Cape Porpoise Kitchen in Kennebunkport, Maine

Cape Porpoise Kitchen is a combination bakery, specialty foods market, and café on Mile Road in Kennebunkport. They do micro-roasted coffee, breakfast sandwiches, and a rotating roster of lunch items, salads, soups, chowders, and about 21 sandwiches. It's the kind of place where tourists and locals both grab provisions, whether that's a quick coffee and scone or a whole meal to take home.

• Fresh scones and micro-roasted coffee to start.
• 21 rotating lunch sandwiches plus daily soups and salads.
• Prepared dinners (crab cakes, salmon, pies) for takeout.
• Attached wine and cheese shop for gifts or dinner pairing.

Get a breakfast sandwich and a scone with coffee if you're stopping by early. For lunch, the sandwiches rotate, so ask what's fresh that day. The salads draw praise. For dinner, the Maine crab cakes and grilled salmon are reliable bets. Strawberry rhubarb pie is worth planning around, though order ahead if you're counting on a specific dessert.

A small, casual café-and-shop setup that fills up fast, especially mornings and lunch hour. Not loud, but you'll hear the hum of the counter service and people ordering.

Staff can move at different speeds depending on the day and shift. What works well is the breadth of what they stock and the care put into the food when execution is on. Recent reviews note friendly employees and quality salads; what's less consistent is the speed and reliability of larger orders.

Visitors appreciate the range of prepared foods and the friendliness of the staff. One recent visitor loved the salads and called the employees super nice. Others rave about the pies and wine selection. Service reliability has wavered lately under new ownership, though the core ingredients and recipes remain solid when things run smoothly.