I’m not totally sure why I so frequently get disappointed at restaurants in Ogunquit. Ok – I’m not keen on restaurants that charge over $300 for 7 people – that’s a lot of money for dinner with 2 kids. And I’m even less of a fan of restaurants that work to evoke fame – pictured of the Chef with Gorden Ramsey on Hell’s Kitchen – cool or Kitch?
But I do know that Angelina’s isn’t the first restaurant in Ogunquit to seriously disappoint me. Although from the crowds – I’m guessing I’m alone out there. We were 7 – and ordered 4 different appetizers, and 6 main courses. We even ordered 2 desserts. So you can’t say we didn’t try a fair sampling. Of the 12 offerings – only one – the Eggplant tower, was impressive. And it was great. The eggplant was lightly fried to perfection, the cheese fresh and definitely yummy. Very good. The salmon was also good – but hardly a Maine tradition.
I guess my main complaint was really the Lasagna that I ordered to share with Sophie. At Varenos – we’d shared a Lasagna large enough to have half left to take home for lunch. For more money, we got about 1/2 the Lasagna at Angelinos. It was yummy – but still. 1/2 the size, more money – not thrilling.
Truly disappointing was the steak we ordered. It was easily the most tasteless piece of meat I’ve ever had. My grand-daughter the ‘steak-aholic’ couldn’t even finish the tiny piece they gave her. More risotto then steak – but given how tasteless the steak was – I guess the portion was acceptable.
Dessert – one winner, one loser. The winner was the carrot cake. Rich and creamy – quite yummy. But the loser was a commercial frozen lemon sorbet. Hey – if you are expensive, and ‘chef owned and operated’ – don’t opt for a commercial frozen dessert. We do know what they look like. And it made me wonder about the carrot cake. Was that also commercial.
Anyway – bottom line – a C. Too much money for the quality of food we got served. But I will give them points for a very pleasant restaurant, and the service was quite acceptable.
Musings and Mutterings of a Montreal Madame 
Seems to me this is all about $$$$$
You seemed to have ordered many dishes to try so $300 does not seem like a lot for 7 people. I can’t believe that you could eat out for less and get better quality. As for the picture with Chef Gordan and Hell’s Kitchen, i was not going for “fame” at all it’s a conversation piece. And yes, you are pretty much alone as many of our guests come back all the time. If money is the issue my place is just not for you
Hi
Oh I’m so flattered that you responded to my review. I promise to be honest – and I’m honestly impressed that you did that. Definitely improves my view of the restaurant, but it won’t change my mind.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t about the money. I wish it was. We eat out all over – at all kinds of price ranges – so what I’m looking at is value for the money. And the Lasagna portion, for the price, is tiny. That said – I’d be happy to pay it if the quality was there but it wasn’t. Same goes for all the other dishes. Give me the quality (say of the White Barn), and I’m all over you, regardless of price. Disappoint me, and I’m going to say something.
Another thought – did you check out your overall scores at places like the UrbanSpooon? You’ve been getting some pretty harsh reviews lately. Maybe it’s time to spend time blind tasting your food or even better – tasting the offerings of some of your competitors.
Leslie
Honestly, I think urbanspoon & yelp are trashy sites and they are not monitored that well. Have you checked out
trip advisor?? Now that’s a site that is controlled and monitored by a real company that’s even on the stock exchange. So really I don’t pay much attention to the other sites. On trip advisor we have a great rating and over 700 reviews. If you decide to give us another chance, and I hope you do 🙂 I will buy you lasagna for you next time. Please introduce yourself to me. Thank you for the feedback and enjoy your weekend.
Interesting. Just to be clear, I’m actually a top reviewer on Tripadvisor. In their top 1% for viewers, reviews, what have you. My blog is just my newest baby. Even so, I don’t agree with you about Yelp and Urbanspoon vs Tripadvisor, although I will agree that Tripadvisor does give owner/managers an easier opportunity to reply publicly to critques. But it’s also an ‘older’ site in that it’s been around quite a bit longer. More opportunity to fine tune I think.
well, we all have our own opinions and that what makes us all different other wise we would all be boring. I hope you will reconsider my offer for a lasagna dinner if you are in our area again. nice chatting with you.
david