The Grill Room

Amazing bar service. The restaurant food was so good!!! And out server Tessa was so wonderful we had so a great experience! We are from New York City and we know what good service and great food is! Very nice place!

Everything here was amazing. My wife and I went here for our anniversary. I had the duck and it was mouth watering. I can’t wait to go back.

Loved everything about our experience here last night. We had a reservation but ended up eating at the bar because we were enjoying the atmosphere so much while we had a drink before dinner. Restaurant is cozy with nice open kitchen to watch all the beautiful dishes come out! Service was excellent! We each had nice salads to start and both ordered Swordfish with Risotto that was honestly one of the best meals We have had in a long time! We are both very picky and were so pleasantly surprised. We can’t wait to return!

Well I had high hopes for this place. My mom and I tried to get a walk-​in table the day after Christmas and were turned away by the hostess as they weren’t accepting anyone without reservations. Understandable I suppose — we had a great dinner right across the street and made reservations for the next night. Instead of making reservations, I should have trusted my reservations about eating there.
7:15 came and we were sat a little late, which is also not a big deal. She ordered the grilled romaine salad… It tasted like I was eating a cigarette. The French onion soup is better at Friday’s (thanks, Cisco!). The monkfish dish had that same awful, bad-​wood-​stove flavor as the grilled romaine salad. Upon returning home an hour later, I immediately became sick for hours. I don’t recommend this restaurant to anyone. It was worth a shot, but this place only gets one chance from me. Thank goodness for the great company at dinner or the night would have been a total wash. Avoid this place.

This place had so much promise when I walked in. I wished I had the girlfriend instead of a co-​foodie co-​worker. Cool bar. Darkish lighting made for a nice warm atmosphere on a cold Monday night.
Then the menu. Really interesting flavor combinations made me hope for a great meal. Then promptly follow up with a 4 star review.
Well … Snap back to reality:
Bang bang shrimp appetizer. Shrimp yes, bang no. Well … Maybe it’s just because I’m used to Texas spicey.
Swordfish with roasted poblano risotto. I’m in a self-​proclaimed foodie town on the coast. It’s got to be awesome. Swordfish is one of my favorite dishes after all. I’m disappointed to say that I can do better when I buy fresh swordfish in Texas. The fish was slightly dry and the texture resembled frozen fish from Costco.
Roasted poblanos can be out of this world amazing. The flavor was there, but kinda hidden. You could taste it but it didn’t really open up,
Risotto should melt in your mouth. This one was crunchy.
The chard on the other hand was delicious. And I don’t like chard.
My companion’s dish, skirt steak with pickled jalapeños, girlies egg, German potatoes and chimichurri. As my friend put it: this should have a very colorful dish but it was the most monochromatic meal in my life.
Aside from that, cube shaped, too-​long-​in-​the-​Fryer French fries are NOT German potatoes. Come to my house and I’ll make German fried potatoes! The other parts of the dish were just kinda meh, too.
So 2 stars for great, creative ideas, but 3 stars lost for horrible execution.

I have been here before a few years ago and it was one of the best steak I’ve ever had. This time around I wasn’t so pleased. The caesar was lacking and the strip was smaller than advertised. The potatoes we order also sucked.

My absolute ‘go-​to’ in downtown Portland. The food is absolutely incredible and I’ve never been disappointed. I did recently go in with 4 of my friends and ordered wine, appetizers, salads, soups, sides, entrees, and deserts, what a meal! 5 stars from top to bottom without a doubt (for the food). Our server tonight (Matt) decided that he only had to give a half-​ass effort recognizing the fact that our menus guaranteed him a 20% tip no matter what he said, did or didn’t do during our 5-​course meal. We had a really tough time handing this guy over 20% of our bill for simply just ‘showing up’. The manager was more then accommodating for the situation and took the guarantee off of our bill. Aside from our server’s lack of effort during our time at the Grill Room I still give this restaurant a solid 5 stars

My husband and I used to love going to The Grill Room but the last 3 times things have just fallen flat. A combination of just ok food and a seriously rude hostess two of the times were not enough to keep us away but last night was the nail in the coffin.
Last night we came in and it was pretty busy as expected on a Friday night. We arrived less than 10 minutes early for our reservation and even though our table was ready, the hostess (this one was nice) told us should couldn’t seat us until it was closer to our reservation. Seriously? like 8 minutes isn’t close enough? We were able to get a seat at the bar for 5 minutes so it wasn’t a big deal but it was weird.
The big problem was the food. I understand they cook steak a little on the cooler than what other places might but my husband and father both received their medium and medium well steaks completely cold on the outside and inside. We hate sending food back but they both just asked for them to be thrown on the grill for a bit longer to warm them up. My dad’s came back almost the same temp, still cold and my husbands came back completely black and charred on the outside and still underdone on the inside. It wasn’t like they were just a little rare for their liking, they were cold.
I understand if your a chef it sucks to have food sent back but you know what? It sucks even more paying over $ 80 for two poorly cooked steaks. The rest of the food was fine and our waitress, Marilyn was super nice and did a great job trying to fix everything.
What happened to The Grill Room? Please fix whatever went wrong because we want to come back and have the great steaks we used to get!

