The Best Places in East End & West End

The chef here built a following on a hand roll cart before graduating to this tight, buzzy sushi shop on Middle Street, where almost everything comes from Gulf of Maine fishermen. Named a Food & Wine Best New Chef and a James Beard semifinalist, Jordan Rubin treats local seafood as a point of pride rather than a compromise. The tuna de tigre, a New York Times-noted dish, makes a pretty strong case for staying close to home.

1. Food & Wine Tuna Sashimi Tasting · Best Dishes Our Editors Ate This Year
2. Food & Wine Jordan Rubin · Best New Chefs
3. Food & Wine The Top 15 US Restaurants

1. James Beard Awards 2024 · Winner · Outstanding Bakery
2. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland

The open kitchen here runs on live fire: a wood-burning oven, a grill, and a turnspit that turns out roasted pork while chefs pull oysters and raid a glass-windowed vegetable humidor in full view of the dining room. It's a New England restaurant in a high-ceilinged brick warehouse above the Old Port, and a James Beard Outstanding Restaurateur winner. The rope-cultured mussels in garlic-almond butter are the kind of thing regulars order without looking up.

1. AAA Four Diamonds
2. James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Outstanding Restaurateur · Dana Street
3. Portland Press Herald Top 10 · Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland

Warm ochre walls, bookshelves stacked with dried flowers, and handmade pasta that regularly lands a James Beard nomination: this cozy Italian restaurant on Free Street is the kind of neighborhood spot that somehow becomes a national conversation. The chef's shapes and sauces pull from whatever local producers are doing well right now, and the wine program is its own reason to linger. Settle in and watch Portland's Arts District do its thing out the window.

1. James Beard Awards 2022 · Nominee · Best New Restaurant
2. James Beard Awards 2024 · Nominee · Best Chef: Northeast · Jake Stevens
3. Wine Enthusiast Forward 50 Restaurants

1. Food & Wine Dutch Baby · Best Dishes Our Editors Ate This Year
2. Portland Press Herald Top 10 · Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland
3. James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Northeast · Jeremy Broucek

1. Time Out The best bakeries in America
2. James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Outstanding Restaurateur · Dana Street
3. James Beard Awards 2026 · Winner · Outstanding Restaurateur · Dana Street

Old wooden beams from the original building were milled into the chef's counter, which is where you want to sit at this New England French restaurant if you can get it. The menu runs refined and a little lusty at once, French technique laid over serious local sourcing. The New York Times and Esquire both noticed when it opened, and the room has been full ever since.

1. AAA Four Diamonds
2. The New York Times The Restaurant List
3. Esquire #33 · The Best New Restaurants in America

1. James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Best Chef: Northeast · Thomas Takashi Cooke
2. Eater The 15 Best Restaurants in Portland, Maine
3. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland

1. Eater Best Bakeries

The burnt banana coconut tapioca pudding is a little ugly and completely beside the point, which is almost the whole story of this Vietnamese restaurant on Washington Ave. The menu runs bright and chili-forward, with shrimp cakes wrapped in butter lettuce and twice-cooked eggplant that quietly steals the table. A James Beard nominee for Best Chef: Northeast and a New York Times Restaurant List pick, it draws the kind of crowd that orders everything.

1. James Beard Awards 2022 · Nominee · Best Chef: Northeast · Vien Dobui
2. The New York Times The Restaurant List
3. Eater The 15 Best Restaurants in Portland, Maine

1. Portland Press Herald Top 10 · Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland
2. Eater The 15 Best Restaurants in Portland, Maine
3. James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Northeast · Chris Gould

Chaval is a Spanish-leaning restaurant on Pine Street that runs on Maine ingredients with French habits tucked in, so a local pork chop can show up wearing a shellfish cream sauce and nobody complains. The rooms are warm, there's a patio for when the weather cooperates, and the pastry side of the house means dessert is part of the plan, not an afterthought. Dress for a nice dinner, not a lobster bib.

