PineCrest Bed & Breakfast

What an amazing place! I spent a weekend here and it was absolutely perfect. Close enough to the city to get there in 20 mins yet far enough away so things like parking isn’t an issue. The hosts are amazing and the breakfasts, oh my god the breakfasts! I had blueberry and raspberry stuff croissants one morning and an egg scramble the next. Absolutely delicious! The room I stayed in upon the third floor was tucked away perfectly and the bed was so comfortable. Seriously, absolutely no complaints here. I see why they’ve gotten awards for excellence. Perfect getaway.

We ate at 91 South last night and it could not have been better. The Chef greeted us when we arrived and it was uphill from there. We sat on the closed in porch in the rear and it set the perfect atmosphere for a relaxing evening of dining. The food presented was exactly as described. I thoroughly enjoyed the Atlantic Salmon with a honey glaze on a bed of fingerling potatoes. The homemade fettuccini pasta with shrimp, kale and cherry tomatoes dish, which was shared by my dining partners, was also perfectly cooked and delicious. The service at 91 South was «spot on».
91 South Restaurant is located inside the beautiful PineCrest Inn which is within walking distance of the downtown area. We highly recommend 91 South for a special dining experience. Reservations are suggested on some nights since the dining seating is limited and the Inn hosts some special groups on occasion.

You can go into Portland and pay more for less of a meal, but why?
As always 91 South is our go to spot for dinner with friends. A nice clean, tight menu with super fresh food cooked well. A outstanding wine list, price reasonably. Staff that is attentive and knows the food and the wine. Handcrafted dinners, live music (jazz guitarist), Sweet!

The most welcoming, cozy yet elegant, understated sophistication as far as B&Bs go. Ive stayed in high end b&bs like the white barn inn and although it was beautiful and worth every penny, this is pretty close in over all experience at half if not ¹⁄₃ to ¼ the price depending on the season. Food is amazing. Wine is very eclectic and reasonably priced. The inn keepers husband and wife team are welcoming and so charming. The rooms are immaculate and amenities plentiful. Weekend wine tastings to rival new york city wine bars. I fell in love with this place.

Alright, if you want AMAZING food, with a gorgeous but private and romantic atmosphere this is the place to check out. The food is made fresh daily with local ingredients bought the day of service. Their chef Jim is a miracle worker in the kitchen.
The menu changes weekly (although the favorites still stay on) and they often have nightly local entertainment. They have an extensive wine list and a semi full bar that they keep adding to as customers request. The locals seriously come back every single week for this fare and I totally see why. The food is to die for!

We had such a great time here! Our room was beautiful and clean. Breakfast was delicious both days, but we will be coming bake for Amy’s stuffed french toast! Thank you Matt and Amy, we had a wonderful 1^st anniversary stay!

We loved our dinner here!
Excellent service and presentation of our food was worthy of a high end place.
We were the last peril to leave and have to say it was taught to get up. Aside from the AC blowing in my face — it’s a five star.

Fantastic dinner & evening with friends. Would have given it 5 stars except for the expense of the cocktails. They were excellent but small & overpriced — $ 12 is exorbitant. For the size they should have been no more than $ 8. We will be back, though.

