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

Located on a nub jutting into Somes Sound a few miles from Northeast Harbor, this place hums on summer nights as adults grab a drink from the outside bar, kids and dogs romp, and folks angle to watch lobsters cook in an open-air kitchen before eating at tables about the sloping lawn; the window-lined mid-century wood-walled dining room has views from every table. There are separate menus for each dining space though there is some overlap including the wood-fired boiled lobster, a lobster roll, fried clams, and the 9-ounce house burger. Mussels steamed with mushrooms, herbs, and cream and served with housemade focaccia bread are a delightful dinner-only appetizer.

An early standout in Maine’s farm-to-table movement, this acclaimed establishment not far from Bar Harbor in tiny Otter Creek sells to-go foods—prepared (including breakfast pastries) and ready-to-cook, all made on-site and largely featuring ingredients from the owners’ extensive gardens. The retail side has a small gardenside outdoor eating area and also sells small-scale wines (natural, organic, and biodynamic) as well as ciders. Seafood has been a specialty of the restaurant, with signature dishes like oven-poached cod and gray sole stuffed with asparagus, pea tendrils, and chevre. To-go items include halibut salad with dill and lemon and smoked salmon.

A lively yet intimate spot on the edge of downtown, Havana serves Latin-inspired dishes like seafood paella and panko-crusted lamb chops with lemon mojo sauce paired with robust wines from an award-winning, passionately curated 73-page wine list. In season, have a bite on “the Parrilla,” the informal no-reservations patio (separate menu); year-round, dine in a pleasant indoor space with a modern aesthetic, featuring clean lines and cheery colors. The menu has staples yet varies with the seasons. Lamb chops might come with cheesy grits and grilled veggies in July and sweet potato puree and ratatouille in September. Seafood paella piles in lobster, mussels, shrimp, scallops, chorizo, tomatoes, peppers, and smoked chicken with saffron rice. You'd do well to finish off your meal with a serving of affogato made with Mount Desert Island vanilla-bean ice cream and something from the also-extensive “Cigars & After Dinner Drinks” menu (yes, cigars are to go).

Whether you have a table in the dining room or a seat at the small bar, you’ll feel comfortable at this longtime fine dining downtown restaurant, where yellow walls, white tablecloths, and the white brick fireplace add lightness and dark wood walls and ceilings and landscape paintings (for sale) add warmth. Along with entrées such as lobster risotto with asparagus and maple-glazed baby back ribs, grilled with crescendo after slowly braising, there’s always a burger on the menu. Appetizers are inventive, like house-made duck and pork sausage with pear, rhubarb, and raspberry chutney. Fine-tuned seasonally, the menu features locally sourced foods, including meat and fish.

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 its comfort food like fish tacos and burgers. Outdoor and indoor dining spaces, one anchored by a horseshoe bar, flow together and exposed brick, and a cork wall and ceiling, add warmth to the welcoming, modern, family-friendly vibe; friendly dogs are allowed outside. The main restaurant and The Annex (no lunch) serve from the same menu until 9 pm when the former closes and The Annex offers appetizers, desserts, and mac-and-cheese for its final hour.

With red cushioned seating and wood walls around the bar, this cozy-as-can-be brew pub (the brewery itself is inland) right on Main Street has a decor and menu that reflects its British ownership. Several of the dozen or so beers served are hand-pulled, and food options include steak and ale pie and bangers and mash. The name ties in with the location of the brewery in Amherst, about a half hour’s drive from here, where you can take a tour, and the restaurant tasting room displays items from when the building was a furniture factory.

Overlooking the water out back and practically hugging Route 3 out the front, this 1883 four-story gray-shingled restaurant and inn can’t be missed nor is the opportunity to dine here and savor the spectacular view of picturesque Northeast Harbor, especially from the large deck fronting the classic old New England dining room. The menu offers a handful of entrées, including filet mignon, and lighter fare like fish tacos. The dining room’s mural-like wallpaper adds to the old New England vibe. Many of the inn’s guest rooms (30 in the main house), each well-appointed and unique, have water views.

Glass walls let you see this busy craft brewery spot in action even before you enter, but look up or head up—there’s rooftop seating with great Bar Harbor views. After ordering a flight or glass of beer, choose from a food menu offering soups, sandwiches, salads, and lobster and crab rolls. Founded in Bar Harbor in 1991 and later acquiring another local brewer, Atlantic Brewing Co.’s farmstead brewery eight miles away in the town’s outlying Town Hill area ( 15 Knox Hill Rd.) has a seasonal tasting room and restaurant, Mainely Meat BBQ. Private tours of the brewery are available for parties of four or more. 

Watch lobstermen and fishermen haul their catch and pleasure craft come and go at this working pier with a large restaurant that's big on lobster, clams, and other seafood but also sells burgers, steak, and hot dogs for the kids. There’s a roofed seating area with a bar, waterside bar tables for two along a covered pier walkway, indoor dining (upper level), and patio seating. Some seafood baskets offer a choice of fried or seared. The traditional lobster meal is served with cornbread, corn-on-the-cob, and coleslaw.

Ogling the assorted goodies makes for a fun wait in the often long lines at this cheeky, old-fashioned candy and ice cream shop. Most of the candy, including numerous varieties of fine chocolates and fudge, is made right here, as is the ice cream (64 flavors) and gelato (8 flavors). Folks congregate, generously scooped cone in hand, by the large "lobster" out front. Be forewarned: kids will clamor for "penny candy" and a cone.

