Red Sky

I am extremely picky, if you’ve seen my other reviews you know that is true. I almost never give 5 stars. I almost don’t even want to review Red Sky, because I always want to be able to get a table!
This has become my favorite restaurant, no question. We eat out a lot, and we have little time or patience for dining-​out experiences that just make us wish we’d stayed home. Red Sky is the opposite of that.
From the moment you walk in, you feel relaxed and in good hands. Smiles and consideration from everyone. Which is not to say it isn’t luxurious, it’s just that Red Sky is not pretentious. There is plenty of room in the dining room, you don’t feel packed in, and you can enjoy your intimate dining experience with the people you came with.
And the food? Just fantastic. I have photos somewhere, but you’ll have to take your own. We have had ‘family occasion’ meals here, and everything is just right.
Also thanks to the attentive folks in the dining room, I left a piece of jewelry on the table once, and they kept it safe for me.

This restaurant exceed so many of my expectations. First off there were so many stuff on the menu that I wanted to taste I didn’t know what to get. The cocktails were amazing. The Blackberry cocktail was my favorite.
We order the smoked duck salad, the lamb tacos, and the steam lobster as appetizers. They were extremely good. I love the fact that they wait time in between meals were spot on. Sometimes restaurants bring out the main course quickly after your appetizers. Also you must try their homemade ice cream.

Wow! What a find, hubby had mussels appetizer– local. Fresh, cooked perfectly. The beet salad was incredible. All of it local and amazing. The lobster risotto was wonderful, and the peekytoe crab cakes were good. I still can’t find crab as sweet as Chesapeake Bay blues, no matter what Thomas Keller and the rest of the famous chefs say about it. Had the chocolate Pudding for dessert and it was fabulous. Service was impeccable and friendly. Will go back.

Did not disappoint! Make sure you make a reservation, we called the night before and the only seatings open were 5:30 and 9 PM (their first and last). After a long day of hiking, we showed up for our 5:30 reservation. Although an upscale restaurant, most people were casually dressed which was great! The staff was great — attentive and very friendly.
We had lamb tacos for our app — homemade corn tortillas were great but they put the lamb with sauce over them making the tortillas soggy. Tasty app but would have been nice to have the taco shells on the side to prevent this. I had the salmon which was fantastic! Hubby had the lobster risotto — not quite as creamy as risotto should be which was a bit disappointing. Lobster was cooked perfectly. Salmon was definitely better. Finished the night off with their crème brûlée and coffee — both delicious. Highly recommend for good food on the quietside!

Ate here last night. Lobster risotto was good but the was not as creamy as it could have been. Lamb taco appetizer was a bit over salted. The salmon however was perfection. Well seasoned and deliciously cooked. Drink service was top notch. We will eat here again!

After a week of camping, hiking and biking at Acadia, we decided to get a great meal before we left. From the décor to the food to the drinks to the service, every aspect of the meal was awesome. You definitely need a reservation, so be sure to call ahead.

This Resturant is a must while you are in the Mt. Desert, Maine area.
The food and service outstanding. I had the salmon which I believe is the best salmon I have had anywhere. My husband had the Maine ribeye steak, he said it was the best rib eye steak he has had!
The hostess was so lovely and friendly. Our server was right on target, great service with out being intrufuces. I would say this was «A great dining experience».
We go here each year during our two stay on Mt. Desert, I only wished it was closer to our home!

The décor is very nice with lots of local art work hanging from the walls. Shortly after being seated we received our menus followed by an amuse bouche of smoked salmon mousse with crostini. A basket of warm, crusty bread arrived shortly before our shared appetizer of crispy polenta with sauteed oyster mushrooms and Swiss chard finished with a balsamic reduction and Parmesan Reggiano. For an entrée, my wife chose seared sea scallops finished with an orange and Grand Mariner sauce that was accompanied by basmati rice with almonds and scallions. My entrée was a lasagna — house made pasta, acorn squash, sauteed kale and onion with a roasted tomato and pepper sauce plus a basil and almond pesto. The pasta was so light that it literally melted in my mouth. Service throughout was attentive without being overbearing.