We’ve been trying to figure out how we can clone restaurant 91 South, located in the PineCrest Inn in Gorham, Maine, and bring it to our home base in California. By the way, speaking from experience, the PineCrest is a top-​notch bed and breakfast run by Matt and Amy Mattingly, hard-​working owners who always succeed in making your comfort their priority. Having made reservations well in advance, our party of four had the pleasure of dining at 91 South on August 30^th, ordering from a menu noted for the Week of August 30^th. Taking from the descriptions on the menu, we started with (1) Shaved Brussels and Red Cabbage Salad with Toasted Walnuts, Pancetta, Pecorino, Local Honey, EVO and Pistachio Oil; (2) Pan Dowdy, a dish made with olive and date, warm brie, caramelized onion, apricot confit and duck fat croûton; and (3) Cajun Shrimp Bisque, the soup du jour. Entrees were (1) Scallops in a green tea curry, pan seared and served over a sweet and spicy fresh melon «kimchi» with coconut sticky rice; (2) Lobster Farro, a dish made with Farro, Acini pasta, black trumpet, mitaki, bacon, dashi broth, asparagus and arugula; (3) Steak 91, a Chef’s Selected Steak, served medium rare with a pea shoot soba salad and Indonesian Gremolata, Shiso, cucumbers, tomato, and pickled watermelon; and (4) Buttermilk chicken schnitzel and spaetzle, made with spaetzle, baby spinach, tomato, olive, lemon, and caper sauce. If this all sounds too complicated for you, don’t try to figure it out. Just call 207−839−5843 for reservations from Thursday through Saturday evening and your taste buds will take it from there. A full bar and extensive wine list partner well with the lovely ambiance and reasonable prices, and you can always expect to be delighted with the unexpected from Chef Noah Gaston. We give FIVE STARS for our dining experience at 91 South.

This place epitomizes «expect the unexpected» and I don’t mean that in the best of ways. My gf and I got to the Inn on a Friday evening, and the place is exactly what you would expect from a family run Inn in Maine. Both Matt and Amy seemed very friendly and we were expecting good things from our stay. That night we went to their restaurant and that is when the problems began. My gf checked into Unilocal and was awarded «a free glass of wine» (for whatever reason). Our server got the manager Matt, because she had never seen that deal before (understandable), and Matt seemed a bit confused by it as well, but he did give us a glass of wine (great). We ordered some salads which were quite tasty, then (since I wasn’t hungry) my gf was the only one who ordered a main course. The salmon came out and it was flat out raw on the inside (Matt said it was supposed to be cooked that way since the fish was so fresh). I was ok with that explanation but my gf was completely against it and told Matt as much*. He got us a new plate of food and all was cooked correctly. Matt was super generous and even gave us the whole meal on the house. I think this was a very nice thing for him to do and had every intention of giving Pinecrest 5 stars on Unilocal.**Anyway moving onto the service in other parts of the hotel… Their stated policy for replacing towels is like: «If you want to reuse your towels hang them up and if you want new towels put them in the tub/​on the floor» (or something like that). On Saturday after we both showered I hung up one towel and put the other on the sink. Later we got back and both towels had been hung up (aka neither were cleaned). So far so good, I have no problem with her not replacing the towel that was on the sink, even though it was not hung up. On Sunday after showering, my gf put both towels in the trash can labeled «Recycling» (for some reason she thought this can was a laundry bin). Both towels clearly needed to be cleaned (we had been to the beach on Friday and Saturday) and, even though they were neither on the floor nor in the tub, we were expecting them to be replaced, because they most definitely were not «hung up» either. Guess what happened when we got back that afternoon? They had both been hung up. So my gf went in search of Amy to get new towels, Amy wasn’t around, so she called Amy asking her why the towels weren’t replaced. In the meantime my gf found the supply closet and got us some new towels. Later Amy called us back and left a voicemail saying «we don’t replace towels everyday and yesterday your towels were on the sink, so I just hung them up… Today your towels were in the trash can, since they weren’t on the floor nor in the tub, I figured you wouldn’t mind if they were hung back up…» When I heard this voice mail my jaw almost hit the floor, because that just seems like one of the most ridiculous things ever. If anything the towels being in a «trash can» (her words mind you) should very clearly signal that we want new towels. And the fact they weren’t replaced is completely unacceptable to me and kind of goes against their stated policy regarding when towels will be replaced. Sadly the story doesn’t end there though, my gf called Amy back and told her that everything was fine, that she had found new towels in the supply closet, and Amy sounded outraged that my gf would go into a room labeled «private» even if it was just to get some new towels which should have been replaced in the first place. All in all the experience was rather a negative one, since very good service weighted against very bad service does not equal ok service. As a side note, in another review you commented that, «As an innkeeper you set policies and procedures…“I am not being unreasonable when I say: if you are going to have a stated policy (aka «if towels are hung up, then…») you have to live by them. You are not allowed to disregard them at your convenience, and as a customer I don’t feel entitled when I say we deserve clean towels.
*As feedback: In my experience, Fish, Pork and Chicken tend to be served in the Medium-​Well to Well-​done range at restaurants (or at least the server will ask you how you want your fish/​pork prepared just like for Beef). I realize that Salmon is one of the fish that can be served Med-​Rare or Med (note ours was at best cooked Rare), but in the future if something like Fish, or Pork is going to be cooked to a certain temperature (Rare, Med-​Rare, Med) you probably should put that fact on the menu. My gf won’t eat undercooked fish, and I don’t blame her for sending it back, since a lot of people won’t eat rare fish.
**Matt if you are reading this, please keep giving this level of service, I really appreciate it and I wish things had turned out slightly differently and that I could give you only a positive review, but I have to be honest in my experience.

