There are usually two restaurants in Camden worth trying amongst the many tourist traps and…read moreFranny's is one. I first went to "Francine's" over 2 decades ago! While it was a lot cheaper then, and maybe a bit better, we throughly enjoyed our meal here. The biggest improvement is the comfy outdoor dog-friendly tent. Service was very sweet and prompt. Our ribs and swordfish were excellent. The tent has a large floor rug which added a homey touch. The only downside was the 70s rock canned music. Otherwise, this is one of only a few worthwhile dining experiences here.

We moved to Rockport 5 years ago and have enjoyed coming to Franny's for special occasions ever…read moresince. Unless things radically change, this evening's dinner will be the last time . Our waiter was pleasant, but the service itself was glacially slow: 15 minutes for 2 drinks to be delivered; and it should not take an hour from the time you order to the time your dinner is served. The steak frites, previously a favorite, was a disaster. Steaks were undercooked, fries were overcooked, and the grilled ceasar salad I remember really enjoying was an over-dressed, over-cooked soggy mess. The Kraken appetizer, again an old favorite, was cold and soggy. While sitting outside on a summer's evening can be pleasant, their tent is dank, dark and chill. Even the paper menus were wilted. They have heaters, why not light them? This evening at Franny's was a sad disappointment.

Dahlia's located in The Asticou Hotel is a breath of fresh air for the New England food scene…read more The restaraunt offers a fantastic view of the harbor from both its outdoor seating area and some indoor seating areas making for a lovely atmosphere. The staff are friendly. As a self proclaimed foodie family, we could not have been more impressed by Dahlia's during our four day stay at The Asticou Hotel. During our time, we enjoyed breakfast, lunch and two dinners at the hotel's restaurant. For breakfast we enjoyed the Oatmeal and Blueberry Pancakes on our final morning before heading to our next destination. Both dishes were delcious. There are a number of other great options but we kept it simple for our travel day. For lunch, we had the Child's Mini Burgers, the Child's Steak and Potatoes, the Smash Burger and the Chicken Sandwich. The burgers were by far the best of the trip. My husband said the chicken sandwich was a quality one as well. The only disappointing item served were the French fries as they appeared to just be frozen string fries. We prefer fresh cut fries. Dahila's offers a fantastic children's menu selection that caters to picky eaters and more adventurous eaters. My son was impressed by his steak and potato dish and so were we. I saw another child's salmon at dinner one night and it looked impressive for another child option. For the less adventurous eaters, they also offer Mac and cheese and a grilled cheese. For dinner both nights we started with the local raw oysters and popovers. Both starters were a hit each night. The Gulf Maine Halibut with lobster risotto was absolutely perfection both nights. The fish, the risotto and vegetables could not have been prepared any better. It's rare to find a restaraunt that nails every component of a dish but Dahlia's did just that with this dinner entree. To wrap up both dinners we had the children's sundae and blueberry pie. Our boys could not have been more satisfied with their sundaes. The blueberry pie was the best dessert of the trip! The pie which is more like a tart is served warm with a lemon curd on the side and vanilla bean icecream. It was truly divine. Dahlia's is worth visiting during your stay in the Bar Harbor area. It is pricey but the quality of the food is worth it. Be sure to make a reservation especially if you are going for dinner as it fills up quickly in the evening.

My husband and I recently had a 2 night stay to celebrate our anniversary. We had a great time and…read moreabsolutely loved the Asticou hotel! The hotel is in a great location, in the middle of MDI. It was easy to get to and from the national park and to downtown bar harbor from the hotel. The rooms were immaculate and so well decorated. The pool area is very picturesque with plenty of places to sit and lounge for the day. We enjoyed both a dinner and breakfast at Dahlias which overlooks the pool as well as the harbor. Our food was deciduous and the setting was perfect. The staff were very friendly and helpful. They made sure to send up a small gift to our room to celebrate our anniversary, which was a great touch. We will definitely plan to be back!

