Girls annual fall trip for shopping and lunch found me at a new restaurant. The Backstrap has been…read morehere awhile but we have always drove past thinking it was more of a market. The ladies highly recommend so here I am. Ample parking and easy to read signage from the road, they are handicapped accessible. We sat at the bar with our backs to the door. Atmosphere is rustic with two seating areas, one for larger parties. Drink specials menu came with regular menu and specials. I ordered the House Margarita with Blueberry. The ladies had seltzer and a beer. We ordered the Smash burger, the Roast Beef melt, and the Ramen. There was a chalk board hanging on the wall which had the meat and fish options for sale! So they do sell meats and fish but are more of a restaurant! Got it! The food came out in a timely fashion and looked great! The Ramen especially looked delightful! My Roast Beef melt was good. A bit greasy but that's to be expected with melts, cucumber salad was delicious, the fries were crispy and tasty. Smash burger was Huge and very delicious or so I was told. Bartender was wonderful making sure we had what we needed as well as providing drinks for the wait staff. Everyone was having a nice meal on a rainy Saturday in September. I definitely will be back with my husband when we drive over from Rangeley. May even grab some Game sausages.

Friendly service & a great group of locals greeted/welcomed our large party of 15. The food was…read moreyour yummy, usual bar & grill fare. I had their Backstrap Burger which was very juicy & delicious! Their shoestring fries were awesome!! Others were happy with the fish sandwich and fish & chips and their speciality pizzas like the Big Mac pizza caught rave reviews.

Great people, great service and great food! Pizza, wings and…read morefries were all delicious

I ate at the Stratton three times during a week I spent in Stratton. Mentally I divide places that…read moreserve alcohol into two types: 1. a restaurant with a bar 2. a bar that serves food. Stratton Plaza is the latter. You enter through a sort of game room area (ping pong, pool tables, etc.) to a large room with a bar, tables and a dance floor. Service is good, quick, and friendly, although you may have to flag down your server from behind the bar. My rule for 'bars that serve food' is to stick to bar food; on one night I violated that rule and ordered a Turkey Dinner. (Shaved deli turkey, cranberry jelly from a can, stuffing from a bag, etc.) Pretty bad, and another example of why I should stick to the rules. The other two nights I had a veggie pizza. This was actually very well done, with a good crust and nice selection of veggies that avoided the 'compost' state of some veggie pizzas. Burgers at the next table also looked good and prices are very reasonable. The beer is fine, with several local beers on tap. Fine place if you remember that it is a bar that serves food.

Tufulios is such a classic. The bar always gets busy, but it's a great place if you can get a spot…read more The food is consistent and solid. There's some great apps. what's fun is that most of the meals come with either rice, pasta, or a baked potato AND your choice of soup or a salad. That's a really good deal for what you get. I had a special this past time, the steak mac and cheese and it was really good! Cheesy, tasty, flavorful.

My family has been here several times and it's always good! We've ordered the same thing a couple…read moreof times and it's always the same great quality, but with enough slight variation that you can tell it's truly made from scratch. Their specials are great but everything on their regular menu that we've tried has also been delicious! This is definitely our go-to spot in the area! Our favorites are the pasta dishes (particularly the tortellini)! The staff is also always nice and we've gotten pretty lucky with little to no wait to be seated every time we've come in (though we've seen others have to wait longer).

Great food, service, music, ambience... would go back again 10/10…read more Chicken apple brie quasedilla, the fiddheads, and duck empanadas were all incredible.

Dan is great, always so pleasant. Great atmosphere. Home cooked meals which are delicious, thank…read moreDans wife. Not many places left like this. If you need a place to stay they have rooms also.