1. James Beard Awards 2022 · Nominee · Best Chef: Northeast · Damian Sansonetti
2. Eater The 15 Best Restaurants in Portland, Maine
3. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland

Named for the Portuguese river and wine region, Douro is a relaxed, all-day seafood restaurant on Portland's Eastern Waterfront that filters Portugal through a Maine lens. The overlap is convenient: both places are serious about what comes out of the water. The kitchen leans into that with raw bar work, sardine toasts, and cataplana, the classic Portuguese seafood stew. The room is unhurried, the menu is coastal in the best bilingual sense.

1. The New York Times 2026 · The Restaurant List
2. Condé Nast Traveler 15 Best Restaurants in Portland, Maine

A wool Mexican blanket hangs in the vestibule, which tells you most of what you need to know before you've even ordered. Terlingua is a neighborhood barbecue shop where the smoked meats drift Southwest and Caribbean, so the menu lands somewhere between Texas pit stop and something you'd find closer to the Gulf. The polished concrete bar fills fast, the cornbread has jalapeño and honey, and breakfast runs all day.

1. Eater The 15 Best Restaurants in Portland, Maine
2. Condé Nast Traveler 15 Best Restaurants in Portland, Maine
3. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland

A mushroom breakfast taco that Melissa Clark put on the New York Times list of best dishes eaten across the country in 2024 will tell you what kind of neighborhood restaurant this is. Ocotillo does scratch Tex-Mex in a city not especially known for it, and the housemade salsa macha alone justifies the detour. Brunch draws the loyal crowd, but the cooking has the kind of quiet confidence that makes you wonder what else you've been missing.

1. New England Best New Brunch · Yankee Food Awards
2. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland
3. The New York Times 2024 · Mushroom Breakfast Taco · The 26 Best Dishes We Ate Across the U.S. in 2024

Communal tables and mismatched plates set the tone at this noodle bar on Middle Street, where the menu wanders confidently through Asia with a New England detour. Lobster wontons land in seafood curry; smoked lamb khao soi shows up alongside whatever happens to be coming off the wok that day. The room is tight, which concentrates the energy nicely. A James Beard semifinalist for Best Chef: Northeast in 2024.

1. Condé Nast Traveler 15 Best Restaurants in Portland, Maine
2. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland
3. James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Northeast · Valerie Goldman

1. James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Outstanding Restaurateur · Dana Street
2. James Beard Awards 2026 · Winner · Outstanding Restaurateur · Dana Street

A mahogany bar anchors one end while a giant abstract mural anchors the other, and in between, marina lights hang above wooden booths full of regulars who clearly regard this as their personal dining room. Sur Lie is a tapas-style New American spot where small, eclectic plates rotate through whatever the kitchen finds interesting. A James Beard semifinalist for Outstanding Hospitality, the warmth here is structural, not performed.

1. Condé Nast Traveler 15 Best Restaurants in Portland, Maine
2. James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Krista Cole
3. James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Hospitality

1. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland
2. James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker · Brant Dadaleares

1. Eater The 15 Best Restaurants in Portland, Maine
2. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland

The blonde wood sushi bar is the room's focal point, and the chefs behind it move like they've been doing this forever. Miyake is a classic Japanese restaurant on Fore Street where the kitchen fuses traditional sushi with French and Italian technique and leans hard into Maine seafood. Every seat fills fast, and the counter draws regulars who know exactly what they're ordering before they sit down.

1. Condé Nast Traveler 15 Best Restaurants in Portland, Maine
2. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland

Mahogany double doors shipped from Puerto Rico anchor the entrance to this Puerto Rican cocktail bar in the Old Port, where salsa and merengue fill the room and the tiled bar is the obvious place to sit. The drinks lean inventive, the food is serious enough to linger over, and the whole thing has a regional Spirited Award to its name. Portland has seafood shacks covered; this is doing something else entirely.