Hadn't been to Natalie's in 10 years so it was time to try again. Beautiful Saturday night in…read moreMarch. We were met at the entry and the host at the greeted us by name. Nice touch. White table cloth service. Servers were all excellent. Knowledgeable, friendly, efficient. This place has the best fine dining experience in the mid-coast. Food was outstanding- every course. I did find the printed à la carte and dessert menus odd as they list the dishes' main ingredients but lack any preparation detail. So we found ourselves having to ask about several dishes before being able to make a selection. Maybe it is on purpose but it made me a bit uncomfortable to keep asking about preparation of the dishes throughout the courses. The only real negative for us is the same negative we had 10 years ago. We were seated in the porch area and I suspect they fill this area first as it has wonderful views of the Camden Hills. Both times we have been seated in there, there have been loud, fairly obnoxious diners (#-bombs flying this last visit) in the room with us. Complete turn off but nothing the restaurant can do about it. We will try Natalie's again but will forgo the porch dining for another room.

Natalie's was an incredible experience. We had great service from beginning to end. Water was…read morealways full. Our server Ella was fantastic in walking us through the menu, giving us suggestions for our trip in Camden as newlyweds, and continually asking if we needed anything. We had a table outside with a beautiful view in the evening at sunset. And the food & wine was AMAZING. A big shout out to the Chefs and our Sommelier, Erik, who did a fantastic job. We had the Lobster Tasting Menu and Wagyu Steak and it was unreal. I would highly recommend. Dessert was some of the best I've ever had at a restaurant. We left so happy with our experience and would do it all over again. Thank you the whole staff for making our night so great.

Beautiful restaurant right on the bay with outdoor seating by the water. Came here with my son on…read morea Wednesday night in August and sat outside at a high top table. We had to wait ten minutes for a waitress to acknowledge us when she brought us waters, and another ten minutes before she came back to take our order. They were out of multiple items on both the food and drinks menus. But once we put in our orders it was smooth sailing after that. My son got fried haddock bites from the kids menu, and I got the haddock sandwich. The food came out quickly and my sandwich was perfect. The coleslaw is made in house and is delicious as well. Fries were average though. Beautiful spot in a perfect, quintessential Maine town. Would definitely come back again.

This was our first dinner on this trip and we loved the vibe of this little town, the restaurant…read morehas a great waterfront view with outdoor dining when the weather is good. We started with one of the daily specials Cajun haddock bites, they were good but I think they would have been better without the Cajun seasoning which was a dry addition after it was cooked. We ordered lobster rolls for dinner and it was delicious, tender, flavorful meat with just the right amount of mayonnaise sauce. The fries were also good. Our server was very nice and the food was served very quickly. I would definitely recommend this place for anyone looking for a good meal.

In my opinion, Chippers is the best restaurant in this area…read more Mac and Cheese: Of course I have tried the mac and cheese, which is EXCELLENT, including the Lobster Mac and Cheese. Crab Cakes: The crab cakes with the creamy parmesan sauce are superb, the texture is so light that even with the rich flavors they don't feel heavy. Chowders: All the seafood chowders are fabulous (and apparently won awards, which does not surprise me). Seafood Pasta Dishes: The scampi is amazing, and of course you might have noticed on my profile that my "Last Meal on Earth" is the Cajun Seafood Alfredo from Chippers. Vegetarian Pasta: the Ravioli Florentine is wonderful, I highly recommend this. Salmon: It's so good, all four of the different ways it's prepared it's always perfectly cooked. And even though I thought "wild rice blend and grilled asparagus" sounded rather boring, it was actually extremely tasty and I felt silly for expecting it to be boring! The garlic mashed potatoes are great as well. The lemon mascarpone cake is almost supernaturally good. Most of the desserts have chocolate, so I have not tried most of them, but that cake is so good that I went through a sort of phase of obsessing about trying (unsuccessfully LOL) to figure out how to recreate the lemon cake. The lemon cake is also featured in my "Last Meal on Earth" meal.

Another place where the service elevated the meal -- my son had a dandelion lemonade (pretty flower…read moregarnish) and a twenty ounce steak! I had the lazy man's lobster -- it was tasty and paired well with the baked potato and asparagus. My husband looked like he was enjoying the Panko crusted halibut. Incredibly, my son also had a triple chocolate, brownie special and we also had a gluten-free chocolate torte. Each meal also came with this amazing fish chowder, and a small house salad. While it was clear, this was a local establishment frequent by the older generation, it was definitely a nice vibe for everyone.

