Mama Dimatteo’s

We read the mixed reviews and tried it anyway since we were looking for something other than a coastal menu.
The focaccia was like a cracker. I had short ribs– one of the night’s specials. Very overlooked with little flavor.
My friend had fettuccine Alfredo with meatballs and that was also flavorless and one meatball was way overdone. How does that happen???
The hostess, waitress, and bartender were among the best, but without good food, I don’t recommend this restaurant.

Mama Dimatteo’s was one of the best date night experiences I had in Bar Harbor! The service was incomparable and the food was outstanding. I’m really not that big on Italian food so my SO and I opted to order items that weren’t heavy on the Italian aspect. Before ordering, we received the complimentary bread basket with white bean dip & olive oil. The white bean dip was so good and different. For an appetizer, we ordered the mussels with tomato and garlic. It was delicious and had the perfect amount of garlic. For an entrée, we split the crab and spinach stuffed shells. Apparently this is a seasonal local favorite and I can see why! I would definitely recommend checking out Mama Dimatteo’s if you are in search of a great dinner alternative to seafood!

Overwhelmed them with a group of 26 people. No problems serving us in very timely manner. Excellent food and great service. Highly recommended!
Had the garlic crusted haddock which was fantastic. The Bar Harbor Blueberry Ale is very tasty.

Allow me to add to the sea of mediocrity that Di Matteo’s deservedly gets. I went against my better judgement and my reliable fellow Unilocalers and came here to fix a hankering for Italian to offset several days of shore dinners and seafood. Service was fine but the atmosphere is pretty low brow. All that can be explained away if the food was good. But it wasn’t. Echo the many previous reviews. Bread basket had various types in it, but the accompanying white bean dip was tasteless. I ordered the lobster picatta (think lemon and capers) with fettuccine, but it was so overwhelmed with capers that it just wasn’t tasty. Mac and cheese was adequate for the kids, but my daughter’s was so spicy she couldn’t eat it. Very inequitable distribution of pepper perhaps. My father’s filet mignon was pretty good. Wine list was very weak and my father’s attempt to order the «best wine“on the menu was still pretty awful. Frankly I can’t see where the positive reviews on Unilocal are coming from — as usually a restaurant’s reviews on Unilocal are pretty consistent. Maybe Di Matteo has the occasional good day — but my guess is that these folks were so desperate for Italian food after a week of fish that they just couldn’t see how disappointing this place really is!

Wow! This a great Italian restaurant on a back street in BH. We had a delicious appetizer of mussels w/​tomato and garlic, entrees– clams and linguini, and portabella and beef ravioli. All very tasty and good portions. Their breads and bean with olive oil are equally yummy! Nice staff. Highly recommended.

This is a great Italian restaurant in Bar Harbor, back behind the Park. Linda had spaghetti and meatballs, I had baked halibut, the service is very personable, we ate outside on a veranda, the place was so quiet and the terrimasu was wonderful! With all the lobster places, this was a welcome change.

My hubby and I went on a Saturday night in mid October. We still had over an hour wait. The tables are small and uncomfortable-​ambiance could be much improved.
I had the Mac & cheese appetizer which I couldn’t resist because it said it had Gorgonzola cheese-​I was expecting a bold, full flavored, unique Mac & cheese-​but that’s not what I got. The pasta was dry and flavorless-​and worst of all greasy-​a disappointment.
The bread we got was not real Italian bread but crostini, which is dry and hard. There was a decent garlic butter on it. It is served with a flavorless white bean and sage spread with olive oil-​again something neither of us enjoyed.
My hubby had spaghetti with chicken. He said the chicken was burnt-​sauce was ok-​spaghetti was the sitting around drying kind of spaghetti.
I had the chicken piccata-​the portion size was small (so was my husbands)-the sauce had no taste, and the chicken was very dry-​probably pre-​cooked.
For dessert we shared a crème brûlée-​ok, but small and nothing to write home about.
We spent $ 80 on the meal-​& my husband said twice-«that was NOT a $ 80 meal». He was so right-won’t be going back. The only stars come from the staff being good, and the spaghetti sauce being just ok :(

Just ate here… yeah. it’s not prime Italian but the food was great… The friends were great… The staff was great. This is a family run business and regarding the other comments let me say this: i haven’t seen a restaurant in Bar Harbor that is any better. This is a tourist town and considering most people are in jeans who cares? If you want fancy then go to New York City… or some place else.

