Gilbert’s Chowder House

Quiet, casual atmosphere with choices of indoor or out on the dock seating. Hubs and I were just wanting to catch a quick bite in the middle of a site-​seeing day.
The initial greeting was quick but then from there service was slow. Except for when we finally placed our order and the food came out within just a few minutes!
Having never had real, fresh seafood (landlocked state is home) neither of us was sure what to expect. We ordered the Lobster Roll and the Crab Roll. They were both tasty but we weren’t expecting the cold meat. A positive is that there was a LOT of meat on them!
Overall good experience.

Went here for lunch yesterday both of us had fried clams special with fries chowder and coleslaw. Excellent food! Light crispy batter on clams great chowder, slaw and affordable! Friendly waitress too! Would highly recommend eating here!

Perfection in their seafood chowder! Lobster roll very good too. I will be back every chance.

Five stars for what it is. Not fancy, but just good seafood. Service was quick and friendly. Clam chowder was delicious and the fried clams were fresh and crispy. I am a big guy and could only eat half of what was on my plate. Next time I am in Portland, I will be back.

The only reason I’m not giving 5 stars is the clam chowder was lacking clams. Other then that the food was on point and not greasy at all. The lobster roll was very fresh and juicy. I will definitely stop back in the next time I visit Portland.

Service is very slow… they really need a busboy… it would increase their business drastically… food??? Who knows, I am still waiting… zzzzzz

Came here with friends for clams, scallops, and lobster rolls. The scallops and clams were pretty good. The lobster rolls were mediocre at best. One can get better lobster rolls just about anywhere in the northeast. Certainly there are better places to go in Maine for lobster rolls; skip this place!

I live in Portland. Was in the Old Port on a gorgeous spring day & decided to try Gilbert’s. The place was busy on the outside deck but only a couple tables taken inside. The younger waitress could not crack a smile, did not wait on anyone
without grumbling or commenting on
everything with such negative words that all could hear.
As I decided this waitress was spoiling
my day with her attitude, I stood up to leave before ordering. At that point the
older waitress nicely asked me what I
wanted. I ordered fish chowder, decent
but certainly not worth raving about.
It is almost tourist season. This place
Will leave a bad impression unless the first waitress I mentioned gets an attitude adjustment!

First of all, a few words about the ambiance, or lack thereof. When you were a little kid, did your dad ever take you to a dive bar where they had great burgers and people spoke in the clipped tones of the blue collar folks where you grew up, and young, well-​muscled men glanced at you with what can only be described as a knowing look? Listen closely, because at Gilberts you will not hear the refined accents of the well-​to-​do. You will hear the accents of Revere and Fall River and Lewiston and Waterville. The well-​to-​do will be across the wharf at Scales paying half again what the smart working class folks pay at Gilbert’s for better seafood. And yes, there will be a young, nice-​looking man sitting at the bar. His muscles come from working not working out. He will look vaguely familiar when he holds your gaze for an extra second.
Okay… let’s talk about the seafood chowder. They have a «double» seafood chowder here with twice as much haddock, lobster and shrimp as the regular. A medium sized cup, which is a meal in itself for a normal sized girl (who is, at times, on the slightly chubby side I admit) is so deliciously fish filled… ah. And ONLY 8.95. This is the bargain of Portland folks. You will find whole lobster claw meat in there.
Let’s talk about the fried oysters. Yes, the appetizer-​sized portion, for 10.50, is enough for even a medium-​sized man. Delicious oysters.
Let’s talk about the Fish & Chips. It’s $ 14.95. You will get twice the amount of fish as at Scales, where you will pay $ 19.95. Ok, the fries are better at Scales.
Listen, this is a fish joint. Forget ambiance. Don’t bother with salad and such. Stick with the fish. $ 4.95 for a pint of good draft beer too.

Cute atmosphere, and great service. I came here with my parents on an afternoon when they weren’t that busy, the haddock with lobster sauce special caught my eye so I got it with the lobster sauce on the side. It was delicious but for $ 17 I wish I got a bit more fish. My mother got the fish chowder which wasn’t heavy and had a nice buttery taste.

Traveling through town. Got a recommendation to eat at Gilbert’s Chowder House. I ordered the Lobster Roll with a side of Seafood Chowder. The food was fantastic. The server, Marie, was a delight. She was super friendly and just made the visit way better. Recommend this place to all!

Pretty decent place to stop in, although I was hoping for large lobster, not the shrimpy ones that are sold. Maybe I visited in the wrong season.
Friendly staff, no frills environment.