Amazing happy hour with an excellent bartender… didn’t have reservations so they sat Us the chefs table, I cannot say enough about the staff and how they went above and beyond to make our last night in Maine the most memorable dinner of my life. Got local filets so tender that they could be cut with a butter knife… Caesar salad appetizer was very good and my boyfriend fell in love with the tartare… I would travel back to Portland just to eat this meal again!!! Definitely recommend this place to everybody and still talk about how amazing the meal was.

Man, Portland gets crowded. We didn’t have a reservation anywhere, so we came in here and ate at the bar.
A nice laid back place. Good local beer selection and a few cocktails on the menu. We had the pork chop and dry aged strip. Both were amazing. I loved the dry rub they put on the pork. The steak was cooked perfectly, and had great flavor.
Glad we ended up coming in here.

This restaurant was recommended by a family member who lives in Maine, and it did not disappoint! We went here on our last night in Maine, and it was so delicious.
The Mushroom and Pesto pizza with goat cheese is an amazing flavor combination, with a light and flavorful crust. The monkfish and the duck were phenomenal, and you can choose one of their creations or make your own.
Definitely coming back next time I’m in town!

Very nice birthday dinner for my dad. Party of six was seated in the back facing the kitchen. I love the ambiance sitting in the back… or at the bar. The oysters were excellent, fresh, with good accoutrements. The fois gras was wood grilled and had crème fresh and two sauces drizzled over it. The clam chowder and lobster bisque were both enjoyed by those eating it.
I had the yellow fin tuna rare… which is virtually sashimi… good portion and delicious. It was served with an herbed rice and a funky radish topping… an excellent dish. The swordfish special was well received, as was the standard dry aged steaks, with ala carte sides. A nice French Malbec was the wine special… it was great… pared with both fish and meat… and was good value for the $ 40 restaurant price,
Everyone enjoyed their meals and desserts… and it was a very favorable evening, including wait service and all staff. Well done.
4 stars… recommend

I absolutely love this place!
I was there twice. The first time I was there with my friend we had the cheese board appetizer and steak as a main course. — amazing!
The second time we were there it was on Fourth of July — yep 2 days ago. We went there for appetizers with some good Malbec! Once again we were not disappointed! It was great! The food and the service were exceptional.
We got the baked Brie, Tartare, cheese board and Foie Gras. Everything was delicious, and the atmosphere was super romantic.
We sat on the little window bar and we’re watching people passing on the street. We finished the evening with some fireworks. It was perfect 4^th of July adventure :)

Love the atmosphere. Sat right near the open kitchen area. Food was DELICIOUS. Filet mignon and asparagus was to die for! Fiancé got sirloin and macaroni and cheese, also great! Sangria was awesome
Great experience

After searching for a good place to grab a late dinner we settled on The Grill Room. The menu looked great and the reviews seemed favorable. The problem was while they are open until 11, the full kitchen does not stay open until then, it closes at 10:00.
We walked in at 9:55 oblivious to this fact. The hostess was not happy to see is. She spoke for about 30 seconds and was very confusing. Essentially I realized shortly that what she was trying to hint at was they would be required to serve us per restaurant policy, but no one wanted to.
She took us to be seated and we saw the chefs in the open kitchen mouth the F word, and throw their hands up. At this point we just got up and left. I wasn’t about to eat food made by angry, unprofessional staff.
My suggestion is to either give the staff the leeway to say when the kitchen is closing, or hold them to a standard of professionally serving until close. To act like petulant children in full view of customers is completely unacceptable.

I can see why the reviews for this place are mixed. We went here after my carnivorous husband had his fill of new england seafood and needed a steak.
As far as the food goes it is pretty good. The prices are on par for what you get. Slightly lower end steak house but still high quality meat. I had the filet which was very flavorful and was cooked perfectly. I think it was around $ 40. They have high end steak house sauces and sides which were just ok. For those that complain about the a la carte pricing — unlike most steak houses they also have a portion of the menu that has complete entrée choices that are reasonably priced, so you could go either way.
The issue is this place doesn’t know what it wants to be. It serves higher end steak house fare but has a Texas Roadhouse/​tavern style environment. Very loud music and atmosphere that doesn’t mix well with the food and the prices. I can see how that would be confusing to some people and leave them scratching their heads. Also — service is a bit shaky, definitely could use some work there.
The verdict? The meal was good but with all the incredible restaurants in the Portland area, if we are back in town we won’t be returning to the Grill Room.

