Barnacle Billy's — Restaurant in Ogunquit

While we were vacationing in York Maine my husband and I went over to Perkins cove in Ongunquit Maine ( a close by neighboring town) to visit Barnacle Billy's Resturant and try the famous rum punch and enjoy a dining experience during lunch. Barnacle Billy's has two restaurants in Perkins cove one is Barnacle Billy's etc. We dined at the Barnacle Billy's. It was a nice cool day cloudy though and it had rained earlier in the morning. We decided to sit out in the lovely outdoor patio to dine. When you walk through the entry way at the restaurant you will notice how spacious it is. And how lovely it is decorated. The patio area is landscaped with beautiful flowers and plants. It was a busy day at Perkins cove as well as the restaurant but we were greeted by the friendly hostess as soon as we entered and given a choice regarding where we'd like to dine. The tables were spacious and chairs were comfortable. Tables came equipped with umbrellas for extra shade although on this particular day it was not needed. Almost immediately, we were greeted by one of the best servers I ever had. She introduced herself and I knew I wanted the rum punch for the cocktail of choice. Paula and I lidded about the secret recipe and she reported none of the employee knew the recipe. The recipe had been a family tradition for some time. I highly recommend the rum punch. It had the right amount of sour mixed in with the right amount of sweet and you could taste a little of the rum. Which made it perfect. I asked Paula if she had any recommendations regarding the menu items and she boasted about the delicious clam chowder and other menu items. My partner and I both ordered the fresh salmon entre which had 2 menusides to choose from. I chose the baked potato and fresh garden green salad. Both were yummiest. The fresh salmon filled was the best I ever had tasted. I highly recommend this entree. I'd like to thank Paula for the fast efficient service and also for taking the time with us. We mentioned we were on vacation and Paula offered places of interest in Perkins cove. Thank you Paula for being friendly professional and making our dining experience the best! We will return to Perkins cove and look forward to dining at...

It was a mixed bag. The lobster was great but several other items not so much.

Oh and a tip you order and pay first. They call your number and you pick up your meal.

The clam chowder disappointing. It was very watery and under seasoned. No one in my group were particularly impressed with that item. The lobster stew was well seasoned and tasted great so I could ignore the lack of thickness one would expect in a stew.

My friends had the corn which they said was fabulous. I had the lobster roll which was very good but admittedly we had a much better one at a smaller place up the road. It came with pickles (works best on the roll) and chips. My one of my friends had the whole lobster which he said was well worth the wait (20 minutes).

We skipped dessert and got drinks instead. The lemonade was universally disliked due to how watery it was. I got the rum punch which I enjoyed. One friend got the raspberry long island iced tea which sounded great but the alcohol was unbalanced. My other friend got the cider which was okay but unfortunately we've had better made in New York (sorry). But we appreciate that it was local (from New Hampshire).

Lastly while we appreciate everyone who worked there as they were all very nice, the service was not great. I think it suffered from not enough staff and quite a bit of business. For example, it took nearly 25 minutes to find someone to take my friends orders for drinks. Our server was very nice but there seemed to only be 3-4 total for the entire dining room and outside seating so it's understandable that it took a while. I gave back a star because as someone who also works in the restaurant business, I understand the limitations of not having enough staff.

Overall it really depends on what you get. Are there better places? Yes, but not all of them have indoor seating and alcohol so it's...

Easily the worst food I’ve ever had. I expected the high tourist prices (we are local) but to call what they served “clam chowder” is an insult to the entire state. Without exaggeration, it tasted exactly like canned tuna in a thin cream broth. I’m not sure how or why it’s made the way that it is but it’s such a simple thing to do well I’m unsure how they do it so poorly. Additionally I was unable to locate any actual clams within the chowder. Only mushy chunks of fish which I’m assuming by taste was processed tuna. Neither of us ate more than what you see in the photo. The rolls were extremely stale and served cold with cold butter. Also they serve a burger but have zero fixings for it. I don’t mean “oh they only have lettuce and tomato” I mean literally zero. I asked if I could have a few things on it and was told it’s just the burger and meat, that if I wanted they’d put some grilled onion on it (I assume from the hot dogs they sell?) but that was literally it. just such an odd business move to offer a burger without the ability to have anything on it besides cheese. I was floored. The shrimp cocktail was excellent and extremely fresh, we ate a bunch of that and didn’t touch much else. The market price was super inflated for a lobster roll but it was fine, nothing special but there’s just much better to be had for much cheaper. I’m more than happy to pay a high price for an excellent meal this just wasn’t even close. I’m not one to swear off a restaurant on one bad visit. So we will try it again but in a town on the water in Maine with so many excellent food options I couldn’t believe how terrible the majority of it was.

The outside deck right on the cove is excellent and 100% the reason this place has survived. Excellent atmosphere they just missed the mark by a million miles on their...