Bayside American Cafe

Love love loved their lobster eggs benedict. The place itself is just also really awesome — it has an old timey Inn feel to it. There will probably be a wait but you can help yourself too coffee to ease that pain. The food is so good though so it’s definitely worth the wait!

There are crab cakes and then there are CRAB CAKES! They definitely don’t skimp on the seafood portions in Portland, ME. Our waiter, Harry, was very helpful and the service was attentive. This place has an interesting cozy upstairs seating arrangement with lots of natural light. Highly recommend for breakfast or brunch!

Holy moly this place was delicious! We are visiting and wanted an excellent brunch, and that’s exactly what we got! I started with the Irish rocket, which was the perfect coffee cocktail. We had the cinnamon roll pancake, a cheddar, bacon, scallion pancake, and the lobster frittata. So good! If we don’t get anything other food the rest of the trip I will still be happy.

I lived in Portland for a year, and waited until month 12 to finally try this place out. I had to see what the hype was about, plus I LOVE Benedicts.
I got the Bistro Steak Benedict (and wish I had the time to go back and try the Louisiana Bayou Benedict), and it did not disappoint. I came with steak, a garlic cream sauce, sundried tomatoes, and cheese. It was so hearty that I was only able to finish one of the halves and the potatoes. Oh the potatoes. They were a savory mix of sweet potato and white potato. I’ve never seen that before, and it was delightful.
My friend, a lover of sweet breakfasts, got a chocolate waffle dish. The portion (much like my dish) was huge, but he loved it so much that he finished it.
Finally, I love the synergy with local businesses. Rocket Fuel isn’t everywhere, and I love that it’s here AND that they have an option to spike it!
If I’m in Maine again, I would come back here. I recommend to anyone who’s willing to wait a long period of time in a crowded, stuffy waiting area or outside in the cold on a not-​so-​popular road.

Always a winner for brunch if you’re craving something hearty, flavorful, and fun. Having been here more than I can count on one hand in the past 6 months, I can say the wait is worth it. (Yup, had to wait 30 minutes or more every single time!)
Service is great, food is great, selection is great. Self-​serve coffee and H20 while you wait. Can’t ask for more.
Blueberry pancakes — a classic, an oldie but a goodie. Fluffy and PACKED with blueberries. Not overly dry nor overly greasy like some diners do it. GET IT!
Cinnamon swirl pancakes (special) — one massive pancake swirled like a cinnamon roll. Tastes like a churro. Get this one if you’re up for a real sweet treat and if it’s on the menu the day you go!
Beef hash — I always get the full order. Love the flavorful yet tender chunks of beef. They’re fall apart fork-​tender and absolutely perfect with the seasoned potato hash and eggs.
Salmon eggs benedict — nope, it’s not on the menu, but you can certainly ask for it! All their eggs benedicts have perfectly poached eggs where the white is cooked through but the yolk is 100% runny. Their smoked salmon is on the prettttyyy salty side, so caution.
Vegetarian eggs benedict — comes with portabella mushroom pieces and a nice selection of sauteed veggies (not just your tomato and lettuce dealio). A great choice for the veggie eaters. You might not even miss the meat!
Bring your out of towner friends and fam here if you’re all down for a hearty meal and don’t mind a wait!

So delicious! I came here with my parents for breakfast today and was not disappointed. I got the veggie home fries with guacamole on the side and an English muffin. I cannot imagine how the dish could have been made any better. It was phenomenal. The home fries were an out of this world combination with sweet potatoes. Both parents got benedicts and were equally impressed. I can’t wait to come back and try some of their sweeter items like the famous waffles and pancakes!
I’d definitely recommend reservations. Especially on a weekend day or holiday. Also, the staff here is very attentive and accommodating.

Small and cozy. Two floors. Nice décor. My boyfriend got eggs, toast, and potatoes which he loved, the eggs had a different seasoning and Parmesan cheese which sounds weird, but worked. The potatoes were good even when we had them for leftovers cold later. I got the yogurt, granola, and fruit drizzled with honey… Good size. Both meals were $ 7. Staff was super friendly.

