We found a small place for dinner, down the backside of a more-then-less main street, the Oar house, had colonial New England written all over it. Wooden floors, exposed brick and wooden beams, low ceilings, stone facing around the window - you could tell the place had been there for decades if not for hundreds of years.
Lucky for us, it was restaurant week in Portsmouth. Bacon wrapped maple scallops, weren't on the restaurant week menu but we ordered them anyway to start us off and they did not disappoint. Maple syrup wafted across our table and the slightest hint of wasabi tickled the tongue without punching it. The scallops were soft and juicy. I was nervous that they would be overcooked and chewy but there was no trace of that! The bacon was thoroughly cooked but not crispy. An old vine Semillion did a fabulous job of cutting the bacon fat, clearing the palate for the next bite.
For the first course I had a duck terrine with cranberries and nuts. It came with a grain mustard, tomatoes, onions, capers and toast rounds. It was nice, not as fat-ridden as I thought it would be, nor was it as creamy as other terrines I have had. The flavor was mostly of smoked duck and I could not detect the cranberries.
The other girls had the mushroom ragout over gnocchi which was spectacular. The gnocchi were beautifully seared with a crisp outer bite. The mushroom ragout was mixed mushrooms with onions in a lemon-butter-garlic sauce with grated cheese. The portion was large enough for a meal and I would have eated that dish 2x over, 1 plate for each course! 
I had lobster mac & cheese for dinner which tasted good but the presentation was slightly awkward. The mac & cheese had clearly been baked but then when it came to the table it had a few steamed asparagus tips just laid on top of it. The asparagus was al dente with a few grains of sea salt but it just looked thrown together and messy. There were large chunks of lobster claws, which were meaty and plump not grainy as if they had been frozen - leading me to believe that they were indeed fresh from the harbor.
The chocolate pate cake with Oreo ice cream and raspberry sauce was very rich and fudgy. The layers of chocolate were divided with hard white chocolate which made it hard for your fork to cut through the cake slice. I found that I had to stab these white chocolate bits with my fork to eat them - then I just gave up and picked them up with my fingers! The raspberry sauce worked well but the Oreo ice cream, though it tasted fine, did not fit the profile of the dessert. Plain vanilla would have been or a lemon sorbet maybe but not Oreo.
All in all - I would definitely go back to the Oar House for the food - the service was lacking. Our waitress apparently could only count to three because she brought us three of everything even though there four girls sitting at the table - so that was quite frustrating.
(please forgive my photos!!)
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