Veranda at Balance Rock Inn

Stayed at Balance Rock Inn during our trip to Bar Harbor this weekend and got dinner at the Veranda for our last night. Due to some last-minute changes, we only stayed for appetizers and drinks, but the food and service were excellent. Personalized printed menus, the caviar service, and the cocktails were great. Their dirty martini with dill oil was my favorite drink of the weekend. Jeremy was a rockstar - attentive, understanding, and extremely friendly. Can't wait to go back soon.

Unfortunately this was a big no for me. The service was great, but I sent my food back, which is the second time in my life I’ve done that. The rice was mush and the fish tasted like it had gone bad.

We had a perfect dining experience. The staff was amazing, so kind and attentive.
The food and drinks were absolutely delicious and they were very generous with exchanges for allergies; I have a gluten allergy and several fruits that I am allergic to, most restaurants just omit the offending agent, this waiter went out of his way to exchange fruits so I could enjoy my desert. The food quality was exceptional.
The atmosphere is unbelievable, a stylish turn-of-the-previous-century, beautifully restored and extremely stylishly decorated, clean and on the water, what could possibly be better?

Was so excited to go here after snagging a reservation. Setting is beautiful. Rooms are beautiful. View is beautiful. Service was largely great. One server kept getting wrong tables but everyone else was great. However food was below par. My wife commented she’d eaten better salads on an airplane! Bread plate for $12 was bad. Stale and bland. Razor clams were poor. Steak was ok for $59. Just ok. Duck was poor. I’d avoid.

The inn is beautiful inside and out I was quite impressed with my first impression. We entered the lounge for cocktails prior to dinner and took up a large seating area as there were eight of us. The weight staff was very friendly but pensive. They brought our cocktails and as we were enjoying them, we were also sitting through three separate interviews happening in the lounge right behind us by a manager named Claire. It was very distracting and disturbing and I feel disrespectful to the applicants. When we sat down for dinner, we occupied the center table in the restaurant. The wait stuff again friendly seems somewhat confused and untrained. There were issues finding wine selections. Timing was very disjunct and dishes presented awkwardly and when asked questions about them they we stuff could not answer. At no point did we see any sign of management helping guide stuff. The only manager present was the one conducting interviews. On a positive note the food was outstanding. The back of house obviously is stronger than the front of house and each dish was perfection. It ‘s sad that management was not present , and helping the front of house staff. They seemed willing but had no guidance.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 2

Didn't eat, but great back deck for a cocktail and ocean view. Quiet and relaxing unlike Main Street.

Atmosphere: 5

Service: 5

Awful customer service. Don't waste your time. Sad because the hotel is beautiful but the restaurant service terrible.

Very poor business practice….Our flight was delayed and we couldn’t make our dinner reservation and they kept our deposit…..I’ve never had this happen before …unbelievable.

Service: 1

We came here based on reviews and recommendations and unfortunately we left really disappointed. We ordered 2 apps and 3 entrees for 2 people, and the quantity was great but unfortunately the food itself was not. We had the crudo and pate to start, both were awesome. We then ordered the wagyu, hen, and trout. The wagyu was cooked perfectly, but the entire dish was covered in this Smokey cream sauce and then the entire plate was covered in ash. It totally overpowered the dish and ruined the taste for us because it was unavoidable. The trout was ok but lacked a lot of flavor - definitely not a must order for anyone. The hen was pretty good although the breast was dry, the bread pudding served on the side of the hen was the best thing on our table. It seems their menu changes every summer so maybe this menu is just new and they are still working out the kinks but you would think ordering the fish, steak, and chicken would be a safe call to get some of the best dishes. Ambiance was beautiful (although very quiet dining area), and we had a great time regardless of the food but wanted to put a review in since I hadn’t seen any other reviews as of the 2024 season.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 2

Service: 4

Absolutely delicious meal! We made a reservation for our Anniversary dinner while we were on our trip to Acadia. I loved the dark, elegant atmosphere of the place. Compared to much of the other restaurants in the area, it didn’t feel crowded at all. Our server was super helpful, but also gave us lots of space to enjoy our meal. The food was all absolutely delicious. The beef yakitori was so flavorful! The chicory salad was good, but the bacon dressing was a bit overwhelmingly sweet for me, still tasted good, just not my personal preference. The sage dumplings with rabbit confit was amazing, the rabbit was so tender. The scallops were cooked to perfection and my husband loved the trout. Although I think for both of us our favorite part of the meal was the bread. It was so puffy and sprinkled with salt and herbs on top. My dinner could have been made up of just that bread and I would have been happy. I highly recommend dinning here while in Bar Harbor!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Scallops

A rare fine dining experience in a wonderful setting in Bar Harbor. Not inexpensive, but worth it for a special evening.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Scallops

We didn't have a great start here (we arrived a little early for our reservation and could not find anyone at the hostess stand, nor get anyone to help us for quite a while; when we did, the dining room wasn't yet open so they sent us to the bar where the bartender barely deigned to serve us), but it got much better once we were seated. Our waiter was excellent and the food was superb. We had rabbit confit appetizers, the duck (maybe the best duck I've ever had), scallops, cremeux and a cheese plate (huge). It was all divine.

My wife and I stayed here for our anniversary at the balance rock and were unsure of how the quality of the restaurant would be it exceeded our expectations our meals and service were exquisite. We started with the mussels which were so delicious they were small but very good seasoned well and had delicious prosciutto pieces in it. I ordered the steak loin with bearnaise sauce the sauce was light and the steak was cooked to perfection. My wife ordered the pea risotto which was very good too. They gave us a few snacks from the kitchen which is a really nice touch one of them was a smoked trout dip on a wonton. We are not huge trout fans and it was delicious! For dessert we got the layer cake with burnt honey ice cream, very good ! Definitely make reservations! Also the ambiance was great we sat out in the patio area which was nice and warm from the fire lamps they also provided blankets which was a nice cozy touch!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

The service was incredible. Harry is an absolute gem!We sat out on the patio that had gorgeous views of the grounds and water.Thank you!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

The food was good, save the bread which was amazing. The service and atmosphere was fantastic. Eric was an excellent waiter.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 3

Service: 5