What a lobster bake actually is
The traditional version is a pit on a beach: seaweed over hot rocks, lobsters and clams and corn and potatoes buried in it, everything steamed by the seawater in the weed. Almost nobody does that commercially anymore, because it takes half a day and a permit. What you will be sold as a bake is a shore dinner (lobster, steamers, corn, potato, drawn butter) cooked in a kettle rather than a pit.
That is not a swindle, and the kettle version at a real pound is genuinely better than most restaurant lobster. But it does mean the differences that matter are the ones between venues, not between menu names. Here is what the data says about the venues.
How this list is ranked
Everything below is ordered within its section by rating multiplied by review volume from our Mount Desert Island places data. A 4.8 from nearly two thousand people is a much harder thing to achieve than a 4.9 from ninety, and this ranking says so.
The pounds: where the real thing happens
The Travelin Lobster, 4.8 from 1,945 reviews
1569 ME-102, on the road out toward Town Hill. The best rating of any high-volume lobster operation on the island by a clear margin, 4.8 across nearly two thousand reviews is exceptional for a seasonal roadside shack. Order at the window, eat at a picnic table, bring your own drinks. It is not in town, so you drive.
Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound, 4.4 from 1,688 reviews
1237 Bar Harbor Rd, just before the bridge onto the island. The one that looks the part: wood-fired kettles of seawater out front, the smoke visible from the road, lobsters cooked to order and sold by weight from a counter. Cash-oriented and bare-bones, and the 4.4 rather than a 4.7 is mostly people expecting a restaurant and finding a shed with picnic tables. That is the point of it.
Beal's Lobster Pier, 4.5 from 1,142 reviews
182 Clark Point Rd in Southwest Harbor, forty minutes around the sound. A working pier with a counter attached, boats unloading beside you, and the most complete shore-dinner setup on the island. Worth the drive if you are already spending a day on the Quiet Side. See our Southwest Harbor guide for how to build that.
Abel's Lobster, 4.6 from 1,096 reviews
13 Abels Ln, Mt Desert, on the shore of Somes Sound. The upmarket end of the format: table service, a lawn above the water, and the best setting of any lobster meal in this article. Book it. This is the one to choose if the occasion matters more than the char on the shell.
Gateway Lunts Lobster Pound, 4.1 from 1,287 reviews
1133 Bar Harbor Rd, Trenton, a few hundred yards from Trenton Bridge. Included because it is the most-reviewed lobster place people end up at by accident (it is the first pound you meet driving in) and because its 4.1 is the lowest score of any lobster pound in the Bar Harbor area. Drive the extra half mile.
Perry's Lobster Co, 4.6 from 449 reviews
1084-1062 Newbury Neck Rd, Surry: well off the island, about forty-five minutes from Bar Harbor down a peninsula most visitors never turn onto. A dock, picnic tables, and the water. If you want the version of this meal that locals drive to, this is it.
Buying it to cook yourself
If you have a rental with a big pot, this is the cheapest and often the best version of a lobster bake in Bar Harbor. Two counters stand out in the data:
- Parsons Lobsters: 4.8 from 387 reviews, 64 Eagle Lake Rd, Bar Harbor. The highest-rated seafood market on the island and the closest one to town.
- Maine Fresh Catch Market: 5.0 from 87 reviews, 150 Bar Harbor Rd, Trenton. A perfect score off a smaller sample, on the mainland approach.
- Dorr Lobster Seafood Market: 4.7 from 540 reviews, 372 Shore Rd, Ellsworth. Worth a stop if you are coming in from the west with a cooler.
Buy hard-shell if you want meat and are willing to work for it; buy new-shell (the summer molters, sometimes sold as shedders) if you want sweeter meat and an easier shell. New-shell lobsters hold more water and less meat for the same weight, which is why they cost less. Ask which you are getting; a good counter will tell you without being asked.
