Bar Harbor Inn

Came for dinner and drinks — the best setting and views in Bar Harbor. Very friendly staff. Had steak and lobster which was very good. A little on the pricey side, but you’re getting more than just a nice meal.

Most reviews posted here are for the restaurant (The Reading Room), bar or Tavern not the hotel. Unilocalers — you need to review these separately!
Truly enjoyed our stay. We booked a 2 bedroom suite in the main part of the Inn. It’s pricey but well worth the money. Town is a short walk across the street. If you plan to take a Ferry over to Schoodic or a ride on a sailboat — right there at the Bar Harbor Inn Dock. The beautiful walkway along the bay, right outside.
More about the 2 bedroom suite. 2 Bedrooms upstairs. Only one has a door so truly a bedroom with a king size bed and walk in closet. The other bedroom does not have a door and if someone is downstairs, you can hear everything. It truly does have the loft voices carry. This other bedroom has two queen beds. Both upstairs bedrooms have great sliders that lead out to a connecting patio with beautiful and comfortable rocking chairs. Very nice place for cocktails with views all over. Doesn’t get better. There are stairs connecting the up and downstairs. Upstairs bath with shower. Downstairs bath with jacuzzi tub. Downstairs has two nice chairs and overlooks the garden/​pool area. Sofa with pull out bed. Only negative about the room — the upstairs bath is very small, pedestal type sink with little to no room for your toiletries. Downstairs bath was huge, large counter. It meant really keep our items in the downstairs. It’s fine as long as you are very mobile to climb up and down the stairs. The suite was very larger and glad we splurged for it!
We did dine one evening in The Reading Room. Service was excellent and very fast. Food was good but not great for the prices. But the live piano player, service and killer views made up for the food. This is something you should do while in Bar Harbor so glad we did it.
Gardens and grounds are absolutely amazing! Pool we did not use but did see others using. Continental Breakfast is above average but typical muffins, bagels, yogurts, fruits and cereals. Hard boiled egg really the only protein. It met our needs fine and the staff kept it very well stocked.
Overall, great place to stay. Convenient. Hotel staff excellent and very service oriented. They hire and train great people. This hotel has an excellent reputation and has been around for years. You can tell why! Maintain high standards for the staff and the property!

The hotel and grounds are stunning and a must see, and stay if you can afford it! There are many amenities in the hotel, some are free, some are not. The staff are friendly and attentive. The wife and I get very few chances to «live the life of luxury». So we have assumptions in the way things should be, our expect them to be. And the «continental breakfast» was a big let down. I get it… It’s free! I shouldn’t complain. But honestly I’ve payed significantly a lot less for a room, and had a lot better «free breakfast». Juice, toast, fruit, and cheap store bought muffins (I know, I work in the industry). Just kind of ruined the entire experience for me!

We sat outside for drinks and apps. Lovely setting but disappointed in the appetizer offerings. Drinks were great!

What a wonderful and charming resort right on the water. The staff are friendly and helpful and they made us feel welcome. The food was very good as we enjoyed brunch at the restaurant.

The spa was amazing!!! Wow. What a beautiful little space. We didn’t stay at the hotel, but decided to get our massages here as it seemed the most reputable. My husband and I had a couples massage and it was divine.
Our massage therapists were both really great. The environs was super clean and very classy. We had robes, our own private men/​women locker rooms and a sauna in each. If we had been staying for longer we certainly would’ve tried more of their services!

Do not stay in a bottom floor room of the Newport building. I can not stress this enough. The mildew smell at times was overwhelming. The back part of the room is underground and there is a built in dehumidifier along that wall that runs continuously. I can’t imagine what the smell would be like if it didn’t. Our room had two queen beds and we started in the one closest to the back wall and had to move to the other because the mattress and linen had the mildew smell to it. The room was also desperately in need of an update.
The Inn itself is in a fantastic location within walking distance to everything. The grounds are just lovely and every staff member we encountered were very friendly and helpful. There is a really good variety of options in the complimentary continental breakfast, much more than other places.
I may consider staying here again, but would have to try one of the other room options, which comes at a much higher cost.

The bed and the pillows are great. The breakfast is very good but the only hot part is the toasted muffins or bagels. The eggs are hard boiled, shelled, and not over cooked.
The service is also very good. The only thing keeping me from giving a five star rating was the room’s moldy scent when we checked in. Even so, the maintenance crew showed up immediately with a dehumidifier and the smell dropped quickly. It was quiet enough to leave running all night.
So if we come back to Bar Harbor we will stay here.

Overall a great experience as other reviewers have described. I write to comment on their weird liquor policies. We were going to enjoy a bottle of champagne while taking in the view from the balcony. We needed glasses and stopped by the bar to get a couple. They wouldn’t give us any. They said we had to order them through room service. Mind you, we’re talking about the glasses only. So we ordered the glasses and sat around waiting 15 minutes for them to come. Not a big deal, but an unnecessary inconvenience
Next, and on a later visit, we sat out a rain squall on the balcony immediately adjacent to the restaurant and bar. A perfect venue to enjoy a glass of wine. We were 20 feet away from the bar, but because we were outside, they wouldn’t serve us.
Still, a great experience and we’ll stay again.