If you want a steak in Portland Maine, this is the place to get it. classic steakhouse décor and menu, we start with the oysters and make our way to an excellent ribeye with béarnaise. It is steak house prices, so be prepared, not cheap!

Nope. Just doesn’t do it for me.
I like the atmosphere, the dark wood, the cozy eating. I don’t really like open kitchens that much, so I find that hard. But moreover, my meals were too salty to eat and far too expensive for what we got. I’m not talking size/​portion wise… The portions were not dainty, by any means. But my meal (the skirt steak) was inedible.
It’s just not my scene, I like some of HLS’s other establishments, but I think I’ll pass on the Grill Room.

I want to like The Grill Room, I really do. I’m not a big red meat person so I generally avoid restaurants that seem to excel in just that, but I have to hand it to The Grill Room… aside from their smörgåsbord of entrees and a la carte meats, they do have a selection of seafood appetizers and dinners.
Unfortunately they’re just too pricey for me, and I find a la carte menus to be a total doop. I have to pay $ 20+ for a meat AND I have to pay an additional $ 8+ for each side?
That being said, whenever I have gone here I’ve ordered the Maine-​raised Burger, which is rather quite good (and also the cheapest at $ 17). The burger is not grotesquely big, and does taste much better than many burgers I’ve had. It also comes with a huge amount of crunchy sea salt fries, enough to share between two people. It doesn’t come with any sort of cheese though, so you’re looking at a $ 20 burger if you add cheese.
The last time we went it was not planned, it was New Year’s day and the restaurant we had made reservations at was actually closed… they neglected to tell us it was closed. At the last minute we looked for another place to eat and wound up at The Grill Room. I opted for something different this time; the fried shrimp bang bang and their cup of french onion soup as my meal.
I was pretty disappointed. The shrimp were those tiny itty bitty ones (it says Maine shrimp on the menu but I don’t know if I believe it), they tasted like they had been frozen for a long time, that’s the only way I can really describe it. The sauce they’re supposed to come in was barely there so I asked for a side of it, the shrimp was pretty bland so I needed the sauce to finish the dish. French onion soup is supposed to be seasoned, salty, and savory. This was not. It needed salt desperately, I try never to add salt to my meals, but this was an exception. The soup tasted exactly like the frozen kind that comes in a bag that they add water to dilute, it made me reminisce of the days I used to waitress and would watch the kitchen crew fill their soups containers for lunch.
There’s really nothing at The Grill Room that makes me dying to go back. If I did go I’d probably stick with the Maine-​raised burger, otherwise there are many other places I’d rather go to first.

The wife and I were looking for a good place to go for lunch downtown and we had been to other places before like corner room and knew that the owner was the same for the «rooms» so we decided to belly up to the bar in the Grill room (the dining area was packed for lunch).
We were greeted by a very friendly bartender who went through some of the specials that they were having for the day (which I will get into the fact that we took two of the things off of the special menu).
We started our romantic meal with a plate of fresh fried oysters that sat atop some light lemon aioli that was garnished with a side of sprouts and diced cucumbers. We were talking about how we usually love fried oysters with a side of tarter sauce but these absolutely did not need them. The other thing that made thise things scrumptious was the chunks of slab bacon sprinkled across the top of the morsels of goodness.
We then split a cup of the lobster stew that was very flavorful and tasted fresh and delicious … the only drawback to this was the fact that we were looking for a little more lobster in the stew but for the price of the dish, I can see why where you would normally pay about 15 – 20 bucks for a lobster stew/​bisque around town.
I think dove into my main course of a fresh ceasar salad topped with a special order blackened salmon garnished with a sharp cheddar cheese crisp and a fresh anchovy for some added flavor. The lady got a special salad that had … get ready … baby spinach, goat cheese, cranberries, candied walnuts, thinly sliced radishes and turnips with a light and refreshing vinaigrette (she also ordered a medium rare steak to top it off) these salads were some of the best salads I have had around town and I would have never expected it at a burger/​sandwich and steak restaurant.
It was really good to see my favorite cold time beer in Alagash Black on draft and my wife had the non alcoholic Kaliber which she enjoyed (I always look for these places around town to have a selection of non-​alcoholic beers. it shows that they care and are not always about the profits)
We both agreed that this spot was one that we would definitely go back to next time we are out and about in the Old Port. We enjoyed every bite and the service was top notch for us even with a jam packed establishment.