Abel's Lobster — Restaurant in Mount Desert

If you are looking for good seafood (lobster, crab, clams & more) Abel's Lobster Pound as a great choice while visiting the Acadia National Park area. The price was the going rate for the island, but the view over Somes Sound is much better than a roadside lobster pound. If you are looking to impress a date, a spouse or maybe a "new spouse to be" it should do the trick.

I stopped in for my first time today and was pleasantly impressed. Now I know this is a lobster pound, but The Grumpy Retiree stays away from sea cockroaches. Should I say cockroaches in a restaurant review? How about sea bugs, is that better? Anyway I had the fried clams which were very fresh and very good. They were some of the better clams I have had in my life and I am fairly old and have had a lot of fried clams. They came with fries and I added a glass of wine. A Pinot Grigio from Taly it said on the menu, wherever that is.

My wife had a lobster roll. I couldn't talk any sense into her, but she enjoyed it. She has strange tastes I guess as she seems to like me too for some reason. She said it was one of the best lobster rolls she has had and like the brioche roll it was on, a nice touch.

Abel's has a bunch of beer and wine available, more than many smaller lobster pounds. That's good because wine is what makes me less grumpy. I thought both glasses of wine we had were pretty tasty. They also have burgers and other stuff too. You can read it yourself online or when you get there, I can't do everything for you.

Service was very good and friendly. Thanks to Natasha we really enjoyed the meal, service and atmosphere.

I am sure they get busy during high season, and after this stellar review will only get busier.

UPDATE: I have been here 3 times now. The second time my fried clams were good, but not as good as before. My wife’s fish was greasy. More of a 3 star experience so it may depend on the cook a bit. The last time the lobster rolls were still great according to the 3 people in our group. My halibut was cooked perfect, but the chili paste was very spicy hot. I recommend mixing it into the beans better than I did.

Still enjoyed the food and view a lot. Changing review from 5 to 4 stars due to the...

Writing this review because of the very poor service we received when we went. We were looking to go to Abel's with a party of 10. We understood that reservations were not accepted, but since we had a larger group, we called earlier in the day and were assured that they were able to accommodate a large group like ours. After arriving around 5:30 and waiting for our table, our group was split up in 2 different tables. Not accommodating like they had said. After talking with the staff, they sat us together but said that we would have to be on two separate checks and orders - which was totally fine by us. Once the food orders were in, our 5 orders of fried clams that were on SEPARATE orders all came out at once. Half of the table ate theirs and the other half waited for the remaining guests to receive their food. After 45 min of waiting and mentioning this to our waitress, the manager came out to talk to us. He told us that he was sorry and that the other orders would be out. When we asked him how much longer for the other orders he explained that he did not know but that our other orders were 4th in line in kitchen. Fourth. Not next, but fourth, after waiting 45 minutes. I would also like to note that other tables around us who came later had drinks, appetizers, orders placed, and dinners eaten before the manager even came to speak to us. I will admit that he did comp our drinks, appetizers, and fried clams on the house, but it did not make up for the poor treatment we received as a whole. It was supposed to be a fun and tasty dinner with family from all over the northeast who vacationed together at Acadia because we only see each other a few times a year. We were all extremely dissatisfied with the experience. We left that night after 3 hours with no dinners and a night with family ruined. I would expect better from a restaurant where dinners are...

The service we received was by far one of the worst I have ever experienced. To start off, we were sat outside (completely fine) and was told that our server, Sophia, would be with us shortly. After about 15 minutes we weren't sure if our server was ever going to come and greet us. She finally did and brought us some waters. When she brought us our appetizer my water was completely empty and my husband's was only about half full. We did not order any other drinks, she left quickly before I could ask for a refill and she should have looked before she left. Our food came about 45 minutes after we sat down, still no refill for our drinks. I would assume most patrons after 45 minutes would need a refill but our server was nowhere to be found. We asked the man who brought our food if he could get us refills on our water. The food was warm not hot. Overall it was okay, I had the fried clams and my husband the fish and chips. Nothing I would return for but it wasn't bad food. We did not see our server again but the man who brought us our food thankfully brought us both water. Our server did not return until she had the check, this is the 3rd time we've seen this woman and she never refilled our drinks. She stared down my husband while he filled in a tip for her. I have been to many restaurants that use the handheld machine they bring to the table, I have never have anyone stare you down while you choose a tip amount. You might want to train your servers to politely look a different direction. We then left and on the way out got to hear our server gossiping about us to another server as we did not leave her a good tip. She should have been happy she got a tip at all with our nonexistent service.

Please tell Sophia to not stare down patrons when filling out a tip for her and to wait the five extra seconds so we're out of earshot before...