Lobster Pound Gift Shop & Moose Museum — Restaurant in Lincolnville

What a disappointment. Can’t imagine how some reviews gave this establishment decent reviews.

We’ve eaten at the Lobster Pound in Lincolnville Maine many times over the past 24 years and before last night, we enjoyed the food and service. However, last night, June 8, 2021 we spent over $450 for seven of us, yet had a terrible experience.

To begin with we made reservations and confirmed them about 30 minutes before we arrived. When we got there, the place had few customers. In the past this place was almost always full.

There were no signs or any one to inform us they no longer had wait staff and things were self serve. It took us a while to figure this out. Later in the ordeal I asked the young lady at the front what we were supposed to do, she said order here. I asked what happened to the wait staff, she informed me that during the covid pandemic they dismissed their wait staff and went to self serve and since it worked out well they decided to continue with this method.

Since they no longer have wait staff you have to order at the front desk. if you needed anything, like utensils or missed items, you had to get up and find somebody to bring that which was needed.

We could see that our drinks were prepared, but no one brought them to our table until they were diluted from the ice melting. This despite our two attempts to pick them up ourselves. Each time we were told that they would be delivered by staff shortly, but that was not the case.

The food comes out haphazardly, and tastes fair to poor. No one cleared our plates, so to make room as the food arrived in waves over time and in an inconsistent manner we had to clear and bus our own table.

No one asked if we needed anything, wanted dessert, etc.

What little staff was there was profoundly inexperienced.

This place is not even worth the time to review it, but, if it will prevent others from wasting their time and money, it may...

Very disappointing dining experience.

The food was average, my lobster stew was ok, but at $32 I felt it was extremely overpriced and really was just a bunch of cream, butter and lobster hastily thrown together. I couldn't really taste anything other than cream & butter. At $32 I was expecting a much larger portion - I've had lobster bisque at a couple of other mid-coast restaurants and only paid up to $24 and frankly it was more interesting. My dining partner's lobster was good and served in a nice pot. Once again, this lobster was about 30% more expensive than what you'd find 5 miles down the road.

The counter service ordering went smoothly, but most of the outdoor picnic tables were filled with dirty dishes. I sat at one table for 5 minutes waiting for someone to clean it; that never happened even though the servers were bringing out food to other patrons. I had to clean my own table and wipe it down - it wasn't until the end of the evening (the restaurant was never very crowded) that someone came out to start making some progress on cleaning the dirty picnic tables

The servers were not friendly at all - they just dropped the food and disappeared. We needed salt/pepper, as it was not on our table and we couldn't find any outside. I wanted another beer and had to wait in the ordering line that was 5 people deep - it sure would have been convenient for someone to bring me that 2nd beer instead of waiting in a 10 minute line.

Bottom line - way, way overpriced, but you're really not getting anything for the inflated prices. You can go to Claws in Rockland and have a MUCH better dining experience: good food, fair prices, friendly servers, clean...

We arrived and waited several minutes at the sign that said "Please Wait to be Seated." We waited so long that it became uncomfortable, then I realized there was a young couple standing on the other side of the podium; I asked if they were also still waiting to be acknowledged and they unhappily said "yes." So they'd been waiting at the front for at least 6 or 7 minutes, with no greeting whatsoever. The owners, who are the same owners that have owned and managed the place for decades, (despite lies/rumors that the place is under new management or ownership) were sitting right there; Dick at the bakery counter in full view of the waiting parties, and Patty in the gift shop, who walked right by us several times without saying a word to either waiting party. Their picture is prominently displayed as soon as you walk in, so it was particularly insulting to know that the very owners of the restaurant could not be bothered to acknowledge or otherwise even greet parties that were quite obviously and unnecessarily waiting. This occurred on Monday, 28 August, at around 2:45 in the afternoon, and the restaurant was not at all busy. Not surprisingly, we read many reviews before heading there, and a lot of people said that staff and management at the Lobster Pound were rude and unavailable; this is precisely what we experienced. We walked out and went to Anglers in Searsport, which is ALWAYS awesome, with great food and friendly staff. We spent $120 on lunch - money that the Lobster Pound lost, along with 3 local customers that will...