18 Best Restaurants in Penobscot Bay, Maine

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 baked stuffed haddock—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 non-seafood choices, too. Everything on the wine list is available by the glass, and there are lots of creative cocktails.

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.

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.

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.

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.

From the couple that owns Rio’s and located right next door to the restaurant, this bakery has a strong European influence, reflecting the owners' European heritage. It serves as a nice place to enjoy a coffee from the espresso bar, savory options like quiche or sausage rolls, and a wide variety of sweets including the namesake amandina, a Romanian chocolate layered cake.

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.

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.

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.

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.

With pressed-tin ceilings, this charming, old-fashioned restaurant and bar—it's been such since 1865—is a perennial local favorite with a welcoming community feel to it. Pad Thai, chicken chili salad with cashews, a Buddha bowl, and a few Mexican-flavored items are signature dishes, but the menu also serves hearty, scratch-made soups, sandwiches on homemade bread, and classic fish-and-chips. The walls of this cozy pub are hung with old murals of Belfast scenes and works for sale by local artists.

A summertime fixture for five decades, the Harbor Dogs shack on the town landing is the perfect place to grab lunch to enjoy at a nearby bench beside the harbor or before or after a cruise. Hot-dog toppings include Southwestern, Asian, and Chicago-style, and there are also lobster and crab rolls, fish tacos, haddock Reubens, and fried-seafood platters.

There's a decidedly Mexican influence at this popular place, with breakfast choices including migas, huevos rancheros, and a burrito, and a list of tacos highlighted on the lunch menu. You'll also find a little Asian influence in the breakfast fried rice and a banh mi, as well as plenty of good old American dishes. Both breakfast and lunch are served from opening to closing time. All of the breads, biscuits, sticky buns, desserts, and more are scratch-made at the restaurant's bakery (open to the public), two blocks away.

A local favorite since 1980, MacLeod's serves a surprisingly wide variety of choices. Entrées include raspberry roasted duck, steak, ribs, broiled or fried local seafood, and a few Mexican-style options.

This lovely trattoria is known for its cheery harbor-view setting and frequently changing menus where locally sourced ingredients shine. Highly regarded chef-owner Sara Jenkins's fresh but authentic takes on Mediterranean-spanning dishes use seafood harvested along Maine's rocky coast, including local oysters, and everything from the pasta to the pickled veggies is made in-house; the presentation of each dish makes for sheer eye candy. Jenkins grew up in Italy and worked in restaurants both there and at her own New York City restaurants—in other words, she knows what she's doing. There is also a small "dispensa" selling olive oil, wine, pasta, and some pantry goods.

You can get anything here as long as it’s on a doughnut (accompanied by hot or iced coffee, if you wish). Made in the Maine tradition with potato flour, the day's flavors might include salted caramel, buttermilk, and “full-tilt” blueberry with a glorious blueberry glaze. Brioche doughnuts are available on weekends.

Look for the bright yellow doors that mark the entrance to this microbakery on the way into downtown Camden. Located in a workshop next to the owners’ home, laminated dough is the star here, featured in fruit-filled danish, croissant, “cruffins” (croissant muffins), and savory pastry. The treats here are made with local flour, butter, eggs, cheese, and produce and sell out quickly, so arrive near opening or preorder for best results.

While technically open until 11 am, the donuts at this popular bakery frequently sell out well before then, so get there early or preorder online the day before your pickup to guarantee the best selection. Baker Todd Bross makes up to 400 yeast brioche donuts daily in the high season, with specialty glazes and toppings like blueberry lemonade, espresso cream, and The Homer (strawberry with sprinkles).