The Boathouse Bistro Tapas Bar and Restaurant

Excellent risotto! Our fave is the seafood risotto. Lobster, shrimp, and scallops where included in the mix. Staff was great. Awesome!

Excellent pasta dish”
The Boathouse Restaurant is a small dining area on the 2^nd floor of a building on the main street. There is no harbor view. We enjoyed an excellent pasta dish (large portions), but the meal did not come with anything other than pasta.

They have a very interesting selection of tapas. Unfortunately we were visiting right before they were going on a two week vacation and they were sold out of a lot of items. The lobster bisque was interesting and different with big chunks of whole lobster claws. My wife’s lobster crepes were delicious but she didn’t love the mushroom ragout. Sliders were pretty good as well. I really liked the Maine maple sea scallops with risotto cakes and blueberries and also enjoyed the shrimp and grits. We were too stuffed to try dessert but we stopped by the night before and they make a very good fruit crisp — three different flavors.

A friend of mine told me that this place has the best risotto she’s ever had. While I enjoy risotto, I rarely eat it, and I don’t think I’ve ever craved it. However, when we were eating our way through Boothbay, I remembered what she said, and decided to try out the Boathouse Bistro’s risotto.
Wow.
Yup, this is the best risotto I’ve ever had, AND I now crave risotto – but only from this place. It was rich, flavorful, served with perfectly cooked harvest vegetables and just delicious. It was a good sized portion as well, and I was happy to gobble up the leftovers for lunch the next day. The risotto is even good cold the next day.
The Fiancé got swordfish, which is something he’s never felt compelled to order either, and he was exclaiming over how good it was. We were honestly both still talking about our dinners the next day, which I don’t think has ever happened before.
The setup of the restaurant is a little odd in that there are three floors and we didn’t quite know what to do when we first got there. We wanted to sit on the top level, so we just headed up there and hoped for the best. I think it might be a bit tougher to get a table later at night, but we were rather early, so we walked up there and were seated pretty much right away.
The service was decent, not spectacular. The cocktail list was fun and the beer taps pretty standard for the area. I think if we had been seated near the railing with the better view, rather than right in the middle next to the bar, we might have stayed a little longer and had another drink. As it was, we were both stuffed from our amazing meals and ready to head back to the hotel and put on stretchy pants.

Fantastic meal! Great service!
The Boathouse Bistro is a Boothbay Harbor favorite (recommended to us by more than one local) and it wasn’t difficult to figure out why. The menu was full of delicious options — lots of local seafood — and the hardest part was narrowing down exactly what to order.
To start we ordered the waffles fries which were a super french fry experience. The fries were thick-​cut, crispy and served hot and salted. The fried smoked cheddar (Panko encrusted smoked cheddar) was hot and ooey-​gooey served with a tart tomato jam that brought out the smoky notes of the cheese. My house white peach sangria was exactly as I like it: sweet, light, bubbly with a spoonful of chopped peaches. My husband thought the beer list was solid.
As someone who is crazy about risotto, I would rank The Boathouse Bistro’s seafood risotto as some of the best I have ever had. The creamy, cheesy, perfectly cooked risotto was piled high with 5 big, plump scallops, 4 sizeable shrimp and 2 big in-​tact claws of lobster meat, with chunks of lobster meat to-​boot. I only mention the quantities because there was so much seafood and the price was right! Every bite was better than the last. My husband ordered vegetable Fettuccine Alfredo that knocked his socks off — a creamy, rich sauce served over al dente Fettuccini tossed with big chunks of fresh vegetables.
For dessert we had a trio of Crème Brulee made each with Baileys, Frangelico and White Chocolate Godiva and they were each awesome.
We sat in the downstairs dining room which was casual, comfortable and softly lit. It was too cold to head to the upstairs roof, but we heard the views are amazing during the day. There is also second floor seating. The servers were all sweet and helpful, the meal was served at a great pace and lent to an enjoyable dining experience.
We’d recommend this to anyone visiting Boothbay Harbor! Or anyone at all, for that matter!

Wow, great view from the roof if you can get a seat and the lobster crepes are worth the climb up the stairs. Our steak tapas were very undercooked and the hummus dish was just OK but the crepes, wow.

Best spot in Boothbay, Great view from 3^rd level outside deck! Amazing food, great atmosphere, try the risottos.

Very good meal here. Steak was great. Service was outstanding. We will definitely be returning.
We ate inside due to, weather but there is a roof top dining area weather permitting.

Food is excellent. Service not so much. 2 hours for dinner on a Monday. Had three different servers. No one could get it right. There are only two of us. How hard can this be???

