JY1024

^ I've had one evening where I put my name on the list for Duck Fat, then walked down the street to Eventide to stand at the bar to have a lobstah roll and chowdah, then head back to Duck Fat when my table was ready.

Not the most low-calorie evening, but it was delicious!

nineworldseries

If I had 4 nights in Portland, Maine, I'd eat at Eventide for dinner 4 times.

philemer

But it's only ranked #10 on TA for Portland restaurants. What's your 2nd favorite?

Thx

PWMTrav

TripAdvisor is not an authority in most places. There's a reason people are asking in threads like this versus just picking the next place on the TA list.

philemer

I didn't say TA was "an authority". It's nice to have opinions from different places though. It adds "balance". BTW, being #10 on TA is quite an honor because it means you're in the top 2.15% of restaurants in Portland.

PsiFighter37

I rarely rely on TA, even for places that Yelp doesn't cover. Eventide being at #10 is too low, IMO. It is definitively the must-visit restaurant in town.

PWMTrav

TA is mostly other tourists writing reviews of what they liked on vacation. I guess that's fine if you want to know what other visitors liked when they were here, but that's likely different than asking people who live here what they like best. TA is meaningless to me when I travel for that reason. Portland also isn't too small to have "brand ambassadors" and other kinds of paid marketers getting places on lists as well. Luckily, it actually is hard to find a bad meal here. The bar is high, and bad places close up quickly - the only rare exceptions are the places that have been there a long time, own their land or have a pretty sweet long term lease, but even many of those are at least average. It's pushing a lot of good restaurants to open out in the suburbs, which has been awesome.

I get what you're saying though. If I had to pick the 5 "essential" meals while visiting Portland, it'd be these, in no particular order -

1. Central Provisions
2. Eventide
3. Miyake
4. Hugo's
5. Boda

Of that, Hugo's is going to be a style that not everyone is into - if that's the case, skip it. Sub in Duckfat instead if you want something way more laid back. I also wouldn't wait 2 hours for Eventide, either, but that's easy for me to say because I'd just go back when it was slower and not everyone can. I will say that they have scaled to their volume of traffic without cutting corners, though. Those guys could sit back and print money, but they're better than that.

philemer

Thanks for your top 5 list. We'll only have time for one dinner so will try to hit one of those. I love lobster so will target Eventide. Is the Boston location just as good?

This menu shows the lobster roll for $12. Is that a current price? https://www.zomato.com/portland-me/e...nd/menu#tabtop

PWMTrav

If there's one meal in Portland, today it's Central Provisions for me (probably because I eat at Eventide very often, to be fair). But if you love lobster, that Eventide lobster roll really is great. It might be more than $12 now, and they are small. Eventide is mostly smaller plates and we usually order 2 items each, or 5 between the two of us.

I'm not sure that their Boston location is actually open yet. If it is, it will have just opened.

gfunkdave

I seem to remember Eventide's lobster roll being $16 but don't really know.

If you want a more "fine dining" seafood experience, check out Scales. Friends of my parents described it as "the best lobster I ever had". It's very good...just a different vibe than Eventide, but I'd say they have comparable food quality.

fastflyer

I'll be a bit contrarian here and recommend the Street & Company/ Fore Street/ Scales group above the Eventide/ Hugo group.

I've had a few misses at the latter -- one time at Hugo's (which warranted a 1000-word online review) my party of ten had to depart before the main course, because at 10pm, three hours had elapsed with only drinks and appetizers served. There was also a broken bottle of Champagne which the waitress attempted to salvage and serve (yes, from a broken bottle), etc., etc.

I've never had a major SNAFU at the Street group.

FlightNurse

So went to DuckFat for dinner last night, truly amazing, after having seafood for the last 5 nights it was time to make a change. The Poutine with Duck Egg was excellent, I had the Duck Confit Panini which was the best Panini I have ever had. We only had a 10-minute wait. We are going to try The Honey Paw tonight anyone's thoughts on it?

gfunkdave

Honey Paw is great. Before their original chef left a year or so ago, they were much more inventive. Since then it feels like they're resting on their laurels. Get the lobster wontons. If they happen to have beef rendang on the specials, get it and don't look back.

PsiFighter37

I enjoyed my meals at both Street & Co. and Fore Street. I have not eaten at other restaurants in the Huge group, but Eventide (IMO) is better than the aforementioned 2

FlightNurse

So tonight's dinner was simply outstanding, The Honey Paw is a home run, we started with the Chicken Wings, OMG!!! I had the Lobster Laksa which was sensational it was a cross between a Thai curry and Chowder had the right amount of heat, LOTS of depth in flavor. Hubby had one of the specials it was a noodle dish with mushrooms and Pork Belly, he ate the whole thing, hubby is very much a meat and potato person but he loved this.. It's great to see such great places here in Portland, we will be back that is for sure!

We walked after dinner, and again Evertide had a long line of people waiting to be seated. We walked pasted Fore, looks charming and cozy, will give it a try next time around.

Sorry to say goodbye to Portland and to the state of Maine, had a wonderful time, But will return in May, after my conference in Boston..