Twelve Maine restaurants and one island – yes, Cabbage Island Clambakes – made it onto Yelp’s Top 100 New England places to eat this year. This top attraction of the Boothbay region placed 43rd.

The owners, brothers Wayne and Bob Moore, and the staff are as important as the traditional Maine clambake they’ve been serving since 1986. The meal is a lobster lover’s dream: two steamed Maine lobsters, steamers, corn on the cob, potato, hard boiled egg, chowder, and dessert – Maine blueberry cake. All meals come with soft drinks; adult beverages are available, but paid for at the bar.

Wayne was happy to hear of the Yelp honor. “That’s cool,” he said. “I’m going to have to check it out. I follow Trip Advisor, but I never followed Yelp.”

Almost every reviewer comments about how friendly and attentive the staff and the Moore brothers are. Wayne and Bob have been greeting every visitor as they disembark the Bennie Alice since the family began hosting the clambakes in 1989.

Here are a few of the recent reviews: From Westford, Massachusetts: “Wayne and Bob made the whole difference. This is a genuine American family business that is highly recommended. The (staff) was awesome from the ticket window guy (til) the end, where the owners themselves welcome every single guest on the island. The food is above and beyond. I cannot stop talking (about) how wonderful these people are. Indeed, we will come back and thank you so much guys for the detailed caring that you showed to us.”

From St. Augustine, Florida: “Great experience and great food. The four-hour experience flew by. Owners and Staff are super friendly. Definitely recommend it as an experience if in the area.”

A guest from Lawrence, Massachusetts: “5 stars is not enough to rate such amazing experience!! Super recommend, food, staff, environment, incredible.”

From Virginia Beach, Virginia: “I booked the clambake for my family trip to New England, 13 of us in total. We had an amazing time. The boat captain did a wonderful job giving us information about the Boothbay Harbor area. We were greeted in the dock at Cabbage Island by the owners of the island, Bob and Wayne Moore. They spent the next three hours mingling among the 200 people who were there to enjoy the food. The clambake comes with a cup of seafood chowder, two lobsters, an ear of corn, a bunch of steamer clams, and a baked potato. Everything was delicious. It was an all around great experience. I can't recommend it highly enough.”

And Dighton, Massachusetts: “The whole experience was outstanding but what made the day besides the great food and wonderful tour of the harbor was the unbelievably great staff. Just young kids but they (couldn’t) do enough for us and (they were) beyond pleasant. Thanks for a great day.”

Here’s where all of the Maine restaurants placed on Yelp’s Top 100, and where they placed: #5 - Hot Suppa, Portland; #7 - Bite Into Maine, Cape Elizabeth; #13. - The Travelin’ Lobster, Bar Harbor; #14 - Crunchy Poké, Portland; #17 - Coffee ME Up, Portland; #19 - Maine Oyster Company, Portland; #49 - Maiz Colombian Street Food, Forest Avenue location, Portland; #63 - Isa Bistro, Portland; #64. Peter Trout’s Tavern and Inn, Manset; #68 - State Lunch, Augusta; #75 - Chez Rosa, Kennebunkport and #88 - Broken Arrow, Portland.

Yelp identified businesses in the restaurants category, then ranked those spots using factors including the total volume and ratings of reviews between Jan. 1, 2017, and July 27, 2022. This list looked at businesses in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Yelp Inc. is an American company that develops the Yelp.com website and the Yelp mobile app, which publish crowd-sourced reviews about businesses.