Linda Bean’s Maine Kitchen & Topside Tavern — Restaurant in Freeport

Native Mainer here. Never worked in a restaurant. I am a home cook.

My husband and I visited the restaurant in Freeport today on an impulse- we were cruising the Main Street and said- oh hey, it’s a Tuesday, let’s see what open.

Unfortunately, our experience was not wholly positive

We arrived around 1pm and were seated relatively quickly for lunch rush

The initial waitress took our drink and appetizer orders and served both quickly

The main course is where things went sideways.

After the appetizer plates were taken, the utensils went with them. It took a while to get the attention one of the waitstaff to bring a new set.

The lobster bisque had one single, small lobster piece.

I ordered the roasted haddock, and the flavor was completely flat. There was nothing, no salt/pepper/garlic lemon. It was like rubber

My husband ordered the 10oz steak with salad and mashed potatoes

The steak looked promising, nice presentation with grill stripe, with a sprig of rosemary but the flavor fell far short of the price.

Dry, without flavor at all.

My husband, being positive, said the salad was great!

It’s pretty hard to mess up a salad

For the cost and purported hype, gosh- I feel sorry for so many tourists who eat here and have the impression of a perfect example of Maine cuisine.

I will never offer any of my friends or family a recommendation for Linda Beans’s Perfect...

I was not overly impressed with the food here. First off when I order a haddock meal I expect to get a good size piece of fish, not skinny, overcooked little nuggets. I wish I had sent it back but it was late & my family would’ve been waiting on me. The fries were awful, flavorless, stale, not crisp & no salt. Probably the worst fries I’ve ever had. For $22 this was a very subpar meal! My husband said his lobster ravioli was good. My son had chicken tenders & those were good, but he said the fries were awful, which I agreed. I wish we’d gone for pizza rather than spend almost 100 on a meal here that we were not at all satisfied with. In the future whenever I order fish I’m going to always ask if it’s a piece of fish or small nuggets! I’ve had this at other places & it angers me to pay that much & get skinny little (overcooked) fish nuggets. I wanted a nice big piece of haddock. Rip off. Our server did not ever ask us how our food was so I didn’t really have the opportunity to say I didn’t like it. I would’ve had to flag her down & ask to send it back. I am very uncomfortable doing that so I just ate the fish. A lot to pay for just a few fish nuggets. I stopped eating the fries cuz yuck! You’ll see in the pics how skinny the fish nuggets were. I’d advise against the fish & fries! I left here still hungry, which NEVER happens when we go...

Drove 3 hrs from BarHarbor Me For my birthday.Arrived at this Place and saw 2 elderly women there. Waited 10 min for staff at front to Come and seat my husband and I But waited 10 min and no one came. The elderly women said that a hostess Came by 15 min earlier and they were Leaving after 25 min.A hostess came And we asked for a table.She said That it would be 10 more min before We could be seated even though There were empty tables to the right And to the left near the bar.Five min Later a party of 6 came in and the Hostess said that we would have to Move and sit on a bench while she Helped the next party.She was rude And not very friendly.Other waitresses Walked by but said nothing.We refused to Wait any longer and I told that girl That she was rude.She yelled that They were short staffed.We left And were disappointed but went To the Tuscan Bistro and were Welcomed warmly.A mgr should Have helped at the front and Alleviated them being short staffed. There are ways to politely say That they were sorry for the delay And would be with us shortly. Too bad as it would have been Nice to eat there on...