Fish Bones American Grill

Food was great. But… restaurant experience is heightened when everything comes together. Unfortunately it does not all come together at Fishbones.
The atmosphere is very nice.
The servers were very pleasant and helpful. The timing however was terrible. Unless you specifically tell your server you are in a hurry there is usually some time, at least a few minutes, between courses at such a restaurant. We did not even have time to sip a drink between plates being swished away and the next being set down sans silverware.
I’d give the food 4 stars. Might have been higher if I could have enjoyed the meal.
Calamari app was wonderful and set the expectations.
Before we even cleared it the salads were delivered.
The entrees were up on the counter under heat lamps where they sat as another person watched until we finished our salads.
I felt very rushed.
The place was not full so I don’t understand the push through of orders. Kitchen staff was obviously working hard and does a great job with the food. Someone needs to calculate the course order to cook start timing much better to leave the right gap. This was Olive Garden in terms of coordination and timing, and it should not be.

Never disappointed by Fishbones! One of my favorite lunch spots in the LA area. French onion soup… excellent, coffee… what it should be, fig bleu cheese flatbread… amazeballs! Fishbones spiffs up the Dirty Lew just a bit and renews our faith in the potential of the mid-​state, urban scene.
Don’t reserve this restaurant for occasional dinners. Come in and check out their fabulous lunch menu. The quality, flavors, and prices will make you a frequent lunch flyer.
*Special note* Kudos to the seating hostess who clearly has her act together! Not only did she seat us, got our waters poured whilst we were waiting for our waitress, but she also ran interference for us to help alleviate kitchen/​waitstaff congestion. She is obviously invested in the diner’s experience and not her own personal comfort. She saw needs and filled them. Other restaurants: take note!

Awesome every time. My wife loves this place. If you’re a vegetarian well too fuckin bad. That’s why this place is great.

I have never had a bad meal at Fishbones, and sometimes I have had excellent food. This place is especially good for Maine Restaurant Week. Make sure to try the Lobster Rangoons. They are so sweet they could be dessert. The challenge I have is that sometimes the menu is a little limited, and if you don’t want seafood that evening it is pretty hard to find something to eat. Once we just ordered a glass of wine and appetizer and went elsewhere for dinner. If you are a seafood lover, this is a terrific place. If not take your chance during MRW when you can see the menu online.

Wonderful atmosphere, great staff, and excellent food!
We were told to try this place by a local and we were very glad we did.
I had the salmon and it was one of the best pieces of fish that I’ve had in a restaurant EVER!
This place is definitely worth checking out — youbwont be disappointed.

This place is adorable. Very simple bar area with reception seats and couches. Imagine when there’s things going on in town he must be quite a place to be. We called ahead just at 9 o’clock and they said no problem we can still come in and get food. How many places want to do that on the Thursday night. I ordered the cod slightly blackened where they light bur blanc sauce some potato croquettes and green beans everything on the plate tasted so good and I’m a pretty picky girl. The chowder was delicious and definitely homemade and we also had a salad of Brussels sprouts with a falafel. I felt I could have a little more dressing and seasoning and the brussel sprouts could have been a little thinner but perhaps at after 9 o’clock he was in a rush and well you just can’t be too demanding. We will definitely come back the next time we’re passing through Auburn Lewiston. Good to know they’re there but it was slightly difficult to find GPS brings you to the street prior and says you’ve reached your destination but yet you have to go halfway around the block to get to the building entrance. The bathrooms were clean and bright. Our bartender was wonderful and she was certainly on the ball. Good luck and enjoy

By the each… the menu actually reads «order by the each» — in two places. My table had quite a few chuckles about this. Regardless of the grammar on the menu, Fish Bones was a nice experience. Service was great from online reservations, to the hostess escorting us to the table, to the server taking care of us. The food was delicious… and it was the same as any fancy restaurant. The most creative part of the meal was the drinks. The Dark and Stormy was served artistically layering the ginger beer and dark rum. So fun! That Effen Drink made with Effen cucumber vodka was another inventive and tasty beverage. Dessert was good too and there were at least two gluten-​free options. To sum up: food was delicious, drinks were FUN and delicious, menu reads «order by the each» hehehehe. I’ll remember the drinks and order by the each for years. The food is easy to get mixed up with any similar restaurant. They had tuna, filet mignon, and salads, like everyone else.

Definitely a must try place! Pricier meals but worth it! The mix of breads they give you to start are so delicious. Salmon was very tasty, love the Brussel sprouts as well. Upscale environment and perfect date spot!

