Portland recommendations

Heading to Portland this weekend; anyone have any current intel on dog-friendly spots? Allagash appears to still be dog friendly.

 

Most of the breweries on Industrial Way have outdoor seating in some form. Off the top of my head, Lone Pine, Goodfire, and Bellflower all have outdoor seating as well.

 

Thank you! Definitely hitting up Allagash as always, Bellflower looks solid and I called Oxbow and they are dog friendly too.

 

I'll let you know how it goes, but just booked a tee time at Willowdale Golf Club in Scarborough for Friday morning. It is near the Libby's Candies and their chocolate moose as well as the Holy Donut on Route 1. Another good looking course nearby is Nonesuch River Golf Club, which is a stone's throw from the Maine Mall. That looked in better shape per the aerial photos, but was also more expensive. What clinched selecting Willowdale for this week is we are time constrained and the tee times are 18 minutes apart in the early morning! I wonder if this is to protect against foggy mornings when groups can't get out immediately.

I can vouch for Dunegrass Golf Club, a short ride from Old Orchard Beach, but obviously that is a little further ride from Portland.

 

I can confirm all of the above. Bissell Brothers and Novare Res are the only places I wanted to take the dog that I couldn't. Dogs can even go inside at Oxbow!

Also sat outside with the dog at King's Head, East Ender, and Thirsty Pig. I think Portland Mash Tun has outdoor dog friendly seating too, but it was full when we walked by.

 

Awesome, thank you so much! Very cool about Oxbow allowing dogs inside. Will check out the other spots too!

 

Not much to add but a recent trip with a toddler we hit:
Scales (early bird seating basically, but packed. Great food. Toddler of course went after the bread, but the tuna and scallions, crab fritters, and bread were great). It's loud enough and not at all intimate, so I think I chose right for this to be the fancy/upscale spot for the trip.

Becky's. Kids or not, do it.

High roller lobster.
We stuck with the lobster tails and kiddo with a cheese sandwich with a bit of our lobster. Beer menu very local and good. Kid friendly, if you can hit it without a big wait. Service is meh for the pricing but they did well with the fries/lobster/dips.

Duckfat. Go. Get the fries. Get the sandwich of your choice. And assume your child will drink an entire milkshake.
They have an outdoor pre seating area so you can get their bottle/ can menu there as you wait.

Hit belleflower. Nice place, but only if you like NEIPAs and stouts. If you don't, not your place.

Novare. Got some Lawsons and some Belgian there and, had I been with friends, maybe would've gotten a bottle of Barreled souls to share, but not solo. No need to order food, all open.

Portland beer hub. Very nice little place, great to go and stay in (draft bottle and cans) all local. Mix a 4 pack at $19 to go. $7 cans. Recommend especially if you're nearby and want to grab to go (say, if you had a child and can't visit every brewer).

Speckled axe. Great as always, and the new spot is open to small numbers of people to drink in.

Maine BC only did to go as they require 90 min reservations so I didn't want to suck a spot up.

Eastern Promenade Children's Playground. Go if you have kids. Food trucks on Saturday too.

Holy donut. Had to drive to their location but the new one downtown opens this week I think.

 

Any suggestions for fun hikes / outdoor activities in Portland? We decided to take our dog last minute so looking for more outdoorsy stuff. Thank you!

 

Go to Portland Head Light in Cape Elizabeth, only minutes from Portland. You won’t regret it. It’s absolutely beautiful. It’s a large park with plenty of space for the dog to stretch his legs. The park is actually called Fort Williams Park.

Check out the website:
https://portlandheadlight.com/

 

thank you!

 

The area around Fort Allen Park and East End Beach is great for views and walking. Easy parking and in Portland limits too.

 

Check out Portland Trails, they maintain a bunch of great trails within the city limits ( https://trails.org/)

I’m a big fan of Presumpscot River Preserve and Jewell Falls.

 

Awesome info, thank you!

 

Just random thoughts from my trip Tuesday afternoon to today:

Belleflower is the real deal. After having one can of a 4-pack of the Barn Hex DIPA back at my mom's that evening, I came back for another one the next day. The Vitamin Sea fruited IPA collab draft only now was a lot more Oh-J than Lone Pine's version, that is for sure.

Finally had the brisket tacos from Terlingua, christ it took long enough! But I am a believer, and am getting some food to go tonight for my family to enjoy.

