Pilot House Restaurant

My girlfriend and I were in Maine as part of a tour of the New England coast. Our coach driver and tour guide recommended the Pilot House as a good place to get freshly caught seafood.
I was prepared to love the food but I was disappointed. Before I go on, let me clarify that I strongly prefer turf to surf. Land animals have much more flavor and variety. I can do salmon and tuna but only occasionally and with a lot of seasoning. In short, seafood is not something I would wait in line for. Shrimp is the one exception but I avoided shrimp because it’s not a locally caught food. According to our encyclopedic driver, shrimp need much warmer waters than the 62 degree New England water to thrive. Any shrimp we would eat in Maine would be imported, just like anywhere else in New England. My favorite seafood option gone, I decided to just go full tourist and get something lobster based.
I got the lobster scampi and my girlfriend got the swordfish sandwich. Both were incredibly fresh, but the scampi was lackluster in every other regard. The sauce had too much lemon in it and the grated Parmesan had very little flavor. Serves me right for ordering Italian food at a seafood restaurant in Maine. It was a two-​star meal at best. Quick tip: Lemon should be stirred into a scampi sauce liberally during the cooking process so it gets integrated into the sauce. If you use it after the sauce is made, don’t use too much. It will overpower the hints of garlic, white wine, and thickening agents, if you’re using them.
Everything else about the restaurant, however, was great. It was decorated with outboard motors, signal flags, and other boat-​related paraphernalia. The staff was very friendly and one waitress even stopped to talk to us about how much she loved living in Maine holding two empty plates the entire time. The boss lady paid for all our drinks because an ingredient for one of our dishes took a while to get to the restaurant. That alone makes it tempting to give them five stars. Their energy was infectious and we left with smiles on our faces. Our appetites and curiosity were sated even if our taste buds were not.

Had a terrible meal. It was very loud and the waitress didn’t write down our order. We ordered the baby shrimp buffaloed but it came out plain. Told her and instead of bringing it back she brought out a plastic up of Franks Red Hot for us to dip it in. Okay, fine — at this point I didn’t really care about that so much. It then took 45 min from when the appetizer came out for the food. Okay, we were relaxed, no biggie. Food came out — Hubby’s was correct but I had ordered blackened swordfish and got baked haddock. Not the same thing. They brought it back to the kitchen and said mine would come right out. 25 minutes later and still no food. Flagged down a different waitress to tell her that I didn’t even want it anymore. She went to tell the kitchen and find our waitress. Our waitress finally showed up and was huffy that I no longer wanted the dinner (it’s now 35 minutes since Hubby got his meal) brought us our check and made a big deal that the comped us the two beers we had ordered. Gee, thanks. An hour and a half, wrong appetizer, no dinner for me and you comped us two beers? Never going back.

Service was great. Food was super great! I had the lobster scampi, which was piquant and satisfyingly al dente. The fried clams are light and crisp and clean. Scallops were delish.

Love the place alot of locals, food is good and decent price. I would like to see more beers on tap but would recommend

OMG what a great place! Had the mini lobster roll with Clam chowder. It was PERFECT! Soooo good!
Great staff. Met some great people while watching the patriots game! Lots of locals. Don’t act like a tourist! Dive in and talk and have FUN! Can’t wait to go back! Danny– thanks for being so awesome!

Nice, dive in KP. Cold beers on tap, decent seafood (fried clams, steamers, chowders), cheap prices. What more can you ask for?

The food was delicious and the people were wonderful. We had the haddock. Would definitely go again.

Had a very nice experience. After wandering around downtown Kennebunkport sightseeing and looking for a restaurant, we chose the Pilot House. It has the simple feel that a New England seafood place should have. Nothing fancy to look at, but very comfortable and inviting. My lobster dinner was excellent and my wife’s fried clams were equally good. The staff was friendly and easily accommodated us as we changed tables (got a bit too cool outside). We were there late afternoon so there was no crowd problem. Will happily return on our next visit.