I came here on a Wed for lunch with two co-​workers. I am visiting from California on a work trip and was excited to try a lobster roll. My co-​worker said, «A good lobster roll has very little dressing, so you can taste the lobster.» I ordered the lobster roll and asked for very little dressing. The waitress said it is pre-​prepared and the amount of dressing can’t be changed, but she’ll hold the mayo. Sounds good to me.. .
I noticed right away that there was way too much dressing. I couldn’t even imagine what it would be like with the extra mayo. There was TOOOOOOOO much dressing. The sandwich is small and it’s very hard to eat. There’s a cut out in a small loaf like bread. A bed of lettuce with the lobster on top of it. I looked and tried at every angle to get a first perfect bite — this was my first lobster roll ever.
I ended up eating ½ the bread, all the lobster. It was not that great. I would not recommend. I will not return and am disappointed. I looked at other lobster roll pictures (from other high Unilocaled restaurants) and they are not overdressed like this one. No bueno!

Hard to review. First I’ll say my Meal was absolutely perfect. My Ribeye was seasoned and cooked perfectly. My guest was a little put off by the combination of flavors with his pork chop and my wife was not happy with the seasoning of her Beef Wellington. I don’t know if it was really anyone else fault though or they were just being overly sensitive. Our waitress noticed their lack of enthusiasm immediately and took one of the entrees off the bill. Of course at that point I felt a little like an ass and paid for it in the tip anyways. Kudos to our waitress!!! I would come back. The atmosphere is rustic but elegant at the same time. Nice place and I like a chef that takes chances so It was good for me.

On
e of the best places in the LA area. Pricey, sure, but worth every bit of it. The drinks, the entrees, (we went as a family of four) were all beyond wickedly delicious. I had the salmon and it was done perfectly, just perfectly, and salmon is my favorite dish anywhere. I’ve been four times so far and I plan to keep right on going. The staff, the menu, the atmosphere are all top shelf. I have read some bad reviews here on Unilocal of Fish Bones, but for me, it’s never been bad at all.

This place is comfortable and beautifully understated. The food is really delicious staff is professional without being too much.
I love the fancy poutine on the apps menu

Cobb salad with chicken, over $ 17. Plus tip? Are you kidding me? There’s not a salad on earth, no less in Lewiston, Maine, worth $ 17. It’s time to reexamine how you make a profit.

Four of us went to dinner there last evening. They on a Saturday night night had a bartender in training. It took forever to get our martinis and when we got them they were bad. The air conditioning was right over our table. It was cold and annoying. The oysters were not very good, and the tuna entrée was worse. Our waitress Lindsay was great but we live in Portland and there is no need to drive to Lewiston other than to see friends. We won’t be going back to Fish Bones anytime soon.

Great atmosphere, seems to be hit or miss on the food but when it’s a hit it’s amazing! One of the nicer places in town.

Huger is always with me (not true). Getting fat has been, in fact, always with me so far. Why why why, all I want to do is to get fit. Ugh
Locations: I wasn’t expected to stop here but huger stops us from getting further. And I randomly chose this pricy place (not pricy at all). Located in downtown, besides a tech company, this place is not very easy to find. The interior design is fancy and nice and well designed
Food: had tuna salad, salmon burger and Hancock entrée. I would say, everything is surprisingly good. I am even more surprised that they can seasoned every dish so well in this small town here.
Price: even though it’s a 3 dollar sign, food is comparablely cheap with that kinda quality.
Service: our waitress is welcoming and nice and gives up time to think about what we wanna go order.
Overall: for local people, this is a nice fancy place to go. Do recommend — 4 stars!

This is one of the better fine dining options in the L/​A area. I’ve been here for a quiet family dinner, a business meeting, and just appetizers in the bar. Plenty of options, and the old mill is a great atmosphere. Fish Bones is a great spot to bring area visitors.

First Look: The interior of Fish Bone is clean, uncluttered and comfortable. The hostess seated us immediately and was very polite. The waiter was excellent; he was able to answer every question that was asked about the menu and the bar selection, offered suggestions for dinner and dessert and was generally superb.
The Food: I started off with several appetizers: the lobster Rangoon which was awesome, the oysters, which in my opinion we’re a little gritty but I’m not a huge fan of oysters in any case, the calamari was the best calamari I’ve ever had from anywhere, they were tender and flavorful and just amazing. The bread basket was great with three different kinds of bread. The Caesar salad was also pretty great. Anyway the entrée was definitely a star. I got the special for the night which was a lobster dinner which included a pound of lobster, red potatoes, asparagus, mussels, and clam chowder all of which were fantastic. The lobster was tender and flavorful, the potatoes could have used a little salt, the mussels a little less garlic, the asparagus, which normally I loathe, was great, and the chowder left me speechless. I finished up with some pumpkin cremé brulee, which was a perfect way to finish the meal.
The Verdict: Without a doubt Fish Bone is the seafood restaurant of choice in Auburn and probably the surrounding 15 or 20 miles. If you’re looking for lobster, haddock, or any other seafood, hit this place as soon as you can.