1. Condé Nast Traveler 15 Best Restaurants in Portland, Maine
2. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland
3. Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Honoree · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. East

Schulte & Herr is a small, low-key German restaurant on Cumberland Avenue where fresh rye bread and a paprika-heavy quark spread arrive before you've finished sitting down. It's BYOB with no corkage fee, so the real planning happens at a wine shop beforehand. The plates are homestyle and generous, built around things like sauerbraten that sends its gravy into the bread dumplings. Expect to leave needing a nap, and not minding.

1. Eater The 15 Best Restaurants in Portland, Maine
2. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland

The room seats maybe thirty people and fills up fast, tucked between the West End and Parkside in a spot that looks like a classic neighborhood tavern and then proceeds to serve broiled scallop with caviar and hollandaise. Small plates anchor the menu, the wine list has a point of view, and the cocktails are sharper than the setting lets on. Condé Nast Traveler put it on their Portland list, which surprises no one who's been.

1. Portland Press Herald Top 10 · Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland
2. Condé Nast Traveler 15 Best Restaurants in Portland, Maine

Regards is a brunchy, ever-changing restaurant on Congress Street in the Arts District, where the menu wanders between Japan, Mexico, and California while keeping its produce stubbornly local. The booths are chic, the natural wines and agave spirits do most of the talking, and the mezcal Negroni with strawberry Campari suggests the bar has opinions. Bon Appétit put it on its list of America's Best New Restaurants.

1. Bon Appétit America's Best New Restaurants
2. Eater The 15 Best Restaurants in Portland, Maine

1. Eater The 15 Best Restaurants in Portland, Maine

1. Eater The 15 Best Restaurants in Portland, Maine

Calafia is a pink-lit cantina in Portland's West End, the sort of room where everyone looks like they've had a good week. The menu is Mexican by way of Baja, San Diego, and the Maine coast, so the fish tacos and the Jonah crab churros are both doing local work. Cocktails lean agave, including a tequila take on the sweetened condensed milk citrus smoothie. Expect dinner prices, and a dress code of whatever flatters pink light.

1. Eater The 15 Best Restaurants in Portland, Maine

Right on Maine Wharf in the Old Port, this two-story seafood restaurant occupies a renovated 1920s building that still has nautical maps on the walls and a faint whiff of Ye Olde New England charm. The kitchen takes old-school coastal staples and quietly dismantles them, running a raw bar alongside ceviches and preparations that would confuse anyone expecting a paper basket of fried clams. Condé Nast Traveler named it among Portland's fifteen best restaurants.

1. Condé Nast Traveler 15 Best Restaurants in Portland, Maine

Magissa is a bright, easygoing Greek taverna in East Bayside, a neighborhood with more breweries than seems strictly necessary. Dinner runs on meze like htipiti and skordalia, scooped up with warm pita, plus grilled lamb and an ouzo cake for dessert. The drinks list leans into mastiha, sumac lemonade, and a local bitters people in Portland talk about like a sports team. Eater has it on its list of the city's best.

1. Eater The 15 Best Restaurants in Portland, Maine

1. Condé Nast Traveler 15 Best Restaurants in Portland, Maine

1. James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Northeast · Mary Celia Bruns

1. Esquire The Best New Restaurants in America
2. Portland Press Herald Top 10 · Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland

1. Portland Press Herald Top 10 · Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland

1. Portland Press Herald Top 10 · Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland

1. The New York Times 2025 · Dulce de Leche Flan · The 14 Best Restaurant Desserts We Ate Across the U.S. in 2025

1. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland

1. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland

1. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland

1. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland

1. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland

1. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland

1. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland

1. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland

1. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland

1. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland
2. Spirited Awards 2023 · Regional Honoree · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. East

1. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland

1. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland

1. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland

1. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland

1. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland

1. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland

1. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland

1. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland

1. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland

1. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland

1. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland

1. James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Bar
2. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland
3. James Beard Awards 2022 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Bar Program

1. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland

1. Eater The Best New Restaurants in America

1. Bon Appétit #9 · America's Best New Restaurants