With three interior dining rooms and three outside decks capable of seating more than 600 guests at once, DiMillo’s is one of the largest boat-based restaurants in the country and the only one in Maine. The vessel bore three names during service as a ferry in three states, and a stint as a boat storage and clubhouse for a yacht club before the DiMillo family bought it.

Open seven days for lunch, dinner, and Sunday brunch, DiMillo’s sports, unsurprisingly, a nautical decor, many different lobster options, and an extensive seafood menu. However, the menu also includes non-seafood meals, and, true to the family’s origins, many pasta and Italian dishes. Lunch is served from 11-4 and dinner is served all day.

Established in 1954, the business is still owned by the DiMillo family. At least four family members hold management positions. Since the dining areas are neat and clean, founder Tony DiMillo must have been referring to the kitchen, when he famously said, “If you’re not making a mess, you’re not doing it right.”

HELPFUL SITE

• dimillos.com/restaurant/

DiMillo’s didn’t actually start out as DiMillo’s. Tony DiMillo opened Anthony’s on Fore Street in 1954, where he coined his slogan, “The clams you eat here today slept last night in Casco Bay.” Anthony’s moved to Center Street in 1960, then to a spot across the street from where the floating restaurant is now. In 1978 the family bought the dilapidated Long Wharf, and the now-famous floating restaurant bearing the family name followed in 1982.