Startle

When you pull into the main lot of The White Barn Inn, you are greeted by the parking valets who will guide you to the entrance of the inn and whisk your car away to the lot. There is no fee for this service.

Before you hop in the car and embark on your drive to The White Barn Inn Restaurant, here are five things you should know:

1. The menu changes frequently. Of the many accolades to bestow upon The White Barn Inn Restaurant, our favorite aspect of dining there is that chef Jonathan Cartwright is constantly changing the menu to reflect the season and what is available locally.

2. Prix fixe menu. The menus are also prix fixe, offering several courses in a steady rhythm, each building upon the other. All year round, the seafood options are pristine, given the inn’s proximity to arguably some of the world’s finest fish and shellfish.

3. Try the Maine lobster. Chef Cartwright’s signature dish is, no surprise, steamed Maine lobster nestled on a bed of homemade fettuccine with carrot, ginger, snow peas and cognac coral butter sauce. In the summer months, we’ve enjoyed local tomatoes served with local goat cheese with just a few herbs and olive oil to enhance their ripe perfection.

4. France and Italy dominate the wine list. The wine list offers a wide range of wines from around the world and digs deep into French and Italian varietals, including premier crus and many reserve bottles.

5. It’s romantic. The dining room is elegant, yet friendly, with plenty of space (a good four feet) between tables. We’ve enjoyed many celebratory dinners here with family and friends, but find the coddled service, beautiful menu, and intimate dining room a very romantic location.

As much as we prefer The White Barn Inn Restaurant as a place for a romantic dinner for two, the adjoining dining rooms are indeed an excellent space for group dining. One entire room may be used for a group or tables for six to eight can be accommodated. For larger parties or for more privacy, the inn offers its Wine Cellar, which can seat 20 people in a separate room with a separate entrance.

A Forbes Travel Guide Four-Star property is a hotel, restaurant or spa that offers consistently outstanding service, a full array of amenities and an attractive, well-maintained facility. Forbes Travel Guide’s team of inspectors is constantly on the road, visiting each property we rate — checking in and testing more than 500 different attributes of the service and facility experience in order to determine the property’s Star-Rating. We visit every property on our own dime, and go anonymously, so that our inspectors receive the same experience that the average guest does. Another facility inspector also visits the property, taking a tour with the staff and taking note of the style of the hotel, restaurant and spa, and its unique offerings. Each year, Forbes Travel Guide announces its new and existing Four and Five-Star properties, which have all achieved their rating by delivering superb service and experiences throughout the 12 to 18 months prior.

A hotel, restaurant or spa achieves a Forbes Travel Guide Four-Star rating by offering consistently great services and facilities throughout the ratings season leading up to each Star Rating announcement. The staff should deliver personalized, attentive and intuitive service (we notice when a staff refills a glass, or performs a special turndown service, or goes above and beyond to make sure we’re comfortable). The property should be special and unique in design and appearance, with plenty of thoughtful amenities (sunscreen by the pool? Check. House-baked pastries to take with you when you leave the restaurant? Check). There are no rules about what a Four-Star property should look like — it can be formal and traditional, or sleek, modern and cutting edge. Its staff can be refreshingly casual (no need for old-fashioned uniforms), as long as they’re at the top of their game and make each guest feel anticipated, welcomed and appreciated.

Forbes Travel Guide announced its 2012 Star Rating awards on November 15th, coinciding with the launch of its new online home, Startle. This year’s Four-Star ratings include 177 Hotels, 146 Restaurants and 105 Spas. The new roster of Four-Star hotels encompasses a diverse group of properties, from the ultra-contemporary Trump SoHo New York to the slope-side chic Four Seasons Resort Vail. New Four-Star restaurants include the Italian-focused Scarpetta, under the helm of Chef Scott Conant at Montage Beverly Hills, and the casual American menu and hipster vibe at Graham Eliot in Chicago. Additions to the Four-Star spa list include the sleek, modern Spa at Aria at Aria Las Vegas, whose sister properties Aria Las Vegas and Aria Sky Suites also achieved Four-Star status for the first time this year.

The White Barn Inn Restaurant seamlessly creates a mood of antique elegance, consisting of a small bar and seating area and two dining rooms within a completely renovated barn. The design makes good use of the barn’s high ceilings allowing both rooms to be open and airy with lots of exposed wood and vintage signage. The rustic appointments are then enhanced with stately white linens, delicate Riedel stemware, Villeroy & Boch china, and weighted silver cutlery. The back wall of both dining rooms includes a large picture window framing an illuminated garden (which is meticulously attended to) that’s lush in color and content, and forever changing, dictated by the seasons.

There are certainly no "bad" tables at The White Barn Inn Restaurant. However in each dining room there is a large framed window which highlight the illuminated garden, and those seats are special and coveted. Behind the glass, the lush, beautiful gardens are meticulously tended to and offer a calming, seasonal floral display.

There’s live piano music every night at The White Barn Inn Restaurant, and the pianist plays a mix of classical and contemporary music which enhances the ambience of the dining rooms, but never overwhelms, keeping the room at a perfect noise level. Most guests in this elegant and romantic room keep their conversation levels to the lower registers, but even when a jovial and celebratory party is whooping it up, the acoustics and accommodations for absorbing noise keep the overall volume subdued. Additionally, the gracious four feet or more between tables aids to keeping sounds in check at the restaurant.

Service is one of the key components to the overall success of The White Barn Inn Restaurant, located within The White Barn Inn. From head waiters who take your order to the bussing staff who clear tables and refill water glasses, each server is genuinely pleasant, yet unobtrusive. They are well-trained at accessing the timing and mood of every table. Plus, they’re equally well-informed about all aspects of the menu, from the provenance of the ingredients (the contents of the bread basket come from the inn’s sister restaurant, Grissini, also in Kennebunk) to the technique of the tomato fondue.