Maine-style barbecue. I never knew this was a thing, but it makes so much sense. Fat and protein do…read morewonders for the body and soul when you've put in a full day of skiing and/or it's 10 degrees F or less out. Not to mention there's plenty of maple wood to be had in Maine for smoking. I don't have much of a basis of comparison to other Maine-style bbq places, but what I tried of the The Rack's bbq was excellent by any standard. I'm not sure I detect a huge difference from, say, Eastern South Carolina style 'cue. In fact, the sauce that my ribs (half rack of ribs with mac 'n' cheese, baked beans, coleslaw and cornbread; $38) came with would feel right at home in Eastern SC: vinegary with a touch of heat. The ribs had a wonderful layer of bark and were moist, but not fatty. They were not heavily seasoned or salted, which many of those in the know prefer since the quality of the meat can shine through. It did, here. Of course I didn't snap a photo of my meal -- I was so excited to eat, I forgot! -- but it came with a generous portion of mac 'n' cheese (pleasantly cheesy, but undersalted by our standards), baked beans (very vinegary, made with onions that could've been cooked to a softer consistency, but were enjoyable in their own right), a mayonnaise-y coleslaw (fair), and a tiny square of cornbread. The cornbread was southern style to my surprise and delight, not the fluffy, sweet, cake-like version usually passed off as cornbread in the north. I loved the slightly spicy, slightly sweet pickles that accompanied, as well. The Pardner had the kimchi beef short rib (shredded beef short rib in a kimchi beef broth served over seared sticky rice with chef's vegetable of the day, pickled carrots and daikon, hoisin bbq sauce, Korean bbq sauce, fried garlic, scallions and cilantro; $38). He mostly enjoyed the dish, but I found the texture of the seared sticky rice too hard and chewy, personally. There was more sweetness and less spice in the bowl than I personally prefer and would expect from the name. The vegetable of our day was broccoli, cooked crisp. One of my progeny had the smoked brisket sando ($26). I didn't try the sandwich, since it was inhaled in seconds, but I deduce it was good. The fries I snagged were crispy on the outside, tender on the inside -- great! The other progeny had a L'il Rippers (children's menu) grilled cheese with fries ($12). She enjoyed it, but evidently not as much as my mac 'n' cheese, ribs, and cornbread, which she heavily poached. There are many good local beers on tap, from clean taps based on what we tried. There's a hand-written menu in the back room by the pool table, which listed $5 specials. This restaurant, partly owned by Olympic snowboarder Scott Wescott (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seth_Wescott), is clearly very popular. (There was a 20 minute wait on a Friday evening, even on the dregs of the Sugarloaf ski season.) I think it probably draws Carrabassett Valley Academy students, families, and staff, given that this well-known ski and snowboard school is just a short walk away. Customers are a great mix of teenagers and young adults, old people, families, Mainers and tourists -- and everyone seems to have a good time. The pool table, dart boards, and arcade are fun for kids of all ages. We were given a compostable (non-waxed) cardboard box for leftovers. Appreciate the planet-friendly approach. The bartender in the back room was great -- so nice and helpful. Wait staff were nice, but no-nonsense in that extremely competent Mainer sort of way. It's easy to see why The Rack is popular.

The place looked great. That's why we stopped in for dinner last night but the BBQ plate was not…read moregood and the waiter didn't tell us that the blueberry lemonade was laced with THC nor did he tell us that if you order more than one sauce you get charged $2 each. Not a good dinner at all.

This is a special and fun place in the Carrabassett Valley - everyone comes here - Sugarloaf team,…read morelocals, skiers. The bowling is a great way to move your body after a long day on the slopes, and the spicy margs don't hurt! The pizza is tasty - not fancy but delicious and hits the spot after a busy day. The specials and events are good - enjoy the live music on Thursdays. Definitely recourses for families, friends, or whoever - we'll be back even if we aren't the worlds greatest bowlers

Popped in last minute when it seemed all other food options were closed. Found a seat at the bar…read moreand watched the bowlers hit over 200 as i ate the bombest fried chicken style tenders and fries. The mountain of fries were hidden under 4 huge tenders. Couldn't have been more pleased considering i wasnt sure what to exoect eating at a bowling alley. Also your chunky blue cheese was great. Ty. I will definitely return. Taco Tuesday night was cool, the chimichanga i saw looked excellent and not puny.

Perfectly decent food, especially being a ski resort! Fish and chips special was perfectly tasty,…read morewith the haddock being of appropriate flakiness. Steamed broccoli was probably frozen, but that's what I get for ordering the default fry substitute.

Perhaps it was our mistake for not ordering the burger. That seems like what everyone gets excited…read moreabout, here. What we had, instead, over the course of a few visits: four different pizzas, three different salads, a few sandwiches, and lots of different beers. The pizzas were made with a thicker-style crust, I guess what might be called Greek-style in CT: thicker than a NY-style crust, thinner than a Chicago-style crust, and middle-of-the-road glutinous. Toppings were in good balance, a not-overly-sweet tomato sauce topped with just the right amount of cheese in our view. Pepperoni comes in wide strips cut from sandwich-sized slices, and versions we ordered with peppers or olives came with a fair amount of each. Our contingent of pizza snobs enjoyed, but did not love these pies. Sandwiches were pretty spendy, but appeared to be nicely filled, e.g. with chicken salad or deli meat, cheese, and veggies. The primary consumers said they were "okay." The three salads we tried (Cobb, beet, and King's Bag) were weak: so wimpy and mediocre for the price. (The ones down at D'Ellie's were far better!) I would emphatically not get these again. A few of our beers tasted as though they'd come from taps that hadn't been properly cleaned in a while. (Others were fine.) We hear there's a robust apres ski / evening scene here at times.... and the restaurant sure smells like it! It sounds like this restaurant has some strengths, which I guess we didn't quite hit. I'd come back with friends for apres ski drinks -- but probably not so much for the food (unless those drinks need absorbing).