Situated in the cutest hotel the Claremont! My husband and I had breakfast here. He had the bagel…read morewith salmon and I had the quiche. Delicious! Light, and fresh. Don't expect greasy diner breakfast here. Great for a cute morning date. Service was great! Everyone here is super friendly!

Slow service, terrible lobster chowder. We arrived and had…read moreto ask to order our drinks. Okay enough. But i love lobster and I was ordering both the chowder and the dinner lobster. The lobster chowder was simply and totally only a corn chowder, with no lobster flavor, thickened up with gobs of flour, but no flavor at all. There were some chunks of some lobster meat dumped in the middle, but no flavor. It was totally not worth eating. I actually returned it and got credit for it. It was truly awful.

Visited the Fin & Fern on many occasions and it has been consistently excellent. Wonderful food,…read moregreat service. Exceptional for the area. Enjoy!

We came here for my son's 13th birthday dinner and left really disappointed…read more From the start, the staff seemed visibly stressed, and unfortunately that stress spilled over onto the customers. The whole atmosphere felt rushed, tense, and honestly rude at times. We had a reservation for 4, but were seated at two separate tables with a support pole between us, making it hard to even talk to each other. A few minutes after we sat down, three actual 4-top tables opened up, so we politely asked if we could move before we had even ordered. That simple request was met with way more hostility than it should have been. They did move us, but I then overheard an older woman on staff complaining to her coworkers about the fact that we had asked. Meanwhile, over an hour later, there were still open 4-top tables, so the attitude over such a reasonable request made even less sense. What made it especially disappointing is that this was my son's birthday dinner, and the vibe was so uncomfortable that I honestly felt like I couldn't even mention it or ask them to celebrate him because we already felt like a burden just for asking to sit together as a family. The service was also painfully slow. It took about 25 minutes for someone to even take our drink order, another 20 minutes for the drinks to arrive, and after being there for an hour we still had no food. Our waters were never refilled either. Basic things like checking in on the table or refilling water shouldn't be a stretch, especially when customers are already waiting that long. When the food finally came, my wife ordered the mushroom ravioli and it just wasn't very good. I mentioned it, and there was no apology, no concern, and no offer to take it off the bill or make it right. It was just met with indifference, which pretty much summed up the whole experience. To make things worse, we could repeatedly hear staff talking badly about other customers. That alone creates a terrible atmosphere, because if they're comfortable doing that within earshot of diners, you can't help but assume they're doing the same thing about you. The frustrating part is that the food looked promising, and we came in wanting to have a nice family dinner. Instead, we spent the night feeling uncomfortable, ignored, and like we were inconveniencing the staff just by being there. For what was supposed to be a special birthday dinner, it was a huge letdown.

We came here based on a recommendation from our hotel manager, it's a casual rustic type place with…read morelots of great menu options and fresh house made desserts. We don't eat fried food very often, but this was definitely a great time to make an exception. My wife and I each chose different options on the Half & Half Seafood Dinner and shared our meals so we could enjoy a wider variety of seafood. We started with a fresh salad and homemade dinner rolls, and our entrées arrived shortly after we finished. The fried scallops were outstanding--probably the best I've ever had. The shrimp were cooked perfectly, the clams were incredibly fresh and tender, and the calamari was also very tender, although I personally would have preferred the breading to be a little crispier. The portions were generous. There was so much seafood that we barely touched our fries and still couldn't finish everything on our plates. The prices were among the best we've found on this trip, and the service was excellent from start to finish. We left full, happy, and looking forward to coming back again.

The food was delicious and the service was fantastic. Many thanks to Margaret!!…read moreTwo of us got the fried half and half with different selections. The third got the garlic shrimp Alfredo bake, which we all tried!! The garlic Alfredo sauce on the bake was yummy. I really enjoyed my calamari and fantail shrimp. The dinner rolls were on the sweet side - which made them extra delicious in my opinion! The Ceasar salad and coleslaw were pretty typical as far as diner sides are concerned. Pretty great find along our drive, everyone was happy with the service and selection. We all left full and would gladly dine here again!