasures in the Galley Lounge: diamond-shaped windows from a Rockefeller estate and a bank tellers' counter, now the bar.

With a big menu that’s big on seafood (pick-your-own lobster tank), this lively establishment—founded in 1974—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 cocktails and kids' drinks; 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 only available from a few seats up front. You can enter the large lower-level gift shop from the street or the restaurant; either way, the kids will head straight for the treasure chest with free trinkets.

After enjoying the sunrise atop 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 and serves breakfast until 1 pm. Signature items include homemade oatmeal bread, stuffed French toast, and the Great Maine Breakfast, with three eggs, meat, pancakes, and vegetarian baked beans—the Maine tradition 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.

Many folks come to enjoy tea and the famous popovers with strawberry jam at tables on the lawn—a tradition started in the 1890s in the original Jordan Pond House—but Acadia's only restaurant also has offerings like lobster stew, salads, lobster roll, sandwiches, and entrées such as salmon encrusted with a horseradish soufflé. At the upper level Carriage Road Carry Out you can get to-go items, including baked goods, wraps, sandwiches, and salads. There's also a gift shop and, on the upper level, an observation deck. Parking lots fill up fast in high season; consider biking or taking the free Island Explorer bus.

Regulars come from beyond Schoodic Peninsula to this fun spot to order its namesake, a pickled protein-packed sea snail, though this “Down East delicacy” isn't always available. On the road that exits Acadia National Park’s Schoodic District, visitors stop here (opens at 12:30 pm) for fresh takes on traditional pub fare like burgers, wings, and pizzas (specialty or build your own); the restaurant's spacious, woodsy interior has a handsome bar, and there's an eating area out front.

In a standout art deco storefront whose arched recessed window has earthy pink trim, this restaurant’s elongated original 1930s interior also impresses, with a vaulted ceiling and red swivel seats at the bar, and booths and mirrors with matching decorative wood framing. Provender earned a strong regional reputation soon after the chef and his wife opened it in 2017, serving up meals and small plates that embrace the season, food from area farms and producers, and the "chef's whim." 

Most of the tables here are on a large patio within spitting distance of the water, though you can also enjoy quintessential views of working Bass Harbor through large windows in the cheery establishment's dining room and adjoining Tide Room. Lobster—served not only boiled with a choice of sides but in dishes such as baked seafood casserole—is purchased fresh off the boat from the lobsterman next door. Many folks eat at this family-owned and run restaurant before or after watching the sunset at nearby Bass Harbor Head Light in Acadia National Park. The lunch and dinner menus are available all day.