Bayside American Café (formerly known as Bintliff’s) is situated in a kind of awkward place in downtown Portland, across from the post office, which means parking is at a premium. Be prepared to hike, even at 7:30 on a Sunday morning.
Being allergic to anything that might smack of exercise, we took one of the ten seats downstairs — the rest of the tables are up a flight of stairs that I wasn’t interested in tackling, and it was early enough in the morning that they were available. The atmosphere is nice and kind of kitchy, with beautiful canvased pictures of the Maine coastline decorating the walls, and an open kitchen.
But as the breakfast crowd began to filter into the tight quarters downstairs of what is, apparently, a very popular restaurant, we realized that our choice of seating was probably a mistake on several fronts — the frequent door opening left us huddled for warmth, and people who were waiting for tables — for whom the restaurant thoughtfully offers coffee — are by necessity, because of the severe lack of room, milling around you while you’re trying to enjoy your meal.
The host was nice and got us coffee, mentioning that it might be a few moments for our server to get to us due to several big tables upstairs, which was fine. The coffee was quite good, if a bit strong for my tastes, but my sister prefers it that way.
The menu includes brunch, but I rarely take that option. My sister ordered the homemade corned beef hash, and I had a regular 2 egg meal that I would have liked to have included sausage, but our waiter came back to tell me that they were out (how could you be out of sausage first thing on a Sunday morning when you’re known for your breakfast?) so I ordered bacon instead.
I said it was early, right? And it was dead. No line, no nothing. And still it took an inordinate amount of time for our food to arrive. Oh, and the major components, when we were finally served, were luke warm.
Regarding the food itself, I know that the tendency nowadays is towards «deconstructed» dishes, which was what the homemade hash was. I might well be old fashioned, but «hash» is GROUND (or at the least very finely chopped) meat, potatoes & onions together, so that the flavors can marry.
What was served is what I have — unfortunately — come to expect of «in» restaurants lately — chunks of very good corned beef, mixed with large chunks of potato — obviously from their «three potato homefries», and strands of red onion. Three individual ingredients were lumped together on a plate, rather than married together in a mixture.
It was a generous serving, granted — and it damned well should be for the price — with tender pieces of wonderful corned beef, and pieces of potato that were the size of my fist. They were at least the size of a «fun size» candy bar. Really? You couldn’t be bothered to cut the potatoes into bite sized pieces?
My home fries suffered from the same treatment, unfortunately.
The eggs were satisfactory (although they, like everything else on the plate except for the bread were sprinkled with parsley, which is unnecessary), the bacon was good, as was the toast.
But, frankly, for the prices they were charging, and since the Interwebs considered it the «best breakfast in Portland, ME», I expected more, somehow.
And they were slow. If they were busy, I could have excused it to a certain extent. By the time we got our meal, we had remarked that we could have gone in, eaten and been home if we’d gone to our second choice, the Egg and I in Scarborough.
This is not a place to which I will be returning. But it’s so popular that I highly doubt they’ll miss me.

Recommended by family who were huge fans of Bintliffs, their suggestions were spot on.
We enjoyed a weekday late morning breakfast after driving up from CT and were seated immediately in the upstairs dining room. Service was attentive and efficient.
We enjoyed Bloody Mary’s since we were on a 3 day getaway road trip and they were great Husband had the Eggs Benedict while I enjoyed a Belgian waffle with toasted pecans, caramel drizzle and whipped cream. Both were well prepared and delicious!
I wish we had a place with a menu like this close to home!

Amazing. My taste buds have died and gone to heaven. Seriously.
We had the bistro steak benedict and the lobster benedict. The lobster benny had an out of this world hollandaise sauce. The steak benny had a ridiculous amazing garlic cream sauce. So good! We went here twice and were were only in Portland for 3 days.
Good food and the space is just so charming.

Had a nice breakfast with my boyfriend here. The homefries were good, so what else is there to say? Potatoes make or break the breakfast, considering eggs and meat are rather standard fare. Lots of attractive menu items, many varieties of benedicts and omelets.
Coffee refills, check. Booths for sitting on the same side (to properly annoy other patrons), check.
Good breakfast spot as long as you don’t go during the weekend. I’m impatient and get hangry if I have to wait.

Pretty good brunch and I like how they let you grab your own coffee while you wait. And boy, was there a wait. We showed up around 11:30am on a Friday and didn’t make it out of there until 1pm. Felt like the place was under staffed. Saw tables that weren’t cleared for 20mins. Waited a while for our orders to be taken and come out after we finally got seated.
Onto the good stuff. The staff was friendly and the food was yummy. We got the crab cake Benedict and the lobster Benedict. The lobster version was clearly the winner. The poached eggs were perfectly runny. Also got one piece of the bacon cheddar scallion pancake with bourbon maple syrup. The most unique pancake I’ve ever had. It was very tasty too! The pancake was ginormous so one piece was good to share if you’re ordering an entrée.
We are visiting Portland and staying at an airbnb right around the corner but have decided not to eat here again the day we fly out in fear it might take too long. Bummer because there’s bunch of other items on the menu that sounded like it is worth trying.