In town: the sit-down seafood rooms
| Restaurant | Rating | Reviews | Note |
|---|
| Side Street Cafe | 4.4 | 4,678 | 49 Rodick St; most-reviewed room in town |
| Geddy's | 4.4 | 4,455 | 19 Main St; loud, central, family-proof |
| Galyn's | 4.4 | 2,041 | 17 Main St; the traditional choice |
| The Chart Room | 4.3 | 2,016 | 565 Eden St; water views north of town |
| The Barnacle | 4.7 | 497 | 112 Main St; highest-rated of this group |
| The Loft Raw Bar | 4.4 | 340 | 53 Main St, upstairs; oysters |
The pattern in that table is worth reading. The four biggest rooms in Bar Harbor all sit at 4.3 or 4.4, not bad, but not what those review counts might imply. They are volume operations feeding a town that triples in summer. The Barnacle at 4.7 from 497 is the highest-rated of the six above, and the gap is real.
If you actually want a lobster roll
Different meal, different list. Jordan's Restaurant (4.6 from 3,009 reviews) on Cottage Street is the volume winner and better known for breakfast. The Stadium (4.5 from 583) on Main Street does rolls and popovers. Frenchman Bay Lobster Rolls (4.8 from 132) at 5 Main St has the best rating of the three off a much smaller sample. Our Maine lobster roll guide covers the statewide comparison and the hot-versus-cold argument.
Eat it on the boat instead
Lulu Lobster Boat Ride carries 4.9 from 382 reviews, the best rating of any high-volume operation in this article. It is not a meal. It is a working-boat trip out of the town pier where traps are hauled and the biology and the economics get explained on the way. Do this in the afternoon and the pound in the evening and the dinner makes more sense. More options in our Bar Harbor things-to-do list.
The honest drawback
Every lobster place in Bar Harbor is seasonal, and the season is shorter than visitors assume. Several of the pounds above shut entirely outside the summer and early fall, and the in-town rooms cut hours hard once the park quiets down. Arriving in Bar Harbor in late October expecting a shore dinner is a way to end up eating pizza.
The second thing: lobster is priced by the pound at market rate, which moves week to week, and a "bake" or "shore dinner" package layers clams, corn and sides on top of that. It is routinely the most expensive meal of a family's trip, and at a mid-tier restaurant it is not obviously better than the same lobster cooked at a pound for less. If budget matters, buy from Parsons or Trenton Bridge and cook it at the rental. Practical detail on the town itself is on our Bar Harbor page.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the best lobster bake in Bar Harbor?
The Travelin Lobster on ME-102 has the strongest combination of rating and volume, 4.8 from 1,945 reviews, for a roadside pound close to town. For the full seawater-kettle experience with the wood fire going, Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound (4.4 from 1,688) on the mainland approach is the classic. For a sit-down version with a view, Abel's Lobster on Somes Sound carries 4.6 from 1,096.
What is the difference between a lobster bake and a shore dinner?
Almost nothing, on a modern menu. A true bake steams the food in seaweed over hot rocks; a shore dinner boils or steams the same components (lobster, steamer clams, corn, potato, drawn butter) in a kettle. Nearly every commercial "bake" in the Bar Harbor area is the kettle version, and at a good pound the result is better than the pit anyway.
Should you buy soft-shell or hard-shell lobster?
Hard-shell gives you more meat per pound and travels better; new-shell, the summer molters, gives you sweeter meat in a shell you can open by hand, with more water and less yield. New-shell is cheaper for that reason. If you are eating at a picnic table with a cracker in your hand, new-shell is the more enjoyable animal. If you are paying by the pound for meat, buy hard.
Do you need a reservation for a lobster bake in Bar Harbor?
At the pounds, no. They are counter-service and the queue is the system. At the sit-down places, yes in July and August, particularly Abel's and the water-view rooms, where the tables that face the sound go first. If you have not booked, eat early: the pressure on Bar Harbor's kitchens between six and eight in high season is severe, and a two-hour wait is normal rather than unlucky.
