Finback Alehouse

This was a good, not great, restaurant. I might be a bit biased because I was hoping for nachos that weren’t an option, but the rest was alright. I think there are better restaurants around through, especially for seafood– though this would be one of the more affordable ones.
I would recommend this place for lunch but not dinner.

This was a wonderful surprise! Many of the places we had planned on for dinner had one hour waits and we were seated here within 10 minutes. As it turned out this was the perfect meal for us that evening. The portions tend to be large so we did split some of our meat which was a good idea. Everything was fresh and the service was very friendly.

Overall a good, but not amazing experience.
Lobster and mushroom risotto — the menu claimed one and quarter pound of lobster and this plate definitely had mayyyybbbeeee half of that. The flavor and texture were both good, but when in Bar Harbor and you claim a certain amount of lobster, you better deliver on that.
Lobster dinner — standard and expected with one and a quarter pound of lobster and an ear of corn.

My wife and I make it a point to come to the Finback every year when we are in Bar Harbor. Great food and an impressive rotating craft beer selection! The service is also top notch. Definitely check this place out!

We sat at the bar for a late lunch. My husband had the pulled pork mac and I had the pulled pork sandwich. Both very very good. Thirsty Whale had a 30 minute wait so we walked here. Super glad we did. No wait and delicious food. Think there was no wait because the place looks kind of closed from the outside.

Server was slow to seat us, slow to take our order, never refilled our glasses. Kinda made you feel like just getting up and doing it yourself.
Fish taco was lukewarm and undercooked. Fish and chips technically had thin American french fries, not chips. The lobster was apparently excellent.
This was not a gastropub by any means. The menu is waaaaay too long and just lacked the attention to detail in flavor pairing and presentation. The overall experience was mediocre: probably better as just a place to get drinks and appetizers.

My husband and I went for a quiet lunch here during vacation and Finback’s is/​was the site of my very FIRST Maine-​style lobster roll!!! So good! I loved that they have a side salad option as opposed to fries, and I super duper loved that you could get a side Caesar salad. The salad had just the right amount of dressing and was the perfect accompaniment to a reasonably-​sized lobster roll. There are bigger lobster roll portions in other places in Bar Harbor, but for lunch Finback’s was all Goldie Locks aka «just right».

What a surprise! This is the first place we dined after a week that we loved! Don’t let the outside fool you. This isn’t an ordinary pub. This is an outstanding pub with excellent service, and noteworthy quality dishes.
I wish I would have taken more pictures! Our first course was an eye popper for us. Seared Scallops with pork bellies and a pretty salad that was fresh and tasty!
My main course was a special chalked on the board. Surf and Turf Tacos. Sounds boring but oh no, it was amazing. One lobster stuffed taco and one steak stuffed taco.
My husband ordered one of the burgers and he said it was so good he’d come back tomorrow for more!
The kids meals were fairly typical kids meals so they were happy.
Prices are average for the hood. Restaurant was simply decorated and very clean.

Great place for lunch. I highly recommend the Blue label burger. This was honestly one of the best burgers I have had. There’s a lot going on, and it’s a little messy to eat, but just go with it and hose yourself down afterwards.
The haddock sandwich was tasty — perfectly fried and not fishy at all. You can tell it’s fresh.

It was burger time for and boy, oh boy, was I happy I found Finback for my burger time!!!
We sat at the bar which held about 12 seats. Our bartender/​waitress was a very cool cat because every beer we wanted to try, especially that white nitro, was OUT! BUT she hooked us up with a free beer ;) so we forgave her.
BLUE LABEL BURGER
This burger was so flavorful, my memory can still taste the onions confit and dry aged flavors.
It’s a 10 oz. prime aged beef burger
…i ordered mine medium raw and oh boy was it juicy
Smoked bacon
…tender!!! i love tender bacon not that nasty chewy bacon
Onion confit
…similar to caramelized onions and topped with raw red onions mmmm
Pinelands farm cheddar cheese
…this oozed all over the burger perfectly
Fried duck egg
…more for the romance of this delicious burger and they cooked it medium ooooze :)
The fries had plenty of flavor and were cooked just right.
I know next time I’m craving a burger, which will be very soon, I will be daydreaming about the Blue Label!!!
Cheers to Finback for your local farm support, great employees and even better food.

