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

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.

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, wrap, 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 inside or, come summer, out front.

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.

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.

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.