Even if you can’t make it to the annual Maine Lobster Festival in Rockland, there are some really good restaurants in Midcoast Maine where you can get your fill of lobster.

Rockland

The Lobster Shack in Rockland, Maine, is known for its succulent lobster rolls as well as for homemade side dishes like pickled green beans, rice salad, Asian slaw, corn bread, and clam and fish chowders. If you ask nicely, the people who run the restaurant will even share their favorite recipes with you.

The Landings on Commercial Street features its own unique take on crustacean cookery: Lobster Pie. Fresh Maine lobster, fresh corn, and potatoes are combined under a cracker crumb topping and served with grilled crostini. The chefs also combine lobsters with oyster mushrooms, fresh peas, and Arborio rice for a melt-in-your-mouth-delicious risotto. They also serve their version of a lobster BLT.

Camden

Natalie’s in Camden is the only dining establishment in the state to have made it onto OpenTable’s list of the Top 100 Best Restaurants in America. Housed in an attractive, converted Victorian, Natalie’s offers a fixed price tasting menu that allows you to sample succulent lobsters prepared four different ways with paired wines, and amuse-bouches and other palate cleansers between courses.

The Waterfront is a more casual restaurant that serves lobsters in soups, salads, and sandwiches as well as fresh-steamed with melted butter, fresh lemon, and a bib. Locals and tourists agree this restaurant is among the best places for lobster Maine. Additional menu items showcase many other types of seafood that are caught locally, fresh produce in season, and homemade bread and desserts.

Rockport

The proprietors of Graffam Bros Seafood Shack in Rockport also run their own retail fish store right across the street so you know they use fresh seafood in such New England staples as lobster rolls, crab rolls, fried clams, fried shrimp, fried scallops and fried haddock sandwiches. They also serve whole steamed lobsters. Though the Shack is primarily a take-out location, there are tables, benches, and umbrellas nearby.

Owls Head

The only restaurant in Owls Head is the Owls Head General Store, which doesn’t serve Maine lobster. The General Store does serve other seafood dishes, including haddock sandwiches, chowder, and fish tacos. If you need to take a break from seafood, try the tasty Seven Napkin Burger, which no less an authority than the Food Network has dubbed the Best Hamburger in Maine.