The Loft Raw Bar and Seafood Grill — Restaurant in Bar Harbor

I would consider this review as a preparation or as a heads up before going and not as a deterrent as I believe the restaurant is likely delicious beyond what I ate, but I'd prefer to just review what I had when I had it.

It's my first time in Bar Harbor and it was around 10 PM and this was one of the spots open until midnight so I decided to try it out. Upon menu review it's very small and on the pricier end - which kind of hints at high quality across the board, so I had high hopes.

I ordered the Ahi Tuna Nachos (5/5): they were absolutely delicious. Had it not been enjoyable, I would have been disastrously frustrated with everything else I ate. The tuna melts in your mouth, the vegetable medley within the nachos was very fresh tasting, and it is a great dish in composition. I dislike raw Tuna and prefer raw salmon significantly but it was worth it, the portion size was great, and the price point is fair for the quality.

I also had the Parmesan Crab Fries (2.5/5): great portion size, but truthfully it's overpriced for what you're getting. There's shredded crab, which doesn't necessarily bring the dish up or down, it's just there and it tastes alright. The sauce was decent and the fries are your any restaurant style fries. There was nothing unique about the dish other than the addition of seafood. I opted to add pork belly to the dish for contrast and the pork belly I got was cold and dry - like it was waiting in a prep bin to just be nonchalantly added (in addition it was not added from the start and given in a side plate).

I finally had the Volcano Roll (1/5): this greatly upset me. The rice, and it could be because it's 10 PM on a Saturday, was absolutely disrespectful. It tasted like overwatered jasmine rice, seemingly no rice vinegar present, and the roll itself was 90% cream cheese. I understand if you enjoy it, but it overwhelmingly dominated any other flavor present in the dish. It had the same crab, which as aforementioned was decent, so it felt like an overpriced poorly made sushi roll. The size of the sushi itself was good but with bad watered down unseasoned rice and mostly cheese it was basically eating paste on paste. You are paying way too much money to not get sushi restaurant quality rice, also given how accessible it is to make a good one. A hole in the wall sushi restaurant offering lunch roll specials will give you an insurmountably more valuable and delicious experience than the awful roll I had.

The staff were pleasant and helpful, I just wish the food was better...

Some friends and I stopped here after a long day sightseeing in Arcadia. On a positive note, the seafood tasted really fresh and the service was attentive. I ordered the Ceviche as an appetizer for the table, the Mediterranean Seafood salad, and a friend ordered the Poke Bowl. Some other guests got the Lobster Bake and the Scallop Risotto. The reason I give this place a 3 star review is as follows. Both the Mediterranean Seafood Salad and the Poke Bowl came with no dressing tossed with the greens. For the Seafood Salad, I was told that the marinade on the seafood was supposed to work as a dressing. It didn't work because it had barely any seasoning to it. I cook a lot at home, and have worked in several restaurants throughout my life. In my humble opinion, you have to season every component of a dish. What could make this dish work is a lemon & olive oil dressing for the greens that has salt and pepper at the very least. Then the marinated seafood goes on top. That way everything is properly seasoned and you are not "relying on a marinade" to do the work of dressing a salad. Same principle applies to the poke bowl. My friend said this had no dressing and little seasoning. On a poke bowl the ingredients usually get some variations of soy+sesame oil+ rice wine vinegar. Some have multiple sauces. I've had the privilege of eating good poke in Hawaii and the flavors are excellent. Finally, the ceviche could have been a lot better. Ceviche is super simple: add your fresh seafood of choice to a ton of fresh lime juice. Some variations add onions, cabbage, and in Peru they even add corn. But they season it well with salt and pepper. This had no seasoning, and whatever acid component they were using (lime? lemon?) wasn't sufficient enough to give it that acidic bite that really good ceviche has. Maybe we caught them on an off night. This was a $300.00 meal for 6 people. At that price point I think they can do better, and I hope...

I'm writing this review after dining at The Loft on it's opening night. I believe that this restaurant has absolutely amazing food, fantastic service, an excellent bar, and a great location in Bar Harbor. The Loft does not have a traditional menu, rather they have a great selection of oysters, a raw bar, and shareable platters. There is a selection of "meals" on the menu, but the options there are limited. What The Loft instead offers are shareable platters for couples or groups. The format is more like tapas, but bolder.

To start with the food, my table had several dishes of both seafood and non-seafood options. Everything we ordered was fantastic, both of taste and presentation. Our favorite dish we ordered was the Surf and Turf BLT's, which used perfectly cooked scallops as the "bread" for the BLT, and an amazing pork belly was the "bacon".

In regards to service, Claire was our waitress and she did an awesome job. She checked on us often, was able to answer all our questions, and when an item we ordered was taking a while she she made sure it wasn't forgotten and handled it appropriately. The food wasn't impressively fast to come out, but considering the beautiful presentation of every dish, and the fact that it was opening night, I was satisfied with the speed of service.

Overall, I think this is an excellent place to enjoy dinner with friends. I don't see this as being a great choice for a traditional family dinner (i.e. parents with a couple small kids), but I do think this would be an excellent option for a couple, a small group or friends, or even a large group of friends. The Loft offers a different take on what you would normally find at many others restaurants in the area and it's worth trying for those looking for...