10 Best Places To Eat Lobster In Bar Harbor

West Street Café is a family restaurant in downtown Bar Harbor serving seafood dishes in a bright, modern dining room. Friendly service, lots of seating, and a diverse menu that includes kid-friendly options make this a great spot for dinner with the family. 

The menu includes New England clam chowder, deep-fried crabcakes on toasted brioche, and a saucy shrimp scampi. The baked lobster, filled with seafood stuffing, is a house specialty you won’t find at the roadside lobster shacks. Don’t miss the homemade blueberry pie, either, with a buttery, lightly salted crust that balances a gooey-sweet fruit filling. 

Testa’s has been a Bar Harbor staple for almost a century, serving hearty seafood dishes from its bi-level restaurant on Main Street. The atmosphere is cozy, and the food is comforting, with the kitchen favoring all things baked, buttery, and fried. 

This all-day eatery has some particularly creative lobster-based breakfast and lunch offerings. Start the day with a kingly omelet or lunch on lobster tail tacos, which are flash-fried and topped with blueberry pineapple salsa. You can’t go wrong with the ultra-creamy lobster mac and cheese or escargot-style lobster with parmesan. Drinks include specialty cocktails made with Maine blueberries and local beers on draft. 

Thurston’s is consistently ranked among the best lobster pounds in all of Maine. Loved by both residents and tourists, you may have to wait in line at this 5th-generation eatery, perched on a dock in Bass Harbor. Take a seat on the screened-in deck and watch the comings and goings of the lobster boats while you crack open your steamed claws. 

Lobster is front and center on the menu, served solo or as a full dinner with corn on the cob, coleslaw, and a slice of blueberry cake. Lobster rolls and lobster melts are on the menu too, along with baskets of steamed clams and mussels. 

C-Ray’s is a no-frills lobster shack 15 minutes outside central Bar Harbor. This family-run joint serves lobster rolls and beers from a small roadside location with outdoor-only seating. 

The lobster rolls here are the real deal, served on buttery buns generously filled with tender meat. Whole lobsters are available in small to jumbo sizes; pick your own from the tanks at the counter and watch it come out steaming to your picnic table. A selection of Maine beers usually includes a few IPAs, and for a non-alcoholic refreshment go for the local blueberry soda. 

Head to Abel’s Lobster for a memorable seafood dinner with views of the Somes Sound. Less casual than the lobster pounds, this waterside restaurant has table service in its warm, low-ceiling dining room and waterfront outdoor picnic tables. 

The northeast meets the south on this flavor-packed menu, with the star of the show being the lazy man’s lobster, served shelled with herbed butter sauce and grits. Thick-cut cornbread with whipped maple butter makes a great companion. The soft-shell lobster, steamed over a wood fire, is phenomenally tender and juicy. The house cocktails are not to be missed, from the blueberry margarita to the smoked old-fashioned. 

People come from far and wide for the lobster rolls at Beal’s Lobster Pier. Located on the south side of Mount Desert Island, this waterfront spot only uses lobster that comes in off their own pier, so you’re guaranteed a fresh catch. The surrounding community of Southwest Harbor looks about the same as it did half a century ago, with fishermen hard at work hauling their nets and traps in the harbor. 

The prices here are some of the highest, but that comes with the territory of being one of the best lobster spots around. Lobster rolls are served in toasted brioche buns cold with lemon mayo or steaming hot with garlic butter. 

Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound is as traditional a lobster boil as you’ll get. The pound boils its lobsters in seawater over old-school wood-fired boilers right out in front of the shack. Located just over the Trenton Bridge on Bar Harbor Road, this rustic spot serves up quality lobster at fair prices, making it well worth the drive. 

Get yourself a whole boiled lobster or a hot buttered roll with simple sides like potato salad and chips. Fluffy whoopie pies and Maine’s favorite blueberry pie a la mode are among the eatery’s crowd-pleasing desserts. 

Charlotte’s Legendary Lobster Pound serves loads of character alongside its buttery lobster and scallop rolls. This family-friendly eatery is dressed in red-and-white stripes, and goats and chickens poke around its outdoor covered seating. The pound is located a short drive from Acadia National Park’s Seawall Campground and offers takeaway, so you can pick up your rolls for a picnic in the park. 

You can’t go wrong with the rolls, but you’ll want to get a couple of sides along with them. Fried clams with homemade tartar sauce, seaweed salad, and bacon-wrapped scallops make great additions. The rich lobster bisque is accented with sweet sherry, and for a novel use of Maine’s famous blueberries, try the homemade bread pudding.