Best Lobstah Roll

So, you're planning on spending some time in Maine, excited to try lobster rolls, but unsure where to begin? Well, that's how I felt when planning a week in Maine with my boyfriend. Therefore, I decided to review them, along with his assistance, to help others make decisions while visiting the area. While reading this blog, I recommend playing THIS in the background.

The first thing you should know are the two styles I tried:

1. The Traditional way for Maine - which is a mayonnaise-based lobster meat served cold with a piece of lettuce on a hotdog-type bun.

2. The buttery way - which is hot lobster served with a side of melted butter, also typically served in a hotdog-style bun.

The second thing you should know are the different sizes. Most places have mini, small, regular, and large, or some combination of those options. Typically they range from 2-8 oz.

Finally, you should understand the rating system we invented, which is out of ten barnacles... think Benny the Barnacle or Barnacle Boy or the real thing, perhaps attached to a baby whale (thank you Florida Museum!):

This is a tough scale with input from a seasoned lobster roll veteran. Even though they are each rated out of ten barnacles, it was improbable for a place to actually earn a ten. Unlike other review scales, like Yelp or Google, where most places have 4.5-5 stars out of 5, our scale is more critical. Maybe, you can think of us as the harsh Olympic judge that brings down the average overall rating.

So, let's dive in! Each review includes the website (when possible... if there isn't a website I listed the exact address), the entirety of what we ordered, the review, and the barnacle rating. They are listed in chronological order and our decision to visit certain places was based mostly on Google Maps reviews (searching for places with above a 4.5 rating, ya dig?). Here we go!

1. J's Oyster Bar: Portland, ME:

• Website

• 6 raw oysters, steamers, lobster roll

• Oysters were a little big for our liking, steamers were overcooked and chewy, lobster roll was excellent and simple. We poured some of the steamers butter on the sandwich and that was delicious! It felt a bit tourist-y, but it's easy to see why it's such a big attraction.

• 6 out of 10 barnacles

2. Karen's Hideaway: Boothbay, ME:

• No website… address: 716 Wiscasset Rd, Boothbay, ME 04537

• Crab roll, lobster roll

• Side-of-the road seafood shack. Both seafood sandwiches were delicious, fresh, cold. Very simple. The lobster came with butter on the side, which we used very little of. The crab was mixed with mayonnaise. The sides (coleslaw and potato salad) were nothing to write home about. The potato salad had bacon and shredded cheddar cheese with a lot of mayo - not really my jam.

• 6.5 out of 10 barnacles

  
  

3. West Street Café: Bar Harbor, ME:

• Website

• Lobster roll, bowl of clam chowder

• Chowder was very creamy! There wasn't a lot of clams, mostly potato - wouldn't recommend. The lobster roll was pretty good, cold lobster mixed with mayo. It was served with green leaf lettuce and we feel this was a poor choice… iceberg would have been much better! With the right piece of lettuce, this may have earned an extra barnacle. 😉The places that serve lobster in downtown Bar Harbor seem like  tourist traps. The best food we've had in downtown Bar Harbor has been at The Parilla which is the outdoor bar and restaurant attached to Havana (website).

• 6.5 out of 10 barnacles

  
  

4. Archie's Lobster: Tremont, ME:

• Website

• Fish & Chips, crab roll, lobster roll

• I thought the fish & chips was delicious, but I was craving it! Probably wouldn't order it from here again, it was a little dry and bland (definitely needed the salt mixture on the table), the fries were crispy, just the way I like them! The crab roll had a lot of meat and was really good! It was cold tossed with mayo, but wasn't overpowered by the mayo, which we appreciate. So far, the best (out of two) crab rolls. We went with the hot butter lobster roll, since we had cold lobster for lunch. It was amazing! By far, the best lobster roll we've tried since becoming Maine-iacs. A warm bun soaked in butter is going to beat out cold meat with mayo any day, but that might just be me. The scenery of this location was absolutely phenomenal! The perfect cloud was coming across the island, it felt like we were dining inside a cloud. When the cloud dissipated we saw dozens of sail boats we didn't even know were there. It was quite picturesque and a lot less tourists. We'd highly recommend this place!

• 8 out of 10 barnacles

  
  

5. The Travelin' Lobster: Bar Harbor, ME

• Website

• Mini classic lobster roll (cold), small hot lobster roll, steamers

• Cold roll was really fresh tender meat, probably the best cold roll we've had so far. It wasn't overdressed or overly mayonnaise-y. The hot roll was phenomenal, SO GOOD. The bread was different than previous rolls, which made it better. The environment was great! There was live music while we were there and the staff was all really friendly.

• 8 out of 10 barnacles

  
  

6. Nor'easter Pound & Market: Northeast Harbor, ME

• Website

• 4 oz. Sutton Roll (hot lobster with butter) and fried haddock bites

• Lobster was delicious! Butter makes everything so amazing. It was a standard roll. Nothing really jumped out at being extra special, but it was really good! The fries were good. We wanted the haddock to be beer battered, but it wasn't. Yummy but no real reason to go back here. We ate our "main dinner" at Copita which was incredible - highly recommend that place!

• 6.8 out of 10 barnacles

  
  

7. Crow's Nest Hillsburn: Granville Ferry, Nova Scotia, Canada

• Facebook Page

• Lobster roll with seafood chowder, fish & chips

• The lobster roll was served on square white bread, which was a little odd. Nothing was too noteworthy… the chowder was awful - tasted like everything was dumped into hot cream. I enjoyed the fish & chips but Mike can get much better versions in Providence. I didn't like the lobster roll being on white bread, all the meat fell out as you take a bite. The lobster was in big chunks and pretty mayonnaise-y, so this one ended up being our least favorite lobster roll.

• 5.5 out of 10 barnacles

  
  

8. Chowder House: Neils Harbour, Nova Scotia, Canada

• No website… address: 90 Lighthouse Rd, Neils Harbour, NS B0C 1N0

• Lobster roll with French fries, seafood chowder

• I loved this lobster roll because the lobster was chopped up really fine, which made the bites easier for me! I realized after having this one that the big clumps of lobster kind of grossed me out but I really enjoyed eating the lobster from this roll. It was our favorite mayonnaise-based lobster roll yet! I would have loved to taste how they would do a hot buttered lobster roll, since that style is my favorite. The meat was tender and very tasty!

• 7.5 out of 10 barnacles

  
  

9. Mike's lobster: our kitchen

• No website… address: wherever we are!

• Mike got three live lobsters from a market and it was my first time interacting with live lobster. I didn't do much interacting with them, as they kind of freaked me out… we did let them walk around on the deck and got to see how the dogs reacted to them, which was super funny!! Mike cooked them by pouring hot water over them and left them sitting in the boiling water in a baking dish, he extracted all the meat while they were half-way cooked, and finished cooking them in warm herby butter (tarragon and dill). The bread was a ciabatta roll (less hotdog shaped, more square) which he toasted in the oven and spread a little bit of mayonnaise on each side. Needless to say, this was my favorite lobster roll yet! But, that's not surprising, every time he makes something that I've eaten from a restaurant I prefer his version best. The meat was so tender, the best cooked so far, and he also chopped up the meat which I really enjoyed. The flavor of the butter was so delicious! He doesn't want to review his own creation, so I came up with the barnacles myself.

• 9 out of 10 barnacles

  
  

As much as I enjoyed this tasting period, I think I've had enough lobster for a while... and am looking forward to assessing something else. Perhaps a Canadian Poutine review? If you have any opinions, thoughts, or ideas please share them. I hope you get to indulge in some buttery tender lobstah soon!