Here for the NCAA Frozen Four Div III Men’s Ice Hockey tournament, we decided to check this place out based on the great reviews-​and we were not disappointed.
The décor is warm and reminds you of the interior of a ship with lots of dark wood and crisp white linen «sails.» The aroma wafting from the open kitchen is an intoxicating blend of herbs and garlic.
I had (as I love to do) perused the menu online before our arrival. I knew the pan seared duck breast in a pomegranate reduction with smashed sweet potatoes, blueberry butter, feta and bacon was for me. My companions were also pleased with their choices of the seafood mixed grill and seafood pomodoro pappardelle with black pasta. I tried the seafood pomodoro and what pleased us was that it contained copious amounts of fresh seafood including large wild scallops and whole lobster claw meat with an adequate amount of black pasta. I felt the sauce however was a bit bland and could have used a little more salt. My companion, however was pleased.
My dinner was just the right amount and the flavors successfully married. I think it was the best of the three dishes we ordered.
Wanting a little dolce, we ordered the mocho-​espresso pot de crème with bailey’s whipped cream and a vanilla bean crème brûlée. Both were excellent and we were surprised at the large portion offered for the latter.
The prices were extremely reasonable for the excellent fare. With one glass of wine, one raspberry lambic ($ 14), one Maine root beer, three dinners, two desserts it came to $ 150 with tax and tip.
If I lived locally, this would be a favorite weekly hangout. I’m sure on weekends, reservations are recommended.

Fishbones opened several years ago, long after my last year as a resident of Lewiston, and after its opening it quickly developed a reputation as one of the best restaurants in Lewiston/​Auburn, perhaps all of central Maine. This is a favorite special occasion or date night restaurant for many in my family and after my first time here yesterday it’s easy to see why.
We had called in to make a reservation and the place was surprisingly very busy, there would not be a table available to be reserved for about hour or so. We went anyway and arrived to an attractive restaurant in one of the Bates Mill buildings. Wood, exposed brick, and the sort of rustic elegance you would expect from a laid-​back fine dining restaurant in an old mill town; sophisticated, but not stuffy. The way its described on their website, «casual upscale,» is probably a better way to put it.
By the entranceway the lounge area has couches, high tables, and a long, beautiful, inviting bar. This is the type of bar where I would meet a friend or date, or even come to enjoy a drink alone. We waited in the lounge for a few minutes and were seated in the lovely dining room by the open kitchen.
If you like bread, the bread basket is not to be missed. All the bread is made in-​house and is extremely fresh as a result. Each basket comes with a generous amount of three kinds of bread: a sweet zucchini, a sundried tomato focaccia, and baguette. All wonderfully delicious. One of the most memorable bread baskets I’ve seen and had in a long time.
A review of the menu revealed a high representation of seafood dishes, as expected, but it was nice to see that patrons who wanted other options could choose from entrees such as the filet mignon with amber bacon jam, chicken and waffles, pan seared duck breast, or grilled vegetable timbale. Everything sounded delicious, but I ultimately decided on the scallops (after I changed my mind several times from the bourbon glazed salmon and tuna sashimi).
The crusted sea scallops came with housemade pan-​seared ricotta gnocchi, braised rainbow chard, maple butternut squash, and topped with spiced crème fraiche. It was excellent. Scallops were cooked perfectly and gnocci was light and fluffy, undoubtedly some of the best I’ve had. About 98% of the time people can’t do gnocchi well, i.e., when it’s dense and chewy. Very impressed.
I also asked for a recommendation of wine to pair with the scallop dish and ended up with the Crème de Lys, a Chardonnay. It was a nice recommendation. I also sampled the Baxter Brewing Company Stowaway IPA brewed right next door! I’m usually not into IPAs (too hoppy) but this was refreshing and nicely balanced.
For dessert, one of my dining companions and I shared the rustic apple tart that came with housemade vanilla ice cream. Our waitress was kind enough to give us an extra scoop of ice cream on request. The apple tart was slightly tart and not overly sweet — it was great. I’d love to come back to try other desserts like the chocolate sticky toffee pudding, among other things.
Looking forward to returning to Fishbones soon!