AAA is celebrating the elite area restaurants selected for this year’s Four and Five Diamond Awards.
For the 17th year in a row, The White Barn Inn Restaurant located in the Grace White Barn Inn & Spa in Kennebunk Maine reigns as Northern New England’s only Five Diamond restaurant, joining only 66 others in North America. The coveted 2019 Five Diamond Award restaurants makes up just 0.2 percent of the nearly 32,000 AAA Inspected & Approved restaurants across the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.
“Attaining the Five Diamond Rating is an impressive accomplishment,” said Michael Petrone, director, AAA Inspections & Diamond Ratings. “To be considered leading edge, chefs must incorporate a laser-focused approach using innovative concepts and menus featuring the finest ingredients. Diners want to be wowed on multiple levels, so exceptional service is also important, but they’re not necessarily looking for all the formalities that were once synonymous with fine dining.”
AAA unveiled local restaurants who received the coveted Four Diamond Award. Those at the Four Diamond level, just 2.1 percent of AAA Inspected & Approved restaurants, are also an exclusive group. They offer a distinctive fine-dining experience, employing creative preparations that are skillfully served amid upscale ambience. This year, there are 656 Four Diamond restaurants located across North America, including 39 additions this year.
Vermont:
Junction – Essex Junction
Rabbit Hill Inn Dining Room – Lower Waterford
275 Main - Warren
Windham Hill Restaurant – West Townshend
The Red Rooster – Woodstock
New Hampshire:
Bedford Village Inn Restaurant – Bedford
The Dining Room at Omni Bretton Arms Inn – Bretton Woods
The Maine Dining Room at the Omni Mount Washington Resort- Bretton Woods
The Manor on Golden Pond, Van Horn Dining Room – Holderness
Maine:
Natalie’s – Camden
Earth – Kennebunkport
Ocean Restaurant – Kennebunkport
Back Bay Grill – Portland
Fore Street Restaurant – Portland
Hugo’s Restaurant – Portland
Primo – Rockland
Walkers Maine - York
About AAA Diamond Ratings
For more than 80 years, AAA has used professional inspectors to conduct in-person property evaluations. AAA offers the only rating system using comprehensive, on-site professional hotel and restaurant inspections guided by member priorities. With a far greater inventory than any other rating entity, AAA’s rating system covers the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. AAA conducts these inspections as the trusted source of nearly 60 million members, guiding them to have memorable travel and dining experiences.
The AAA inspectors who assign these ratings have a wide range of hospitality experience – their resumes include stints as hotel managers and food and beverage experts – that gives them an authoritative perspective. Inspectors provide an unmatched first-person, on-site view of emerging trends, which includes the continuing evolution of technology to elevate the guest experience.
Travelers can find Diamond Rated establishments and inspector insight in AAA’s trip planning products: the AAA Mobile app, the online AAA Travel Guides and Travel Planner and the AAA TourBook guides available to members at AAA offices.
As North America’s largest motoring and leisure travel organization, AAA provides 59 million members with travel, insurance, financial, and automotive-related services. Operating 19 offices throughout Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, AAA Northern New England is a not-for-profit, fully tax-paying corporation and a leader and advocate for the safety and security of all travelers. Today, AAA members benefit by roadside assistance, insurance products and services, travel agency, financial products, automotive pricing and buying programs, automotive testing and analysis, trip-planning services, and highway and transportation safety programs. Information about these products and services is available by visiting www.AAA.com.