In a nutshell, overpriced, bland, poor atmosphere. We came to this place in July and were sorely disappointed. Partner had the special — lobster fra diavlo. It was a very small portion, especially for the high price, and the sauce seemed to be plain tomato sauce with one spice added to it. The bread that was put on the table had butter and cheese already on it. When we asked for plain bread we were told there was none. Oooookaaaay. I had crab and spinach stuffed shells. Again, for the price seemed like a small portion. Btw, we are both on the small side and don’t eat a lot anyway, so when we think the portions are small… you get my drift. The atmosphere — wow this place needs a makeover. Some of the seating was in these uncomfortable old wood booths that we were first seated in. We switched to a table and just behind my partner, in the corner, and in very visible sight, was a daddy long legs spider. I couldn’t believe no staff had noticed it. Anyway, I digress, the place needs work, and a paint job, and a much better atmosphere for the prices they charged. On the upside the waitress gave my partner vegetables unexpectedly because of the bread situation. Service was friendly. I would only recommend this place as a last resort.

Excellent eggplant parmigiana and mussels marinara !!! EXCELLENT SAUCE!!! As New Yorkers we are used to real good Italian food and this was right up there !!! Service and staff A +++ !!!

Food was ok. Service got slow once another table complained they didn’t get correct order. Took 15 minutes to get check. I had pasta which consisted of a meat wrapped on fig noodle and sauce was excellent but portion was very small

The food was good. I had the lobster fra diavolo and it was very good. Service was very friendly but a little slow.

Last night had the Tuscan New York strip. It was amazing, and the kale chips were so delicious! I decided to splurge and get the Chocorasptini it was fantastic, it tasted like a chocolate covered raspberry. Jennifer the hostess was friendly as always, and Alex our server was equally attentive. Can’t wait to come back next year!

Service was great, food was just ok. We left full, but taste for italian was not fulfilled.

Our food took over an hour after ordering on a mostly empty night. Once it came, the food looked like it had been sitting under a heat lamp for 30 minutes. To say the food was mediocre is giving it too much credit.
Ambiance was bleh. Like eating in your basement.
Our waiter seemed extremely apathetic, but I wouldn’t be proud to work there either.
So many other great places to try. Avoid this spot and stand in line somewhere else.

Delicious!!! We wanted a yummy Italian dinner and we searched Unilocal and found this restaurant. We loved that it also had the little rainbow sticker in the window (thank you) and the outside sign and twinkle lighs was very inviting! We were greeted immediatley and sat down to a friendly helpful server. I had the bucatini with tomato cream sauce and Jen had lobster with cream sauce. Delicious! We also loved that they brought a complimentary bread basket with bean and sage dip. Great Experience!

Not as good the second time around for some reason. Sure the staff is friendly and accommodating although the waiter was clueless about handling children. Sitting up the street from mobbed Side Street Café, this place was empty in comparison so we gave it a shot. I remembered the food as pretty good. Not sure what happened but the marinara on my pasta was so loaded down with garlic, it was almost inedible. The meatballs were okay but bland and the only good thing about the meal was the bread. For the price we paid, I would have thought Mama’s sauce would have been better. I think next time I would skip this place and go down the street to Guinness and Porcellis where you always get a good meal.

Food was terrible and expensive, mac and cheese was easy mac, mediterranean pasta had no taste, soup was too sweet. We wanted linguine with clam sauce that was on the menu, but was told they sold out, it was only 6:30pm at night. We waited over an hour after appetizer before our entrée came.
Very disappointed! the only good part was the dessert, the crème brûlée was very good. the house wine was reasonable as well.

Good, solid Italian food in a town full of touristy restaurants. If I lived in Bar Harbor, I think would come here a lot.
We were greeted with warm bread/​foccacia fresh out of oven with a white bean spread and olive oil.
My wife ordered linguine with clams which she enjoyed, and I had fresh halibut with white beans and tomato and saffron broth that was really a treat.
Loved our waitress.

Easily the best meal we had in bar harbor.
The atmosphere in Mama Di Matteo’s is warm and pure «neighborhood» restaurant. Slightly off the main drag (abt 5 blocks), Mama’s probably doesn’t get as much traffic as some other places nearby, which is unfortunate for them (though I won’t complain about the lack of crowd) because they are so good.
We shared a ceasar salad: all homeade. Perfect. My husband got their homeade ravioli– perfect, perfect perfect. Thin pasta cooked perfectly, wrapped around spinach, cheese and tomato. I wish I could have brought it home. I got a side plate of spaghetti as I wasn’t terribly hungry, but loved every bite. Did I say perfect yet?
Our waitress was one of the best we’ve been served by– attentive without hovering, timing her checks perfectly (every waitperson should know to check back 2 – 3 minutes after the meal is served) and nice without being overbearing.
My only (very minor) complaint about Mama’s is that for the neighborhood feel, the prices are on par with some of the more upscale-​feeling restaurants around. But none of them compare to Mama’s in taste. Wish we could go back.