Maybe in big part due to the pandemic, but Maine Beer Co. is basically a pizza place instead of a taproom now (but I hadn't been for 2+ years). I walked in, read the room, and just got a few bottles to go.

As opposed to MBC, I enjoyed the new Mast Landing space up the street in Freeport. Taproom first and foremost, and the food truck there full time offers small snack sizes of food. The $1.99 caprese salad and small fries hit the spot until I got back to Portland for a proper meal.

The Willowdale Golf Club in Scarborough is serviceable. Good shape, par 70 and played 5,900 yards from the whites. They just enforced 90 degree cart to fairway rule and no coolers, so be aware of that. My round ended at 11:45am so coolers weren't an issue.

As we speak am enjoying a Peach Vanilla Dome at Definitive and realize I need to turn in my BA card because I'm a fan of this series! Always need to get 4-packs to go.

 

Don't sleep on the ribs, they're EXCELLENT!

We all make mistakes sometimes.

But seriously, that stuff from them is good, but I don't think I can have more than a few ounces of it.

 

My stepfather is asking for orders of the ribs to go so he knows what's up!

 

I grabbed a 4 pack of Vanilla Superdome when I was up there. Just a truly ridiculous beer. I'm generally not a milkshake guy, but that beer was incredible.

 

Gotta add, that the new museum, while good for BB revenue. Has essentially ruined going to the taproom on a weekend. Even as a parent I can say it plain sucks. We knew it would be hell but wanted to try dbl lux and are kid free. Listening to people say what is this place and the kids being miserable after being at a fun museum and still jacked up thrown to a bar room. It’s rough

beer, still fire

NONE of this is BB fault

 

Got back yesterday evening from a great weekend in Portland. Arrived around 4:30 on Friday and checked into the Hilton Canopy in the Old Port. Brand new hotel (opened last month I think, and not all the rooms are open yet). Loved the hotel, great location, nice rooms, and free bikes (although we didn't' use them since we had our dog).

On Friday, we walked over to Oxbox and had a couple beers, including the house flight. Great spot and nice tables outside. Headed over to Belleflower next for a beer; really enjoyed our beers there. I had a galaxy IPA and my wife had the DIPA collab with Vitamin Sea, both were great. Then onto Austin Street to end that part of the evening, really nice outdoor space and solid beers. Tood an uber back to town, and put our names on the list at High Roller. Grabbed a beer (Dbl Lux, delicious) at Novare Res while waiting for our table. High Roller was fun; I don't like seafood because I'm boring, but my wife loved her lobster roll.

On Saturday we drove over to Portland Head Light in Cape Elizabeth, big thanks to @Stormfield for the suggestion. Absolutely beautiful spot and a great place to take our dog. Grabbed lunch at Pai Men (love their ramen) and then took an Uber to Allagash. Had a couple beers there and then a couple more at Definitive; they had some fun milkshake / lactose fruited beers. No Uber/Lyfts were available without like a 40 minute wait, so we called 207 taxi and they sent someone over in like 20 minutes, which was great. Dinner at Scales was really nice. I had a burger because I'm boring, but everything was great. We sat outside, which was pretty and much much quieter than the inside dining room. Ended the night with a drink at the rooftop bar of our hotel (Luna).

Stopped by Foundation so my wife could try their brambleberry sour before leaving town, and then to Allagash for lunch at Bite Into Maine.

All in all, another wonderful trip to Portland. Always love how inexpensive the world-class beer is compared to Boston, but also always scratch my head at how spendy the hotels are. We used free night certificates at the hilton, but the cash rate for our hotel like like $700, crazy! Can't wait to get back soon.

 

Last time we stayed in Portland, we stayed at an awesome little Airbnb up on Munjoy Hill. Inexpensive and close to Oxbow. Look around online for something similar for your next trip. Just pay up a little to ensure a nice place and convenient location, and you’ll still pay much less than an Old Port hotel. Nice restaurant on Munjoy Hill called The Front Room. Great food, great small neighborhood atmosphere. Many of the locals love the place. Our friend who lives in South Portland turned us on to it. Also, get a reservation at David’s (our SoPo friend turned us on to this place too). Have your wife order the open-faced lobster ravioli and don’t forget to begin the meal with an order of garlic knots. The place is awesome. They have non-seafood for you. You’ll both leave very happy.