Ok, this one is a long one. I will put a **** next to the actual food review.
We walked all around kennebunk port and the valet actually gave us the recommendation to go to Pilot House… we bypassed it at first because its was pretty loud. We then tried to have dinner at Federal Jack’s but they sat us in the corner on a beautiful night so we left.
Ok, so now for the actual review. We sat outside, the view was not amazing the it was a nice night.
****The food is what you come here for. I ordered the 1 ¼lb lobster dinner and clams. Neither disappointed! Best dinner in Kennebunk for out entire trip! So what if it’s loud and more of a drinking spot. the food is WHERE IT’S AT!
Thank you Pilot house! You have a gold mine there!

Until they fire the owners sons girlfriend, we will never go back. Has to be the rudest, worst attitude human being around. Hates her job and is down right mean to people. The owner is doing himself a big disservice by having her work there. It is beyond me how she gets away with her behavior to customers. She has a big wake up call in life. Get rid of her!

Came in to end the night with a few drinks, and saw that the bar was packed, so we sat down at a table– the waitress came over, we said we needed a minute, and she never came back. (15 minutes) The ladies in our group decided to sit outside, which left us lads to awkwardly go up to the bar and order.
When we did the bartender (older, I believe the owner) apologized and said she didn’t realize we were waiting. She gave us some free Jell-​O shots ($ 1 each) which was nice. Would have preferred my $ 6 jack and coke comp’ed however.
Other than that, we had a nice time. Outdoor seating is large and great for the summer obviously. Not sure how this place functions during the day but at night it’s solidly divey.
The $ 1 Jell-​O shots are nice if you’re down for some nail polish vodka. You know what you’re paying for.
4 stars, –1 for wait.

The food was terrific, crab cakes and clam cakes to start, then baked haddock and lobster scampi for dinner. Everything was superb, and the service was equally good. It was Thanksgiving, so it was one of the few places that were open, so we really lucked out that it was a winner.
I guess they were understaffed, so the bartender, Trish, was doubling as the waitress, but she really hustled and made it work, so we didnt wait for anything…
Prices were reasonable, food and service were terrific… will definitely be back…

Sat inside today for lunch. Was a neat place to eat on the water. Unfortunately today a ship was in Portland so a big crowd in town. Good beer prices with a small selection. The appetizer was $ 15 for fried clams and had a very small portion. Not possible for two people to share. Ordered the blackened haddock sandwich which was not blackened… but was baked with some old bay seasoning. The sandwich was fresh and good just not what was ordered. The one waitress in the bar was great. She worked hard and was friendly. Ideally there would be two more. Would have ordered more but was hard to get to waitress.

Let me start off with the positive. two cruise ships came into nearby Portland and a lot of people came to Kennebunk on excursions. Our waitress Dakota (at least that is the name I thought I heard) did a great job with the sudden on-​rush of people. She got people seated right away and we were served quickly. She made a local beer recommendation that was very good. Now for the negative: one member of our group ordered Clam Chowder and Lobster Roll and was terribly disappointed. The Chowder was more like Potato Soup (virtually no clams in it) and the Lobster Roll was basically broiled (maybe steamed?) lobster on a hot dog bun with no butter or mayo. I am not a seafood person so I went with a burger and fries and thought it was good. The other person in our group just ordered the blueberry pie ala mode and liked it. For all the raves we heard from the bus driver and tour guide we really thought this would be much better. Maybe the sudden onslaught of people put too much of a strain on the kitchen.

Went for dinner tonight & were sat pretty quick but then just sat there watching not 1 but 3 waitress walk by us and not even even acknowledging us, I even got up and tapped a waitress on the shoulder to ask her if she could clean our table & she actually tried to ignore me and when she did turn around she didn’t even look or talk to me. After asking 2 waitress if they would serve us we just left. I don’t care how good the food is because if the wait staff is rude it’s not worth waiting for.

