Foodie's guide to Portland, Maine

We had the blueberry frosed donut which was surprisingly lemonly and quite tart (not potato based or at least it didn't taste it). We also shared the cinnamon sugar - classic. There is limited seating (4 chairs) and they also sell coffee.

When people mention donuts and Portland in the same sentence, the Holy Donut will always be high on the list of donut shops. These donuts are made using potatoes which was a surprise to me when I bit into my first one. They are much denser than I had expected and a new experience. Well worth the visit!

This place was busy at 1:30pm on a weekday so plan ahead and make sure you do not arrive hungry. This was the less child friendly of the lobster venues we went to, and although it had a child's menu, the chicken nuggets were a little gourmet for my kids. But the lobster roll and the clam chowder were delicious and still worth going. Their lobster roll is served on a Asian style bun as opposed to the more traditional brioche buns and it was an interesting twist.

This a 45min drive out of Portland, but definitely work the trip!! (NB you can wander the gorgeous streets of Cape Porpoise, Kennebunkport and try to catch a glimpse of the seals while you're there) Lobster roll is served cold with warm butter to pour yourself. Grab some oysters too!

These lobster rolls are slightly bigger than others we have enjoyed which was great. They are served cold with lemon and potato chips.

Enjoy the gorgeous view from this restaurant. Lobster rolls are served with a dollop of mayonnaise on top of the roll and paprika. Sounds odd but totally works and is a fun and different way to experience lobster.

Red's Eats has consistently been rated the best lobster roll in Maine. After experiencing it for ourselves, I think the reason it is popular is because of the sheer amount of lobster that you receive.  The roll is drowning in so much lobster, it would fall apart if you took it out of the foil wrapping.  These rolls could easily be shared!!  The lobster is cold, served on a brioche bun and then you receive a container of butter to pour over.  This makes it very rich! Note: The excursion to Red's Eats is not for the faint-hearted and should only be attempted by die hard lobster fans!!!! The queues at Red's Eats are not to be underestimated.  We entered the queue at 2pm on a wet Wednesday afternoon outside school holidays, ordered at 5pm and ate at 5:10pm.  Red's "closes" at 5pm but what this actually means is you have to be in the queue by 5pm.  At this time staff hand out tickets to those left queuing you will all be served.  Arrive after 5pm and you'll miss out.   It was 10 degrees and raining and yet not a single person exited the queue the whole time.  There are no toilets and all the surrounding businesses clearly state they do not have public loos.  We took the kids to Jodie's Cafe and Bakery (across the street) and ordered a coffee so we could warm up and use their bathrooms. If you are going to queue with kids, you will be able to let them sit at the tables and colour or watch their iPads while you queue as there are also more people queuing than eating. However, we would recommend dropping someone to queue and coming back when that person has reached the "merchandise counter".  At this point, they will about 30mins away from ordering. 

An awesome breakfast place! Their cannoli croissant was amazing and the scrambled eggs were great too!

Think tacos, smoked meats and a Mexican vibe. They small batch BBQ their meat daily. We loved the smoked brisket tacos with their home made salsa. The French Dip was also incredible and the kids loved it.

We LOVED this place! The loaded potato skins. The fried pickles. The ribs! Aaaamazing. We definitely recommend this for kids, who had a kids menu and kids colouring. Caveat: We're Australian and don't have family restaurants like this back home so we do get very excited about them.

The staff were incredibly friendly here and super tolerant of our excitement to be at another family restaurant in the USA. We had the chicken salad, ribs and the kids had chicken nuggets with broccoli. This was a fail because the broccoli was heavily peppered and the kids wouldn't eat the spice. So I lost my chips to them, and some of my ribs! We LOVED this place! The loaded potato skins. The fried pickles. The ribs! Aaaamazing. We definitely recommend this for kids, who had a kids menu and kids colouring. Caveat: We're Australian and don't have family restaurants like this back home so we do get very excited about them.