A boat is an unusual place to find a salad bar, but it suits this casual Wells seafood stop just fine. The maritime-themed display is filled with fresh, crisp salad ingredients, giving a familiar New England dinner a little more personality before the main course even arrives.
The restaurant works on a pleasantly old-school scale: hearty seafood plates, warm rolls with butter, booths, a bar area, and enough menu range to keep a mixed family table happy. It is the sort of stop that fits naturally into a drive along Route 1, when a lobster dinner sounds better than another snack in the car.
Inside, the look is knowingly retro rather than polished into generic coastal décor. The dining room has the visual character of a classic New England restaurant, with a large gas fireplace providing a warm focal point and booth seating offering a comfortable place to settle in.
Start with chowder and the boat bar
Soup and salad are unusually prominent here, not merely an afterthought alongside the entrées. The soup bar has offered three choices at a time, including clam chowder and corn chowder, so dinner can begin with more than a small cup of something warm.
The clam chowder has a rich base, with clams and potatoes giving it enough substance to stand on its own. Corn chowder offers a second classic, especially welcome when the Maine weather has turned cool or gray.
Then there is that boat-shaped salad bar. It is a small visual joke, perhaps, but also a useful one: a broad selection of greens and toppings lets people build the plate they actually want. For diners accustomed to seafood restaurants where vegetables arrive as a token scoop on the edge of the plate, the extra choice is welcome.
Lobster in several forms
Steamed lobster remains a central order, served with drawn or melted butter. Depending on the meal, the plate may come with a roll, broccoli and a potato choice, or pair lobster with a baked potato and coleslaw.
It is a straightforward lobster supper, meant for cracking, dipping and taking your time over rather than fussing with. The substantial sides help turn it into a full dinner, and the kitchen has accommodated a simple swap such as extra mashed potatoes in place of broccoli.
Lobster-roll fans have options, too. An 8-inch roll has appeared on the lunch menu, while the memorably named Lobster Lover's Lust is the outsized order to look for when a regular sandwich simply will not do. Its reported two-foot length has made it a table-stopping sight, though that dramatic version is worth confirming on the current menu.
Fried, baked and piled high
The rest of the seafood menu gives diners plenty of ways to avoid making the same choice twice. Fish and chips and fried haddock sandwiches cover the crisp, golden side of the menu, while seafood platters bring several favorites together on one generous plate.
Combination meals include baby shrimp with rice and coleslaw, shrimp and scallops, and clams with scallops. These are useful orders for a table where one person wants a little variety without committing to an entire platter.
For a more traditional sit-down entrée, baked stuffed haddock comes with mashed potatoes and broccoli. Baked haddock Newberg adds seafood stuffing, bringing a richer, more old-fashioned treatment to the fish.
Portions tend to be filling, with enough food on some plates to produce a take-home container. That suits the restaurant’s relaxed, unhurried style: order the dinner you want, not the smallest thing on the menu just to preserve room for the drive.
Not everyone has to order fish
A seafood restaurant can be tricky when one member of the group has reached their lobster limit for the week. Here, the alternatives are more substantial than a token burger at the bottom of the menu.
Prime rib arrives with au jus, baked potato and broccoli. Maple pork chops offer another dinner option with a little New England sweetness, and burgers give younger diners or seafood skeptics an uncomplicated choice.
That range helps explain why the room works for families and groups of different sizes. One person can make a full evening of chowder, salad bar and haddock, while another goes for prime rib and someone else keeps it simple with a burger.
A room made for lingering over dinner
The large gas fireplace gives the dining room a natural center, particularly when the season calls for something cozier than a quick roadside meal. Booths add to the comfortable, familiar mood, while indoor seating also includes regular dining tables and a bar area.
There is a private dining room for occasions that call for a little separation from the main dining area. The overall setting remains casual enough for a family birthday, a vacation dinner after the beach, or an easy stop during a coastal Maine trip.
The atmosphere is relaxed and easy to talk in, with attentive, welcoming service. Nothing about the place requires a special occasion, but it has enough visual charm and meal-sized abundance to make an ordinary dinner feel like a proper outing.
Save room if you can
Warm rolls with butter are worth noting because they arrive early, when it is still possible to tell yourself you will save room for dessert. They are a simple opening touch, and exactly right for the restaurant’s throwback approach to dinner.
Blueberry cheesecake has been among the sweets offered after the seafood plates are cleared. It is a fitting Maine-leaning finish, especially for anyone who managed to leave a little space after chowder, salad, lobster and a baked potato.
The restaurant has a free parking lot with ample space, another small convenience for travelers coming off Route 1. For some Maine-bound families, the meal has become a repeat stop from one trip to the next.