Seriously… Best Steamers EVER!!! You can tell they pre treat them well. They were huge, sweet and creamy… not one bit of sand!!! I dad the special stuffed lobster with crabmeat stuffing-​the stuffing was incredible-​all real crab meat and smothered with some yummy sauce and topped with shrimp. The lobster was sweet and delicious. So so yum! My boyfriend has the lobster mac and cheese that was to die for! Cheesy and chunky – although they state they use an entire 1 ¼ lobster-​I doubt it– but still great nonetheless! Lobster bisque was tasty and the beer list was good! I want to go back for happy hour oysters, unfortunately I am leaving in the morning. Next time.

This is a classic. Decided to go here for lunch before heading out to ANP. Not a huge place, but then again nothing really is in Bar Harbor. Service was also really quick and friendly… seemed like only one guy was working as the main waiter/bartender…which was fine since it wasn’t packed.
We went for a cheeseburger and the Reuben. Both were delicious. Especially the Reuben. Wife tried the waffle fries and I opted for onion rings… which were huge and not overly battered. Other than a little extra seasoning for the rings… they were top notch. We started with a cup of clam chowder, which wasn’t a huge hit. It lacked clams and that’s pretty much what you’re ordering it for.
Anyway…overall I would recommend this place. Menu looks interesting… want to go try more. Enjoy!

We loved everything we ate and drank. For apps, we tried the scallops and pork belly and the crab cake.
Crab cake was so good, I got the crab cake BLT for my entrée. Excellent choice if I do say so myself. My companions ordered the lobster and crab mac and cheese from the menu and a surf and turf taco entrée from the specials board. Both were amazing.
Drinks were a really nice IPA off the featured list, a Dragons Breath hard cider with ginger (that I have to find again before football season) and a summer sangria that was delicious and came in a surprisingly generous pour.

I may or may not have come here with the explicit intention of ordering way too many appetizers so that I could satisfy some weird combination craving for both comfort food and seafood that I’d been nursing for two days. As in, after we placed our order, the waitress had a very amused and skeptical look on her face, and I don’t blame her. For a party of two (myself and my fiancé), we got the following items:
Pan Seared Scallops & Crisp Pork Belly — Love, love, love scallops, and love, love, love pork belly. They did a great job with both, perfectly seasoned and seared!
Island Fish Tacos — my first time having these! Pretty tasty, but man are they generous with the filling! I think I was spilling more of the haddock/​cheese/​slaw/​picodegallo than I was actually getting into my mouth with each bite.
Alehouse Charcuterie & Cheese Board — Not a huge fan of charcuterie in general, although I thoroughly enjoyed the cheese. For a less biased opinion, my fiancé thought the charcuterie was good.
Waffle Nachos (small) — highly recommend if you’re wanting comfort food! It’s one of the most famous apps here at Finback, and while I don’t think I would’ve found it that amazing on a regular day, it just completely hit the spot for me that night.
Grilled Lobster — pretty solid, but I can’t imagine getting a bad lobster dish around here. You’re in Maine, for crying out loud!
For the uninitiated, these portion servings are ridiculous! I’m pretty sure that the waffle nachos alone would’ve satisfied both of us, but no. We got that *in addition* to scallops, tacos, charcuterie/​cheese, and a giant lobster. Talk about going overboard. I was about to also order dessert, but my fiancé put his foot down and told me that he wasn’t too keen on getting type II diabetes out of our vacation to Bar Harbor.
I’d easily order any of the aforementioned items again. Or maybe just the waffle nachos. I think talking about them has put me into a Finback-​waffle-​nacho craving. Ugh, if only I weren’t about a thousand miles away, I’d be out the door already. Thankfully, my waistline gets a reprieve tonight.