A sign points customers to this tucked-away eatery set back from Mount Desert Street near the Village Green, which is breakfast-only (a change from years past)—the pancakes are quite popular. Opening at 6:30 am to catch the crowds who’ve worked up an appetite savoring sunrise atop Acadia National Park’s Cadillac Mountain, it stays open until 1 pm for those who want breakfast for lunch. Seating is divided about evenly inside and out, making this a great choice for 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 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 here; in summer, some tables are out front.

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. 

Though tucked back on an Ellsworth residential street, folks find this hip brewpub—yes, the brewery is right here—with a large, inviting beer garden, housed on the lower level of an old brick warehouse. The simple menu includes hotdogs and bratwurst, and pizza cooked in the outdoor oven. Space heaters and a few firepits keep things warm into the cooler weather in the beer garden. Fogtown has a location in Bar Harbor, too (also open year-round, aside from occasional off-season closings).

Open much of the year and filled with Maine art, this large restaurant has a classic New England vibe, several dining rooms on two floors, and a large menu to match. Offerings range from sandwiches and small plates to lobster dishes, steak, and seafood, including a bouillabaisse with shrimp, scallops, fresh fish, and lobster, served with steamed mussels and grilled ciabatta bread. In an 1890s building, once a boarding house for seamen, the trim and tin ceiling are original; the Galley Lounge has diamond windows from a Rockefeller estate that was torn down, and the bar itself is an old bank tellers counter. Not for sale, the restaurant’s artwork is touted as Maine’s largest private art collection on public display.

With a big menu that’s big on seafood (there's a pick-your-own lobster tank), this lively longtime establishment 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 the cocktails; 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 lovely but only available from a few seats upfront. You can enter the large gift shop downstairs, which has a treasure chest with freebies for the kids, from the street or the restaurant.

After enjoying the sunrise atop Acadia National Park's 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. Signature items include homemade oatmeal bread, stuffed French toast, and the Great Maine Breakfast, with three eggs, meat, pancakes, and vegetarian baked beans—the tradition here 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.

The only dining option within Acadia serves lunch, tea, and dinner as well as to-go items like sandwiches and salads. Most folks come for tea and popovers with strawberry jam on the lawn—a tradition started in the 1890s in the original Jordan Pond House—but the menu also includes chowders and entrees like a lobster dinner or the fresh catch of the day. There's also a gift shop and, on the upper level, an observation deck. Parking lots here fill fast in high season; consider biking or taking the free Island Explorer bus.

Tucked away on a lane-like downtown street, this laid-back spot with a bocce court on the shaded patio out front is back in the groove after two sisters, both former employees, took over in 2022. Signature dishes include seared scallops with Korean barbeque sauce, the falafel plate, and the peanut sauce and pita bread (both house-made) appetizer; new are weekly cocktail specials that, say, mix elderflower, blueberry shrub, vodka, and mint to honor a supermoon. You can dine on the patio, in one of two clean-lined dining rooms, or at the L-shape bar.

A fisherman’s wife owns this popular establishment, which buys lobster right off the boat and has covered tables spread about a deck atop a wharf. As stunning as the setting is, folks also come for the excellent food, including boiled lobster with sides; there are plenty of non-seafood choices, too, including pulled pork. There is a very small dining room, and rain doesn’t usually shut this place down, but best to call first if the weather is inclement.

Madagascar Vanilla Bean has specks from beans scraped from vanilla pods—just one example of the prep work that goes into creating these heralded artisanal ice creams (and a few sorbets), made at a nearby production facility with as many local ingredients as possible. The shop's double doors open like a huge window, welcoming passersby right in; grab a seat or head across the street to the Village Green to savor every bite.

About half the seating here is on a large patio within spitting distance from the water, though you can also enjoy the quintessential view of a working harbor through large windows inside this cheery establishment. 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 here before or after watching the sunset at nearby Bass Harbor Head Light in Acadia National Park, but you can also enjoy the spectacle at Seafood Ketch.  

Known around town simply as “The Colonel’s,” this restaurant serves up traditional fare—everything from lobster rolls and fried seafood plates to burgers and pizza—for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, which can be eaten 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.

Regulars come from beyond Schoodic Peninsula to this fun Birch Harbor spot to order its namesake, a pickled protein-packed sea snail; this “Down East delicacy” isn't always on the menu. Visitors exiting Acadia National Park’s Schoodic District stop here for fresh takes on traditional pub fare like burgers, wings, and pizzas (specialty or build your own), served in the spacious, woodsy, inside dining spaces or the eating area out front—both have bars. The seaweed chips are locally sourced, and the meat for the hamburgers is Maine-produced.

Right on Bass Harbor, Thurston's is easy to spot because of the bright yellow awnings covering much of its outdoor-only seating. You can order everything from a grilled-cheese crab sandwich, haddock chowder, or hamburger to a boiled lobster served with clams or mussels. Tables under those can't-miss awnings are on two levels—one has a bar. There’s no indoor dining at this family-friendly establishment, but those outdoor rooms are protected by plastic blinds and propane fireplaces if it’s chilly. Thurston's is also a lobster wholesaler, and you can buy cooked or uncooked lobsters to go.