Twelve
Restaurant · Portland
115 Thames St, Portland, ME 04101
Highlights
Upscale waterfront dining with innovative dishes like lobster croissant.
Upscale waterfront dining with innovative dishes like lobster croissant.
"A Thames Street restaurant where highly skilled front- and back-of-house teams apply creative techniques to classic Maine ingredients—expect inventive cocktails (think a kombu-infused martini), a choice to order a la carte or opt for a prix fixe, and a notable lobster roll served on a flaky croissant." - Jacqueline Dole Jacqueline Dole Jacqueline Dole is a food and travel journalist based in Maine. A lifelong New Englander, her work has appeared in Travel + Leisure, Food & Wine, TimeOut, Insider, Thrillist, Eater, and more. With a background as a pastry chef, she’s always on the lookout for the next best snack. She is a theme park enthusiast and expert, and embroidered hotel robes, amazing pools, and hot dogs are some of her favorite things. Travel + Leisure Editorial Guidelines
"Prentice Hospitality’s swanky waterfront establishment, Twelve, carries Portland’s fine dining mantle now that Hugo’s, Back Bay Grill, and Five Fifty-Five are no more. A la carte and prix fixe menus feature dishes like Nantucket Bay scallops in an apple soy vinaigrette and a decadent hot buttered lobster croissant, made here by pastry chef Georgia Macon. Whether you go for dinner or just pop in for a tipple, be sure to pair the Coastline Martini (sugar kelp, dill, and a touch of lemon oil) with Yukon potato chips topped by onion cream and trout roe. Prentice continues to grow its strong portfolio, including Mediterranean-inspired downtown hotel restaurant Evo; seasonal Chebeague Island Inn, reachable by ferry from Portland; The Good Table, whose menu of American classics has recently been reimagined in nearby Cape Elizabeth; and the wholesale and mobile bakery Not A Bakery, led by Macon." - Stasia Brewczynski
"As you might expect from a team that includes chef Colin Wyatt, an Eleven Madison Park alum, this is no simple Connecticut-style roll. Pastry chef Georgia Macon has entered the lobster roll canon with a flaky puff pastry, as crackly at the edges as the hunks of lobster are tender." - Adam H. Callaghan
"From a chef with stints at top New York restaurants comes a fine-dining take on the roll: warm lobster meat drenched in butter and served on a beautifully flaky, croissant-like roll created in collaboration with the pastry chef. The result is rich, texturally complex, and emblematic of the restaurant’s upscale waterfront approach; reservations can be hard to get, but walk-in bar seats offer a good alternative. Don’t skip the decadent chocolate sundae finished with miso caramel and Urfa pepper." - ByBriana Bononcini
"Most people eating at Twelve aren’t coming exclusively for the lobster roll. They’re coming to have a special occasion dinner on the waterfront in a space that looks like it could be in the pages of Kinfolk. But you should come here explicitly for the lobster roll, which is served warm, with butter, and a laminated croissant dough instead of a split-top roll. It’s definitely not traditional, but it’s executed perfectly. " - anne cruz
