September 6, 2009
After arriving on Mount Dessert Island, on the way to Bar Harbor, there is a restaurant on the right called John Russell’s. It features the beers from Maine Coast Brewery which is next door. Today ƙ/6/09), there were four beers on tap: Pale Ale, IPA, Brown Ale and a Stout. They were enjoyable and the food was better than most brew pubs. The building, dining room and bar were relatively nondescript--kind of like a steakhouse, which is what Jack Russell’s is. The food was good--the prime rib was tender, the chicken parmesan was fine. I liked the clam chowder as it was not overly thick (like it normally is in Boston). The service was very accommodating. My wife and I wanted to split the prime rib--no problem. I asked for taster glasses--"let me check". Again, no prob. She wasn’t very knowledgeable about the beer, but then again, it seemed this place served the beer as an afterthought.

March 19, 2009
Nice little pub on the main road into Bar Harbour. I stayed just over the road from this place. It was winter and the only place available. Good beer selection available with some seasonals. The beer was good to average at most. Friendly service. I had a rib eye steak which was very tasty and perfectly cooked. Overall a decent place in a friendly town in a friendly state.

July 16, 2008
Établissement visité le 5 juillet vers 18h. Ambiance: Vieille maison transformée en restaurant. Terrasse sur le gazon et au deuxième étage. Radio en sourdine. Service: Très serviable. Excellente explication du menu bouffe et bière. Sélection: 4 fûts maisons et 1 fût d’Harpoon. Nourriture: En entrée nous avons pris une chaudrée de palourde et une bisque d’homard. Comme plats principaux nous avons pris le Jack Russell’s Jonesport Crab Cakes et le Baked Stuffes Seafood Sampler. Le tout était excellent. (101e rating d’établissement)

June 9, 2008
This place was a bit outside of the main area of Bar Harbor, but it’s on the main road on the way into town. Nice building, which is a larger house converted into a restaurant/brewery. There was a nice garden/patio area off ther side of the place as well. Service was attentive, fast and friendly. She was also pretty familiar with their beers. The beers weren’t the greatest, but they were all drinkable and wouldn’t be bad to session. Food looked really good, but I had already eaten. Decent place

December 28, 2006
Went to eat on our 2004 back east tour. We had steaks, we had enough seafood for awhile, and they managed to burn mine when I ordered medium rare, my girlfriend ordered heres well done, which it was but got hers soaked in Kosher salt. The beers were tolerable until I got to the Pumpkin Spice which tasted like malt vinegar. I knew I had my fill then and paid the bill and left. Yet my memories of this place don’t indict it as bad as I make it sound. I would go back and hope that the chef was having an off night the first time we went.

August 9, 2006
The only Bar Harbor brewery which is actually close to the main drag: 30-min-walk close, that is. The other two being in the towns of Otter Creek and Town Hill. If you don’t want to walk the 20-30 minutes required from downtown to get here, you can get on the free Island Explorer bus (bus #2 in this case), which will take you from the Village Green straight to the Jack Russell restaurant, within the busy hotel area. We didn’t eat here (too many more interesting restaurants in the area, such as Seasons - A New American Kitchen), but the seafood menu was appetizing. The woman working the bar was a true professional, a serving machine on a very busy night who took all orders from waiters and waitresses without ever writing anything down, while still serving bar patrons with a smile. An impressive bartending display to say the least. The beers we had here were from so-so to quite good, the Oatmeal Stout and Wild Blueberry Ale standing out to our palates. They are now bottling some of their beers, and those can be found in town at J.H.Butterfield’s general store on Main Street.

December 16, 2005
cool place - pictures of little jack russell dogs all over the place even in the bathrooms. Food was good - beer was blah.

July 7, 2005
Beers are pretty lacking, dining is nice. Service is so-so. Our waiter seemed pretty out of it. Nice little restaurant though with good food.