Make a gift in honor of the good that comes from BDN journalism in your hands, and help raise $60,000 this spring to support our reporting. Make a donation now.
The Dockside Family Restaurant, a downtown Belfast mainstay for 36 years that closed in the fall of 2025, is expected to reopen this month.
“It was not something that we had planned on,” said Lisa Mosher, whose parents first opened a restaurant in the space 36 years ago. “But when one door closes, another opens.”
The spot, at 30 Main St., has been home to Must Be Nice Lobster since November 2025. That restaurant is closing, its owner Sadie Samuels announced last week.
Mosher and her husband, Jeff, are reopening the restaurant with her son and daughter-in-law, Brody and Megan Gibbs, who will eventually take over the business.
“My mom and Jeff are going to hold our hands through the first season to show us the ropes,” said Brody Gibbs.
They hope to reopen by Father’s Day weekend.
Gibbs grew up working in the restaurant and his wife was a waitress there. He always dreamed of taking it over, but the timing wasn’t right. After eight years of working as a police officer in Bangor, and as a new father, he said he was ready for a change.
“The opportunity had passed me by before, so this time when I had the chance I jumped on it,” Gibbs said. “I hope people are ready to get back to the old Dockside, a fun family-oriented space with good views and cold beer.”
Samuels opened Must Be Nice Lobster in the Dockside space in November 2025 after running her restaurant in a smaller location nearby and, before that, a food truck.
She declined to speak with the Bangor Daily News about her decision to close the restaurant, but wrote on Facebook: “Having to start this new adventure in November of last season and survive a pretty tough Maine winter was hard enough. Trusting a few of the wrong people even harder.”
She plans to focus on lobstering, she wrote.
Mosher grew up working in the Dockside restaurant but decided to close it in October 2025 after being diagnosed with cancer and deciding it was time to do something different. Having time to rest has been good for her health, she said, and her cancer is in remission.
She’s excited to see the third generation of her family taking on the Dockside.
“It’ll just be handing over the reins and being there for them when they need me and letting them go for it,” Mosher said.