Balance Rock Inn

Our morning breakfast was "awesome". Portions were more than adequate and quality was top shelf! Our server "Eric" was courteous, prompt with suggestions of what to see and eat. We will be back !

We are blessed to have the Balance Rock Inn Restaurant to jazz up any ordinary day to the spectacular.
My mom and I had the most delicious vichyssoise soup with fresh garlic flowers intermingled to add a delicate spice to the overall mouth feel. Add in a half bottle of Heidsieck Monopole Champagne.. and this was the first course. Bravo Chef & Team. Did I mention the wine list? Ok, I am biased to well curated and all things created with a background in Methodical placement & Epicurean intellect.

Traveler beware! Horrible cancelation policy. The hotel charges full stay amount regardless of cancelation circumstances. Tries to push their own "insurance" as a means for more revenue. There are better hotels on the island that are more customer service oriented.

There were parts of this stay that we loved, but also parts that were subpar. First, the parts we loved: Location is incredible. It is close to everything, but not in the middle of the tour bus/cruise ship chaos. It is a quiet location, and beautifully situation on the water. We watched the sunrise over the water, from our room each morning. Loved that our room had a fireplace. Made to order breakfast is included, and was delicious. We really enjoyed sitting on the patio for breakfast! Coffee/Tea bar was fresh, with great coffee. Staff were very friendly. Housekeeping attended our room daily. Loved the lounge. Casual before/after dinner, with fireplace and live music. Oh, speaking of dinner, the hotel restaurant was delicious.

What we didn't love: Our room (Ocean View King 309) was super dated. Not B&B charming dated, but we are talking an ugly 80's bathroom and probably 4 decades old couch. The red and green carpet seemed similarly aged, and occasionally when we'd come in the room, we were welcomed to a slight smell of dog pee. (Though we didn't bring our dogs.) There are many rooms that have been updated, but in my opinion, the state of the room we were in did not warrant the price we paid. Also, they had an open pool, but really what would have been useable during our visit would have been a hot tub overlooking the water. I was so envious of the hotel next to us, and the steam coming from theirs.

Speaking of price, they charge an absolute premium. I don't mind spending top dollar on hotels, and we've stayed at a wide range of hotels, including many Ritz. We paid almost Ritz pricing, yet I think (our room in particular) was worth maybe half. I might have felt differently about our experience, and the value of what we spent, if our room didn't feel straight of the 80's, 40 years old.

We loved our time in Bar Harbor, but if we return we will look at some other options.

The rooms were clean and nicely decorated. The staff were friendly and helpful. The best view you could ask for with a plato and fire pit for enjoyable outdoor experience. You can walk to downtown Bar Harbor from the Inn. The breakfast was absolutely delicious every day. We would love to come back and would highly recommend staying here.

I spent two very very delightful nights here and would have stayed for a year if I didn't have to get back to work. The room, the service, the food were all exquisite. The vibe was soothing and uplifting without being intrusive. Breakfast in the enclosed outdoors made morning fine. The room overlooked the ocean which was a special treat.
This inn is highly recommended!!!

We spent a week here and absolutely loved it!! If you are looking for that high end boutique type of stay, with high touch service, and the old world charm of a historical house then this is the place! I can't speak highly enough about the staff - super friendly, highly attentive, and very accommodating (special thanks to Richard, Misty, and Linda). The accommodations were really nice and are comparable to that of a high end bed and breakfast. Speaking of breakfast, it is complimentary and included with your stay - the menu provides something for everyone. We stayed in the carriage house with the private patio which was really nice and private. I read some of the other reviews and will agree that there are a few minor maintenance type of things that should be addressed here and there based on the price and expectations of the experience; however, we thoroughly enjoyed our time here and plan to visit again!!

Had a good dinner here tonight. Service was good but not polished if you are expecting fine service etiquette but finding fine dining servers in town is pretty hard. Lots of elbows in face, handles in wrong directions and proteins facing in odd directions. Service was attentive however and friendly. Savory dishes were good. I am not a fan of olives and they were on the amuse but it was very well balanced. Foie and smoked char were well executed. All the dishes were very classic pairings of ingredients and while not incredibly inventive the cookery was spot on. Lamb shank and polenta had great flavor but was slightly under-roasted and therefore required a knife. Duck and cherry dish was perfectly cooked. Wine list was good overall with a balance of interesting lesser known brands as well as some big name splurge brands. Happy to see cal pinot by the glass that wasn't sonoma and a paso rhone. Tons of spelling errors on the list however and it would be nice if the German riesling listed its pradikat level so sweetness level was more obvious. The banana creme brulee torte was overset and had an omelet texture but the ice cream was good. Overall im being very picky in my critique as this is definitely one of the nicer restaurants on island and worth multiple visits. I will return for sure. I should note however the cocktail lounge singer was probably the worst i have ever heard. I could hear the other tables near me also commenting on how bad she was. It definitely took away from the otherwise wonderful ambiance and decor of the restaurant. I can only assume she is the owner's wife or something because I don't see any other reason to have her there. If she had just played the piano it would have been lovely but the singing honestly has to go.

Beautiful location and dining room
Friendly and attentive staff
Interesting wines
Well cooked food

Dinner for two $330. Nice bottle of overpriced wine,
Appetizer shared scallops very nice, I had the flank steak
which was as good as a flank steak can be, Judy had the leg of lamb , which was to tough to eat! Service was slow
got there at 6;30 served at 8:00. Waiter apologized for the lamb, but didn't comp it or maybe offer a dessert,
Kinda felt like you are a tourist so you won't be back anyway! He right, not a class act! Very disappointed.

Thank you Claire and Richard, we stayed with you two months ago and still have fond memories of our stay at Balance Rock. A special place. Kudos to Jeremy for his attention to detail when we checked out early with a packed breakfast.