Chad McKernan and Erin Reeves, previous owners of Samoset Restaurant, are opening The Harbor Room in collaboration with the new building’s owner, Xavier Cervera.
Cervera’s experience in the restaurant business extends to Florida and Washington, D.C., where he has owned 12-18 restaurants.
McKernan and Reeves owned the Samoset Restaurant before it closed a year and a half ago. Reeves said she is excited to see all of the Samoset’s loyal customers return to The Harbor Room and to entertain in the new building as the Samoset’s structure had “seen better days.”
While the Samoset structure’s original use was a laundromat, The Harbor Room was built with every intention of becoming a restaurant.
Working with local contractor Zander Lee, Cervera built The Harbor Room with a bar, dining area, bandstand, smokehouse, lounge area, and a bocce ball and horseshoe court. The building also has three parts to its sound system so dining customers can listen to music while bar customers watch sports on the restaurant’s four plasma televisions.
Cervera decorated The Harbor Room with vintage skiffs, one of which is from The Carpenter’s Boat Shop, of Pemaquid, photographs by local photographers Kimberly McLain and Sherrie Tucker, and two maritime-themed, commissioned paintings.
The restaurant will open at 8 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays to serve a brunch menu, which will feature lobster eggs Benedict, a seafood omelet, and more.
The lunch and dinner menu includes tacos, seafood, sandwiches, salads, and appetizers, including Parmesan truffle frites and shrimp scampi. House-smoked barbecue will be available Friday through Sunday. On weekdays, The Harbor Room will serve lunch beginning at 11 a.m. and stay open until 9 p.m.
Starting in late June, The Harbor Room will be open year-round, likely closing for lunch during the offseason.
A resident of Round Pond, Cervera said his motive to open The Harbor Room was to have a year-round restaurant on the Bristol peninsula.
“We’re a little rough around the edges out here, but that’s okay because I am too,” Cervera said.
The Harbor Room employs 20-24 people, including co-owners McKernan and Reeves, the head chef and restaurant manager, respectively.
The Harbor Room is located at 2477 Bristol Rd. in New Harbor. To contact the restaurant, call 677-6771.
