Old Port Tavern Steakhouse

I’ve never gone there for the food. I go for karaōke. They have it Sunday-​Thursday. Beautiful fishtanks. Great drinks.

I see so many mixed reviews! I guess it just depends on what you eat and who serves you. Had the boiled lobster and lobster bisque. Both were stellar. Lobster bisque had a bunch of lobster chunks in the soup. Our server Tanner was great. Definitely wasn’t rude like some of the other reviews implied their servers were. The live music was really fun too. Overall the experience was top notch. I never make reviews, but just had to write one to clear the air.

Avoid, avoid, avoid. I cannot conceive how this place has 3 stars. I recently moved to Maine and the novelty of a lobster roll on my lunch hour has yet to wane. After wandering around the old port and trying many different establishments, I stumbled upon the Old Port Tavern.
I asked the server — before ordering — if the lobster roll was a mix of meat. She assured me it was. She went so far as to say it is «whole chunks» and «nothing yucky.» That should’ve been a red flag instantly, but I continued to ask if the meat was fresh, frozen, etc… Once again, I was assured it was a «combination of claw, knuckle and tail and it is picked fresh every day.» Ok — so I ordered the lobster roll, I was sold.
My lobster roll arrived in a gigantic bun. Not much meat — huge bun. As I started picking through the meat, I noticed that it was ALL CLAW meat. And it was spongey. And it was definitely NOT fresh. So, I mentioned to the server that the lobster roll contained no tail. She seemed confused, then explained that the reason my lobster roll contained all claw was because I ordered my lobster roll with no mayo — everything else had been prepped already with mayo. She went to confer with the chef (cook?) and came back to the table with a small plastic container of knuckle meat. Ooooohkay? This meat was halfway frozen in the middle. Seriously.
Not sure how frozen knuckle meat is supposed to compensate for the missing lobster tail, but at that point I knew it was a losing battle. I paid the check and headed back to work… hungry…craving a decent lobster roll.
Would I go back? Nope. Would I suggest you ignore my review and give it a try — hoping that your experience will be different? Nope. I could’ve gotten a better lobster roll at a McDonald’s in Connecticut!

After being unable to get into another local pub/​restaurant we stumbled upon this place and were glad we did.
Huge salt water aquariums inside were amazingly clean and filled with colourful fish. Simple décor with brick interior walls make this place comfortable and inviting.
I’m not a huge seafood fan but had the house special haddock which was grilled to perfection with a crispy sweet rub. Salad was über fresh and crab dip and chips were awesome.
Unfortunately our appetizer came with the meal but the freshness and great flavours made up for this minor error.
A great local seafood experience.

A little mainstream for our tastes, with kaleidoscopic television screens broadcasting a basketball game, this atmospheric, brick building was saved from a disastrous review by the live music on offer, which had tempted us in from the streets as if we were the rats of Hamelin. This music, coupled with a long, hypnotic fish tank behind the bar, bumped the place up a star as we ended up having a good time!

Great place the lobster bisque was very good and have a lot lobster than I expect and the steak was pretty good. So sad that there were out of lobster when we there

Tried this place yesterday — host seemed quite bothered to seat us. Asked if he was the owner and after a second time he grunted said his wife owns the place.
Sat in bar area — waitress very nice — restrooms filthy and stunk so we left immediately.

If you are starving and don’t want to wait, this is where you will end up. Food is okay. Service is okay. Atmosphere is not up to par with what Portland has to offer.

Where to begin…
I arrived into what my friend and I thought would be a great atmosphere. It was sensory overload with the fish tanks, which was pretty awesome! We were sat down in the dining room and we waited for our waiter… and waited… and waited… He showed up, with absolutely no personality. A rock in the ocean has more of a personality than this guy.
Ordered drinks, he also poured us water. Drinks came about 5 minutes later. He asked if we were ready to order, we weren’t quite ready yet. He returned 10 – 12 minutes later and asked if we were ready. We ordered.
15 minutes later our food was up on the shelf between the kitchen and the dining room (clearly visible) It sat there for at least 10 minutes. Then the waiter grabbed it, brought it over and we both had emptied drinks. He didn’t ask if we wanted a refill and he walked away.
The burger I ordered tasted cool and also tasted like it was expired meat. He was no where to be found to complain about it. I was hungry, so I slowly ate it but didn’t finish. He eventually showed up again, about 10 minutes after he delivered the food and asked if I wanted a refill, I said yes to having more water. Both of our glasses were empty, he only fills up mine and not my friend’s. Walks away.
The food was mediocre, at best. The service sucked. I know that I will never go back to this establishment and it doesn’t look like I am the only one complaining about the service.
Hire people who want to work and want to engage their customers. There are PLENTY of other establishments looking for business and will strive to make their customer’s experience one to remember in a positive manner!
As for the food, I believe a complaint to the Board of Health should be in order. The food was foul… this is also not the first complaint…

Only gave it one star because I had to– it’s a minus 10. Just arrived in Portland and was STARVING– somehow found this place. Atmosphere is OK– service — OK– food terrible. Had the chili– looked and tasted foul. Had the prime rib special– swear it was a week old. My wife got the lobster– how could you screw up a lobster on the coast of Maine? They did– like rubber. She threw away the tail for Gods sake. Told the young waiter he was pretty good at it– there are 500 restaurants in the city– he should find one that he can be proud to work at. Don’t go!

