Food for Thought — Restaurant in Ogunquit

I have recently returned from a social distancing driven “vacation” to a fellow “safe state” and have a lot to say about several restaurants and venues. This review will be specific to Food For Thought in Ogunquit Maine. So, I have posted some glowing reviews tonight, but I am sorry to say that trend is over. I strongly suggest you give a second thought to eating at Food for Thought. Our drive up from the restaurant nirvana in Portsmouth NH to Ogunquit just over the line in Maine was based entirely on the menu. I did not check any reviews. Actually, the decision was not mine, it belonged to my son who was celebrating his 18th birthday.

Let’s start with the positive. They have a cool mural with Avengers playing volleyball my 13-year-old loved. That’s it. That is all I have on the positive side.

Starting at our arrival, even running at a socially responsible and mandated reduced capacity they did not have parking sufficient for their customers. When I asked for suggestions I was told to just find someplace and walk back. We had a party of eight (mom, dad and six kids) which in ME, NH, & MA is problematic as restaurants are restricted to parties of six. In every other restaurant the split was appropriate for the table size. At food for thought we had five on a small four-seater and three on a small double. When we were seated, we were short chairs. We had to stand until other customers left so the restaurant “would not exceed its capacity”. I guess it does not count if your standing. Food for thought does not have a whole lot of tables and seemed to have plenty of staff all of whom seemed to have something better to do than to take care of our party. Service is slow and not friendly. Our waiters face looked like he had been sucking on a lemon and he spoke without a trace of enthusiasm. Even with the mask you could read his expressions which clearly communicated he was stuck with a family instead of a group of much cooler millennials.

Cocktails, don’t go there. They have a cocktail menu which we asked for but never received. We defaulted to basics rum & coke, gin & tonic. I guess my Manhattan with Rye request was a bit too much. It was watered down and not made with Rye. Everything comes in plastic cups. Covid-19, or theme?

Food, for Thought is a menu concept with potential that never got there. Think way overpriced grocery store freezer food served in brown to go containers. We started with appetizers, which is where we lost the waiters last vestige of giving a damn when he realized we would be asking questions about food allergies, and if things like sauce on the fried chicken strips could be withheld to make it palatable for the two youngest kids, “no it comes the way the menu says”. We had the New Orleans Street Corn (cold), Ogunquit Tots w/ gorgonzola and bacon jam (warm but seemed to be missing both the cheese and the jam), and my favorite Fried Clams (which never arrived) c'est la vie. At this point we are all hoping dinner is going to make up for everything but not holding our breath.

For dinner we had Seafood fried rice which my oldest son (25) reported as being “not bad dad” and good enough to take back to the hotel for breakfast. Chicken and waffle cones, cold. KFC Famous Bowl Tater Tot Poutine was an attempt at kickin it up a notch from its namesake. The cook was no Colonel Sanders. A couple of Ogunquit rib eye burgers, tasty but as far from medium rare as you can get, and the impossible (vegan) big mac, where it was impossible to get a gluten free bun, oh well. We did not do desert. Truth is I wanted the night to end. I was sorely disappointed for my 18 year old birthday boy who was dismal about the food and the fact he picked the restaurant.

The service stunk, the food was subpar, and the experience memorable only in a negative way. If someone from the restaurant reads this review and thinks somehow, I am unfair and one of those impossible to please customers just read my other reviews from...

Do not go here! Dirty environment, sneakily will steal your money, and unsatisfactory in most ways across the board. I will preface this by saying I am extremely easy going and easy to please, and I have never felt the need to write a review of a restaurant, ever. But this experience was so horrendous that I felt I didn’t have a choice. Had high hopes for this place after seeing pictures of their delicious looking menu items…however after a less than decent experience I will never go back and you shouldn’t either. My husband and I stopped for some lunch food and a quick drink. We decided against ordering food soon after sitting down. All food comes out from the kitchen served in plastic to go boxes, making it look extremely unappetizing. Not a single piece of silverware in sight. Everything flimsy plastic and one-time-use from the plates to the cups. Not to mention, it’s 2022 and aside from it making you feel like you’re at a fast food restaurant or a little kids birthday party, it is entirely ignorant to be using nothing but single use plastic in this day and age! Have you heard of the environment orrrr…? Next complaint, bathroom is around the building to the left and was THE DIRTIEST bathroom I have ever seen at a food establishment. Clearly had not been serviced in god knows how long. There was no toilet paper or paper towels, the inside of the sink was black with scum, the bathroom floor covered in loose toilet paper, toilet assembled so cheaply that the seat that didn’t even match the toilet size. If you don’t even clean your bathroom then I doubt you clean your kitchen. Next complaint, my husband and I ordered two VIRGIN bloody mary’s as we were not drinking alcohol. The bartender, who mentioned that he managed the place when the owner was not around, served us our drinks. He was not particularly personable but was friendly enough so no complaints there. He rang us up for one regular alcoholic blood mary, as he said they only charge half price for virgin drinks but that they didn’t have a specific button for that. I reviewed the bill, which only had one drink listed on it, I tipped 20%, as I always do, and the total was around $12. Didn’t save my receipt because I didn’t know anyone would ever alter our receipt and I would need proof. We left and went on with our vacation and the next day drove home. I check my bank account a few days later and the total amount charged on my card was now $24.96, DOUBLE THE AMOUNT I HAD SIGNED FOR. I literally had money stolen from me from this establishment! 0/10 stars. Nobody should give this business the...

The bar is so low in this town...honestly people just stay out of Ogunquit if you want decent food at reasonable prices. Go to Kittery or Portsmouth.

Brought girlfriend here the other night. Food was bad. 1 or 2 out of the 4 drinks we got was decent and all of them were 75% full (to the top of the plastic 8 or 12 oz cup they use).

1 of the drinks (Devils Kiss, with mezcal and ginger beer) was 100% undrinkable. The worst drink I've ever had. Hardly tasted ginger beer, tons of mezcal. Something not right. Tried to politely tell my server it was really bad and to try one for herself after work. Spent like $100+ here so I was hoping to maybe get it comp'd, but no.

They do have a large beer selection. I'd say if you want some fries and some beers come check it out. Otherwise..

"street corn" was super cold, 3 small pieces of corn covered in some aioli and sitting atop an excessive mound of queso fresco I assume. Just made it super wet and cold. No lime or parmesan or pecorino or anything. Just wet cold cheesy corn that was torched for a second before going out to look charred. The server was like "oooh look at the presentation" yeah man, I did. It looks like baby puke.

The grilled cheese donut was okay. Congdons Donuts really does all the heavy lifting with that one though. Fries were a bit cold too, but good. But it's kind of hard to mess up french fries so no harm done there.

The menu here is like a new england cheeba hut. It looks like a teenager got really high and had the munchies while designing their menu. "Flo's" Hot dog pizza pocket? Spare me.

The fried chicken and waffles tasted like the chicken was boiled for 2 hours and was so dry it crumbled when touched.

They were also playing the worst butt rock aggressively loudly (Creed, 3 Doors Down, Pearl Jam, etc).

Fingers crossed a decent restaurant will open in this town one day. The bar...