As we entered, the place had a slightly nicer than pub style to it. All tables were full, although we were seated within two minutes, as two people were just leaving. The atmosphere was lively chatter, mostly from tables as opposed to the bar. There seemed to be only one server in addition to the hostess and bar staff, around 9:40 on a Saturday night. As other spots closed by 9, this seemed to be the overflow dinner crowd, just before the live music warmed up at 10.
The clam chowder was first to arrive, was standard, delicious, and came served in a square bowl. Standard portion, a slight cheesy sharpness to it on the first bite, but creamy and as expected from there on. Not too salty, on the border of needing salt, but I was fine with it as-​is once the crackers were added.
The main course was the ribeye steak over fries. The fries were thin, not quite shoestring, and had an ok inner texture, but could use some crunch on the outside. They were lightly sprinkled with some sort of feta-​like cheese, although there was hardly enough to tell for sure. They were also a bit gritty, and the wine sauce kind of did them in.
The steak itself was generous, and more than I could finish, although even at medium temp, it was tough, and had some hard seering on one side. While I believed it to be locally sourced, it seemed like it had been frozen. At $ 27, it was quite a disappointment.
My friend got the duck burger, which he felt was on the small side for $ 18, and agreed that his fries were too soft. However, where I had no interest in finishing mine, his were no problem, and he left with a clean plate.
All in all, I wanted to like this place, and it’s other dishes might be fine, but the ribeye over fries was a letdown at any price. The soup was fine, but everything was overpriced, except the beer. Tourist trap, anyone? :/​
With the mixed reviews from The Thirsty Whale, I wanted this place to be better, but I’m not so sure. Service was fine, but the food was a letdown, and disappointment was amplified by prices I would expect from New York City.
TLDR: nothing stood out food-​wise, prices suggest tourist trap. I will not remember this meal a week from now, except as the weakest meal of my trip.

The service at the bar is great. Good local beer selection. The lobster roll is fresh and tasty!

Fin Back Ale house has a great lunch menu… the bartenders were extremely personable and took an interest in all their patrons… the drinks were well made and the haddock sandwich with housemade tartar sauce was delicious!!!
We will definitely return there the next time we are in Bar Harbor! !!

The food specials here were excellent. Very modestly priced beer selection. I ended up with the «Lobster Bake» special, which included a cup of clam chowder, 40 mussels a 1 ¼ lb. Maine lobster, onion rings (any side you want, ONION RINGS WERE AMAZING btw) and an apple pie dessert. Great value for under $ 32 and very friendly wait staff.
The location was nice, plenty of TV’s for anyone that needs sports to be on (that’s me) and our waiter really took care of us. Would go again.

Finback was one of the few places open for lunch the day of a nasty winter storm, so we were incredibly glad to find it! We were the only people in there for about 30 minutes, so the service was awesome.
We just had drinks and appetizers at the bar. I got a cider and some eggplant hummus, which was okay, but the crostini that came with it was toasty and buttery. The fella got a local beer on tap and the lobster chimis, which were deeelicious!
Great place to hunker down!

If you are in the area, definitely try their Blufin Steamers and fish tacos for your appetizers. Both were DELICIOUS! You won’t be disappointed. Fish tacos were so flavorful; sour and spicy. Two thumbs up! Blufin steamers tasted fresh as they were steamed in such savory broth. Bits bacon added smokiness flavor to the broth. Dipping those babies in butter just really really made my night.
Calamari was very good too. Their batter was thin and crunchy, not soggy at all. Enjoy it with jalapeño pickles! And get yourself a glass of cold beer!
The only negative thing I could think of was, it took quite awhile for our food to come out. We were there for drinks and appetizers only, but it was a busy night when we were there. Great food and friendly service made me forget about the long wait for food.
Visit them during happy hours (3−5pm) for fresh oysters and clams!