Returned again for first time this year. Overall a good, solid neighborhood restaurant. Menu not particularly creative, but plenty of nice options and everything very fresh and local. Excellent crab cakes, salmon good though bit plain, salad nice with local greens. Service attentive, prices reasonable, décor pleasant, wine list short but decent and reasonable. Not a knock-​em-​out-​of-​the-​park place, but quite good. See also my revises this same trip for Havana, Mâché Bistro, and Burning Tree.

Probably the most disappointing dining experience of my life.
This was our 4^th Maine vacation. Every time we come to Bar Harbor we have a few favorite places we have to go to and we always try a few new ones too. We had first dined at Red Sky 2 years ago. We had my step — children with us. At the time they were 12 and 13. We had a wonderful experience from start to finish. Appetizers, entrees and desser. Service was top notch. In fact on our way out of the restaurant our server complimented us on how well behaved and pleasant the kids were. We left with such smiles on our faces and an eagerness to return.
We called Thursday and were told they were completely booked but there were openings for Friday. No problem. Our last night of vacation, why not go back to the restaurant we had such fond memories of? We arrived a few minutes before our 5:30 reservation. We waited outside for the restaurant to open and once it did we were seated promptly. Our waitress was all smiles as she greeted us with a salmon mousse and toasted bread. We asked for recommendations from the menu of which she gave several. We ordered within 10 minutes of being seated. All 4 of us ordered appetizers: quail, mussels, lamb taco, duck and pork sausage. My husband and I both ordered the lobster and risotto for dinner as well as a bottle of wine to share. My step son ordered the crab cakes and my step daughter ordered the salmon. They both ordered homemade blueberry soda to drink
Appetizers arrived within 15 minutes of ordering. Everything was cooked well. The taco was bursting with flavor. The other 3 items were passable, but not anything that exciting. After our appetizers were finished we waited almost an hour for our entrées. Not once did the waitress come back to let us know the status, to apologize for the delay or even to check in on us. When the food finally did come there was no mention of the wait. It was just dropped off and left. The lobster was well cooked and there was a generous portion. The risotto was a bit bland and fell short of expectation. The salmon was well cooked with a very flavorful sauce. The crab cakes were «ok, but not great.»
We finally finished eating almost 2 hours after we were seated. We normally like to enjoy coffee and dessert after a meal but felt so rushed because we were holding up the next seating — as if it was our fault the food and service were so slow. The hostess couldn’t drop off our check fast enough. We did manage to get coffee, but declined dessert for the sheer fact I didn’t want to give them anymore of my money. $ 250 for a dinner for 4 with terrible service and mediocre food? Great showing for a Friday night. We’ll pass next time.

Off the beaten path of Bar Harbor, and so glad we went. Started with a delicious mint Martini… nicely chilled. Duck and pork sausage appetizer… with wonderful bread, great crust. Split a luscious crab cake w my wife, my daughter had a wonderful lasagne. Finished with butter cake with crime fraische and blueberries (of course). Worth the price of admission, nice job folks.

My wife and I went to Red Sky for her birthday. It started off great but quickly went downhill. We sampled wine and ordered our food. We ordered the quail and mussels as an appetizer. Both were good and flavorful. Then I asked a waitress a simple question about the wine list, «are these the only reds you have by the glass?» She quickly responded with «ask your waitress». Instead of finding our waitress she stood against the wall for the next 5 minutes. 1 hour and 25 minutes later, my steak and wife’s dinner salad finally arrives. My steak was cooked perfectly, but my wife’s salad was not. More than half of the sliced steak was nothing but gristle and fat. I told the waitress and she just looked at me with a blank faced grin. We paid the check and left. We will NEVER go back.
This place could be better if the staff is trained to know the menu and chef understands quality control before it goes out.

Went there for our wedding anniversary and had an excellent meal. I had the lobster appetizer and my husband had the duck &pork sausage, both great. We each had crab cakes for dinner, which were amazing: very light on the breading and rich on delicious crab. Dessert was also great, and the wine list is quite good. A word of caution, though — this is the kind of restaurant where everything is made to order and the pace of the meal is relaxed. It was perfect for us, and exactly what I expect at this caliber restaurant, but I did see another patron get quite upset at what they considered ‘slow’ service. For us, it was a perfect meal!

