7 Best Restaurants in Penobscot Bay, Maine

As the name suggests, this is an excellent spot to slow down and catch up with good friends over a bottle of wine while savoring small, internationally flavored plates or a full meal. The creative blend of textures and flavors that comes out of the kitchen is exceptional. Desserts include a crème brûlée that garners rave reviews. The intimate space, formerly a bank, is furnished with comfortable couches as well as tables and chairs.

This pint-size but well-stocked independent bookstore with a tiny café has been serving Camden for more than 50 years. The full menu of coffee drinks is based on locally roasted beans and includes a selection of homemade baked goods. It’s closed Sunday and Monday.

Established back in 1976, the Co-op is a very special place in Belfast, and it’s not unusual to hear the expression, “I’ll meet you at the Co-op.” As the name implies, this full-service market is a members' cooperative that sells organic, locally grown vegetables, and other provisions, but you don’t have to be a member to shop here or visit the popular Co-op Café for coffee, tea, sandwiches, soups, prepared dishes, and homemade pastries. It's an excellent and inexpensive place for breakfast or lunch with one of the best selections of wines in town. There is no waiter service; you just order at the counter and pick up your food when it’s ready.

The real focus of this little shop is an old-fashioned soda fountain, complete with Formica tops, red stools, and paper-hat-wearing soda jerks. Order an ice-cream soda or shake, and complete your stroll down memory lane with a selection of sweets from your childhood, such as candy cigarettes, jawbreakers, licorice, Chuckles, and even clove gum. Despite the name, there are only a few chocolates for sale.

Diners are greeted by a friendly smile at this small and airy eatery. It serves a standard Thai menu—think pad Thai, tom kha, and chicken satay—with exceptional preparations. Popular choices include a chive rice cake and Panang curry.

There's a decidedly Mexican influence at this popular place, with breakfast choices including migas, huevos rancheros, and a burrito, and a list of tacos highlighted on the lunch menu. You'll also find a little Asian influence in the breakfast fried rice and a banh mi, as well as plenty of good old American dishes. Both breakfast and lunch are served from opening to closing time. All of the breads, biscuits, sticky buns, desserts, and more are scratch-made at the restaurant's bakery (open to the public), two blocks away at 606 Main Street. 

You can't help but smile big when you feast your eyes on a case full of beautifully frosted cupcakes in this haven for sweets lovers. Enticing flavors change daily, but might include chocolate-peanut butter, raspberry-filled chocolate, blueberry compote-filled, red velvet, almond joy, pistachio, salted caramel, lemon curd, and wedding cake. There are also cake pops. Buy a box full or get one to take with you or enjoy right away at one of a few small tables indoors and out. The bakery also welcomes custom orders.