The Burleigh — Restaurant in Kennebunkport

Before leaving Stowe, VT for Kennebunkport, ME, we made a reservation at The Burleigh, located inside The Kennebunkport Inn. Since it wasn't a busy night at the inn, the valet guy allowed us to park there.

For drinks, two guests enjoyed The Burleigh Sangria, which consisted of red wine, orange liqueur, angostura bitters, anPrior to leaving Stowe, VT for Kennebunkport, ME on a Fridayd fresh fruit. I was deciding between two drinks - Painkiller and Pecan Old Fashioned. I went with the latter because our server Ogan said it was really good. The Pecan Old Fashioned consisted of pecan infused bourbon, brown sugar, and angostura bitters served with a pecan rimmed glass. Honestly, I wasn't not a fan of this cocktail and regret not getting the Painkiller.

For appetizers, we shared a Baby Spinach Salad and Maine Mussel Frites. The Baby Spinach Salad consisted of baby spinach, toasted pepitas, and dried cranberry tossed in a light balsamic maple vinaigrette with smoked cheddar instead of goat feta cheese on the side as requested. The Maine Mussel Frites consisted of mussels cooked with apple cider, shallot, bacon, and cream and topped with fries and scallion.

For entrees, we shared Steak Tips, Chicken Pot Pie, and Seafood Risotto. The Steak Tips consisted of marinated tips served with whipped potatoes and garlicky green beans in a savory borderlaise sauce. Even though we asked for the steak tips to be cooked medium rare. It was more medium to medium well. I was surprised it didnt come with a steak knife. I didn't like how the steak tips were extremely chewy. The Chicken Pot Pie consisted of chicken, carrots, onions, and celery in a light gravy topped with a flaky pie cover. The Seafood Risotto consisted of a rich, creamy, and cheesy risotto cooked with butternut squash, baby spinach, and parmesan, and topped with lobster, shrimp, and mussels. Among the three entrees, the Seafood Risotto was...

We frequent the KRC restaurants and this was the last one that we hadn’t tried. To review this place is tricky because you want to be fair & understanding, but you sometimes have to be honest to call out the unacceptable. I’ll start there. The service was comical and non-existent. It made for a painful Fall dining experience. We left stunned, because the place had so much going for it. Adorable New England decor, with a very welcoming entry. Cozy fireplace, rustic warm and comfortable bar with many nice upscale touches. We were thinking that we were in for a good night. It proved that just a few key factors can ruin an experience and leave customers with a bad taste in their mouth. That said the food was very good. It’s a small place so it had a small menu. We liked every bite. The fish tacos were a tad dry which could have been fixed with an aioli or sauce. Not a big deal. Everything was clean around us and the plates were attractive. Their restaurant opens from 4 to 8, with 4 to 6 being happy hour w specials. There was never more than 6 people eating and 10 people in the place. The primary bartender was absentee 90% of the time, with 2 couples and a high top of 3 receiving no service or being greeted. People were asking us if someone was working. That made the lack of attentiveness a bigger deal. It would make sense to train the right people with a customer focused approach. If you need to scale things back to put emphasis on customer service, maybe redirect guests & off the street customers to your other restaurants. (Again the kitchen did a solid job) One staffing change could have made this experience incredible and enjoyable for us. It didn’t make sense to us because it was not busy. A swing and a miss for...

My wife and I used a KBK Resort Collection gift card to check out this local spot. I have to say, we weren't exactly impressed. First, you have to enter the restaurant through the hotel and that was just a lucky guess on our part as we didn't see any viable signs or directions for the Burleigh. After a few minutes of awkward loitering inside the entrance we were finally greeted by a hostess. It was a warm fall evening so we expected that outdoor seating would be possible but it wasn't. We were seated at a tiny table about 2 feet from a table of 4 people already eating. We kind of felt like we were sitting at their kiddy table. I assume there are other rooms of dining because we saw others coming and going but all we could see from where we were seated was the bar area...which appeared busier. We asked the gentleman who seated us if he was also our waiter and he says "oh, yes....in fact I'm everyone's waiter tonight". So short staffing seemed to be an issue on this night. Nice kid but clearly overworked. To sum up, the drinks were pricey but tasty. The steak tips and accompanying items we both ordered were decent but the ambiance was just nonexistent, at least where we were seated. I don't think I'd go back...