Boone's Fish House & Oyster Room — Restaurant in Portland

First, the best part about this place was the atmosphere and we saw a rainbow when we were there.

Our party of five consisted of two adults and three children. The server adds a "Large Party" fee of 20%. When leaving, asked the hostess what makes up a "Large Party" and was told 5 people or more, specifically 5 adults but it is at the 'discretion of the server' and if there are children they usually don't add it on.

If you are wondering how much "market price" lobster rolls are here, they are $39 each, and they are tiny, like the size of half of a roll.

When you are not up front about these fees, it comes across as taking advantage, which is exactly what happened here.

First and last visit to this place - the food and service is not worth it. I never give bad reviews, always good ones but this experience was the exception to that rule. Stay away! In response to the owner, I never yelled at anyone - simply and calmly asked the question to the hostess as I was walking out. My kids did not make a mess like she claimed. It appears that the owner is trying to tilt my honest feedback and experience to shed doubt on this review vs reviewing their policies and making meaningful changes.

Bottom line, I'm not against tipping well - 20-25% is not out of the question, but when you force it on people vs letting them make the decision then you will receive this type of feedback. Any other restaurant applies the "mandatory" tip for parties of six or more, which is why this incident threw me off, as this situation has never happened before in all of our years of going out to eat at restaurants.

Good luck with your business, I only wish you the best but will not hesitate to continue being honest about unfair or unexpected policies when they arise. And I'm not a disrespectful person and very much appreciate the hard work and efforts of all staff - have never yelled at anyone in a restaurant, or was not specifically offered a resolution to this incident. So that claim does not apply to my experience at this restaurant - it simply was not me.

Further, we visited this establishment in August and are just now receiving this response at the end of October. You are probably confusing me with one of the many other customers that understandably disagrees with (or was thrown off by)...

First negative experience was back in February 2023, made a reservation for a Sunday night before a concert at Aura. Showed up to locked doors, a chalkboard sign that said sorry closed. I had a text message confirmation the day before of my reservation. When I inquired on a fb post as to why I wasn’t called to cancel my reservation since they had to close due to no power I was told- we posted it on our fb page. That is irresponsible to assume people are checking fb. I work in the business. When we have to cancel reservations WE CALL THE CUSTOMER. We accommodate the customer. I will also add there were two employees standing inside the restaurant who made notice of us and even mentioned they saw us walk up to the door but didn’t bother to open it and explain to us what was happening.

Second negative experience was July 6, 2023. My daughter wanted to eat by the water for her 16th birthday. I ordered a margarita and asked for no lime juice as I don’t enjoy the sweet/tarty flavor it gives. This was a $20 margarita and the server advised the bartender of my request and instead of making it the way I asked she made it standard and told the server to tell me if I didn’t like it she would remake it. I’m not one to send things back but since the bartender decided to do what she wanted I ended up sending it back and asked for the original way I ordered it. It came back to me better than the first one made. Now a $20 wasted drink turned into $40 of wasted ingredients (essentially) but I guess when you use Gorton’s frozen haddock for your fisherman’s platter and haddock platter you can afford to charge $20 for a margarita only to throw out the first one because you won’t make it the way the customer ordered it. Boones should be ashamed of themselves for putting out frozen garbage fish when they are literally right on the fish pier! You are putting a bad taste in the mouths of tourists who come here for our fresh seafood. I’ve read some reviews and seen some pictures of the haddock and I can assure you that a picture of haddock from 6 months ago is not the same haddock I had 3 days ago. Boones you need...

On 9/24 we had a reservation for our 5 year anniversary dinner. We are from WI and didn’t know what to expect, just wanted to have a great time together. Upon arrival the hostess was nice, sat us at a table next to the bar, which wasn’t what I had requested but we went with it and it ended up being better we think, than sitting at some of the other tables with people almost on top of you. Our server was Jeff. He was running the bar and also taking our orders. He did a great job managing both! My wife ordered the baked stuffed haddock and I ordered the ribeye. Our food came out together but I was brought a filet mignon. Both are great cuts of steak but I wanted the ribeye. A lady walked by, her name is Jillian. We only stopped her because she was right there and Jeff was tied up at the bar. She confirmed that I received the wrong steak and offered a salad or soup or something while the ribeye was cooked so we could eat together. I declined and just said I’d wait but she made us a deal to keep the filet (as I’m sure no one else could be served it) and the sides as well. A few minutes later the ribeye came out and my wife and I were able to eat our dinner together. Both meals were fantastic! This is in no way a bash on them but one of the biggest compliments and greatest experiences we’ve had while out for dinner! Also, come to find out it was Jeff’s first day of work and he was offering the perfect wines to pair with seafood and steaks and such and it was just a great experience all around! Huge shoutout to Jillian, Jeff, the Chef and all workers that night at Boones! Thank you for making our anniversary...