Tables Worth Finding
An Opinionated Guide to Eating in the Lakes Region
Here’s something nobody tells you before you move up here from a city.
The food will surprise you. But not always in the ways you expect, and not always on the first try.
I spent over a decade in Boston and lived in Philadelphia, PA and Santiago de Chile prior to Boston. I ate well in those places. Really well. The kind of well where you have a neighborhood Italian place that knows your order, a cocktail bar that takes its ice program seriously, and a rotating list of new restaurants to work through that never quite gets shorter. Those cities have depth. Real depth. The kind that comes from density and ambition and the intentional juxtapositions of cultures and cuisines. Oh, and culinary talent that can actually afford to stay.
The Lakes Region…is different. I say this without (much, serious) complaint because the reasons make complete sense. Restaurant margins are brutal under the best conditions. A five-month tourist season makes the math even harder. Recruiting culinary talent to a rural market, away from the network and the energy of an urban food scene, is genuinely difficult. Chef-entrepreneurs take real risks here. The ones who make it work deserve credit for that.
And yet.
You can eat extraordinarily well up here. You just have to know where to look, and sometimes you have to know what to order.
This is my current, opinionated, entirely personal guide. I’ve eaten at all of these places. I only included the ones I’d send you to without hesitation - and if I’ve mentioned a particular dish or drink I’m not saying you have to have it…but I won’t be held responsible if you go off list (wink wink).
For an Italian dinner that puts the North End to shame
If you can get a reservation at Bernini’s in Meredith, take it. I have never had a bad meal there. More than that, I have never walked out feeling like a customer. They make you feel like family from the first visit, which is either a remarkable skill or actual warmth; after enough meals there, I’ve stopped trying to figure out which. Eat anything, eat everything. Start it out with a house cosmo and round it out with some amaretto on the rocks. You’re welcome.
If you want to go a little further, or you’re set on Italian, but can’t get into Bernini’s, head to Dante’s in Barrington. Start with the antipasto, the mushrooms are amazing. So far from the pickled slimy ones you get at the supermarket you’ll never settle for those again. They’re committed to keeping wine affordable so get a bottle or two of the Gavi. For your entree, the linguini with shellfish and the pork medallions over polenta are both the kind of dish you’ll think about on the drive home. I should also tell you about the cannoli, though I came to it reluctantly. I generally prefer a cocktail to dessert. A dining companion finally talked me into sharing one and I’ll admit it: I finally understood what all the fuss was about. The ricotta filling was creamy and savory in equal measure. The shells were crisp in a way that told you they’d been filled to order, not hours ago. If you’ve had a lot of mediocre cannoli, this one will recalibrate you.
The honest truth about menus around here
A lot of them look the same. There’s a Lakes Region Greatest Hits situation happening across a fair number of restaurants, and I say that with affection and mild frustration in equal measure. Burgers, ribs, chowder, chicken tenders, pizza, something with maple. Fine. Sometimes good. Rarely surprising.
So here’s how I actually navigate it: I go to certain places for specific things, and I let the rest of the menu be what it is.
What I order, and where
Pizza: Brick oven, go to Nolan’s in Wolfeboro. Non-brick oven, White Lake Pizza in Ossipee near Chocorua Lake is legitimately excellent and worth the drive.
Seafood: Fresh oysters and seafood at the Wolfetrap in Wolfeboro. For fried seafood, drive to Blue Bay Seafood in East Wakefield. Great for families; the kind of place where kids are genuinely welcome and the fish is the real thing.
Tacos: Taco Bay. Originally in Alton Bay, now also in Laconia. Go. Be adventurous.
Sushi and cocktails (and yes, both): Saka in Wolfeboro. The sushi is good. The cocktails are shockingly good. I don’t know why I was surprised, but I was, and I’ve been correcting for it ever since.
A really great steak: O Bistro in Laconia.
BBQ: two directions
If you’re willing to get on Route 16, Mr. Sippy’s in Rochester is the answer. Worth every mile.
If you want to stay Lakes Region central, Refuge BBQ and Mercantile in Tuftonboro is your spot. Different vibe, same commitment to doing it right.
Breakfast
I’ll be honest with you: I have never been a breakfast person. I’ve had exactly one recurring breakfast situation in my life up here, and it’s at Lino’s Diner in Wakefield. I go at least once a week, usually for a meeting, and I leave every time feeling like I’ve stumbled into the set of a 1960s sitcom. In the best possible way. You walk in, call out a hello, pick your own table. The coffee arrives before you’ve decided what you’re doing. Your regular toast shows up on its own. It is a specific kind of New England institution that is not being made anymore, and I hope it never changes.
Coffee
Harmony Coffee House in Wolfeboro. Go for the coffee and the community vibe, stay for the roast beef and horseradish sandwich at lunch. Seriously. Don’t skip it.
Mello Moose in Meredith.
Cup and Crumb in Moultonborough. Scones, eat all the scones. Also lots of gluten free options for my friends who need that.
Just drinks
Sometimes you want a view and a well-made cocktail and nothing else is required of the evening. Two answers:
Garwoods in Wolfeboro, waterfront. The Dox in Laconia, also waterfront. Both deliver on the drinks and both have views that earn what you pay for them.
For something with a completely different energy: the Wakefield Inn. The speakeasy here is quaint and cool and quiet and while they recently lost a fabulous bartender, the atmosphere holds its own. Harley Jack’s if you want a beer, spectacular views of the Ossipee Mountains, and wings that are a stand out in a place where every single restaurant has wings on th menu. It’s the kind of place where the scenery does most of the heavy lifting and the wings and burgers refuse to be upstaged.
One I haven’t tried yet
Frida’s recently opened a new location in Gilford. It’s been on my list and I haven’t made it yet. If you’ve been, I genuinely want to hear what you thought. Drop it in the comments.
A closing thought
There are gaps up here. I notice them. I suspect anyone who has eaten well in a city and then moved somewhere smaller notices them too, and there’s a particular kind of craving that no amount of stunning lake views fully addresses. So if anyone reading this feels like opening an Indian restaurant or a Tapas and Wine bar, or a place that actually does justice to the amazing farm produce and meat on offer up here, let’s talk. I have zero dollars to invest, but lots of thoughts.
But there’s also this: the people who are cooking and farming and making things in this region are doing it because they love it. The margins don’t always make sense. The season is short. They stay anyway. That tends to produce food worth paying attention to.
Go find the tables worth finding. And, tell me what I’m missing out on, I’m always on the search for the next best meal.
🧭 Jenn
Keys to the Lakes