Karaōke. Gets a good crowd for a Thursday. Mix drinks are ok… don’t get a Long Island ice tea.

OPT is my spirit animal. OPT is my happy place. OPT is the place where every good night ends.
They have karaōke Sunday– Thursday and it’s not at all pretentious. Like I can do 3 songs in one night and it’s totally acceptable.
For all you haters out there: duh, this is not a place you come for a «nice dinner” — this is a place you come to get crazy, to drink red bull vodkas and to dance your whole face off at the end of a typical Old Port drinkfest. I LOVE OPT.

Food was great and we lived the atmosphere but the service was not the best. The fresh, homemade fish sticks were phenomenal, the French Dip was delicious and the chicken parm was great! We will be back but hopefully with a more attentive waiter.. I questioned if he had gone home for the night more than once!

Okay

Had dinner here the other night. It was our first night in town and we really didn’t know where to go but we wanted to watch the game and we saw this place. The location is great so it has that going for it but when we walked in the smell is something that I don’t know how to describe. We almost need up not staying but you get used to it after a bit.
The food choices are typical pub food. Nothing outstanding about it. Its an okay place but there are so many other options in the area that I probably would make this a lower option. It wasn’t bad, its just that I know there are probably some better options. We did watch the game and there are plenty of televisions so no matter where you sit you have a good view.

Cleanliness 4
Service 2
Food 3
Likelihood 3
OVERALL 3
I found this location on Google Maps. The menu seemed promising. We were greeted promptly when we arrived by the bartender/​host. We were seated in the restaurant. A gentleman came by to see what our drink order was. He said our server would be with us soon. It took a bit of time for her to make it to us, I believe she was the ONLY server on the floor.
She took our order. I ordered a salad that was not served ahead of the meal, that was a bit disappointing. The food was hot, and fresh. The crab cakes were sent back as they were too salty. We found a long black hair in the bottom of the soup bowl we shared (no one at our table has long black hair.) We didn’t share that. The kitchen is in view of the tables, and one of the chefs, DID have long black hair.
Service was good, for one server. Food was ok. Overall, not a place I would put on my must-​return-​to card. I would try it again in the future to see if this just was a bad night.

We went here for dinner on a Friday night. Half of the menu was crossed out because they were out of the items. The salmon from the daily menu tasted good, but it was dry. The clam chowder was awful. We have better clam chowder in Wisconsin. I would not go here for dinner again, BUT the beer was good. Go there to drink. They have two large bars.

There’s no windows, and the large fish tanks cast a watery light into the dimly-​lit dining areas. There’s one tank behind the bar (good eye candy for bar sitters), and an 800 gallon tank in the back dining area.
I can imagine this being a good place for revelry when the sun goes down. As for me, I was there for lunch, and I was the only patron in the place. The openness of the space emphasized the lack of clientele, which made dining solo a bit awkward instead of the fun, somewhat quirky experience I had hoped for. Alas.
I asked for the server’s recommendation, and she pointed me towards the Prime Rib French Dip sandwich on a toasted baguette with Swiss cheese and au jus dip. It sounds fancy, but it was really just a steak and cheese with a watery sauce on the side. The fries were solid pub fries.
After refusing desert and saying I was all set, it took forever to get my check. I eventually waved the otherwise-​attentive server down to ask for it. This was confusing. I was her only customer, and I was so obviously done with my meal, I don’t know why she didn’t bring the check.
I have a feeling I didn’t get the best of the Old Port Tavern Steakhouse. I’d like to go back when it’s more lively, but as it was, it was overall a very «meh» experience.

A solid enough place to get a beer, but it’s kind of dungeon-​y and it smelled an awful lot like pee.
The burger was fair, nothing to write home about.
Also the men’s room looks like a prison. For real. I think they were going for «industrial goth» but ended up with «Leavenworth Rape Toilet».

Went to the Old Port Tavern for a late lunch because it was on the harbor, it was open and it wasn’t terribly expensive. We were the only people (4pm).
We ordered some beers. My friend got the wrong brew so it was on the house. For a starter we got some bruschetta, and it was pretty good, but something I could make at home, nothing special.
I got a burger, medium rare, which was cooked perfectly, though the burger itself was again, nothing special. The cole slaw it came with however, was pretty flawless, deliciously crispy, tangy and flavorful.
My friend had a chicken sandwich that he said was delicious. His fries were really good.
The aquarium in the back of the room is a sight to see. Bring your beer, you will want to hang out and give it a good look.
All in all, a good place for lunch. We paid $ 40 for both of us including tip. A little on the expensive side for a «nothing special» kind of place, but pricing is different in a touristy destination.