Clean and royal rooms, nice restaurant, upscale dinning, great views, wall to shops. Very tasty burgers, and room service is available. Can walk across to the island on low tide…

We booked a top floor King size bed with a private balcony overlooking the many islands which had a scenic water view while vacationing in Bar Harbor for five nights. The room staff did a fantastic job keeping everything clean. The décor in the room is somewhat outdated and the room itself could use a tad of upkeep. The room had new carpet but for example in the bathroom the baseboards was missing some paint along with a small chunk of wood. Just needs a handyman to fix up small items like these which would make a big difference. The removal of the old-​fashion flowery ceiling border would go along way also. The bed and pillows were comfortable.
Room had French doors to go outside to the private balcony and beside the door was a smaller window to keep open, especially while sleeping to hear the waves, birds, and to smell the fresh air.
Walking through the lobby from the restaurant to go outdoors, the wood burning fireplace was always going and it was awesome smelling the wood burn on the chilly days and nights Maine is known for.
Hotel is perfectly located for shopping and sightseeing and visiting Acadia National Park. Highly recommend a room with a view!

If you stay at this hotel you MUST checkout right at 11AM. I was in my room at 11:10AM and thy came to my door and rudely asked me to checkout right away. This establishment is not friendly and I would not recommend this place to anyone.

i am writing a nice review here for the Reading Room Restaurant. This place is so fantastic. We had dinner here.
Both of us had appetizers and had a nice window view. It was a Monday night. Not a lot of places are open Monday nites, but this place was. It is expensive to be sure. I had sauteed scallop appetizer and baked brie with fig compote. Hubby had a nice small pasta dish. they brought us lemon Sorbet to cleanse out palettes and it was good. For dessert we had Meyer Lemon Cheesecake which was light and delicious.
Hats off to the manager, Cathy Walton, and the wait staff. It was their first night opened after Easter. Snow was still falling but everyone made our experience nice. There were only 8 other tables occupied… but it was Monday nite. However, you could hear other tables enjoying their meals and talking about how good the food was. We made people laugh too and they made us laugh.

Nice place especially for a small coastal town. You can’t get a better location. The resort is situated right on the water with a great view and super easy walking distance to all the small shops, restaurants, and pubs. Ever the food on site was good at the buffet while very convenient.
However don’t pass up taking a stroll downtown to grab a sandwich, pizza, or pub food.
The rooms were clean and roomy. If you are used to staying in a Courtyard type level of a place you’ll like this as well. The rooms are lacking a work area and the WiFi was slow but free. I get the point however, you should be there to enjoy the weather and the attractions but let’s face it, sometimes we’re only allowed to do that with some flexibility and getting some work done in the room during some free time.

We stayed here on labor day weekend 2014 for a few nights. The weather was foggy and rainy, yet we still had a great time.
The Bar Harbor inn is a beautiful little hotel at the center of everything in Bar Harbor. It has a gorgeous view of the ocean, and you can smell the ocean breeze from your room.
The staff are friendly and quick to serve, and are eager to recommend dishes and tell you what’s in them.
The restaurant attached to the hotel is great for breakfast and dinner (didn’t have lunch here but I assume that’s equally as good).
Our time here was relaxing and enjoyable.

Stayed here a few nights about a week ago. Stayed in the third floor Lodge room. And the view was beyond spectacular.
Got a package deal with the breakfast included and dinner and a two hour cruise on the Margaret Todd schooner.
The food and atmosphere are excellent. The staff are extremely friendly and polite as well.
The only regret that I had was that I did not stay longer. But next time I will not make that mistake.
If you want a beautiful nice place to stay with great food and service the Bar Harbor Inn is the place to go. The Inn also has a beautiful little gift shop. Also everything you need is within walking distance from the inn. The stores around the area are also very nice they have a lot to choose from. Also while you are here don’t forget to go to Arcadia national Park a lot to see and do there too.

This is regarding customer service, the front desk in particular.
We had booked a cruise thru the hotel. We were to leave at 1 PM.
We called the front desk to make sure they were still going out, as it was foggy. They put me on hold and told me the cruise was on.
We get there and they were not going out; we spoke to the woman at the tickets. She said she called the hotel and told them no cruise. She also commented this hotel does this a lot.
Went back to the hotel to cancel the cruise. No one seemed to care. Even the «manager» was quite rude.
Just some info for those staying here.

This review is purely based on the Bar Harbor Inn Restaurant and specifically regarding dessert.
I’ve had a lot of desserts over the years from places all over the country, but even now, I remember the chocolate lava cake I had here. Despite a lot of restaurants offering their rendition of a chocolate lava cake, I consider most to be underwhelming and forgetful. The simplicity of a chocolate lava cake requires an attention to detail to really deliver something that is, in my opinion, great.
The chocolate lava cake from the Bar Harbor Inn was spectacular. The dome shaped treat had a perfectly moist cake with a slight crunch from the outer layer of the cake that really defined what should be expected in a lava cake. Then your fork cuts into the gooey, chocolaty center that slowly begins to ooze out of the cake. It wasn’t only the texture, but the flavor. The combination of the chocolate cake, drizzle, and filling came together in your mouth to create a chocolate that wasn’t too sweet nor too bitter.
I don’t know if they still offer this dessert, but I know if they do, I’ll will be returning solely based on that cake.

Stayed here off season. Beautiful surroundings and view, continental breakfast was ok, décor standard. Beds we’re comfy. The view alone makes this place worth staying here as long as you’re an outdoorsy type person.
The off season price was reasonable but the taxes were high. All in all, I’d totally come back here and stay here again next time I’m in Bar Harbor.

Love this place! BUT it depends on what location you stay at here. We stayed on the waterfront, of course you pay for the view but hey that’s what vacations are about! Waking up to a water view, the sounds of the oceans, birds and lobsterboats was so relaxing! And the smell of the ocean… ahhh just what the doctor ordered.
The room was great. Excellent décor and upscale linings. The beds where good. But what steals the show was the private porch. Grab a cup of coffee in the morning and some continental breakfast bring it back to your room and relax in your chairs with the feet up soaking up the sun and relax.
I’d absolutely stay here again on the waterfront lodges. I can’t speak for the other parts of the property so this review is solely based on this alone.