Great find! We were in town visiting family but our experience definitely made our getaway into a vacation. I figured a local business could use the business more than a hotel and I was so happy to find Pinecrest. The staff was helpful and friendly, the food was divine, and our room was beautiful. I loved that there were bath salts in the bathroom– thank you! We will definitely look forward to returning the next time there is no room at my sister’s…

When looking for a local getaway, I have frequently visited the Inn on Peaks. From now on, I would have to say that the PineCrest Inn will be my go to place.
I learned about this bed and breakfast through a review in the Portland Press Herald praising their restaurant, 91 South. Dinner was very good, but I found that it was the room, the breakfast, and the innkeepers that really made PineCrest so special.
I stayed in the Gorham, and the room was very well decorated and comfortable. The breakfast in the morning was nothing short of spectacular. Those visiting a loved one at the university would be well served to spend a few nights at PineCrest.

We spent two lovely nights at this B&B during our New England trip in October. At first we wanted to find a B&B in Portland but they were all full. We were glad, however, we chose this lovely B&B. It is about thirty minutes drive from Portland but we ended up traveling north and south more than to Portland anyways. Plus I am glad that we did not pay the double of the price for a less quality B&B in Portland. Overall, the prices for room/​breakfast are reasonable here. The room we stayed in had the bathroom in the hallway (but private for us). It was not a problem at all since there was nobody walking around in the hallways. The room was nicely decorated (so was the bathroom) and every detail was thought of. The bed was not very comfortable but we might feel it that way since we recently upgraded our own bed in our house :). Breakfast was delicious. Everybody gets the same breakfast (unless you have a dietary restriction). I think it is fine and it was truly delicious but they might provide a basket of pastries next to coffee/​tea for those of us who do not feel full after the breakfast. We decided to eat out one night and at the B&B the other night. It was very delicious! The food was good and the wine prices are very reasonable. I strongly recommend having at least one night dinner at this place. There was wi-​fi (supposedly) but we could not get it in our room.

Business travelers steer clear. This B&B is very particular and strict with their check in times + rules in general. No leniency is to be had when you have to work late and miss their 3 hour check in window. You loose your room + deposit. No ifs, ands or buts. Accommodating they are not, especially when its last minute.
I would have hated to be on vacation and had a flight delay, a car emergency, an unexpected anything that would have made me come outside the window. No keys for you!
I’ve traveled many b&b’s around the country for my work and have never experienced such inflexibility. Boo.

My fiancé and I had a lovely two nights in Pinecrest. We spent two nights in the Covington, and I absolutely loved the comfort and décor. It had a home-​y feel without being too stuffy, as I find many other B&B’s.
Breakfast was absolutely amazing. While you don’t get many options, they do ask ahead of time if there’s any type of food you can’t eat. Plus, everything they made us was stellar. The vanilla and almond whipped cream on the French toast was particularly memorable.
Lastly, they are just so nice! They had a lot of great tips and suggestions of places to go.
I would definitely plan on staying here again if I was anywhere nearby.

A quiet gem in bed & breakfast that’s open to the public for dinner. Well crafted food made from local ingredients by a chef who seems to care about his kitchen. The menu is carefully chosen with a nice variety of apps, salads & mains. The wine prices are realistic and the selection is very good. There are nights with live music.
Gorham has few decent places to eat, so this is a nice addition.

