RFK Rankings · Portland, Maine
Best Restaurants for Brunch in Portland Me (2026)
Weekend brunch · Portland, Maine · 7 rooms ranked · Updated June 2026
Compiled by the Restaurants for Kings editorial team · Published April 5, 2024 · Updated June 9, 2026 · Reviewed by Fredrik Filipsson, Editor-in-Chief · How we rank · Corrections
Portland, Maine punches far above its size at dinner, and the same chefs and the same scratch kitchens cook breakfast. The city's brunch runs on restored diner cars on the waterfront, scratch bakeries in the Old Port, and Southern and Texas kitchens run by cooks with fine-dining backgrounds. These seven, ranked, are where a Saturday morning in Portland is best spent, from a five-dollar diner stool to a chef-run room that books on Resy.
1.Dutch's
Lucy and Ian Dutch's counter running the hot-maple fried-chicken sandwich and the Dutch's Danish. The reader-vote pick; go early.
Lucy and Ian Dutch, both with San Francisco and Boston fine-dining backgrounds, opened Dutch's at 28 Preble Street in 2014 and built a counter-service brunch around their own baking. The signatures are the Dutch's Danish and the hot-maple fried-chicken sandwich, chicken thigh in spicy maple with bacon and cheese on a pancake bun, with plates 9 to 18 dollars.
The Portland Press Herald readers voted it the city's best brunch, and Conde Nast Traveler called its breakfast sandwich the best in town. It runs Wednesday to Sunday, 8:00 to 2:00, walk-in and counter only, so arrive early before the Old Port line forms. For the best breakfast sandwich in Maine, this is the room.
2.Ocotillo
The Reynoldses' West End room running a mushroom taco the New York Times named among 2024's best. Book on Resy.
Melanie and Pliny Reynolds, who run the East Bayside barbecue spot Terlingua, opened Ocotillo at 211 Danforth Street in the West End in 2024. The kitchen is Texas-Mexican: a knockout mushroom taco the New York Times named among the 26 best dishes of 2024, a Terlingua brisket hash, and gluten-free buttermilk masa pancakes, with plates 9 to 22 dollars.
Yankee magazine named it Best New Brunch, and the bread comes from the James Beard-winning ZUBakery. It takes reservations on Resy and runs daily, weekdays from 9:00 and weekends from 8:00. For the most exciting new brunch in the city, and one you can actually book, Ocotillo is the pick.
3.The Front Room
Harding Lee Smith's Munjoy Hill room running a gnocchi Benedict and corned beef hash. One of the few that takes a booking.
Harding Lee Smith opened The Front Room at 73 Congress Street on Munjoy Hill in 2005, the first of his three Portland Room restaurants. The brunch is New American comfort cooking: a corned beef hash and a gnocchi Benedict, poached eggs and hollandaise over potato dumplings, with plates 14 to 27 dollars.
It is one of the few brunch rooms in the city that takes a reservation, by phone or OpenTable, which is the structural advantage on a busy Munjoy Hill weekend. The room runs daily, from 9:00 most days and 8:00 on Sunday. For a sit-down, bookable brunch with a real kitchen behind it, The Front Room is the Munjoy Hill answer.
4.Hot Suppa
The Congress Street institution running fried chicken and waffles and a Maine-maple plate. A Portland brunch fixture.
Hot Suppa opened at 703 Congress Street in 2006 and is the Arts District's Southern-comfort brunch institution. The kitchen runs a fried chicken and waffle with a buttermilk waffle and Maine maple syrup, a corned beef hash, and biscuits and sausage gravy, alongside its eggs Benedicts.
Founders Alec and Moses Sabina handed the room in January 2025 to chosen successors who pledged to keep the menu and the feel intact, so the fixture continues. It runs daily, 8:00 to 2:00, walk-in. The room is a Congress Street constant rather than a trend, which is the point. For Southern brunch in the centre of town, Hot Suppa holds the line.
5.Becky's Diner
The working-harbor diner on Commercial Street running lobster Benedict and blueberry pancakes from 5am. The value pick.
Becky's Diner opened at 390 Commercial Street on the Old Port waterfront in 1991 and is the working-harbor breakfast room, open from 5:00 in the morning for the fishermen and everyone after them. The kitchen runs blueberry pancakes, a lobster omelette and a lobster eggs Benedict, and a corned beef hash, with plates 8.50 to 21 dollars.
Gourmet magazine called it diner heaven back in 1999, and it remains the value pick on this list. It is walk-in, daily, with breakfast running until mid-afternoon. The harbor view comes free with the eggs. For an early, cheap, genuinely Maine waterfront brunch, Becky's is the institution.
6.Bayside American Cafe
The Bayside institution running cinnamon-bun pancakes and a Bayou Benedict. A local brunch staple since 1990.
Bayside American Cafe at 98 Portland Street has run as a local brunch institution since 1990, opened as Bintliff's and rebranded Bayside in 2015 under Joe and Diane Catoggio. The kitchen runs house-made corned beef hash, specialty cinnamon-bun pancakes, and a Louisiana Bayou Benedict with grilled andouille, corncakes and Cajun hollandaise, with mains 14 to 23 dollars.
