The Waterfront Restaurant — Restaurant in Camden

June 28, 2021. First trip to Camden, ME and tried this restaurant. It was a Monday night at 6:00 and there was an 1.5 hour wait. We put our name on the list for outside seating (they did not take reservations but the web site says they did). They offered us plastic chairs in the sun to wait, but we opted to go elsewhere and found Cuzzy's nearby for drinks and appetizers with no wait. 15 mins before our 90 was up we returned and a waitress took us to be seated. We went past the outdoor seating into a back room with only a view of a trailer out a side window and no air conditioning. Apparently when you return, you are treated as "first available" again and so they took us to this terrible, available spot even though we had waited 80 mins for an outside spot. I spoke with the hostess who agreed to move us to an outdoor spot after another 15 minute wait (which was in-line with the original 90 min wait so we agreed). We informed our waitress and asked if we should move and she said we should just remain at the table until the hostess came. She also said she was surprised this table was just made available and it was not a great spot. Next, the assumed manager confronted us at the table and indicated that we should move and that she could sell this table to other guests. We let her know that this was fine, but that the waitress had just told us we could sit there until our new table was ready. She immediately countered that this was not true and the waitress did not say that (which she had not even talked to her). All four of our party countered that it was true and then the manager just flipped out. She told us we needed to leave and literally said "there's the door!". We were astounded by this sudden and uncalled for escalation and we have never been thrown out of any restaurant before. (She must have been having a bad night as many other customers were upset that night was well). There was no bad language, no raised voices and we had picked this place for our one night in Camden. If this was the owner, she will not be in business long with this attitude towards customers. if this was the manager she needs to have her rude attitude adjusted. On the bright side CUZZY's was great and we found a great ice cream , Camden Cones too. I IMPLORE YOU, AVOID THE WATERFRONT RESTAURANT. Read the review. Some said the water was the best part. It was the only part we got to try. The website says they take reservations, but they don't. Everyone on the wait list is first come first serve. If you show up and there is a table it is yours even if other people are waiting for it, you are seated. She just wants to fill the tables and does not care how it is done. This is poor management! Check out the other reviews, apparently the food is not that great and there are many better places to choose from. It was such a bad experience, I still felt the need to post this and warn others about this place and the management two weeks later. HEED MY WARNING. THINK TWICE before going here. Response to owner comment: We did not raise our voice nor curse. We did not see the hostess cry, so I wonder if that is even true. I am sure your staff only told you want they wanted you to hear. Read the other reviews as this is NOT an isolated incident, but an unfortunate pattern brought on by the staff. We will not be back EVER and I now know that several local hotels have REMOVED your place as a recommendation due to lots of feedback from different folks on your place. I wanted YOU to know that this happens at your restaurant. I was hoping that bitter woman was not the owner. She should be replaced. Check all the comments...

I’ve never been treated this poorly my entire life. I can not believe this nice restaurant would have such horrible hostess. I went to the restaurant with my service dog, Teddy, and the experience left me extremely disappointed. Upon arrival, we were initially denied entry, despite the clear signage stating that service dogs were allowed. It took showing our necessary documentation to convince one of the hostesses to find us a table.

What followed was a truly distressing encounter with the other hostess. As someone who relies on Teddy for emotional support during anxiety-inducing situations, I was shocked to be told that Teddy had to remain four feet on the ground at all times. This goes against the very essence of what a service dog is meant to do – provide comfort and assistance to their owner.

Things took a turn for the worse when Teddy sensed my anxiety and jumped to offer his support. Instead of understanding the situation, the hostess viciously yelled at me, insisting that service dogs must adhere her rule. My distress escalated, and Teddy, true to his training, barked once to seek help. To my dismay, this resulted in yet another harsh rebuke.

This experience left me not only upset but also questioning the restaurant's understanding of service animals and their role in assisting individuals with disabilities. It's disheartening to encounter such ignorance and a lack of compassion. I hope the Waterfront can educate their staff about the rights and needs of individuals with service dogs to ensure that no one else has to go through such a distressing and vicious encounter.

We later found there is another really nice restaurant just 3min walking distance away, called Peter Ott’s on the water. The hostess there was really professional, she first asked if this was a service animal, after showing our documents, she was exceptionally nice and kindly took us to our table. The service there was great, food was delicious too! Would highly recommend people with service animals to...

We heard good things. We called more than a week in advance to reserve Thursday night 7-1-21. We were told they were booked but hold 1/4 of tables for walk in's. We parked with some difficulty (it's Camden), no big deal, and walked to a line already formed at the deck at 6:15ish. Guests seemed unable to accept that they could not sit promptly and we started hearing the hostess say "90 minutes", "no guarantees on outside seating", etc. Seemed reasonable. Still some guests were engaging with her for more than 5 minutes each. The line moved agonizingly slow just to get a name in. When I finally got to the podium, there was no smile, behind the mask that occasionally came down, not even an acknowledgement. I smiled and said hi how are you and the response was "ok". The hostess then proceeded to completely ignore me, and shifted direction toward the crowd behind me to talk on reservations and recheck on those that had been waiting. After she walked away with a 6:30 reso, I realized my watch read 6:37. So more than 15 minutes waiting...she returned walked right past me and began announcing that the restaurant was fully booked and made no guarantees for outside seating or dining anytime before 745, 8 or later. She began answering questions, again I'm still stepped up to the podium. At that point we felt ignored, unwelcome and that sometimes a good view, when greeted in this fashion isn't worth risking what might come next, tough in, tougher out they say.. Felt like a tourist trap frankly. We left...walked around the corner to another business, were greeted warmly after just 1 minute, agreed to sit at the bar for what was a fantastic meal. I see some great reviews here and some that more closely reflect our experience. We will not be back to sample the food, or to experience the arrogance or demeanor of the hostess, but hope ownership understands and improves the way in which they handle customers, matters from a-z regardless...