My husband and I really enjoyed our dinner at The Reading Room. It's a cozy, beautiful restaurant with very friendly staff. It was pretty busy and the service was on the slower side, but we enjoyed nonetheless. We received a small appetizer on the house when we sat down and enjoyed the cleanser sorbet between courses. My lemon drop martini was also perfect! We plan to come back for sure and try their breakfast.

Excellent food and excellent service!

Had to wait too long for service. Food was mediocre.

My wife and I dined here while vacationing in Bar Harbor. The overall experience was excellent and the cost was low for the quality of the food and the excellent level of service. Although the wine list is not extensive, there are good selections and the prices are quite reasonable.

It really was an excellent experience for my wife and myself, wonderful view of the water, delicious Angus filet and Maine tail. Server was tremendous also, very helpful and kind. To add to that, a piano was playing romantic music in the background which only added to the great and memorable experience

Outstanding restaurant with very high attention to detail. Service is superb, friendly, and not forced. Food is consistently outstanding , although not cheap. If not for the view, I think the prices might be a bit optimistic, but they clearly can justify them based on the attendance, and I've paid more for less.

The view and service were very good. However, the food and food quality were extremely subpar. We went for a very special occasion and ordered the filet and lobster, the filet was tasteless and dry, the mashed potatoes bland. The meal was unremarkable and for the $250 tab was definitely not worth the money charged. I suggest finding a good chef. Huge disappointment!

Would definitely not recommend for the food but would recommend for a cocktail and sunset view.

Made a reservation for my parent's 39th wedding anniversary. They had nothing but praise towards the entire experience.

Food was great! My pan seared halibut was awesome. Worth the money!

Amazing server

Squashed in a corner . When I asked to be moved, hostess refused. Haughty attitude. Restaurant needs to value its customers and remember it is a service industry.

The food was delicious! We shared the baked brie, each had filets and I also had some lobster. The warm blueberry pie with vanilla ice cream was the perfect way to end the meal.

Great lobster, unbelievable views, attentive staff

This is an elegant restaurant with very good food. The ambiance is wonderful and the service is very good.

This was our second visit to the Reading Room at Bar Harbor. Truly, it is a favorite! Food is wonderful. Views are spectacular. Service is excellent. And..to top it all off..the live piano music was terrific. Thank you for a truly special evening in Bar Harbor

My boyfriend picked this place for my birthday and we loved it. The dessert was amazing. They brought us lemon sorbet to "cleanse our pallet," which has never happened before at any restaurant. The food tasted great and was in great portions. Waitress had the piano man play happy birthday for me after asking what the occasion was. All in all, amazing. I would come back to this place.

Very good food and service - not outrageously over priced. Great view!

Excellent food - seared scallops, lobster bisque, and ciopinno. Shana was great server - charming and very helpful. Upscale “resort” setting but casual feel with live piano music and view of harbor lights!

The meal was wonderful. We were celebrating our 25th anniversary and the ambiance and food were perfect. Although I made the reservation 1+ month earlier I was surprised that they put us in a corner near a wait station. We asked for more appropriate table to celebrate such a milestone, and they accommodated us without a hassle. Highly recommend The Reading Room.

Good but not special. We stayed at the Bar Harbor Inn so dinner at their restaurant was convenient and the dining room is elegant. It’s a safe choice with a fairly predictable menu. There are better restaurants and better values in Bar Harbor.

This was a magical night. The ambiance was vintage , and the piano player played all my favorite musical numbers. Don't miss the maple syrup crusted salmon!

This place is incredible. We eat out a lot traveling all over the country and have become very picky with restaurants with many not meeting our bar of approval. This place is everything you would want. Romantic with cloth covered tables with amazing water views out the walls of windows. The piano man was fabulous and played a selection we requested. The service impeccable and the food was colorful, displayed tastefully and very delicious to eat. Even the desserts were excellent. A wonderful memorable evening.

A nice place to dine in Bar Harbor overlooking the ocean. The Reading Room is the place to go for a more upscale dining while vacationing in Bar Harbor. Our server, Tonya, was engaging and informative.

Quintessential old world elegance. A must see when in Bar Harbor. Everything is as you would expect.

Call and confirmed a window table and when we arrived we did not get a window seat. Food was ok, service was slow, No lights outside to see beautiful view.

There are other better restaurants in the area to go to

Excellent food, service and piano entertainment.If you want a guaranteed window seat, the best time is 5:30/6:00pm we were told. We didn't get a window seat but could still enjoy the view...while the sun was up!