This was our last dinner in Southeast Harbor, so sad for us. We wanted it to be special and it was! The service staff are particular and attentive. We were seated right away (reservations are a must). I liked that they were offering a house wine that evening and a taste was offered. It was a red blend from Portugal and we loved it. A small crock of hummus and crackers were. Brought to the table with our wine, a nice touch. Appetizers were a hard choice, but we settled on the smoked salmon and the lobster cocktail. Impressive. Some of the best smoked salmon I’ve ever had.
A basket of homemade bread with delicious butter (I never eat butter but we are in Maine) and they were not stingy with it. I didn’t want another glass of wine but did want a bit for dinner so they were happy to oblige us with a half glass. Love that.
My scallops were browned and cooked perfectly. The sauce was not overwhelming and the broccoli and rice that accompanied were nicely prepared but didn’t take away from the main dish. My husbands duck was absolute perfection. Sliced thick Breat meat, medium per his request and fresh cranberry coulis.
Last but not least a crime brûlée that was small (good for us as we are not dessert people) and it just finished off a grand dinner.
Red Sky, hands down, continues to be the best restaurant on the island.

Just a delightful dinner. Very nicely presented dishes. My halibut was over cooked, but was fresh and tasty nevertheless. The reason for the five stars was my wife’s crab cakes. Might be the best crab cakes we’ve ever had. Almost no filler and all amazing crab meat. In addition we had the most creative cocktails. Rum made here on MDI. Black cherry infused vodka. The nicest dining experience of our week in Southwest Harbor. Very nicely done. If we are ever back, we will go here for sure. It is not to be missed.

So after days of sleeping in a tent down in the Seawall Campground and eating out of a cooler in the back of the car in between hikes in Acadia, I wanted to treat my girlfriend to a birthday dinner that was a change of pace from the past few days. I found about Red Sky through Unilocal,searching for «fancy dinner» near SW Harbor.
We LOVED it! The staff was super friendly and accommodating, very professional. We were seated promptly on a busy night and waited on shortly after. My mixed drink was awesome and my girlfriend loved the wine that was suggested by our waitress (a malbec I think… she’s the wine person, not me).
Very tasty and well-​presented quail appetizer, as were both our main dishes. I had the lobster risotto, which was chock full of big chunks of lobster and the risotto was cooked to my liking… and I regularly bitch about under/​over cooked risotto. Girlfriend had the duck, which was also just about as perfect as one could ask for.
This was back in early June, so I know I’m forgetting the second appetizer we had and probably leaving out other details, but everything about the experience was what we had hoped for and then some. Highly recommended!

The service was pretty good, but the food was just okay, especially for the value. My fiancé had the duck and loved it. I had the New York strip which was kind of tough and grisly. Our appetizers were decent… the polenta and the baked potato soup. My raspberry sorbet was excellent, but he had the sweet bite for dessert and was disappointed. The atmosphere was lovely, but it was very chilly in the dining room. A 4 star rating is on the generous side. We’ve been to some amazing 5 star restaurants which were a much better value.

I absolutely adore Red Sky. I have frequented this restaurant on numerous occasions, however this last experience was exceptionally delightful!
From the service and the ambiance to the flavor and finesse, this restaurant raises the bar in terms of culinary standards upon the island.
Superb job Elizabeth and James; you have given me a true indulgence here on MDI. Thank You.

I went here to celebrate my mothers 65^th birthday. We walked in on a Wednesday night and got seated no problem without a reservation (it was Wednesday night) but the restaurant filled up quickly. I’d make reservations next time. The hostess introduced a special wine and let us all taste it and it was good. Another server brought over a chickpea (read hummus) spread and bread crisps, the spread was somewhat bland we added salt and that helped.
The polenta appetizer with mushrooms and kale and good. It had. Balsamic reduction that was tasty, but they used a bit too much of it. The mushroom soup was fantastic and not cream based!
Two of the three entrées were fantastic. My dad had pokeye Crabcakes which he thought were absolutely perfect! My mom had scallops over rice and beans and she enjoyed those! I had the lobster with risotto, which wasn’t that great. The lobster was very tough and small and the risotto was more like rice with mushrooms. We got a dessert from the specials, a pastry with lemon curd and fresh wild blueberries, this was a let down. The lemon curd was barley lemoney and the pastry seemed like it came out of a box/​was frozen. The wild blueberries were delicious though!
I gave it a 3 because the service wasn’t bad but it wasn’t fantastic. For a restaurant with white table cloths I expected better service.

Simply the best restaurant on MDI. Pick anything, it will be great. Be sure to save room for dessert.