Keag Store

Every village in this area has its own general store. The Keag (pronounced «Gig») Store serves as the general store for Spruce Head. The locals love it, and you can find a bunch of them having breakfast or lunch there every day. Our breakfast sandwiches were A-​OK. I wish I could say the same for the take-​out coffee, which had been sitting far too long on the warmer. The location is attractive, across from the water and right next to one of the best art galleries in Maine. However, the store itself lacks the charm of some of the other general stores, most notably the one in nearby Owl’s Head.

I rate this place as five stars based on the fact that it is completely unique.
You can get breakfast, just about whatever you want, at 5:30 in the morning and the place is packed with people who are beginning the work day. Try the pancakes, but it’s all good.
By day this place has all kinds of seafood, pizza, and burgers, which are all good. In addition it’s a real general store with steaks, produce, beer, soda, etc. with which you could take home and make a darn good dinner.
They do a good take out business, particularly in pizza, which is excellent.
Local beef jerky? Whoopee Pies? Home made doughnuts? Yup pretty much you name it and they’ve got it.
But best of all this is a real Maine place, not fancy for the tourists, but tourists are welcome as well.
One of a kind and truly great on so many levels.

The lobster rolls surprised me here. I had seen that they were reviewed well, but based on the condition of the store, was skeptical that they could be good, but I really enjoyed them. They come on a plain Kaiser roll, buttered and toasted. The volume of bread is a little much and unexciting, but when paired with a large pile of fresh, mayo-​heavy (which I like) lobster, the whole roll comes together well.

Gem of a little corner store. We stayed within walking distance and appreciated all they had to offer. Breakfast is very reasonable, I swear the blueberry pancakes weigh in at 4 pounds. We did not eat lobster or lobster rolls here (save that for Watermans or Golden Compass), so I can not vouch for those menu items. The service is a bit surly, but within reason a mostly locals Maine small joint.

I love this place! Friendly, local, casual. Great lobster roll — salad not butter style. I’m kinda on a lobster roll roll. I do prefer the butter, but this one was simple and good. Small submarine across street as memorial to its creator is very cool.

This review is for the RESTAURANT, not the general store aspects. We ordered two lobsters cooked: one was good; the other was tough, dry and green on the outside. My guess, it had been dead for a while before cooking. Breakfast was below average which would have been bearable, except the coffee was worse than dishwater. And the service was the worse we experienced anywhere in Maine.

The experience did not match the hype. A regular best of for lobster rolls in local publications, this general store sits on a scenic road off US1. We passed up established lobster pounds to taste the lobster roll on a round bun. There two sizes and we opted for the large figuring it would be swimming in lobster meat. Sadly the lobster was drowning in mayo. The lobster but not chunky and meaty. The sandwich came and pickle. No pickle was an über bummer. The price. 14.25. Ouch. To sum up over priced, over mayoed and under pickled.

Old fashioned quick mart with great food. I had the garlic pizza and my wife the double cheese burger. The pizza crust is that hand tossed with those big bubbles (see photo) and they use plenty of cheese. The burger was excellent too (see photo). We have been eating plenty of lobster and this was a pleasant break.

I have about 50 lobster/​crab roll joints dialed into my GPS with proximity alerts that go off when I’m within one mile of them. I plugged in the Keag Store over the winter and forgot about it. I was on my way to knock off a roll at Waterman’s Beach and a proximity alert went off for the Keag Store. I had just finished an amazing crab roll at Patty’s in Edgecomb and I knew I must eat at Waterman’s Beach, what to do? Eat 3 rolls within 1.5 hours, that’s what to do! I had a crab roll at Keag, since I was saving myself for the Lobster at Waterman’s. I so wanted the lobster roll after seeing a newspaper reader’s poll taped up in The Keag Store indicating that they had the best lobster roll around, with Waterman’s coming in second. I still needed to save my lobster ducats for the establishment with the James Beard Award — see review for Waterman’s Beach Lobster.
The Keag Store is great! The crab roll was delicious and a bargain at $ 5.95 with chips and a pickle. While wating for my roll I checked out the deli case and noticed all the carb salads (macaroni, potato) were made there and looked amazing. I bought a small container of pot. salad– nummers! My friend Suzi Q says «nummers» when she eats Toscannini’s Ice Cream. Keag Store gets a solid «A» and next time I am anywhere near there, I’m getting the lobster roll.
My only beef and this applies to the Thomaston joints– what’s with the hamburger buns? Maybe it is some sort of micro regionalism? I know it is the same dough as the hot dog roll, but how many times do I have to say, «A proper lobster roll comes on a buttered and grilled side-​split hot dog bun!»