My mom and I stopped here for lunch after visiting Old Port, on the recommendation of a shop owner. We were looking for a nice clam chowder, and were told that Gilbert’s Chowder House was always popular.
When we first walked in, it was a little surprising to find that the chowder house was essentially a (rundown) bar. It was pretty much a dive. We figured we’d still give it a shot, since it had been recommended by a local. (We also made the mistake of not checking Unilocal until after we ordered).
I ordered a garden salad and a medium bowl of clam chowder; my mom ordered the calamari special (calamari, fries, and clam chowder). The food and drinks were all served in disposal tableware — plastic cups and utensils and flimsy paper plates. The only really dishes were the glass cups our coffee was served in.
The food wasn’t good. I was pretty surprised since it’s a chowder house, but the clam chowder wasn’t good at all. The garden salad was some iceberg lettuce, whole onion rings, unripe tomatoes, and some peppers and mushrooms piled so high on a tiny paper plate that I had to move half the salad to a different plate to attempt to cut up the ingredients. And the salad dressing was in little packets. My mom’s calamari was average at best. The only decent part of the meal were the fries.
Even the sugar we put in the coffee was poor quality. I noticed I couldn’t taste anything after mixing in the sugar and then taking a sip from the side of the cup, so I tried siping through the little stir straw and all the sugar that was sitting at the bottom came up, but wouldn’t dissolve even after swishing it around in my mouth.
The bottom line is DON’T WASTE YOUR MONEY! In addition to the crappy food, it was also hugely overpriced.

With all the choices in Portland. Its hard to imagine that when we first stepped in Gilbert’s that it would be our go to dinner spot every year for the past 5 years. The service is always great, the beer is always cold and the good is always great. We always start with the mussels they start off the meal perfectly. The lobster roll was great, the bun was grilled and stuffed. Very light mayo which lets you enjoy the lobster… I used a little garlic butter on it that I had saved from the mussel appetizer. Wife had the broiled scallops, she ordered them fried so they brought both after the waitress noticed the mistake… we told her it was no problem. Highly recommend…

We really enjoy this place… Come here every time we’re in Portland! This is truly a hole-​in-​the-​wall place with more of a bar feel than a restaurant.
However, the food is real and very good! Eating fish a couple feet from the ocean is always good. Everything is fresh and freshly made to order.
Come in and order the fish and chips or the chowder… You won’t be disappointed!

Our favourite chowder house in Portland with some of the best fried calamari, haddock, & oysters you’ll currently have. Good local beer from shipyard brewery on tap. Great Harbor views in the summer and an always friendly atmosphere. Parking available.

It was my last day visiting a friend in Boston and she took me on a little road trip to a few of her favorite East Coast spots.
This place was the last spot before we had to head back for my flight home and I couldn’t have asked for a better send-​off meal!
The servers were friendly, the food was out quick, and I had the BEST clam chowder bread bowl EVER! It was perfect in every way.
I’m not even a big fan of clam chowder but, when in New England. And it was perfect.

Incredible fish chowder! The service is a bit chaotic — we wanted to sit on the back deck so the dog could stay with us, and one server said it’s seat-​yourself and then a different server asked us to line up on the steps. While lined up, some people came through from the interior of the restaurant and stole the table we had been waiting for. Assert yourself, and if they ask you to line up over there simply find a different place where you can still maintain your stake-​out while being out of the way of servers.
The three adults ordered chowder (fish and clam) and the little one got chicken tenders with chips instead of fries. We also got an order of onion rings to share, and I had a draft Allagash White. The onion rings were homemade and yummy, the chowder was very hearty and comforting, and those chicken tenders were crispy, meaty, and very unlike the typical mass-​produced frozen types. All around we were quite happy and managed to sit within 15 minutes during a busy Saturday lunch rush.
Decent value and good food with no frills. I was very happy!

The prices were expensive, the portions small yet just OK, and they served you on paper plates and plastic silverware.
In the mega touristy Old Port district downtown on the waterfront, there are both a small indoor dining room and a hidden, larger dining room in the back.
It’s seat yourself and this place gets crowded with tourists just off cruise ships.
If I am spending top dollar for fish in Portland, I would rather go to DiMillo’s down the street where the food is tastier, the portions larger, the atmosphere is more pleasing, better service,
easier to be seated, and you get real plates and flatware.
We were so disappointed and felt like we were screwed at Gilbert’s.

I came here specifically for the clam chowder. The weather was nice so I was able to snag the last table in the outdoor porch area. This was around 7:30.
Service wasn’t quick but service wasn’t awfully slow.
I ordered the large clam chowder. It was surprisingly very affordable compared to the rest of the restaurants in South Port. A large clam chowder was about $ 8.00. It was definitely filling and was loaded with clams and potatoes.
I would give a four star for the clam chowder because it was probably the first clam chowder I had that actually had a lot of clams, but the soup wasn’t fresh. You could tell because the consistency was ever so slightly clumpy and not hot.
The soup is served in a plastic container served with oyster crackers. I wasn’t too thrill with the presentation. But if it’s the reason why the soup is on the cheap side, I’ll take it!