6 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. 

Perched on the bridge that spans the river between Damariscotta and Newcastle, this sweet little restaurant is passionate about growing or locally sourcing as many ingredients as possible. They're always fresh and top-quality, and shine in simply yet deftly prepared fish, chicken, and steak dishes. Damariscotta River oysters are always on the menu, and there's an exceptional burger, made from local beef and topped with local cheese. The wood-fired grill just inside the front door features in many of the preparations. 

Christian Hayes—a champion on the TV show, Chopped, and a seventh-generation Mainer whose family has a deep history in the local fishing and farming industries—is the chef-owner of this bistro. He uses pure and simple ingredients to create complex dishes such as meaty sautéed mushrooms in bright, silky egg yolk or slow-braised pork belly with chili, cucumber, garlic-scape kimchi, quail egg, and cashew powder. The dessert menu features ice cream, but it's not the ordinary cold stuff, with offerings like sour cherry and Champagne sorbet or Thai-iced-tea iced cream with butterfly pea flower whipped cream and chili crisps.

Even though it's not directly on the water, don’t overlook this Main Street eatery. You can't go wrong with lobster cakes or Pemaquid oysters, but here you can also tuck into Thai fish stew, grilled hangar steak with a bourbon-brown-sugar glaze, or duck confit risotto.

The coffee is freshly roasted and richly flavorful, the baked goods are straight from the oven, and the atmosphere is chill. Have a muffin or croissant, select from several toasties with imaginative fillings, or try the delicious avocado toast on homemade wheat bread. Wash it down with a really good iced latte. If you're in a hurry, select from the grab-and-go burrito menu.

This inviting bistro at the Brunswick Hotel serves creative dishes like fingerling potato and frisée salad, mushroom galette, braised lamb shoulder, or seared diver scallops. For dessert, give the foie gras ice cream a try! There's a selection of well-crafted cocktails, too, as well as live music one evening a week. Sit inside or out on the patio beside the large gas fireplace.