Bintliff's Restaurant Review

Even though it was vacation we did manage to get to Bintliff's one morning for brunch as we'd heard so many good things about it. The decor here is like nothing you've ever seen before and can only be described as Victorian meets Grandma's attic. Eclectic is the word they usually apply. I am much more of a modernist, favoring minimalist design free of almost all decoration. So this was a bit overpowering at first. In fact, there is so much stuff in this place that I can't even recall what color the walls were.

Brunch here is not a buffet style which is good for one not into feedbag style dining. I prefer quality over quantity. The menu is extensive and many of the choices caught our attention so we all decided to order different items to have more for taste testing.


Eggs Florentine at Bintliff's in Ogunquit.

I went with the Eggs Florentine, two poached eggs on toasted English muffins with cream, spinach, smoked bacon, onion and herbs and asiago cheese. It was pretty standard as things go so I wished it had a bi more flair. Also the asiago needed more of a bite. It was somehow bland which is NOT what asiago should be. So, nothing special here.


Creme brulee french toast - stellar idea, poorly executed.

Karen went with the creme brulee french toast which sounded so good on the menu I would have ordered it if she had not. When it arrived, however, we all went looking for the carmelized top, nowhere to be found. Half the fun of creme brulee is digging the spoon in for that first crunch, like breaking the crispy layer of ice over fresh snow. There was no carmelized sheet to break here though, which was very disappointing. The creme portion was well done and the toast was fine. Maybe the torch was on the fritz that morning.


Chocolate pecan pancakes at Bintliff's.

Janet went with the chocolate pecan pancakes which looked great but seemed just a bit too sweet for my taste. A side order of corned beef hash, however, was really disappointing. It was basically a slab of corned beef, although and excellent cut of brisket, laid over some potatoes that were soggy and mushy. They were not even chopped together or mixed up as the definition of "hash" suggests. And I was really looking forward to a good, old-fashioned hash.

All in all the food was passable at best. The service is along the lines of what you would expect in a seaside resort at the start of the season: mediocre. It was just a bunch of kids working their summer jobs without the typical interest in the customer. If we rated things on a scale of ten Bintliff's would be about a five.

Bintliff's Restaurant
335 Main Street
Ogunquit, Maine 03907
Telephone: 207.646.3111