I have to give it up for Bayside American Café for their fantastic brunch.
This was my first stop in Portland. I had just gotten off the Amtrak from Boston, and I was hungry. My friend took me here.
This place gets busy. We waited 40 minutes to get a table for 2 people on a Saturday afternoon. They have a waiting list.
What I got
I ordered the veggie home fries that come with two eggs your way and your choice of bread. I recommend getting their homemade bread. I shared a cinnamon pancake, which is basically a flat Cinnabun, with my friend. The pancake comes with the familiar white icing on the side. My friend ordered a bloody mary and the corned beef hash. She said both were delicious. It is her favorite brunch spot in town!
What I thought
The veggie home fries were so delicious and earthy. The parmesan cheese is bold and flavorful and the potatoes were hot and generously coated in good spices. Perfectly poached eggs. The cinnamon pancake is good, but a bit too sweet for breakfast.
I recommend coming here in small groups, since the waiting list can get long.

Bacon cheddar scallion pancake with bourbon maple syrup plus bacon and eggs, yum!
There was also significant praise for the eggs benedict and the corned beef hash.
It’s a darn good brunch!

My favorite breakfast in Portland, no doubt. I’ve been coming here for years and have never once been disappointed or let down by anything I’ve ordered. There’s almost always a wait here. I feel like normally I wait between 20 and 45 minutes, sometimes more. Always worth it. Superrrrr scrum food, good bloodys, and always great, friendly, cool service.
Can’t come here without including a cinnamon bun pancake in the meal. It is so big and so perfect. Sweet, delicious, no need for syrup, incredible. It is really big and rich so I always split one with someone as an addition to my meal. I could probably definitely get through a full one, but I don’t like just sweets for breakfast. I need some eggs and potatoes in my life too. That’s where the veggie homefries, veggie benedict, crab cake benedict, and huevos rancheros. Obsessed with all of these dishes. I’ve had other things on the menu, but these are my absolute go to. The veggie homefries are flippin awesome– made with 3 potato homefries, loads of fresh veggies, and 2 eggs however you want them cooked. It comes with a piece of huge beautiful thick toast. I think this thing literally comes with 1800 vegetables. Sautéed spinach, mushrooms, bell peppers, onions, zucchini, summer squash, tomatoes, and broccoli. That’s what I’m talking about. The potatoes are always cooked great, eggs come out how I want them, life is good. The veggie benedict is served with the same veggies and delicious hollandaise. Both of these are $ 12, huge portions, super fair prices. The crab cake benedict is also SO SO SO good. I’ve only had it a few times because sometimes I just don’t want to splurge on it (it’s usually $ 17). But when I have had it– oh man, those crab cakes are phenomenal. Huevos are the other thing I always go for. I am obsessed with huevos and these ones rock my world. Beans and rice, guac, chipotle sour cream, homemade salsa, cheddar and delicious tortilla. Only 10 $, so good. Love every bite here.
Go here now! And order all of those things! And more if you want.

You know the saying, the best restaurants are the ones with that most people waiting in line. It is certainly true with this restaurant! Every time I come it is very busy. The staff is very friendly and the food is amazing. While I only have been here for breakfast, they have a good brunch and sandwich menu as well. The Louisiana Bayou Benedict is my favorite. It served with a spicy Cajun hollandaise sauce and wonderful and andouille sausage. The best part is the homemade corncakes that they use instead of the traditional English muffin.
Enjoy!

