The Liberal Cup — Restaurant in Hallowell

Appearance wise walking in its a pretty big building. Looking from the outside it would seem much smaller but actually going inside is clearly much bigger. There is plenty of seating, one section then another section near the bar, including the bar itself then outside seating. It's big enough so I imagine it's wheelchair accessible as well. The establishment is very maintained and clean, including the bathroom. I think the sink is nice decor, it's almost like a small waterfall sink. Kinda cute. The bathroom is very small but clean. The decor for the rest of the building could use more work but I did think the little area for the dart board was neat, maybe a pool table in the future would be a neat concept too. Just a suggestion. They have a full bar, they are a brewery, has two tv's in the bar, plenty of drink options. They have a very small gift shop near the entrance. Hats, shirts, etc. Parking is street parking but there's a small lot next door you can park at. Free parking. They accept debit/credit and cash. They have a pretty big food menu as well as a vegetarian menu. They also have a dessert menu. They make their own beer and you can purchase a shot sized sampler that has seven drinks to try. The portion sizes for the menu is very generous and the prices aren't bad. I feel like they may be understaffed because there was only one waitress on for lunch. Kids will like this place as well because there's burgers, fries and such on the menu. They are not open for breakfast but open for lunch and dinner.

Tina was our waitress and she could be a very good sales person. She knew the menu exceptionally well, never had a negative thing to say about any of the food, she made sure we always had our drinks, was kind and had good customer service. My husband had the fish and chips and he had the steak and cheese egg rolls. Not much steak or cheese in the egg rolls but they were good. Horse radish is gross, not sure how people like that but to each their own. He wasn't a fan of the haddock because he's use to cod instead, but personal preference. He says the coleslaw was dry but he liked the fries. I had the beer and cheese soup and the thanksgiving meal. I absolutely loved my meal. The cheese soup you definitely could taste the beer, I thought that added really good flavor. The thanksgiving meal is your basic thanksgiving meal, but was great. The potatoes are yummy, good flavor. The butternut squash was the best thing on the plate. No complaints at all for my meal. Very big portions. Next time I would like to try either the shepherds pie or meatloaf. The prices are definitely reasonable for the amount of food you get. They had no mountain dew. Food coming out was very slow but when you only have one waitress on that shift it kinda makes sense. That's not her fault. Just because I'm giving it a three star dosent mean I didn't like it, delivery time took way too long, but the food was good and the service was excellent. Maybe consider having a hostess help out the wait staff or put a second person on to help them. Thank you Tina for your awesome service. We hope to see you...

We wanted to have dinner New Year's Eve. We arrived and there was another couple waiting at the hostess stand, they said they'd been waiting at least 8 min & no one had even greeted them. They & we were in a good mood, so we waited another 5 min, still no one. By now another couple arrives, another couple just left. My husband had to twice wander around to find someone, eventually asked the bartender to find someone to seat us. While we understand it is a busy night you should at least have staff sailing by to reassure we'd be attended to. Once the hostess arrived, we were all seated quickly. Once we were seated our waiter was awesome, very friendly & knowledgeable about the menu. Our food was lightning fast, we had the pork Oso Bucco & Fish & Chips, both were great (my roasted veggies could've been a bit more tender; they shouldn't crunch AND they were tasty, fingerling potatoes were YUM! I had the Egg Nog Martini, delicious. My husband had a craft beer (Bug Lighthouse), it was great. We had carrot cake, it was very good; if you catch when they have the Lemon Cello cake, get it, it is AWESOME. Everything seemed to be priced fairly; we each had 2 drinks plus dessert, and it was about $83. They were pre-bussing the tables which I love. They could use a manager, one of the waitresses kept complaining about guests, loudly, I've been a waitress so I understand & you vent out of earshot of guests. One of the servers was rummaging thru what appeared to be all paper trash, then rolled silverware w/no hand washing. Even if it is 100% paper, it does not look good and washing your hands an extra time or 2 wouldn't hurt. Restaurants everywhere: Please teach your staff to stop handling glasses by the rim of the glass where my mouth might go, even if you serve it with straws, please. I see this everywhere & it is very distasteful for the customer. Overall, it was a great night, and we'd go back with...

The Liberal Cup is a cozy, quaint and trendy place located on historic Water Street in Hallowell. It has a "small town" pub feel and although greets anyone with "Hey Norm" it wouldn't seem out of place if they did. Five of us arrived mid-way through the lunch hour and found a place to sit with no wait. The service was friendly and efficient, considering we were there visiting close to 2.5 hours that's saying alot. The menu has a fair amount of choices you don't see at your average restaurant including Beer Cheese soup. The Bob Cobb salad was wonderfully fresh and tasty. I chose the Bleu cheese dressing to keep it classic, but it lacked the strong flavor of Bleu cheese and had no chunks of Bleu cheese. That's a must. Their dessert menu was posted on the wall board directly in front of me so I stared at cinnamon creme brulee for the entire meal, but when the hard decision came, I went with my favorite of all time, coconut cream pie. I had no complaints with my change of heart as it was incredible, from the perfect flaky crust to the coconut custard filling. The homemade whipped cream was just the right mix.of sweet and creamy. This is a great place to enjoy a dinner for two, a group of 10 or a business meal for...