Eat Real Nantucket: Restaurant Reviews

Nantucket, where even the water meters are cute! There are plenty of places to eat and countless ACKtivities but here I am highlighting where you can eat healthfully, locally, and deliciously in fabulous environments.

If you follow me on Instagram you likely saw a LOT of posts from my trip to Nantucket with my husband a few weekends ago. My grandmother had a cottage every summer on the island growing up so Nantucket is a place with lots of warm and fuzzy memories for me. While I don’t actually remember it’s, I took my first steps as a baby there! Tim knew how special it was to me and after us visiting once together, proposed to me on a trip there 5 years ago. From what I remember he was going to wait to propose but could t hold it in and happened to ask me to marry him on Friday the 13th. Well, this year May 13th was a Friday again so 5 years later we just had to return!

As a child I of course was obsessed with the ice cream and fudge on the island but now, as an adult who happens to be obsessed with health, I’m so thrilled that there are so many local and farm to table options. Something that makes Nantucket unique (among many other things) is the lack of chain establishments. Stop & shop and Vineyard Vines are literally the only ones as far as I know! The vibe on the island is all about supporting local. So much of the produce at restaurants is from Bartlett farms and there are always options from the local brewery, winery and distillery anywhere you go.
We stayed at my parents in CT the night before we headed to the ferry. Yes, flying is easier (so much so that I likely will fly next time) but the ferry is an experience and reminds me of when I was a kid!

While there are many great things about the island, including the gorgeous window boxes I already posted about, I am going to keep this post focused on the food for any travelers!

We had gotten up realllly early to make that ferry so, despite RxBars, apples and roasted edamame holding us over, by the time we got there, we needed food. Luckily we were staying .3 miles from the dock at the Robert’s Collection with Young’s bike shop on the way. We checked in early and biked a quick mile over to the green. We ate amazing burritos at the green after the Nantucket triathlon a few years ago and couldn’t wait to have them again. They use grass fed beef, organic chicken and all other ingredients are fresh, organic, and local when possible. I got one called “the big green” that came with beef so I swapped in some black beans instead and got guac instead of cheese. Oh yeah and that iced coffee hit the spot too. It was gorgeous out so we got to enjoy this amazing lunch outside. Highly recommend!


We biked around a bit more, past the cottage I stayed at as a child and then dropped the bikes to walk around historic downtown by the docks. We stopped by the park we got engaged at and were appalled at the fact that other people were there. How dare they sit at OUR park on this beautiful day?
Before heading out for dinner we hung out in the adorable courtyard at the Roberts Collection for a champagne toast. They had a bottle of sparkling rose chilled and in an ice bucket for us when we checked in. So sweet! 
Before dinner we went right next door to Proprieter’s bar and table since we hadn’t been and wanted to check it out. We split an amazing farro dish and I had this cool little serrano tequila cocktail. I wish I had a better picture of this place because it is decorated amazingly!

Dinner pics aren’t he best of quality because once we got to Fifty Six Union the storm clouds rolled in and messed with my lighting. The weather isn’t always considerate of my food pics. I love love loved my salmon dish with black rice and veggies. Tim had a spicy stir fry with chicken and shrimp. I obviously stole a shrimp and can vouch for its deliciousness too. Just because I was on vaca didn’t mean there was too much over-indulging though. The extra salmon was a perfect protein with fruit at breakfast the next morning.

I’d been itching to hit Handlebar Coffee after seeing them on IG and wasn’t disappointed. It was a warm morning but I enjoyed my Amercano walking around after sitting for a few in the adorable cafe. Tim, who despises coffee, had a hot chocolate with latte art. Super cute!
I hadn’t been to Siasconset in years and thought biking there for lunch was a great idea. it was an awful idea! This quaint part of the island is beautiful but no one was opened for lunch until June! Even the little market! Here’s a picture of hangry Tim by the beach there.


After biking about 20 miles that morning, this salmon sandwich with avocado and sriracha on whole grain bread at Yummy seemed like the most delicious meal I had ever had in my life. We were en route to Cisco brewery and considered eating at Bartlett Farms but needed food stat and this hit the spot. Another great meal!

As mentioned above we were making our way over to Cisco. If you’ve never been to Nantucket, you have to visit! They do brewery tours which are fun but the atmosphere outside on a nice day is even better with a community feel, live music and local food trucks. What’s best is that if you don’t like beer, they have a distillery and a winery using local ingredients for their fermentation. For example, my blueberry vodka was colored from real blueberries not some artificial color! Side bar: and it was delicious with club soda, ginger and lemon. We were lacking in pictures this afternoon but there’s Tim outside of the brewery, distillery and winery below.
Barltlett Farms is a wonderful farm with a market that also hosts local foodie farm to table dinners. I haven’t been on the island for a dinner yet but drool over them on instagram!

After trecking back on bike and getting ready we headed out without much of a plan so we could hop around. New restaurant alert: Station 21! We loooooved the vibe with the high ceilings, exposed brick, awesome chandelier and other decor. We wanted to hit other restaurants so we just had a snack and their white bean and garlic dip was amazing!

We tried to be sly and capture decor without making a scene but didn’t do the best job…

We probably should have stayed there because by the time we left, most restaurants were packed or were close to stopping their dinner service due to the time of year. We wound up at NIXS brewpub. Awesome awesome live music and this delicious veggie burger that there was no way I was finishing. The top half of the bun came off. Would have loved to split with Tim but apparently nachos were calling him. Those are polenta fries too! Really good but very heavy so I recommend sharing with someone else!

In the morning our last meal was at Black Eyed Susan’s. If you have an ACK trip, get there early cause there will be a wait but it is well worth it! We had very unique scrambles and I chose black eyed peas as a side over home fries. The scrambles are also available vegan with tofu! Bread was nothing to write home about so it was easy to not over-eat.
I can’t wait for our next trip back so we can hit some restaurants we didn’t make it to like Dune, CRU and Ventuno! You can browse some of our other pics below if you care about the scenes and not just the food!
Who has been to Nantucket? What is your favorite place to eat or your favorite ACKtivity?

Also, don’t forget about the sweet earth giveaway going on until Friday!

At Brant Point Light House

Brant Point Lighthouse

Scenes at Children’s Beach

The Old Mill

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