I never actually got the chance to stay at the PineCrest — I had too much trouble just trying to make a reservation. On their website, you are only able to book a reservation of 2 nights or more. So I sent them an email ²⁄₁ requesting one of two rooms (more expensive rooms). We also expressed interest in their $ 150 private dining option. The response I received was that they only book one night stays in their cheaper rooms, and then if there is room they can move us the day we check in. I was not looking for a room in the high season; I was looking for a Sunday night in April. Strike 1. Then, I was told that they «would have to check with our Chef about the private dining option. I believe there is going to be a price change on that as the evening has become more costly to do for two people.» Changing the price after I inquire? Strike 2. (And PS, nearly two months later, the same price is listed on the website.) The next day I wrote back and said that would be fine, I understood the price increase and asked what other information they would need to book us, and hopefully we could upgrade the room later. I never received a response. Finally, on 2/​26, I responded that I would be Unilocaling about my horrible reservation experience and was no longer interested in a reservation. The response? «I do apologize for not getting back to you. I did search my inbox and realized I had not responded to your email. I usually do right away but since I had to get an answer from our Chef regarding the dinner package and had not had the opportunity to re price the dinner. So obviously your email was soon buried in my inbox and forgotten about. You certainly can put online whatever you like but I would be disappointed if someone were to post negative comments because of a lost email.» Strike 3. I waited 24 days for a response, but was not going to get one since my «email was soon forgotten about.» And I shouldn’t post negative comments because of these things? I wanted one of the more expensive rooms on a Sunday night, and wanted to add wine and the private dining. I am asking to spend $ 400+ at your establishment in one evening during the low season, and you forgot about my email? Give me a break!

The PineCrest was a nice place to stay during our getaway weekend in Portland. Matt took the time to show us a few of the less-​traveled hiking destinations, and we had a great time. Some thoughts on the Inn:
Breakfast: Fairly early (8:30−9:30), you don’t get any options, but the food was very, very good… among the better breakfasts I’ve had in a while.
Restaurant/​Bar: A tad misleading, the restaurant/​bar is really just a room in the house where they serve you dinner if you want it. We didn’t eat, but if it’s anything like the breakfast I’m sure it’s great. Don’t go expecting a «real» bar/​restaurant, but it did look nice and intimate.
The Room: Was wonderful. Tasteful décor, comfy bed, but the real kicker is the fireplace — perfect for winter, and pretty damn sexy.
Hospitality: Meh. The staff seemed nice enough, but didn’t give us a tour and then got a little aggravated when we stored a bottle of wine in the «bar’s» wine cooler instead of in the secret guest refrigerator. Interactions were generally awkward. Whatever. We don’t go on getaway weekends to make new friends anyway…
Price: Totally affordable, probably a bit cheaper than average.
Portland: Pretty awesome. Good food, cool shops, it has a bit of an old-​money ‘funded by NYC’ stench, but what quaint New England town doesn’t…
Coffee: The Gorham Grind is right up the street and totally fantastic.
Overall: If you’re not the type to get bent out of shape when the innkeeper chastises you for failing to clean your plate, then I’d definitely recommend the PineCrest for your next weekend in Portland.

This place was the highlight of my weekend. While it’s not a short drive from Portland, it was certainly worth the drive. PineCrest offers an outstanding value for those interest in the greater Portland area. The service was excellent, but what made it even better was Matt, the innkeeper/​pianist/​cook/​concierge — he really does it all and does a fantastic job.
I stayed in the Quincy. It was simple with minimal frills and even more minimal floral patterns — thank God. As Matt puts it, «no grandma exploded» in any of his rooms, a sentiment that I heartily agree with.
The breakfast was superb but a bit early for me. I really didn’t want to get out of bed at 8a on my vacation, especially since the Sebago Brewing Co. is right around the corner. Having said that, I don’t think this is the norm. Also, I would suggest their weekly Friday night dinners. The food was quite affordable and definitely one of the best meals I had while in the area.
Thanks for everything Matt and Amy!