Table Salt — Restaurant in Bar Harbor

Personal account to review my interactions with owner Daniel Bockman who has been harassing me over an honest review. Have NEVER done this but Daniel's behavior is disguising. Hi Cyndy,

I came across your comments regarding your experience last Saturday and I will say this is quite an odd review for us to receive. We are generally well liked, with most guests raving about the food quality, ambience and quality of service that your specific server Eli provides. We are a new business, only 2 months old, so we do try hard to recognize our misses and learn from them and are always upset when a guest doesn’t have a great experience.

Our hosts, when given a name, refer to our tablet and reservation system to figure out where to bring you. I’m sorry if that was misconstrued as staring but I assure you they are genuine good people who want nothing more than to seat you at your table.

Regarding a custom dish, sometimes our chef is unable to prepare due to time, volume, prep or a slew of other reasons. We always encourage or guests to order off the menu and while our menu won’t be suitable to everyone, we certainly don’t force anyone to dine with us.

Please keep in mind that we are a small business and try very hard to make an impact in our guests experience, the community and our hard working team. Negative reviews can impact a small business and sometimes it’s best not to use the internet as a medium for frustration but rather talk to someone, an owner, manager or even the server and let us know your frustrations, we would have done everything possible to fix your birthday dinner.

Dan,

I did voice concern over the menu, not being able to hear our server, our seats. I did everything expected of a guest in a dining situation and tipped Eli 100% before leaving. I’ve traveled and dined all over the world, this is the first time an owner has privately emailed me. So imagine you knew you'd get a response. Just first things first, your email signature is comically big. It adds a delightful absurdity to your email, this can be fixed in your settings. I'm done being unkind now. As Southerners we're better than that.

My initial response to your email was articulate, but debasing. Something more than deserved, based on your smug rebuttal that reads both rude and entitled. However, experienced senior marketing executive that I am, I’ve decided against sharing this response with you on the off chance that the aforementioned rude and entitled read was not your intent (unlikely). In lieu of that, I’ve taken the liberty of providing you a better response for future patrons who may also endure a subpar experience. I was dining with an award winning chef and in full transparency she helped craft this response.

(wrote Daniel a response he has obviously opted not to use)

Hope this helps. Don't ever contact me again.

Cyndy,

There are people and families behind these small businesses you feel inclined to trash. Families that try really hard and have children to feed and have to grind out a really hard life to try and get ahead against all odds. There used to be a time when you would have a bad experience at a restaurant and maybe tell a few people and just not go back. Now, diners have the power to do much more damage on large platforms, simply because their perspective of an experience inclines them to share their opinion. And as a result, often times hurt hard working people with families that have put everything they have into a small business trying to chase the American dream. I’ve always said, people that leave negative reviews of small businesses are among the worst people out there. Feedback is one thing but contributing to a businesses failure is another very ugly thing. It’s sad society doesn't see it that way...

Also thanks for trashing us in the Provender review as well. Hope that makes you feel better. Sorry we were so intentionally...

We went here on a weekend, and with the high reviews, we expected the food and service to be exceptional. The place was packed! We should have known we would be disappointed when the table next to us commented to their waiter that their ribeye was over-cooked.

We ordered a cocktail and wine, two appetizers, the frutti di mare pasta and the surf & turf. The appetizers were the pork belly & scallop and the lobster spring roll.

First and foremost, our drinks came when we were finished with our appetizers–our server even commented that it was taking a while for them to be made. The portions for the appetizers were small and the lobster spring roll was a crab rangoon in the form of an egg roll with small bits of lobster instead of crab. Nothing special or extraordinary. The seafood in the pasta was good, but the pasta itself was overcooked and mushy. The entire surf and turf entree was dry, including the leeks and mushrooms. The steak was overcooked (we asked for medium rare) and the entire entree tasted as if it had been sitting underneath a heating lamp and not fresh. The Negroni we ordered was straight Campari, and after drinking a quarter of it we realized there was a bug floating in it. We alerted the staff and they brought us a new one, but it was still just a terrible cocktail.

We had high hopes for this restaurant, but were overall disappointed and paid way too much for a...

I was really looking forward to trying Table Salt during a quick trip to Bar Harbor. The space is stylish and modern — a refreshing change from the usual coastal-themed spots around town. Unfortunately, the experience didn’t live up to the setting or the price point.

Service was kind but overwhelmed. I sat at the bar, and while the manager/bartender did her best, she clearly didn’t have the support she needed on a busy night. Staff behind the bar seemed untrained and struggled to keep up. There didn’t seem to be any teamwork at all.

The food was the biggest disappointment. I ordered the shrimp cocktail, Caesar salad and surf-and-turf. The salad came out barely chilled, drenched in an overly thick dressing, buried under a mountain of green onion and topped with very stale breadcrumbs. The lobster in the surf-and-turf was rubbery and overcooked (it’s Maine ya’ll you should’ve crushed that), while the steak — though cooked to medium rare — was charred to the point of bitterness. I had a bite of each and couldn’t finish the meal. I considered it inedible.

$130 (gratuity included) for a meal I couldn’t eat is tough to justify. I get that the restaurant is new, but if you’re charging fine-dining prices, the food and service need to reflect that. Hoping they find their footing, but I won’t be...