My girlfriend and I had a lovely time at the Reading Room Restaurant at the Bar Harbor Inn. It has a 360 degree view of the harbor and the park by the water, making it an ideal place to eat early in the evening. The wait staff was very attentive and kept providing tasty treats, whether it was bread, a refreshing lemon sorbet or after dinner mints. The food was excellent and we were served very quickly. The pianist playing along with the view and the dinner by candlelight made it a very romantic evening and I highly recommend the Reading Room for date night. Just be sure to make a reservation on Open Table because this establishment filled up quickly!

Stared off with not having anyone at our table for 15 min. Shyna was our waitress and the first words that came out of her mouth were, “Ill be your waitress, I wasn’t busy or anything”. The steak was ordered medium came out well done and the asparagus was basically dried out. The only thing on the plate that was good were the mashed potatoes. Period. I would not recommend this place to anyone and I will not be back.

If you decide to go here just hope and pray that Shyna is not your waitress.

Nice place, old-school feel with lots of windows and harbor views. Though our table wasn't in the best location, our wait person was a lot of fun and made the whole experience enjoyable.

Go somewhere else. The food was better at Howard Johnson's and A LOT cheaper. The beef and fish dishes were covered with a glue like substance that reminded me of the paste we used in 1st grade making paper mache. Unless you're a 100 years old and don't care what food tastes like anymore, don't eat here. The only redeeming qualities of this place were nice staff, nice piano music, and probably a nice view (...we ate at night).

Our dining experience at The Reading Room was delightful! We were seated in a cozy corner, and everyone we interacted with good not have been more friendly!
My husband and I both ordered the lobster experience, and although we thought we would have to work at getting meat out of our lobsters, the dinner was presented with hardly anything to do. The lobster meat was the sweetest ever and the accompanying sides were perfect!
We were greeted with a cucumber appetizer when we sat down, as well as a refreshing lime sorbet to cleanse our palates which was a nice touch from the chef!
Piano music during dinner was lovely and you simply cannot best the view! I would not hesitate to recommend this restaurant !

This restaurant is good but not great. It reminds me of a large dining room in a hotel, which is meant to feed lots of people upscale fare. There was nothing inventive about the menu, and I did not see any evidence of local, farm to table ingredients. I kind of felt like I was in a cruise ship dining salon.

We had been there 38 years ago and went back for our 40th anniversary celebration. Our waitress Suzanne was wonderful, as was the food.

First, the 3 star rating for service. Our waitress was awesome so the low rating is not her fault. She had 1 large table of 10, and several small tables. She was literally running to try to address all of her tables but understandably, the 10 person table took up a lot of her time.

We had to wait quite a long period of time for our initial drinks. One of them was not tasty and we had to wait even longer to have it corrected. I would have ordered another drink but because of the wait, I opted for water with my meal.

The food is good, not great. We had a short rib plate and caprese type salad for apps. Both ok, nothing to rave about.

We both had sirloin w/ mashed potatoes and asparagus for meals. My steak was cooked medium and hers was well-done. We both asked for medium. She likes hers medium well anyhow, so we dealt with it. Both needed salt desperately. Mashed potatoes were good. Asparagus was over cooked.

There were no desserts that we liked. However, they give you a refreshing lemon sorbet between courses. It is fantastic! Our waitress (again being great), got us a large helping of the sorbet for dessert, which is not on the menu.

The prices are high. It is the most expensive place we visited in Bar Harbor. We are from Maine so we know tourist season the prices are high, but this is extreme. It is not the best food we had in Bar Harbor.

The best thing about the place is the location. It overlooks the water, Frenchman's Bay. Very beautiful and the sunset looked amazing.

The biggest turn off was the maitre d'. He was an older gentleman, dressed very nice but he was not polite and he talked down to other staff. He could be heard complaining to other guests (regulars) about too many tourists. He may need to be reminded he works in a tourist industry or at least keep his negative comments to himself when there are tourists within earshot. He made it feel like a snooty country club. I would not go back based on him alone.

Dinner with friends. Lobster Pie was outstanding with at least a whole lobster stuffed inside - no it's not a dessert, more like a pot pie! All our food was well prepared, the server was fantastic and there is a great view of the harbor.

What a wonderful dining experience and at the end of the day we didn't spend any more than we would've in a restaurant that we would've been at home but we had even better service and food!

Outstanding! Delicious food, great service, and a wonderful pianist!

An incredible experience and fantastic food. We thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience.

Wonderful all around! The scallop appetizer is delicious, the scallops were perfectly cooked and so soft and buttery.

Beautiful place to take in the sunset while dining. Dress code says "smart casual" however, husband felt underdressed in jeans, collared shirt and boat shoes as the majority of diners were in dress pants and sports jackets. Live piano while we dined which was a nice touch. Amouse-bouche + delicious dessert (strawberry and rhubarb crisp - YUM)!