A recent visit to Boothbay Harbor had us strolling the streets with a thirst for sangria. Being dinner time, I whipped out my trusty Unilocal app and after a quick search, I found numerous reviews of this restaurant speaking of a delicious «blueberry pomegranate sangria.» Sold.
This three-​tier restaurant include a roof top deck and a second floor with indoor and outdoor seating. We opted for «second floor, outdoor» and quickly ordered a half-​pitcher of the Sangria. At $ 18, this was a steal — it felt virtually endless, and it was every bit as good as advertised.
The food was more of a mixed bag. In short, the tapas were excellent and the dinners were fair to disappointing.
First, the tapas. We ordered stuffed peppadews, chicken empanadas and fried cheddar. These were all excellent. The peppadews had just enough spice, breaded and filled with a delicious cheese (burrata?). The chicken empanadas had a firm yet light shell and a tasty filling. The friend cheddar was incredible, with a smoky tomato jam that was highly memorable. They batted .1000 on the tapas. Very impressive.
As for the dinners… there was a lot left to be desired with our choices. I ordered the Thai Halibut, which sounded like a winner on paper — poached in a yellow coconut curry sauce over sticky rice, and topped with wilted spinach. It came as advertised… but where was the flavor? At $ 26, this was a bland disappointment. My wife’s coffee-​chili rubbed filet mignon strangely lacked any of the flavorful seasoning described, and worst of all it was overcooked: ordered at medium, delivered on the cusp of well.
I will say that they have a large, creative menu of risotto dishes, and they looked very appealing as they came out of the kitchen. I liked the tapas so much that I’ll return at some point, and order a risotto instead.
In totality, I would call this a 3−½ star experience, but since a half-​star review is not an option, I’ll round up for the tapas, the atmosphere and the cocktails.

When we first arrived at the steps, the hostess was not there because she probably seating other guests but there were a few other people waiting in front of us. The hostess then came down and was seating the other people in front of me and she said «I’ll come back and deal — I mean help you guys!» Well, after that greeting I think I lost my impression of this place.
There are three floors in this restaurant and we sat on the second floor with semi nice view. Our waitress was nice and friendly, quite attentive. We had the blueberry pomegranate sangaria and it was delicious! Highly recommend it! We ordered calamari, lobster mac and cheese and a steak burger. The food was mediocre. It really didn’t impress me. I thought the lobster mac and cheese was not good at all but oily! It was a bit expensive for that dish ($ 26).
Overall, service was good and food was alright!

Both food and service were spectacular. We arrived about 7:30 pm and had a drink at the 3^rd floor bar during an expected 10 min wait for a table. After 10 mins, the hostess ushered us to a table between the bar and the prime seating ares overlooking the harbor.
Several prime tables were being cleared so we asked for one of them. She said they were reserved for parties of four, but within minutes, she separated two tables and helped us move to one overlooking the harbor.
We ordered grilled tuna and blackened swordfish and they were perfect. We eat a lot of seafood and are very exacting in taste. These dishes were perfectly done, the tuna rare & the sword not overcooked. Both very fresh. The sides of green beans and slightly spicy jasmine rice were excellent.
The wait staff work incredibly hard, fast, efficient. Friendly, too. And they don’t rush you. We’ll be back.

As regular visitors to Boothbay, we had not had the pleasure of dining at the Boathouse Bistro and are now wondering why we waited until now.
We didn’t go upstairs, so did not get to see what has been reported as great views of the harbor, but did enjoy the first floor dining room.
Tonight was a seafood night and everyone was not disappointed. As usual, the youngest got Steamers, which with a wine and garlic sauce smelled wonderful (and the smell was all she was willing to share). Two others of the crew got the Fish-​of-​the-​Day sandwich, one grilled salmon and the other blackened salmon and both said that it was the best. My wife and oldest both got scallops with fettuccine in a mushroom Alfredo sauce that they said was devine. I rounded out the group with a Thai halibut over rice and wilted spinach in a coconut curry sauce — just tasty.
So, not a bad meal in the bunch and there were other dishes that we want to go back to try. We certainly won’t make the mistake of waiting too long for our return.

A must stop if your in Boothbay Harbor Maine. We come back every year. Great blueberry sangria and Kobe sliders. We fell in love with seafood risotto and hot rock sirloin. They bring you a seared steak that is rare you cook yourself on a 400 degree hot rock at the table. End with an amazing blueberry pie! Great views.

I saw this place from the boardwalk on a beautiful evening, so we went over to check it out. Naturally we won’t to sit on the roof, maybe waited 15 minutes or so. Not too bad. Service was just okay, but with the great weather and watching the sunset, we didn’t mind. I had the fried avocado salad, which was REALLY good and fresh, and a bloody mary (which was priced fantastically!). BF had a haddock sandwich, and his folks had burgers. We all enjoyed the food, lots of things on the menu looked good. I would love to go back just for drinks and a small plate or two at the bar.

Hungry and looking for a good spot for lunch, preferably with a view of the harbor, we decide on the Boathouse. One of the few places that was busy during the week, we figured that might be the spot.
Steamed Mussels in wine & garlic: Excellent. We were in France last month and this Boathouse dish was better.
Fried Scallops: Plenty and nicely done.
This is a good spot to be.

Wonderful rooftop dining. Great views. Lots of vegetation selections. Root beer on tap, fried avacado salad. Over a neat place great
food. Go!

Total tourist trap. Way overpriced for what you get, which is bland, mediocre food.
The rooftop deck has great views, though.

Scallops risotto with tasso and corn. made me wanna cry… so good! Wine… amazing dessert… Even in a blizzard. These guys rock.

The service was good. Everything we ordered was very tasty and came in a reasonable amount of time. Decent view from the top deck, although not picture perfect due to all the utility lines. Nothing they can do about that.
I would eat here again.