According to a card sitting our our table by the lamp, Bayside American Café was named Bintliff’s American Café only till recently. The exterior of the restaurant seemed slightly Grecian due to their choice of color and motifs. Inside, however, was dark and cozy, warm and quirky. There are a few tables on the ground floor, where the bathroom is, but the larger seating area is up the flight of stairs.
We were a bit conflicted on what to order till we realized that we could order their pancakes by the piece. That made the decision much easier! So we ended up with their Veggie Homefries (Sauteed baby spinach, tomato, summer squash, mushroom, onion, red bell pepper, broccoli, zucchini, Italian cheese blend and two eggs, served over three potato homefries) $ 12 for a full order, the Apple Cinnamon Raisin Stuffed French Toast (Homemade Tuscan white or honey wheat French toast stuffed with apple cinnamon raisin compote and drizzled with cinnamon crème anglaise) $ 9, one piece of their Bacon Cheddar Scallion Pancakes with Bourbon Maple Syrup (contains alcohol) $ 4.50, and one piece of the Cinnamon Bun Pancakes (swirl of cinnamon, cream cheese icing) $ 3.50.
Surprisingly, my preference ended up leaning towards the pancakes. The Cinnamon Bun Pancake was so cute — it actually looked like a flat cinnamon roll! And it was so tasty! The cream cheese frosting made this pancake rather sinful. The savory pancake had good sized pieces of crisp bacon reminded me pleasantly of scallion and ham buns from the Chinese bakery. The French toast was tasty, but not literally stuffed, which I found a bit disappointing. It was good to have a healthy option beside all the sweet and high carb selections in the Veggie Homefries. The vegetables retained a nice bite and were a tasty mix — this was the only plate we decimated (well, minus the thick piece of toast that accompanied it).
My DCs liked the blueberry soda $ 2.75, even after having been blueberried out by our weekend road trip. Service was relaxed but pleasant.
When parking, be sure to read the signs. We found ourselves a spot with a 2 hour parking limit from 9am — 5pm April 1 — Nov 30.

MIND. BLOWN. Haha no but really. This place is amazing. Yes, there’s a line and a bit of wait but the food is so worth it. Settled in a quaint, Victorian style transformed house to restaurant, it’s a great spot for breakfast/​brunch. Service was great; the hostess and waitress were super nice and welcoming. We ordered Bloody Mary’s first (one of the best I’ve ever had) and then got the corned beef hash, a scramble, and a lobster benny. Almost died and went to heaven. The lobster benny was amazing; the lobster was so fresh and the home fries with it just made it perfect. Next time I’m in Portland, I will be coming back!

Came here on Monday based on the Unilocal reviews! We arrived here about 11:15AM after walking in the wrong direction for a bit.oops. Was told the wait would be 20 – 25 minutes, but that’s just the estimate. No problem! The wait ended up being closer to 30 – 35 minutes but it was ok because we helped ourself to the free coffee and we looked over the menu. we didn’t know what the dining situation looked like upstairs but downstairs there was an empty table for 4. and we are a table of 4. I am not entirely sure if the downstairs is just a waiting area or not but there was a table of 8 down there eating but it would have been great to be seated!
When we got seated upstairs there was actually plenty of seating upstairs still, maybe they were pacing the dining area so the kitchen wouldn’t get backed up? I don’t know. but we all basically knew what we were going to order since we had half an hour to decide downstairs, but as soon as we sat down our waitress said, ‘Oh, we are out of lobster, crab and salmon’…wait.WHAT? ‘It was a busy weekend.’. Oh ok.well.considering the fact that 50% the menu is comprised of those 3 things it would be nice to know before we waited ½ an hour. I mean, there was no sign that said they were out of anything and the host never even mentioned it. this is something that should be noted or stated before a wait, especially when pretty much everything on the menu is comprised of those 3 main ingredients.
Already disappointed we looked over the menu again and got basic benedict, the hash, bayou benedict and bacon, cheddar cheese scallion pancake. It took another 25 – 30 minutes or so to get the food and at this point the place didn’t look busy anymore. The hash was pretty good. Lots of meat and burnt potatoes and stuff. My friends said the bayou benedict was very good and the other benedict was nothing to really write home about. I had the pancake, it was a good texture but really lacked any kind of flavor. I could barely taste any of the ingredients that were previously mentioned. Was it worth the 1 hr from start to finish? No… not this time.

What a great breakfast place! I came here right before they changed their name from Bintliff’s, but I have since come back after the name change and the food tastes the same.
The first time I came here, I ordered the bacon scallion pancakes, and while they are good, I wouldn’t recommend them again. The second time I came, I had the bayou benedict and this thing was amazing. The corn fritters are sweet, crispy and full of flavor. The bayou hollandaise has a nice spicy, creamy texture that really pulls the whole plate together. I was swiping up the remainder of the sauce with my fried potatoes and yams. I want to say I’ll try other things here for breakfast, but I may just order this every time.
One other thing, their bloody mary’s are really good. Probably a contributing factor for the enjoyment of my breakfast, but who cares.