Salsa Verde Grill — Restaurant in Bar Harbor

The service wasn't deliberately rude so much as careless and disinterested. It started with my being asked to follow the hostess to an available table; suddenly another staffer walked behind me and raised her voice trying to get my attention because she hadn't seen the hostess and thought I was seating myself. We were off to a good start. :-)

Other points that made for a less than perfect experience:

The waiter took my order and returned a few minutes later to say that the dish I ordered was not available. Fine. I ordered something else. That dish eventually arrived on a small breakfast plate so heaped with food that I literally couldn't cut into it without pushing it over the sides. A for generosity of portions, F for convenience and thinking things through.

When the food was ready, someone other than my server slammed down the plate in front of me while never breaking his stride or making eye contact. He MAY have said "Enjoy" in passing — not sure. Bizarre.

The arrival of my soft drink took 15 minutes . It came AFTER my food had been served...and the place wasn't even especially busy. They just forgot. I had to remind them.

The un-chilled soft drink arrived in a plastic bottle. I was given a glass with four or five ice cubes. That was enough for the first few sips; I then politely asked to have my glass topped off with ice, but the Eastern European waiter's English wasn't good enough to understand. He returned my glass with another four or five ice cubes added, still making the glass barely half full of ice.

The food was pretty decent, but tepid. As in, not hot. Barely even warm.

I wasn't discouraged enough to swear never to return — in fact, I'll probably give Salsa Verde another shot. Maybe on the next visit I'll luck out with hot food and a cold drink...and a staff that does its damndest to serve...

My family and I love Mexican food. We’ve been to New Mexico, SoCal, Arizona, Texas, and Mexico several times and have had many exceptional meals there. This past weekend, we traveled up to Bar Harbor, expecting to eat great lobster, which we got plenty of. By day three of our trip however, we just needed a change of pace. We saw Salsa Verde on Yelp and decided to give it a try. To our pleasant surprise, it was excellent.

Salsa Verde may be one of the best Mexican restaurants in the northeast. We are from New York City and have tried many great Mexican restaurants there. What Salsa Verde does is not fancy; the food presentation is simple, the restaurant decor is homey, and the menu only contains a few dishes - but what it does well, better than 99% of other Mexican restaurants, is great tasting authentic food.

To be precise, the cuisine served here is New Mexican food. And, as far as I can tell, this was as good as I’ve ever had it, including from the streets of Santa Fe. Everything was light, perfectly seasoned, tasty yet not overbearing, and warm but not too spicy. I can’t say any dish or side, including salsas, rice, beans etc. was anything short of fantastic. I tried the Sopaipillas with Carne Asada. The meat was tender with a slight crisp, and again, perfectly seasoned. The Sopaipilla was executed well and all the toppings worked together wonderfully. The churros at the end of the meal were a highlight. Maybe some of the best I’ve ever had anywhere in the US! And lastly, the margaritas were delicious. I cannot recommend this restaurant enough. We will be...

We had a very disappointing experience at this restaurant today. We received only part of our order, and after waiting for a some time, we asked about the remaining order. Instead of receiving help, the staff particularly the manager responded impatiently and asked us to leave the restaurant right away. This surprise response was extremely rude and shocking. We tried to explain that our two 5-year-old children are eating, but the manager dismissed our concern by saying they are not even eating and insisted we leave, saying they do not want us in their restaurant.Ultimately, we had to take our food and fed kids at a nearby park, which was very upsetting. On top of this poor treatment, we were charged a 20% gratuity despite receiving incomplete and discourteous service. The staff’s behavior was unprofessional and lacked any basic customer service or patience. There is no proper discussion from their end but just repeatedly asked us to leave the restaurant is very disheartening. Just imagine what would be our response when small kids ask us why we were leaving so soon without even finishing our food, very disappointing.

This is a true and genuine review of what we have felt during our visit, we were kind to the staff but we received rudeness in return which is intolerable especially when we visit with small kids. We truly believe this review will be taken positively and help the restaurant to learn from our visit and serve better for...