Rockland Café — Restaurant in Rockland

A sign at the front referencing 2 local fast food places proudly proclaims that The Rockland Cafe eatery is not 'the king' or the 'golden arches'

Ok. The Chicken Ceasar Salad Wrap I was served was prepared with previously frozen boneless breaded chicken patties. Gross, cheap and lazy!

I saw another patron who was served what could only be described as "box macoroni & cheese"

I ordered a pastrami sub (from the "Today's Specials" menu) and said to the wait person "can you tell me about the bread" to which she replied "[sic] Its a sub roll" which was rude, thoughtless and ignorant. 20 minutes later, the wait person returned to inform me that on this day The Rockland Cafe was currently out of pastrami.

So, I ordered a Haddock sandwich for 9.99 and substituted thier soggy limp tasteless fries for onion rings.

The Onion Rings were not light colored, they were not "Golden" they were dark brown. A quick taste confirmed that, not only had The Rockland Cafe cooked my onion rings to perfection in dirty old aerated overused grease, but they had also perfected a technique to mimic the precise taste of the onion rings served down the street at Burger King.

I have had Burger King's gross, identical frozen onion ring abominations, and I have had fresh cut and fried onion rings. My Haddock sandwich had a nice golden color and great taste, but this eatery clearly has selective priorities when it comes to the food they provide. The rancid grease from the one onion ring I had made it difficult to enjoy the haddock, and the Cole slaw tasted nlike lint and had a 'dingy' color. I offered the other 3 in my party to enjoy my onion rings and still left with almost all my onion rings still on my plate.

The overall mood of The Rockland Cafe seems to be a cold indifference to the discerning taste buds of 'tourists' and as a local resident, I am ashamed to have our main street anchored by a restaurant which has clearly lost its sense of enjoyment of providing quality food for locals and visitors alike. They are clearly burned out, phoning it in, and one can only hope The Rockland Cafe encounters new management or ownership to address their failures, as, for it being so renowned, it is unlikely to close, no matter how bad the food service and conditions get

TL;DR frozen chicken patty Caesar wrap, kraft dinner, rancid dirty grease brown onion rings, snarky unapologetic wait staff, corner cutting comparable to fast...

Unfortunately, my experience here was not good. To start, everything seemed to be incredibly sticky (table, menu, etc.); I actually used the restroom after ordering my meal just so I could wash my hands. Secondly, the building desperately needs to be renovated. Where I was sitting all I could see was a dirty coffee station and a trash can (not the best view for eating). I hate saying this, but I think my waitress was on the influence of some type of substance. She was very jittery (kept pacing around our table while taking our order), was slurring her words to the point that she wasn't very coherent, and had a concerning drawn out expression (not as a result of her being tired). I will say however, she was very nice and did not mess up our order (a plus). I ordered the haddock sandwich and the coloring of the meat and texture was VERY off. It looked and smelled like it has been frozen, left to thaw too long, and wasn't cooked all the way. I ate a few bites and decided it wasn't safe to continue eating the rest of the sandwich. Even if the fish was good, the sandwich was lacking for the price--low quality bun and no sauce or toppings. The fries did not taste good either; it was obviously that the oil had not been changed recently. My ice tea was supposed to be unsweetened but it ended up being really watered down raspberry ice tea so I opted not to drink that either, especially after I watched my waitress dig her bare hand in the lemon container. My total for two sandwiches and two drinks was $34.00, which was crazy for the extremely low quality of the food. I would not recommend the restaurant to anyone for any reason, even despite the good reviews online. I know the owner may reply something idiotic like, "haters are going to hate," but truly, this food was not good and it has nothing to do with me not trying my best to give...

We ate here on an evening where many towns, including Camden, where we were staying, lost power during the rain storm on 9/16/23. Our hotel suggested we go to Rockland where they still had power, so we decided to swing by Rockland Cafe as they weren't too incredibly busy.

My friend ordered a seafood chowder and salad while I had the fried whole clam basket.

Food was OK -- we've both had better chowder and fried clams.

But service was lackluster and inattentive. We had to call for service as well as our check in the end. No one ever came by asking if all was OK. They simply took your order and dropped off your food and that was it.

What was very disturbing was watching our server, an older female brunette, eat in the kitchen and LICKING HER HANDS during her shift within view of her customers. She had her back to us, but we could see what was going on the kitchen. This is UNPROFESSIONAL. How about you take a break from your shift and then eat?? On top of this, she did NOT wash her hands afterwards but instead proceeded to touch plates of food and bring these said plates to her customers. Yuck!! 🤮

We also witnessed the chef scratch his head while handling food. He too, did not wash his hands.

And there was an older female blond server who wore her hair down. We think whenever you deal with food, hair should be tied up and kept back somehow so that hair does not get in people's food.

The menu is nothing special -- pretty run of the mill offering a little of everything to try and satiate all palates.

You can find most seafood plates offered here at all the restaurants in town and beyond in Midcoast Maine. Definitely consider sanitation and cleanliness before you dine here. The staff does not seem to take this...