The Public House — Restaurant in Machias

I and several of my friends have been a loyal patrons of West Branch Farms for a bit over two years. We frequent the Cafe and your shop. I have said your praises to many individuals who have become loyal customers as well. This comes from kindness and the hope for good fresh locally sourced food is made a priority. I understand you are growing, but…. You need to find individuals who know what real service is. I don’t care if you are having a bad day, you put a smile on your face when on the clock in the hospitality industry. A multitude of times we have walked in and empty tables are full of dirty dishes. There isn’t a line, they are not incredibly busy, it’s called working hard. Step it up. The parking lot now is hard to traverse through since the fake green grass pavilion was added. The green carpet covers big rocks that could easily cause an injury. You seriously need to rethink the handicapped ramp- it’s the farthest thing away from the entrance- flip it around- elderly or disabled individuals have a very hard time walking through that mess- along with the huge attractive propane tank obstacle course. The tables in the Cafe are together so it’s uncomfortable for the guests and staff to move around. You feel like you are in a movie theater scooting around. I’m an average 49 year old with fully functioning limbs- this is what I have witnessed and discussed with my differently abled friends who join me. The quality of the food from brunch to dinner has significantly decreased recently. Food is thrown together in a non appetizing way on the plate. I was in the Navy for 20 years and I’ve seen better plating in the galley- not kidding. My Prime rib was slapped on the plate half over the potatoes and half over the vegetables. Vegetables are full of water, and overcooked. Where is the fresh local variety? Half the time the food is lukewarm or soggy. I ordered a sandwich and the ham was budget quality dripping wet packaged ham. I have hope you will attempt to turn this around before going forward in the wrong direction that is not benefitting...

Busy Sunday night and we were warned that they were down some wait staff. Water and focaccia came before our drinks did. 3 iced tea (had to ask for the lemon again) and a lemonade with strawberry flavor that ended up being almost all strawberry syrup. TG for water to dilute it.

We had the blueberry Brie with crostini as our appetizer - this came 15 minutes later with the crostini both too hard to chew off and too soft on the inside. The brushed-on garlic clashed horribly with the blueberry and Brie (with the blueberries overwhelming the Brie). A miss.

They were out of the duck by this point on the day, so 3 fish and chips and 1 braised short ribs was our order. That was another 45 minutes to arrive at the table. Fish and chips - 1 was breaded and fried well, 1 was poorly mixed batter but fried well, and 1 was in the middle. Coleslaw was seasoned mostly with mayo, no tang or seasoning. Tartar sauce was orange ish, we never figured out what it was (but it wasn't Russian dressing or tartar sauce). Short ribs were well cooked and soft, garnished with an awful herb ricotta that clashed with the gravy and the mashed potatoes. Kinda oversalted on the gravy. Near misses on all 4.

Passed on dessert for fear of another disappointment.

We waited for the check for 20 minutes, When it came, the server gave us a 25% discount, it was nice of her to do that without asking. Probably for the long wait, not the...

Sad to leave this review as I have had some amazing meals here but the larger they get, the magic is dissipating. This time, my reservation wasn’t saved and the hostess demanded to know who I spoke with (like I was fibbing about making a reservation for 7). She told me there was no room, then seated us after expressing frustration at having to find seating for us. We waited 2.5 hours to receive cold food and 2 of the orders were cooked incorrectly- one of the steaks was dry, burned and went largely untouched. One dessert order was wrong… not a huge issue but the table was never bussed, dishes were piling up. Took an hour just to get drinks and we had to intercept a staff to get a single carafe of water for our table. The server was apologetic, lovely and stressed. She granted 25% off the bill because of the challenges. The saddest loss for me was the little things… no more drizzle on the Bistro filet, hastily prepared veggies, flat tasting mashed potatoes, unappealing presentation. I hope WBF doesn’t lose itself in the process...