21 Best Restaurants in The Mid-Coast Region, Maine

You'll feel right at home in this intimate modern pub, offering casual dining on two floors plus an upper outdoor deck. The beer ranges from IPAs to stouts and sours. The menu, which changes with the seasons, includes imaginative light dishes as well as well-prepared entrées. 

Although everything served at this seafood shack and market beside Fish Beach is delicious and simply prepared, the crab roll—a large, split-top roll buttered and griddled and stuffed with fresh, sweet, mayo-tossed crabmeat—may just be the best on the Maine coast. Order at the window, carry your tray to a picnic table inches from the water, and lap up the view of lobster boats in the harbor. You can also have your order packed to go. 

Drive to the end of Route 127 and relax in the breezes off Sheepscot Bay in the tiny fishing village of Five Islands, not too far from Reid State Park. This award-winning lobster shack overlooks at least five islands from its perch atop the working wharf, and you can watch lobstermen unload their traps onto the dock while you feast on fresh lobster rolls or a full lobster dinner and sample Maine-made ice cream. If you've got a big craving for lobster, order the Big Boy lobster roll, with double the amount of meat in a large roll. The “secret” to the famous tartar sauce is dill. This is a BYOB place, so bring a cooler with your preferred beverages, settle at a picnic table, and enjoy the sublime setting.

The menu at this late-afternoon-into-late-evening spot is limited and changes frequently, but it's always good. Order a small plate or charcuterie board, or go bigger with something like risotto, ramen, or seared pork shoulder with roasted shallots and toasted pistachios. Sunday brunch is popular, thanks to such choices as molasses pancakes, deviled eggs with smoked trout, and gougeres served with candied bacon. Accompany your food with a cool craft cocktail, Maine beer (several on draft), or a glass of wine.

Located at Linekin Bay Resort, this casual, mostly outdoor restaurant offers a serene waterside setting coupled with fresh lobster rolls, haddock BLTs, mussels, crab cakes, crudo yellowfin tuna, fish tacos, and clams linguine. There are plenty of meat, gluten-free, and vegan options, too. The resort and the restaurant are only a few minutes' drive east of downtown Boothbay Harbor, but the chill atmosphere seems a million miles away. There's often live music on weekends.

Try for a table by the windows in the small dining room of this little landmark restaurant, perched beside Pemaquid Lighthouse at the very edge of the rocky shore. Blueberry pancakes with Maine maple syrup are the clear breakfast favorites; the lunch and dinner menu features fried fresh seafood, lobster and crab rolls, salads, and mouthwatering entrées like the shipwreck pie (lobster, crab, shrimp, and scallops sautéed in butter and topped with a cracker-crumb crust). Desserts include ice cream and homemade pies or strawberry or blueberry shortcake. Alcoholic beverages aren't served, but you're welcome to bring your own. The gift shop is packed jewelry, Maine-made jams and condiments, prints of local scenery, and other great souvenirs.

This aptly named, family-run restaurant serves all the standard Thai favorites, as well as some lesser-known options. Everything is prepared using fresh local fish, meats, and produce. In addition to indoor dining, there's a small patio just outside the front door.

Austrian-born chef-owner Karin Guerin dishes up intriguing, tapas-style small plates—from mojito ginger wings to Madagascar beef skewers—as well as full-size risotto, vegetarian, vegan, and seafood entrées. Be sure to try the fried oysters in vichyssoise sauce with flying-fish roe. On a fine summer day, the open-air rooftop and bar is a wonderful spot to dine.

People have been stopping at this roadside lobster pound for a century, buying live or cooked lobsters to take home, or ordering a lobster or crabmeat roll, lobster stew, lobster dinner, steamed or fried fresh clams, and other local seafood to enjoy at a picnic table overlooking a serene salt marsh. It's just a few miles down the road from Freeport's Main Street shops, but it feels a world apart.

Take a break from Main Street's bustle and drive 3 scenic miles to South Freeport, where this popular, bare-bones, counter-service place sits beside the town landing and serves up seafood baskets and lobster dinners. Save room for strawberry shortcake, blueberry crisp, bread pudding, whoopie pies, or another of the homemade desserts. Lines can be long.

Of the half dozen breweries in Freeport, the Maine Beer Company is a standout. Its beer is well crafted, as are its salads, charcuterie, and wood-fired pizzas, and you can dine indoors or out. It's a popular place, so reservations are recommended, though not required. Every year, the owners donate a percentage of profits to charitable organizations.

