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Food · breakfast, lunch, dinner
🍽 Where we eat
Every meal of the week, with the already-locked ones marked. ★ = the pick if you don't want to think about it. Ratings are Google's. Hours were checked for the actual day of the week you'll be there — several of the obvious choices are closed on your day, and those are flagged.
Peak August, and you're a party of three. The sit-down dinners below (Alsace, Scales, Twelve, 13 Oak, Back River Bistro) all take reservations and all fill up. Booking Wednesday and Sunday now costs you five minutes and saves the two meals most likely to go wrong.
Tuesday, Aug 4
Fly in · Wiscasset · Boothbay Harbor
Breakfast
In the air — BHM at 4:45 AM, Detroit connection is 40 minutes with no time to eat. Grab something at BHM before boarding or take what Delta hands you.
Lunch · 2:45p
Red's Eats, Wiscasset — locked. Cash only. Sprague's across the street is the no-wait backup.
Dinner · 6:30p
Thistle Inn 4.6★ · opens 4 PM — old captain's house, real non-seafood menu. The point, after a Red's lobster roll.
207-579-6004
Water's Edge, Edgecomb is closed Tuesdays — the closest restaurant to the cottage, don't drive there on spec.
Wednesday, Aug 5
Camden · Rockland · Union
Breakfast · in Camden before the 10:45 cruise
Camden Deli 4.4★ · 7 AM–6 PM — faster, harbor-falls view, good if you're running late off the Edgecomb checkout.
Bagel Café is closed Wednesdays.
Lunch · 11:45a, straight off the boat
Camden Deli — two blocks from the dock, moves fast, lobster BLT and chowder. Keep it to the hour.
Villager Cafe 4.7★ · 8 AM–3 PM — quieter counter service on Mechanic St, good salads and sandwiches.
Dinner · ~6:15p in Union
Alsace Restaurant & Bar, Union
4.6★ · Wed 5–8 PM — French-Alsatian, run by a chef and a sommelier, five minutes from the dome. Closes at 8 and takes reservations;
call before you leave Marshall Point.
207-390-1207
Sterlingtown Public House, Union
4.4★ · 3–8 PM — the relaxed option, big portions, wings and burgers. Also ~5 min from the dome.
13 Oak, Rockland
4.6★ · 5–8:30 PM — if you'd rather eat before the drive up. Tiny room, reserve.
207-466-9264
Everything in Union closes at 8 PM. Marshall Point at 5:00p puts you in Union around 6:15 — that works, but it is not a night to linger at the lighthouse.
Thursday, Aug 6
Union · Acadia · Belfast
Breakfast · ~7:00a, on the way out of Union
Sterlingtown Bakehouse, Union
4.7★ · opens 7 AM — opens exactly when you need to leave. Pastries, breakfast sandwiches, real coffee, grab-and-go. Right on the way out of town.
Jordan's Restaurant, Bar Harbor
4.6★ · opens 5 AM — if you'd rather eat on arrival. The only place downtown open that early, blueberry pancakes, fast. Tight against a 9:00 e-bike pickup though.
Lunch · in the park
Jordan Pond House popovers — already on the Acadia plan, and the reason to be there.
Bar Harbor Lobster Pound 4.8★ · 11 AM–9 PM — if the popovers get skipped. Highest-rated lobster anywhere on this trip: boiling pots outside, picnic tables under the trees, lobster tacos and bisque.
Dinner · 5:30p
Young's Lobster Pound, Belfast — locked. Belfast to Freeport is ~1 hr 40 after, so you'll reach the Harraseeket around 8:00–8:30.
Friday, Aug 7
Cape Elizabeth · Portland · Peaks Island
Breakfast · 9:00a, Cape Elizabeth
Sea Glass at Inn by the Sea 4.4★ · breakfast 7:30–10:30 AM — oceanfront, ten minutes from Portland Head Light, and the 10:30 cutoff lines up exactly with your 10:30 at Fort Williams. Blueberry pancakes and a patio over the water.
