Gilbert’s Chowder House

Don’t eat here. I report this with sadness, as this used to be a place I wanted to eat at regularly. Service and food has declined in the last year to abysmal levels. The last visit was a dining fail of epic proportions. Understaffed, terrible food, rude manager. Sweet waitress that I felt terrible for (hope she goes to work somewhere else). Cold chowder –this is a Chowder House right? Seafood Fritters-​YUCK. undercooked on inside, but looked burnt on outside. Caesar salad with so much dressing it was actually dripping off the leaves. Bug on the unwashed celery stick w/​wings. Again, yuck. Sorry folks, it is no longer worth eating here.

I go to the commercial street location once a year or so. This place is not the same quality or experience. Ample parking, and a decent sized bar. I sat waiting to be served for 15 minutes… there were eight people total in the entire restaurant as I waited. The server walked by me at least six times, each time with a «I’ll be there in a minute chant»…so something was amiss with her on this occasion. The menu looks identical to the Portland location. The fried clams were completely different, way too much breading, overcooked, and under seasoned. I’ve eaten fried clams about six times this summer, these were by far the worst.
That’s all I tried… as the service and food quality left me feeling like a 2 ½ star meal… which is the rating I give for my first and probably only stop at the Windham location.

Five stars for the clam Chowder. First time in Maine, visiting friends. They said the chowder was top shelf and they were RIGHT ! Only had the chowder, but will definitely come again.

Great place. Not sure what all the negativity is about with these reviews, as everyone in my party had a great time and enjoyed their food. Tried both the seafood and haddock chowder. Both were great. We also had the mussels (great portion) and the fried haddock. There was a blues band playing that did great Johnny Cash covers.
Really just a great place. BUT, I cannot fail to mention the service. Our waitress was exceptional and was literally power walking to her tables. One of my new local favorites and will be returning soon.

Came in for the first time tonight to see our friends band: they were great! Too bad the service wasn’t. We had to ask for every refill and waited about an hour for our check. The food was good, but if it hadn’t been for the other waitress on the floor, my date and I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy our meal.

Do not waste your time or your money at this place. This place is a dump. The food is disgusting. The staff are utterly inept. It amazes me that this place can stay in business. I don’t think they’ve ever heard of seasoning, including salt and pepper. They somehow managed to fry something and leave it soggy and greasy. Their wings were cold and chewy. The best part is the waitress told us the onion rings they serve are frozen. Sadly because this place was so awful, so awful in the fact that I’d rather kill myself than have to eat there again, I’ll probably never visit the Portland location because of it’s association.

The only reason it’s not a 1 star is because I love the old port location so much.
This is nothing like the old port location. My wife and I spent over $ 50! on fried seafood that was not fresh nor seasoned. We were so hopeful this would be as wonderful experience as their other location but it lacks.
I ordered a steak that was poorly cooked (ordered Medium Well and it came to the table as barely Medium), not seasoned, and the veggies were rubber.
Please get it together people… your other location is great.
This is probably a good spot for a beer with some football buddies.

From my one experience this is an «any port in a storm» place.
Service was friendly and relatively attentive (considering we were eating outside and sharing servers with the bar area.)
Decent beer selection with a couple of craft brews. The nachos were great with nice layering of ingredients. The seafood fritters and onion rings were also good.
The chowders (which we were most looking forward to) were awful. There was a decent amount of whitefish in the haddock chowder, but that was overwhelmed by the amount of flour in the stock. I understand that thick chowder is an attraction for some, but for us the «make your spoon stand up» offering was a big disappointment.
I had ordered a bowl as my entrée, but it was Elmer glue thick and pretty much inedible.
The clam cake also didn’t live up to the billing — it was nice and crispy on the outside but the innards were a glutinous, bland mess.
Until they fix the issues with the basics of NE seafood fare I’ll be steering clear.

If you’re familiar with the Gilbert’s in Portland than you will enjoy the twin in Windham. They have the exact same menu and the same quality food.
I had the lobster roll, clam chowder and fried clams. Great food at a good price. Tons of micro-​brews on tap and you can’t beat their happy hour prices. The restaurant is huge and there is also an outside patio with a stage for live music on Friday. If you’re looking for a quiet dinner then avoid open mic nights because you won’t find the next American Idol at Gilbert’s.