The Chef The Gardener - Saco

What a pleasant surprise! We were searching for a nice dinner for our last night in Maine, and this place delivered. Our waiter was extremely professional. Helpful but not hovering, friendly but not fake. All the food is local and fresh. I ordered a mocktail and the waiter helpfully suggested a blueberry lemonade which was awesome. My husband had a Jim beam peach Arnold Palmer, which was lovely and well priced. I started with the onion soup; really flavorful broth despite being vegan. I did add cheese, which was not a mistake. Yum. For an entree, I had the short ribs. Flavorful and tender, and a healthy portion! The sides were whatever is fresh and local, which I love. My husband's chicken was flavorful, and the chicken was also really high quality meat. It came from just up the road! In all, highly recommend for dinner when you're in the area. It beats the heck out of eating your twentieth overpriced lobster roll.

The Chef The Gardener has been a spot that I had gone to for lunch and have always enjoyed their food offerings. Their lunch menu is filled with a variety of soups, salads, and sandwiches that are always fresh and reasonably priced. I also appreciate their aesthetic of farm to table , as there are not many restaurants like that in the Biddeford/Saco area. Knowing that their lunch has always been decent, I had wanted to give their dinner a try. I happened to come here on a Saturday evening and had made a reservation. The restaurant was very quiet, as my friend and I were the only ones there. As time went on, the restaurant slowly got populated, however, I don 't think reservations are quite needed. We were quickly greeted by our waiter, who was sincere and knowledgeable, and he walked through the menu with us. They have an extensive wine list with wines that you would find at your local grocery store, so there was nothing totally unexpected. They also featured a couple of cocktail offerings that reflected the time of year. As far as their menu, there were a decent amount of offerings ranging from pork, seafood, and two vegetarian dishes. My friend ended up ordering the salmon and I ended up ordering the haddock florentine. Because they are a farm to table, their vegetable offering was a zucchini, green beans, and turnip medley with mashed potatoes. As we waited for our dinner, the waiter brought over complimentary bread and butter. The bread was cheddar biscuits and the butter was a maple butter. Unfortunately, the biscuits were incredibly dry, and not even the butter could salvage the dryness. Our food came out promptly. My haddock was decent, but seemed like it was lacking something. The vegetables were cooked and seasoned perfectly and the mashed potatoes were just...meh. My friend 's salmon had been broiled and had very charred and hard edges, and was dry. I wasn 't totally wowed by their dinner, especially for the prices of the dishes. The dinner offerings ranged from $17-30 a plate. Given the food we received and the lack of flavor combinations, I didn 't think that it was worth the price point. However, I will continue to come for their lunch offerings, as that is where I think they thrive.

A solid 4.5 rounded up. Great food and excellent service. Large selection of Certified Gluten Free items without the usual gluten free lack of texture and taste! Vegan (shepherd's pie) options and carnivorous menu (pork belly) items as well! I was browsing for a coffee shop and stumbled on a listing that we just had to try. We back tracked an hour, with no regrets, the coffee shops forgotten. We greeted promptly and shown to our seats. Menus were presented and a quick overview of the establishment, specials and some off menu items. Wine samplings were offered prior to making our final selection. Our order (pictures posted): Pan Seared Pork Belly (fabulous), Maple Grilled Steak (fabulous), Portobello Wellington (near perfect if nit picking, I can point out that the dough slightly under, not quite golden, and still fabulous) the eclair dessert (fabulous) aside from excellent food that you can't grab at every corner, they clearly pride themselves in great service. Timing and Temps were perfect. Balsamic was a go to on our main courses and really touched on our preferred flavor profile. We were able to peek at some of the Halloween Wine Tasting wines and treats, along with having casual chats with staff. I will definitely be back if I ever make it out this way again. Appetizer, 2 main courses, wine, beer and dessert came to $90 after 20% tip. [Edit] Note: Be alert when approaching we did initally pass by before finding the place, as it's tucked away. Also, this is a cozy restaurant, only a handful of tables, calling ahead is certainly a good idea.

I've been excited to try this place for a long time and unfortunately it just did not live up to my expectations. I got the Pan Seared Scallops with lobster risotto in a sherried beurre blanc. Sadly the risotto was flavorless watery. I was so disappointed as I love risotto. The scallops were ok, nothing special. One pet peeve was the messy presentation with, what is I assume, paprika all over the rim of the plate. However the dessert was amazing. I got the profiterole, and it was simply divine. The atmosphere is cute and the service is great. The sting of a $27 sub-par scallop plate is going to stay with me and I may not go back.

Love, love this place! Always fresh and seasonal items for the menu, the unqiue martinis, excellent wine selection and friendly staff make this a must stop! Perfect for date night-this is the secret of the locals...