Jonathan's Ogunquit — Restaurant in Ogunquit

After years of visiting Ogunquit and eating in Ogunquit restaurants, I can honestly say that Jonathan’s is now our favorite restaurant in Ogunquit. My wife and I went there twice last weekend. Each night was delightful. The hostess and waiters were professional, and accommodating. The crisp white tablecloths, the hammered metal silverware, and the charming view of the garden (which is lit up at nightfall), all contributed to our dining experience. Each dining room had a different character, but we both liked the smaller private quieter room near the entrance, the one with olive green paint and the wall of windows. (Seen in the picture below of my wife). The restaurant wowed us with warm toasty, fresh bread, and a darker raisin bread that was gently sweet and scrumptious. It was accompanied by homemade blueberry butter, which was lightly salty and sweet. It was substantially better than the blueberry crisp desert (which was not crisp at all) and was a true disappointment. I would stay away from that desert. Instead get the award-winning chocolate mousse that was the best we have ever had in my 50 plus years, and which truly deserves 6 stars on a scale of 1 to 5. It was large enough for at least two people and my wife and I split it for dessert along with a some cups of tea. We also split the seafood chowder and the bacon and blue cheese mussels appetizer. The seafood chowder was quite good, and just what I would expect, but the mussels were extraordinary. The portion size was generous, they were perfectly steamed, and they were truly the largest and finest mussels I’ve ever seen or tasted. They were practically the size of my wife’s hand! ( see photos below )Even though the broth at the bottom was uncomfortably salty, which detracted from the dipping ritual, I would definitely order this appetizer again. For my meal I ordered a short ribs with the red wine Demi glacé which was very good, and was baked to perfection. However, the demi-glace seemed a bit tame, crying out out for a bit more flavor, perhaps more red wine, or perhaps some other flavor that I am not sophisticated enough to identify. I was generally pleased with it , but would probably not order it again, since the menu seems to offer other real treasures. My wife’s dish, for example, was the poached lobster dinner and was the best she had ever had. In both cases, the dishes came with the scrumptious mashed potatoes, and the steamed julienned zucchini and carrots which were plain but perfectly acceptable except for the nearly raw julienned red onion, which added color, but was overwhelmingly acidic, and truly should’ve been sautéed before being added to the zucchini carrot mix. That evening after the meal, I got to talking with folks at my hotel who had also eaten at Jonathan’s and both of whom had ordered the caramelized salmon dish, and raved about it! So on the second night that my wife and I ate there, I special ordered the salmon, ( With the sauce on the side, ) and with unsalted sautéed spinach, (to assuage my guilt about the first night’s splurge). Although it was ascetic, it amazingly perfect, even without the highly extolled citrus balsamic beurre blanc sauce. I couldn’t imagine how they did it, so I asked! I was told that the Salmon was poached before it was baked and fried, creating a firm tasty outside consistency and the moist heavenly inside. I would never go through all that trouble, but I was thrilled that Jonathan’s chef’s did! They had made it super healthy, but so delicious that I did not feel deprived in the slightest! My wife had the chicken marsala, which was just right and exactly what you would expect. I know, because we went halfsies!

So I would say if you avoid the blueberry cobbler and substitute your vegetable, Jonathan’s is a five star experience.

We expect to return for the mussels appetizer, the poached lobster, the caramelized salmon, and the insane chocolate mousse, and more of that delicious bread and blueberry butter, but of course, in...

If I could give this place zero stars I would. Atmosphere reminds me of a nursing home. Very weird decor that was mismatched. The bathroom also smelled of mold. When we first walked in, we weren’t expecting much as the hostess was wearing an Aeropostale t shirt, so much for a “classy” place. The server we had was not very attentive at all, and he wouldn’t come over to us to take our order unless our menus were closed so we waited longer than expected to order. We got the calamari, it looked nothing like the photo advertised on their website. There was barely any sauce with it and it was soggy. We ordered the lobster bisque also, it came in a tiny bowl with a humungous outer rim with some unnecessary green seasoning sprinkled on it that was really unpractical. This bowl made the food appear “bigger” but it really was only a cup of soup. There were about 3 dime sized pieces of lobster in the whole cup. The flavor was great, but there was barely any lobster in the lobster bisque. When we got our entrees, my mom and I ordered salads. They charged us an extra $14 each per salad for chicken on top of the $15 we were already paying for the salad, which we were not aware of. The salads were advertised as “fresh garden” vegetables which let me tell you… store bought everything. The vegetables tasted like they were from a bag and were very bitter. So we paid $29 for each salad and it was terrible! There was no Parmesan on the Cesar salad and came in terrible looking dishes that made the meal look more “elevated” but tasted like something from the gas station. My dad got seafood stuffed haddock which was well over $40 for the ONE meal. It came with what tasted like instant mash potatoes, the fish was super wet and soggy. It tasted like someone cooked it and then froze it and then reheated it. Terrible! It was definitely a surprise when we got the bill, and we mind as well have shredded our money in a shredder. We told our server that we were unsatisfied with the food and he didn’t even ask if we wanted to speak to a manager. Will never be going back, highly...

Let me start off with the positives. The two shows I saw at this venue were delightful. The artists, Scott Thompson and Paula Poundstone, were excellent and I highly recommend both. I wish I could say the same for the restaurant. On our first visit, things went wrong almost immediately. While we ordered non-alcoholic drinks - two guests in our party were celebrating four and five years sobriety respectively - what they were served was loaded with alcohol, which they learned the hard way, by tasting. This may seem minor to those who imbibe, but when you’re counting your sobriety day by hard earned day, this is a huge deal. Our guests came to celebrate their achievements, only to have the clock set back to zero by a careless bartender. While we sent the drinks back immediately, the only recompense we received was a second-hand “oops, my bad,” from the bartender. Our second visit was also a fiasco. We had a 6pm reservation and orders were taken within a reasonable amount of time. Drinks arrived after 20 minutes or so. Dinner, however, didn’t arrive until 8:05. The lobsters were tough and the $57 filet mignon had spent so much time under the heat lamp it would have been more accurate to call it beef jerky. Dessert, which we chose to eat upstairs in the theater because of the 90 wait for our meals, was equally disappointing. Think canned chocolate pudding with a spritz of runny imitation whipped cream. If Jonathon’s were a burger joint, I could have let this slide, but they’re charging top dollar for, ostensibly, gourmet cuisine. Bottom line, skip the dinner and head straight...