Bayside American Cafe, Portland
4.7★ · 7 AM–2 PM — lobster eggs benedict, best brunch in the city. Eat here first, then drive out to the Cape.
Lunch · between the lighthouse and the 2:15 ferry
The Lobster Shack at Two Lights 4.3★ · from 11 AM — five minutes from Portland Head Light, picnic tables on the rocks with surf below. The most Maine lunch available. Line moves; leave by 1:15 to make the ferry comfortably.
Tostones Café, Cape Elizabeth
4.8★ · from 11 AM — Colombian, arepas and empanadas. The break from seafood, if anyone wants one.
Dinner · 4:30p
Welcome Lobster Bake, Greenwood Garden, Peaks Island — locked. Casual beach cocktail attire.
Saturday, Aug 8
Portland · wedding in Cape Elizabeth
Breakfast
Becky's Diner 4.6★ · opens 5 AM — working-waterfront institution, no wait if you go early, blueberry pancakes. The reliable choice on a Saturday.
Bayside American Cafe 4.7★ · 7 AM–2 PM — better food, 30–45 min Saturday wait. Worth it if the morning is unhurried.
Lunch · keep it light
Eventide Oyster Co. 4.5★ · from 11 AM — the brown-butter lobster roll that made Portland's reputation, plus oysters. Perfect size before a 3:30 welcome-drinks start.
Highroller Lobster Co. 4.6★ · from 11 AM — lobster roll flights, lobster corn dogs, unserious in the best way.
Don't overdo it. Welcome drinks and hors d'oeuvres start at 3:30, reception dinner runs 5–10.
Dinner · 5:00p
Wedding reception, Cape Elizabeth — locked. Formal / black-tie optional.
Sunday, Aug 9
Portland · the open day
Breakfast
Nom Cafe 4.7★ · Sun 8 AM–3 PM — Balkan-inspired brunch, shakshuka and kyufte. The most interesting breakfast in Portland and the least likely to have a 45-minute line.
The Friendly Toast 4.5★ · Sun 7:30 AM–4 PM — big, loud, fun, huge menu. Good after a late wedding night.
Dinner · the one real open night
Scales 4.7★ · Sun 4:30–9:30 PM — big windows onto the harbor, oysters shucked at the table, halibut and mussels people write home about. The best version of a Maine seafood dinner without being a shack.
Reserve. 207-805-0444
Twelve 4.8★ · Sun 5–9 PM — the splurge. Tasting menu, chef's counter, highest-rated restaurant in Portland. Book it or don't bother turning up.
207-910-7400
ViA VECCHiA 4.5★ · Sun 4–10 PM — Italian, speakeasy back room, the non-seafood answer after five days of lobster.
Monday, Aug 10
Old Port · South Portland
Breakfast
Salt Yard Cafe & Bar 4.6★ · from 7 AM — pastries and serious coffee on Commercial St, ten minutes' walk from the Holiday Inn. Easy checkout-morning breakfast.
Becky's Diner 4.6★ · opens 5 AM — if you want a full plate before a food-crawl day.
Lunch · the Old Port crawl (Option A)
J's Oyster 4.4★ · from 11:30 AM — the unpretentious old-school pier bar. Oysters, lobster stew, no scene.
Cheese Louise 4.7★ — grilled cheese and tomato soup, and a crawl needs a non-seafood stop.
Butcher Burger 4.7★ — tiny room, crinkle-cut fries, one of the best burgers in the state.
Dinner
Hosts' dinner — Fore Street or Central Provisions, per the day card. Fore Street runs 4:30–10 PM and is worth a reservation.
Tuesday, Aug 11
Fly home
Breakfast
Nothing is open. You leave Tru by Hilton around 4:45 AM for a 6:30 flight — eat at PWM after security, or grab something the night before. Pack snacks Monday night. The LGA connection is 58 minutes, so New York is not a meal either.
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