We have dined at the Pot several times over the years and have always been more or less satisfied with the food and service. My biggest complaint has always been that the place is overpriced and the food and service not overwhelmingly good. But with...the COVID restrictions in place, there was zero service and ordering was done at a cash register. Place your order with a clerk and they give you a number. After a while, someone brings your order in a big paper bag. You have the option of opening your bag and eating inside (with spacing enforced) and zero wait staff, or eating outside with spacing enforced and zero wait staff. We ate outside on a picnic table although all the best riverside tables were either off limits or already taken.
I ordered a Allagash White on draft, but was informed they only served their beer and ale in cans! So I paid for a bottled water instead.
Now to the food. I asked for broiled haddock dinner, but was informed that they only deep fried haddock. For a more-or-less upscale lobster shack to only have deep fried fish seems like a step down to me. And when it did arrive, the portion was small and the fish very dry. Eating haddock from a cardboard box was an experience I hope to never have again. The fries were excellent, as always, and the cole slaw very nice. The wife ordered an expensive 1.5 pound lobster in stead of the less expensive 1 pound or 1 - 1/4 pound lobster, but when it arrived it was actually smaller than a 1 - 1/4 pound lobster. I know the difference having consumed literally hundreds of Maine lobsters over my 76 years. We didn't complain, but we were disappointed to say the least. I suppose we could have gone back inside to the clerk at cash register and lodged a complaint, but we were with another couple and decided against it.
Our guests had never been to the Pot but had read the gushing reviews - but they were disappointed. The gentleman ordered a fourteen dollar hamburger and said it was OK, but he's certainly had better elsewhere. His wife ordered steamed clams and steamed muscles as part of the featured $30 seafood meal. There must be a shortage of both because the portions were meager, to say the least.
The place itself is on the waterfront and is quite lovely.
The bill came to well over $150, which is pretty much what we expected, but it certainly was not worth that.
I'm sure we'll be back simply because it's the only Ellsworth restaurant on the water and we're always hopeful that things will improve somehow.More