Maine has lost several notable local restaurants in recent weeks, from a nearly 40-year fine-dining institution to a dog-friendly restaurant that lasted only a few months. Their closures are part of the same wave of [restaurant shutdowns that have surprised diners across America](https://thecoconutmama.com/these-restaurant-closures-shocked-customers-across-america-over-the-past-year/).
The latest goodbyes stretch across South Portland, Skowhegan, Biddeford and other communities, showing how varied Maine’s restaurant losses have become.
The Barkery in South Portland
The Barkery Restaurant and Dog Bar closed June 22 after only about four months in business.
The South Portland restaurant opened in February inside the Mill Creek Shopping Center. It combined an indoor dog park with a restaurant and bar, giving pet owners a place to eat, drink and socialize while their dogs played.
The Portland Press Herald reported that the owners could not be reached for a detailed explanation after the closure. Portland Food Map also noted that the business had gone out of operation.
The Barkery’s short life makes the closure especially striking. Dog-friendly concepts can generate excitement, but they also require enough steady traffic to support both the hospitality side and the pet-focused side of the business.
For South Portland customers who liked the idea, the shutdown came almost as soon as the place had arrived.
Heritage House in Skowhegan
Heritage House in Skowhegan closed after nearly 40 years in business.
The family-owned restaurant had been serving the community since 1987 and was known as a fine-dining option in central Maine. Local radio coverage reported that the restaurant announced its permanent closure in June after decades of service.
A restaurant that lasts that long becomes tied to anniversaries, birthdays, family gatherings and special-occasion meals. For many customers, Heritage House was likely the kind of place chosen when dinner needed to feel more meaningful than usual.
Its closure removes not just a dining room but a long-running piece of Skowhegan’s local food history.
Broadway Bowl in South Portland
Broadway Bowl closed in May, ending another local gathering place in South Portland.
WJBQ included Broadway Bowl among three Maine restaurant closures from May, noting that the nearby sister business Bayside Bowl in Portland remained open.
That detail softens the loss, but it does not erase it. Bowling alleys with food and drinks often serve a role that ordinary restaurants do not. They are family outings, casual date nights, league nights and rainy-day escapes all in one place.
For South Portland regulars, Broadway Bowl’s closure means losing a specific version of that experience.
Mulligan’s in Biddeford
Mulligan’s in Biddeford also closed in May after years as a local pub.
WJBQ reported that the longstanding spot had been around since the 1990s and that financial difficulties eventually became too much to overcome. The owner reportedly described the business as having been on borrowed time.
That kind of closure is familiar in the restaurant world. A place can be beloved, affordable and well known while still struggling to make the numbers work.
Mulligan’s served the kind of role pubs often play in smaller cities: a casual place to meet friends, eat familiar food and feel connected to the neighborhood.
North Star Lounge
North Star Lounge was another Maine restaurant loss from May, though its run was much shorter.
WJBQ described it as a lounge that had opened only recently in 2025. The business reportedly faced money challenges and the emotional strain that often comes with trying to keep a restaurant alive.
Short-lived restaurants can still matter to the people who discovered them early. Regulars form quickly, especially when a new spot gives a neighborhood something different.
North Star Lounge did not get decades to become an institution, but its closure still reflects how tough the business climate has become for new restaurants.
Maine’s restaurant losses span old and new
The latest Maine closures do not fit one simple pattern.
Heritage House lasted nearly four decades. Mulligan’s had been around since the 1990s. The Barkery and North Star Lounge were much newer. Broadway Bowl mixed food, drinks and entertainment in a way that made it more than a conventional restaurant.
That range is what makes the trend so frustrating. It is not just new businesses struggling to get started, or old businesses reaching the end. Maine is losing both.
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