Batson River Brewing & Distilling - Kennebunk

We’ve been to Batson several times and to several of their locations (Portland, Kennebunkport, Biddeford, Fish Camp at The Claremont). We keep coming back for the decor/ambiance and really want it to be good….but it just isn’t. We love their Christmas camp and vintage hunting decor and vibes. Their interior design is top notch - tough to get a themed decor right and they win for that. Post up for a drink and you’re golden. The food and service however, leave much to be desired. We went today to their seasonal Fish Shacks today with a group of 6 of us total. We have been wanting to go for a couple of years and honestly we were very underwhelmed and disappointed. It was 20 degrees today and the shacks have only a simple and cheap space heater that they seemed to turn on 2 minutes before we entered. The space was quite cold and we all ate in our winter gear. They had 2 (for a room for 6) cheap felt blankets . The space was too small for 6 guests (2 of which for us were 4 year olds so I can’t even imagine 6 adults). They servers can’t even fit in the space when they bring f+b in so any “heat” you might have captured leaves immediately while they hang with the door open. The heater never read about 43 degrees. Food is rough. Even the burger is borderline inedible. Gluten free options are severely lacking. The pickle on my plate literally made me gag. Not sure if it was old or moldy or I don’t know. 😬 Fries and brussels sprouts are good. We were told no less than 6 times we only had 90 minutes to be in the shack at the start of our meal and at check in which didn’t exactly set the relaxing holiday lunch vibe - especially considering most of our 90 minutes were waiting for drinks, service, food, etc. Overall - we have typically dealt with the mediocre food and annoyed service because we like the space but this experience at the fish shacks I think finally pushed us over the edge of not needing to come back. Hopefully their hospitality and food program can improve because they have a lot of potential in their space and fan base.