Boothbay Craft Brewery, Tavern & RV — Restaurant in Boothbay

Unbelievably disappointing experience. We arrived at 6:45pm to no greeting, no staff, and the only available table was dirty with no menus. Someone eventually came to wipe it down and drop menus, but the vibe was cold and very unwelcoming from the start. The system here is set up so you have to order everything at an outside window. Food, beer, drinks, everything and then just sit and wait. We had a table right by kitchen and bar so we saw all the action. On paper, it probably saves the restaurant money by cutting staff, but in reality, it leaves guests feeling ignored, unwelcome and confused. Lots of signs directing you outside to order, no human interaction. There’s no hospitality, no guidance, and no sense that anyone is actually taking care of you. Because there isn’t.

We ordered a pizza and two orders of wings at 7pm. By 7:30, still nothing. Around 7:40, 2 other guests who had come in with us were also complaining they hadn’t received their large order of food. They left hungry. The staff did not seem to care. The table behind us waited over 40 min for pretzel bites.

At 7:50, I asked Amanda the only food runner in the place, to kindly check on our order. She was clearly exhausted and carrying huge loaded trays all night while no one else seemed to help. Sure enough, our food had been completely forgotten. Only at that point did they start making the wings and put the pizza in the oven. 1 hour later.

The staff looked overwhelmed, the owner and manager were running around clueless looking for missing orders, and no one ever checked in or greeted us as we sat there for over an hour in an empty table. Halfway through the night we realized they had more than beer. A full bar! We were never given a cocktail list but the gal brought one layer. $18.00 cocktails! lol When I ordered a French wine from the menu, I was served a canned Lobster wine instead. The owner didn’t even acknowledge me when I tried to correct it standing at the empty bar with him on the register in front of me, not acknowledging me at all. The other bartender had to step in and poured me another lobster wine via draft that was certainly not a French wine as listed on the menu. Oh well! Time ticks on!

Food came and boy, it wasn’t worth the wait. The wings had a nice smoky flavor but very overcooked. The pizza was raw in the middle, and when it was sent back, they just threw it on a steel pan, which overcooked the top and left the center doughy. Horrible. So Overpriced. Best part about the dinner were the tricolored carrots that came with the wings. We were never given plates, cutlery or napkins. You have to source those yourself as well!

The only person who cared at all was Amanda. Everything else, service, food, and management was a total mess. I worked in restaurants for over 15 years in almost every position and this was one of the worst experiences I’ve had in a very long time. We will not be back. I suggest that the owner really rethinks his business model for next season. I’ve read other similar reviews here and it seems the owner responds in a very defensive and careless manner, so sadly I’m not expecting much to change over at...

Long time fan of the Boothbay Craft Brewery brews, love the Lobster Bake Lager. I visited the establishment for the first time since the pandemic and had a conflicting experience. My chief issue is that the pricing correlates with a full service dining experience, which used to be the case. But now all of it is "fast casual" dining completely outdoors at picnic tables patio furniture. That's fine in and of itself, but a $19 burger for what's basically a refined picnic is a little crazy. Not to mention adding bacon was $5 for two very crispy pieces. Again, no wait staff. It's not clear that you don't need to clear your tables and we were under the impression we needed to do that also.

The atmosphere was extremely crowded - and there were tons of young, screaming children around. For those of us who have already raised kids, this is extremely taxing. A couple times kids almost bumped into our table and more than once there were crying/screaming toddlers/infants. I'm not sure why children are allowed at an establishment who's primary objective is to serve alcohol. Community engagement and family friendliness is important, but this was not that. This was running amuck, children playing in the horseshoes sand pit, etc.

To the staff, as a first time visitor since the pandemic, navigating your establishment was confusing. My party was confused by the signage, and the multiple staff we passed clearly looking confused never greeted or assisted. I highly recommend clear signage explaining how your new system works. Additionally, I noticed a bottleneck of service; the counter you have for initial seating was backed up with folks waiting to get their table number. At the same time I was waiting to close out for example, there was a party ahead of me waiting to be seated. It took a painful amount of time for the staff to explain the system to them, and then the person wanted to sample beer. These are all reasonable expectations a customer wants to experience (closing/paying, sampling, purchasing of beer), but they should not be all at one counter as this creates extremely frustrating bottlenecks like mine. I had a small tab I wanted to closeout and waited several minutes to do so. I do not expect "city" service speed, but I do expect the customer experience to be better designed. Mind you, the time I visited was early evening on a weekday and not a marginal pre-close window.

I advise to focus on making beer and perfect small expansions rather than quantity of them (beer, the RV/camping, food, oyster service, indoor dining). It feels like a scattershot and I'm confident it...

As soon as we drove up and Riley stepped out of the guard shack we felt welcome. He was warm and very happy to see us. This was a great way to start this trip. We were here as part of harvest host and got spot 2 in the RV lot. The resort is cool, there are 2 harvest host spots, nine or ten pull through RV spots, a couple of back in spots, and a number of cabins. We think the whole family stays on the property and make us jealous that we don't yet have that with our kids. After we got the camper van settled we went up to the Brewery. The outside beer garden was closed at the time but it looked like fun. Lots of tables, space for a band and a spot for crochet. Inside the Brewery was very fun. The pictures and paintings on the walls are eclectic and amusing. Everything is in wood and gives you the feel of an old time log cabin. The bar is cool and has all the beers they make in signs above it. You have to go up to the bar to order which is unique and helps when places can't find waiters. We ordered one of the pizzas and it was out of the world. The tomatoes were so sweet and juicy! While your waiting for your greatest pizza ever you have plenty to see. There are two trains that go around the dining room that you can watch. There is also money stapled to the ceiling, you should ask about that! The large brick oven not only makes the best pizza but I am sure in the winter time it keeps the place cozy. When the bathroom is interesting! In the men's room they have a poster of the urinals of Ireland (so funny) and the mirror has a mack truck side mirror attached to it so you can see the side of your head and the front (again so amusing). Then we got to the cool part! With a secret lever you can open a secret door that leads up to the speakeasy! So cool! There we had a couple more drinks and so pretzel bites in garlic sauce with beer cheese (yum). Also we met the coolest bartender Ursula who told us about some more fun camper living adventures. After all this we crawled back to the camper van and slept away. I would...