My family is always on the lookout for fun places to eat, so when we were getting ready to explore Boothbay and saw Shannon’s Unshelled listed online, we knew we would have to check it out!
The Basics:
Shannon’s Unshelled
23 Granary Way in Boothbay Harbor
What a fun example of a lobster shack. Each lobster roll uses the meat of an entire unshelled lobster. It is really piled on there. There are two standard variations of lobster rolls, with mayo binding the pieces together or just the fresh pieces with maybe some drawn butter glistening on top. Restaurants will generally feature one or the other. Shannon’s Unshelled goes with the clean unadorned version.
There were so many iconic Maine tastes available here. Lobster rolls, redhot hot dogs, whole belly clams, blueberry soda, chowder, haddock, and even whoopie pies. What they didn’t have were standard run-of-the-mill beverages. That is pretty typical of these shack-type restaurants. They did have a soda vending machine nearby.
Getting there:
You will drive through a quaint harbor village to get here. So many cute shops that would have been really distracting if we were not so hungry. This location shares an honor-pay parking lot directly off the water. There were a couple of placard spots and we were able to grab one right next to a footbridge that extended out onto the water.
Accessibility:
Getting there was easy, but the ground directly in front of the shack was covered in thick chunky gravel and closely spaced picnic tables. Tricky even with my freewheel, and without it, I instantly sunk down into the gravel and was unable to even be pushed by others. We made it work and were able to get a close table when a couple offered to move to a deeper location themselves. Ordering would be another problem. There was a raised narrow platform to get to the window to place your order. My mom went up and ordered for all of us. While this works for our family, it would be difficult if I were visiting alone.
We enjoyed trying many things. The lobster roll, the red hot dogs, the chowder, the blueberry soda were all fun. Each was garnished with a live orchid blossom. What a fancy touch for a casual setting!