You know that the lobster and other seafood is fresh at this quintessential shack, just east of Tenants Harbor and at the end of a scenic, winding shoreside byway—the owner's family owns the wholesale lobster company on the next wharf over, where local lobstermen tie up to deliver their catches. In addition to generously stuffed lobster rolls, the menu usually includes crab rolls, crab cakes, grilled clams, and a couple of nonseafood items. Save room for a slice of freshly baked pie or a whoopie pie. Order at the window, and settle at a picnic table with broad, serene views of the bay, islands, and the working harbor. This is a BYOB place, with regulars often interpreting the "B" to mean not only a bottle of wine, but also a bouquet of flowers in a jar or maybe a birthday cake.

In a large, historic, handsomely renovated brick building, Newcastle Publick House serves delicious comfort food in a pleasant dining room and welcoming bar. Specialties include fresh oysters prepared several ways, a selection of burgers, and one of the best French onion soups around. There is often live music.

Here, the dough and many of the toppings are made from scratch, so it's no surprise that the wood-fired pizzas often sell out before closing time. Keep it simple with red sauce, cheese, and pepperoni, or go for more sophisticated toppings such as wild mushrooms, duxelles, caramelized shallots, house-smoked chicken, or house-made fennel sausage. Calzones, sandwiches, smoked wings, and other small plates round out the menu. Get here early on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday morning for hand-rolled, sourdough-risen, honey boiled, wood-fired bagels; like the pizzas, they can also sell out fast.

Shuck Station may be in a repurposed gas station, with umbrella-topped tables set on gravel beside a busy road, but its exquisite oysters elevate the dining experience here. Pull up a stool at the raw bar, and mix and match a dozen on the half-shell from various Maine oyster farms to compare the sweetness and brine. Or choose oysters Rockefeller or baked oysters with maple barbecue sauce. The menu also has fried shellfish baskets and other fishy dishes, as well as salads, fried chicken, and burgers. A well-chosen wine list focuses on what pairs well with oysters, and there are several Maine craft beers on draft. There's live music on Thursday and Sunday.

Just across the road from Red's, Sprague's serves excellent lobster rolls, too. Indeed, many locals prefer to come here—though the rolls aren't quite as stuffed as at Red's, they usually cost a couple of dollars less, and the waits are not nearly as long.

What was once a vintage gas station has been reborn as a casual dining spot with a Texas vibe. Moist, smoked barbecue is the star here, with offerings including brisket, pulled pork, and pork and beef ribs. The menu also includes tacos, sandwiches, pizzas, soups, and salads. Great specials amp up the selection even further. Sunday brunch features country-fried steak and eggs or biscuits and gravy; sometimes jalapeno cheddar grits or lobster johnny cake with Champagne beurre blanc make an appearance. Like most everything else here, the sauces are made from scratch, and you can even buy a bottle or two to take with you. Save room for the yummy cheesecake, whose flavor changes frequently. The bar mixes creative cocktails, including weekly margarita specials, and there's draft Maine beer, wine, and plenty of non-alcoholic choices. There's frequent live music, too.

Whether you dine outside on the long, narrow dock, or inside, you'll enjoy the view, the vibe, and the food at this popular summertime eatery on Pemaquid Harbor. The fish tacos and fried-oyster tacos are exceptional, as are the lobster club sandwich, Korean barbecue smoked chicken, and the pizza. Order locally raised oysters from the raw bar, and try the fish tartare, especially if it's tuna. There's live music a couple of evenings each week.

You'll find the Dip Net behind the Port Clyde General Store, on a deck overlooking the harbor. Sit at a picnic table inside an enclosure or out in the sunshine and enjoy such local treats as fried oysters, lobster (of course), crab cakes, and fresh fish. There are good landlubber choices, too. 

Simple, well-prepared dishes draw folks to this pleasant harborfront restaurant in the middle of a boatyard. On weekends, the full menu includes seafood and pub specialties as well as a selection of pizzas; on Thursday and Monday, only pizza is served.

With a welcoming, small-town atmosphere, this little café is popular with locals. Served at both lunch and dinner, the menu includes salads, sandwiches, burgers, and a few entrées such as fish-and-chips, baked stuffed haddock, and scallops au gratin.