Thirsty Whale Tavern — Restaurant in Bar Harbor

Food was amazing! Do try their burgers and seafood items. However, after reading other reviews and critics of this place, I can agree that this place is loud. (Imagine you had to repeat yourself several times for your friends to finally hear what you’re trying to say.)

Additionally, I can understand that not everyone is good with communication nor do they have the time to fully communicate due to the restaurant being very busy. Although keep in mind that kindness and communication goes a long way.

When people are visiting this charming town, they do not want to wait a long time just to get the bill. They have the money and ready to pay. Or if this restaurant does not offer Apple Pay, it’s okay to communicate and inform the customer of such NICELY. But this restaurant has hired two comedians and they had a few funny lines to give. I was wondering if I may pay by the register or seek for a waitress who may answer any questions I have regarding the payment methods. One of the comedians saw me standing up and said “you NEED to pay for your service.” That was some funny joke! Because what do you think I’m trying to do?!? To pay lmao. (I promise you if anyone thought of dining and dashing, you would not be able to see the person standing still in the restaurant. The person would’ve been out of sight!) Now here comes the second comedian aka our hostess. I’ve asked her a simple question if I may pay upfront with Apple Pay. It was a genuine question as I’m visiting from another state. I wanted to inquire more info about this restaurant and the joke she threw at me was a BIG FAT “NOOOOOO”. Oh boy, I was cracking up that night because they had the perfect lines and showed an outstanding performance. Never knew a restaurant offered free comedy shows, thank you for such surprising service.

Had the two comedians aka hostess had answered my questions in a nonchalant manner and had none accused me of dining and dashing. This review would have been different.

I like to leave things on a good note, so do shoutout to the other two staffs who were very friendly and helpful. I wish I had gotten their names. One staff who helped me was a sweet heart with two buns hairstyle. The other staff was the hostess who had greeted us with a smile and guided us to our tables. These two lovely individuals are the ones who will be remembered by customers as they have shown the meaning of good communication and kindness goes a long way.

To the restaurant owner: Based off the other reviews and the responses you have given, I already know what response this will get. I’m sure you will also watch the whole scene on the camera as you have done so in the past for the other customers. So here is what I would tell you. To make a good business owner, it’s important to keep a few things in mind. First, it’s not always about the money. Second, playing a role in the customer’s perspective is very important. (If you are a customer at this restaurant, what will you do, how would you feel. Your perspective may differ from both your staffs and the customer’s perspective. There are always two sides to the story. So having both is equally important.) Third, I’m sure you are a great business owner who cares about the customers and their experience with dinning in your restaurant so you probably already...

Severely disappointed. My friends and I were visiting from way out of state and we decided to visit this restaurant on a rainy day based on the positive reviews. We placed a takeout order, which was ready fairly quickly. Unfortunately, other than the quick service, this was a sub par experience. For just doing takeout, there is an automatic 15% gratuity charge which is too much. When we came back to pick up our food, although it was handed to us immediately, we then proceeded to wait for 10 minutes while the server who said she would be right with us continued to serve drinks and give multiple tables their checks, walking past us many times and barely even looking at us. As women of color, I could only assume race was the factor here. Finally, after several minutes, one nice lady took pity on us and processed our check, and apologized to us. Honestly, we could have just walked out with the food and no one would have noticed, but we would never do that. Upon reading other reviews, it's quite disgusting to see that other non-white people are sharing similar (and worse) experiences of being treated poorly due to race. You should be ashamed of yourselves. Had we seen these reviews beforehand, we never would have bothered with this place. What's worse is that we were treated nicely when we walked in to place an order, but once we had done so, the lady's attitude changed. You'll take our money and then decide to be disrespectful? Not okay.

The food was also sub-par. We got fries and barely given any ketchup, ordered soup but not provided spoons, and did not receive sauces with the dishes we ordered. These are simple things that go a long way into customer satisfaction. I'm disappointed about this experience and the restaurant and its servers can do better. We will not be...

By now, I've had numerous lobster rolls across Massachusetts and Maine and this place easily had amongst the top two lobster rolls that I've ever had, being at a tie with another place in MA. I got the 6oz lobster roll and while I was hesitant to have a Maine style roll rather than Connecticut style, I was pleasantly surprised by just how good the lobster roll was. The lobster itself was tasty and had this nice subtle "sweet" taste to it, a taste that made me contemplate ordering a whole second lobster roll just to enjoy some more of it (I didn't but maybe I should have). It came with fries which I thought were pretty good. We had tried the crab roll and it wasn't bad but not really for me, and I'd choose the lobster over the crab any time. I also tried the clam chowder with garlic bread and it was amazing if I'm being honest. This place is not cheap and I thought it would be a typical tourist trap in Bar Harbor but the food is surprisingly good. The service was about as good as it gets as the woman who served us was busy trying to accommodate all of her tables, but she really did try her best. The parking situation though is horrendous. Street parking in front is hard to acquire and there's a large paid parking lot behind the restaurant as well as a small paid lot across the street. Both of these paid lots were filled to the brim with cars and it took a good while before I had finally gotten a spot. If you're gonna drive here as most people do, be prepared to wait for a spot behind the restaurant or park along the street farther...