Expensive and inattentive waitstaff.
Arrived for lunch at Pilot house after seeing such high reviews from others.
We sat and were prompty taken care of. We ordered drinks and food at same time (we knew what we wanted and the menu is small). Our food came out about 5 minutes later. Very quick.
15 dollars for a mini lobster roll is NOT worth it at all. It’s tiny.
Drinks did not come out for after 15 minutes. We were completely finished with our drinks. We only ordered coke and diet coke. Shouldn’t take that long…
People next to us also left because no one took their order after 15 minutes.
There are better places in Kennebunkport to get lunch. Go elsewhere.

Absolutely the best place in Kennebunk/​Kennebunkport for a relaxing drink at the bar with Sue who absolutely remembers my birthday every year for the past five years even though we visit only once or twice a year. And the lobster dinners — no place better for the best lobsters at the best price. Can’t wait — we’ll be there soon!!!

This review is basically for Susita (sorry if I spelled your name wrong!)!! She is the best waitress ever and only works there on Fridays so we were upset when we came back on Saturday and she wasn’t there!
We were told to come Pilot house by a few locals so one hungry night we decided to check it out ourselves. The waitress there was just the sweetest, most helpful and cheery I’ve ever met. Most of us (a group of 6) got lobsters and she will breakdown the lobster so you get every bit of meat left you ask her to! The lobsters we ordered were delicious, sweet and meaty. My friends ordered swordfish and the portion size was huge! The steamers were juicy and big. For dessert, I recommend their blueberry pie with ice cream and make sure the pie is nice and warm/​hot! It is the best dessert I had in Kennebunkport! Thank you Susita for making our dinner amazing!

This 1 is going to be short & to the point.
Locals.
Live music on the deck.
Loud, hot (more like sweltering — how about a fan or two?), too bright.
Hope you don’t mind waiting (and waiting, and waiting, and waiting…) to either actually get your food or a cocktail. Heading to the bar isn’t any easier.
However. Once you get your food– its really good– rough side– nothing fancy here.
Excellent fried haddock, steamed lobster– unique & worth eating coleslaw, golden crunchy fries. Didn’t care for the pasty too thick chowdah.
Parking is tough. Restrooms get a lot of use.

The Pilot House is an interesting place. It’s location screams tourist trap, since it’s right off the main bridge into town and easily visible from the street, yet when you go in, you instantly recognize it as a locals only place.
One clue may have been a good 80% of the people at the bar and the restaurant asking questions about family and friends. The other clue may have been the fact that aside from ONE other guy, we were the only ones ordering lobster and wearing those ridiculous plastic bibs. Actually, G wore the ridiculous bib. I refuse to wear this emasculating article of fail since 1) I’m a transplanted local, 2) I would get my ass kicked by my fellow mouth breathers if any of them saw me with a bib, and 3) I suffer from sandy mangina.
The Pilot House is dominated by a bar and has a restaurant side with a few tables. Large parties beware. Even with rain falling heavily, there were people waiting to come in. Again, a very good sign. This place seems to be all about the local flavor and food and not the décor which seems to be a combination nautical and 20^th century Ikea.
So we go in for the food. twin bare bugs were $ 18.99, which was the cheapest we saw in MA, RI, or ME. Usually, places are asking in the twenties and thirties for twin lobsters. We made the mistake of ordering a twin «dinner» for $ 25, which came with a generous heaping tablespoon of coleslaw and a small fry. $ 6 right there! My goodness…
The chowder was good, the bugs were better, the fries rate a solid meh minus, and the coleslaw was ok. You can’t really screw up boiling a bug, except if it’s a dead bug, and these definitely were not. They were about as fresh as we had the whole trip. They advertised twin 1.25lb bugs, but mine was actually about 1.5 and 1lb each. No biggie.
Service was great. We got what we asked for. It wasn’t rushed. We had a great time here.
Blending in with the locals was difficult, especially with the awkward picture taking and the ridiculous plastic bibs, but we walked out into the rain in one piece and very satisfied.