It is walk-in only and runs daily, weekdays 8:00 to 1:00 and weekends 7:00 to 2:00, with the usual weekend wait. The specialty pancakes and the Bayou Benedict are the reasons to find Portland Street. For a classic American brunch from a room that has held its place for over thirty years, Bayside is the staple.
7.Miss Portland Diner
The restored 1949 Worcester dining car running ten omelets and blueberry pancakes. A piece of Maine history with a griddle.
Miss Portland Diner runs at 140 Marginal Way in a restored 1949 Worcester Lunch Car, one of the oldest eateries in the city, relocated to its current Bayside site in 2008. The kitchen runs blueberry pancakes, sausage-gravy biscuits, chocolate chip pancakes and ten signature omelets, with plates 9.25 to 19 dollars.
It is walk-in and daily, weekdays 7:00 to 2:00 and weekends to 2:30, and the restored dining car is as much the draw as the griddle. The diner is a piece of Maine history that still cooks a full breakfast every morning. For a classic American diner brunch in a genuine 1949 car, Miss Portland is the one.
Not for everyone
Famous, but not the brunch you want
Frog & Turtle, Westbrook. This gastropub was famous for an unusual brunch, but it closed for good in March 2025 after seventeen years, undone by a city sprinkler mandate, and the space is becoming an Indian restaurant. It is also in Westbrook, not Portland proper. Do not plan a brunch around it.
Central Provisions, Old Port. Chris Gould's James Beard-pedigreed small-plates room on Fore Street is a dinner and cocktail destination that diners often wrongly slot as brunch. The kitchen is built for evening small plates, not a weekend brunch service. Book it for dinner; go elsewhere on this list for the morning.
Fore Street, Old Port. Portland's most iconic fine-dining room, co-founded by 2026 James Beard winner Dana Street, is dinner only and does not serve brunch. People expect it to do everything; it does not do the morning. Save Fore Street for an evening and brunch at one of the rooms above.
How to brunch in Portland, Maine
Most of Portland's brunch is walk-in, so timing is the lever. Dutch's, Becky's, Bayside and the two diners take no bookings and build weekend lines, so the play is the first turn at opening, and Becky's opens at 5:00 for the genuinely early table. The exceptions are Ocotillo, which takes Resy, and The Front Room, which takes a phone or OpenTable booking, the two to reserve.
The scene is compact and walkable. The Old Port holds Dutch's and Becky's on the waterfront; Bayside and Miss Portland sit just inland off Marginal Way; the West End has Ocotillo and Munjoy Hill has The Front Room, both a short walk or a quick drive from the centre. A slow morning can move from a diner stool to a chef's room without leaving the peninsula.
If the trip allows a side trip, the best breakfast in the region may be just south. Palace Diner in Biddeford, a James Beard-nominated room in a 1927 Pollard dining car run by Greg Mitchell and Chad Conley, is frequently crowned Maine's best breakfast, about twenty minutes down the coast. It is not in Portland, but it is worth the drive on a morning with time.
Frequently asked
What is the best brunch in Portland, Maine?
Dutch's in the Old Port, a scratch-bakery counter that Portland Press Herald readers voted the city's best brunch. The hot-maple fried-chicken sandwich and the Dutch's Danish are the dishes, with plates 9 to 18 dollars. It is walk-in and counter only, Wednesday to Sunday, so arrive early before the line forms.
Do you need a reservation for brunch in Portland, Maine?
At most rooms, no, because they are walk-in. Dutch's, Becky's, Bayside and the diners take no bookings, so timing is the lever: arrive at opening to beat the weekend line. The two that take reservations are Ocotillo, on Resy, and The Front Room, by phone or OpenTable, both worth booking for a sit-down brunch.
Where is the best lobster brunch in Portland, Maine?
Becky's Diner on the Old Port waterfront, where the lobster omelette and the lobster eggs Benedict come with a working-harbor view. It opens at 5:00 in the morning and runs plates from 8.50 to 21 dollars, the value pick on the list. For a fancier lobster plate, the chef-run rooms run seasonal specials worth asking after.
When is brunch served in Portland, Maine?
Early. Becky's opens at 5:00, the diners and Bayside from 7:00 to 8:00, and most kitchens run breakfast until early afternoon, around 1:00 to 2:00. Dutch's runs Wednesday to Sunday rather than daily, so check the day. The weekend lines build mid-morning, so the first turn at opening is the quiet table.
How much does brunch cost in Portland, Maine?
It spans the range. Becky's Diner runs 8.50 to 21 dollars and Miss Portland from 9.25, the value end; the chef-run rooms run higher, with The Front Room 14 to 27 dollars and Ocotillo 9 to 22. A diner brunch with coffee lands near 15 to 20 dollars a head, a chef's room nearer 25 to 35.
Related rankings
More from RFK
Browse the full Portland, Maine dining guide, compare the New England weekend table in the Boston brunch ranking, see the West Coast namesake in the Portland, Oregon brunch ranking, explore the best restaurants by occasion, or open the full RFK rankings index.
Restaurants for Kings is reader-supported. Some reservation links are affiliate links with OpenTable, Resy or Tock; this never affects which restaurants we rank or the order they appear in. See our ranking methodology.