Silly’s is an unusual place with excellent dinner options, and the sort of atmosphere that you can’t find everywhere. It’s a very small restaurant on Washington Ave. in Portland, Maine, and one of our favorite stops for a casual adventurous dinner. After enjoying the Cellar Door Winery’s release party at Grace, we hopped over to Silly’s for a more relaxed atmosphere and dinner.
Silly's Specials Boards
The walls and ceiling are all old painted tin, with interesting antique designs, though most of the wall surface is covered with pictures of people holding “Eat at Silly’s” bumper stickers all over the world. Some pictures can be seen online at the restaurant’s website.
Lamp and Pictures
The decor is wild! They have so many funky lamps, including the one above that appears to be hand made out of plastic visors and buttons. The waitstaff will likely bring you a 750 ml wine bottle filled with water, and some very small (approx. 2-3 oz) juice glasses which you will need to repeatedly refill should you want water with your dinner. At your table you will find a Silly’s lunchbox, equipped with napkins and menus.
Silly's Lunchbox e.g. Napkin & Menu Holder
As for the food… Amazing. It’s the sort of stuff one might crave. There are quite a few vegetarian options, and a wide variety of unusual, creative concoctions. On this particular visit we both ordered from the specials board. I ordered the “Spring Fling Salad” which was made with spinach, grilled pears, blue cheese, bacon (thick, cruncy REAL bacon and plenty of it), and walnuts.
Spring Fling Salad
As for my better half, he ordered the “Gut Buster” from the specials board. This concoction consisted of a thick garlic-mashed burger, with pickles, cole slaw, hot sauce all on what appeared to be a homemade roll. I tried a bite and agree that it would certainly bust my gut if I ate a whole one, but wow was it good!
The Gut Buster!
