Dennett's at the Wharf — Restaurant in Castine

We traveled by boat to try this new restaurant.  The hours posted for lunch are from 11:30 AM to 2:30 PM.  We arrived just before 2:00 PM.  We asked for a table for 2 and we were told they were no longer sitting guests.  No explanation, nothing.  I heard others were turned away who had driven quite a ways to try this new establishment.  My suggestion is if you are understaffed, (I am assuming), be transparent and update your website that hours have changed due to a shortage of staff.  This at least may prevent others from being upset when they find out you were forced to close early.  I probably won't make a special boat trip to come to Castine. Kind of funny but when you were closed we went to the food shack near the docks and the food actually was surprisingly good and the price I am sure was substantially lower which offset the cost of fuel to come to Castine.  In the future, if I come to Castine I'll either go to The Captains Catch or to the corner take-out food The Breeze & Castine Variety.  At least they are always open and reliable.

Update: I am very pleased that management replied and explained the situation as to why they closed early. If the staff in the future are properly trained to communicate why something is happening this could have been avoided. We are very laid back and would have totally understood that an emergency had occurred. We will definitely try to come again sometime this summer. One suggestion is for all the tables to have umbrellas. We noticed that there was very few areas on the outside deck that had some shade. We like to eat out especially since Covid is still running rampant throughout the country and here in Maine.We would also strongly suggest that staff where masks while inside. This will help to keep your staff and guests more safe. We all know the negative impact a business experiences when they lose employees to illness.

We will rate the food and the experience when we are able to come back to...

Disappointing. I know they suffered from a storm that took out their deck, but this is 100% different than last year and not in a good way. Allow me to explain:

The menu: Extremely limited. The address is 15 Sea Street. They have a hot dog, lobster roll, salad, hamburger and chicken salad sandwich. Since the restaurant literally touches the Atlantic Ocean and Castine is a Maine coastal sea town I expected steamers, scallops, whole lobsters, etc. We got lobster rolls, and I wasn’t a fan of the hot lobster roll with garlic/thyme butter. The chips were very good.

Service: The girls were sweet. But the only “service” offered is bringing your food to the table. You order at the hostess desk and pay at that time (yes, there’s an option to tip) and you are given a number sign for your table. You are pointed to items to set up your own table - water, glasses, cutlery, salt, pepper, etc. They do bring your food to you.

Atmosphere: I do feel for their struggle here because they had a beautiful deck that got washed away in a storm. But the rearrangement is not as appealing.

Final thoughts: We got 2 lobster rolls, 1 (very small) margarita, and 1 ginger ale - all for $78.84 (including 20% tip for??). The service and quality do not align...

The food was decent but our wait staff was TERRIBLE. Never checked to refill drinks, didn't see if we needed anything else, and messed up our order which usually makes me give grace but we had someone with Celiac's that we needed to be absolutely certain had the right meal. They definitely need more training. The kitchen staff bringing the actual food out did better than the wait staff. Put a dampener on the meal unfortunately. The fish was good but ask for extra tartar sauce. The lobster dinner and the hot lobster roll were also deemed delicious. Skip the chowders, they were pretty plain and the corn one tasted a little old and burnt despite the fire roasted label. Also, sit out on the balcony if you're able for a great view!

Edit: Owner replied it was the young man's first week. I get it, I do but also having some respect to not sit on your phone, work on checking in with your table, etc. There were other staff doing his job. I am sure he will get better and just needs to shadow some of those who were doing their best. Rarely do we not leave a tip, but we felt we had no other choice when he didn't do much. Honestly I would have tipped the kitchen staff...