Solid bar at the Loaf. A good option for pizza, burgers and dinner specials. Shipyard beers on…read moretap.

The ambience is fantastic -- warm, cozy, and full of ski‑lodge charm. We happened to arrive during…read moretrivia night and ended up having an absolute blast with the other patrons. The food was spot‑on across the board. I ordered the Haddock Rachel, along with the cheese curds appetizer, and paired it all with Shipyard's signature draft -- everything was delicious. The only drawback was the pacing of the service. Things moved slowly enough that I found myself repeatedly wondering where our server had gone, which kept the experience from being a full five stars. Still, it's a great spot with excellent food and a fun atmosphere.

Came here for a massage which was great. 4.5 stars. HOWEVER you will hear running kids and adults…read moreoutside the door; the shower room after had enough hair to make a life size hair doll; no shoes or rubber slippers are available. Everything is outdated. I would recommend the spa being moved away from the screaming kids in the pool, and a different room available for changing etc. if the massage had been bad it would have been a one star.

We are staying at the Sugartree condos attached to this facility and I just found out they CHARGE…read morefor the hot tub use. What the heck, not even the most basic hotel charges for use of the fitness facilities, hot tub, or pool. To me, a hot tub is a given as part of a ski resort stay. Love the mountain, but will not stay here again.

I really liked this little restaurant at Sugarloaf ski resort. Very good French toast and the…read moreservice was excellent

D'Ellie's is a breakfast and lunch cafe at the base of Sugarbush, right up the stairs from the…read moreskier drop off point / parking lot, halfway between the Super Quad lift and the base lodge. Awesome: - They have well priced children's meals, which made our 10-year-old really happy. She enjoyed the grilled cheese option, made on her choice of bread (white). She said it lacked the frico of her favorite preps, but on the upside, it was not overly cheesy by her tastes. The meal comes with a small bag of chips, a brownie (evidently house made and awesome per the kiddo), a Capri Sun, and a bubble wand. The bubble wand was enjoyed for days and days after. - D'Ellie's Cobb salad was the best version of this salad (and probably best salad overall) that we tried in the Sugarloaf area, and the most fairly priced to boot. (Cf. the wimpy, low brow, overpriced version we had at the Bag.) It was generously sized and made with fresh, excellent ingredients. Good: - Focaccia based sandwiches were made with fresh focaccia, possibly baked in-house. They weren't as well filled as what our contingent is accustomed to at home, but I actually don't think the ratio of bread to filling would be too far from the norm in Italy. Overall, our contingent enjoyed -- in huge part b/c of the high quality bread. - The cafe packages food in waxed paper and waxed cardboard (not recyclable, but potentially compostable, I think). And they provide reusable mugs for drinking coffee in house. I really like that they're trying to be lower waste. So-so: - The "Italian" subs were not to the tastes of those who ordered them. I think regional differences might've been a contributing factor. (See, e.g. https://www.sandwichtribunal.com/2017/01/the-maine-style-italian-sandwich/#:~:text=Boiled%20ham%2C%20white%20American%20cheese,well%2Dknown%20sub%20chain%20recently, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maine_Italian_sandwich) My sub-eating contingent is used to the meat-heavy NJ / NYC deli style of sub, without the moisture of salad oil, made with a more substantial (less airy, less tender, and more glutinous), toasted Italian bread. D'Ellie's version used a very soft, non-toasted hot dog bun-like bread, not homemade as far as we could tell; pickles; sweet peppers; olives; salad oil; and your protein of choice, in our case roast beef and salami. Primary consumers said they found the meat proportions skimpy. - It can take a while to get your order even when the cafe doesn't seem too busy. I could see people working their tails off in the kitchen, so this is less of a complaint than a know-before-you-go. - There are a few tables and seats in-house, mostly pub-height tables with stools. It's pleasantly low key and casual. If space gets tight, take it to the dining spaces in the base lodge. We are spoiled ingrates when it comes to food. As such, we were not all that excited by dining options in the area. But for on-mountain fare that's more fairly priced and of even or higher quality than other options we found in the vicinity, D'Ellie's is a good bet.