I have had two meals so far this week, one excellent and one disappointing. Black Olive in Fells Point seems to get what I think is the point of Restaurant Week, which is to give diners a taste of the regular menu at a lower price. I had an excellent grilled octopus salad and a beautiful whole bronzini. At Pazza Luna in Locust Point, however, the restaurant seemed more interested in assembly line cooking, serving dishes that clearly were the easiest (and cheapest) to prepare, and keeping the portions small. The regular menu might be great, but I didn't get a sense of it from this visit.

We had a great dinner at Corks on Monday. The "BLT" appetizer was tremendous.

My husband and I tried Timothy Dean last night. The food was good. The portions were small. The service was very disappointing. Our bottle of wine didn't arrive until we were almost finished with our main course. At that point, we told our server that we were no longer interested in a whole bottle, but would opt for a glass instead. He offered to pour us a glass from the bottle we orginally ordered. After we both finished our glass of wine he came back to refill our wine glasses "on the house." When the bill came he told us that the two glasses of wine would cost almost as much as the bottle so he gave us 10 percent off the bottle. This was no deal and there certainly wasn't a glass of wine "on the house." For a restaurant that typically charges nearly $30 for an entree, they need to have better customer service. Clearly, they don't value their customers.

Dinner at the Black Olive was just fine. Most impressive was the impressive deboning of the whole fish Bronzini at tableside by a quite skilled server. Exceeded my expectations. First course/salad portions were nearly petite, but grilled octupus was wonderful. Baklava ice cream was a treat with its fresh fruit complement.
I was a little taken aback by a good maragarita that cost $10.50 when all was said and done. I hadn't asked for any premium tequila, but was surprised to see a $2 (brand name tequila) charge on top of an $8.50 margarita charge. Ahem.
But we will likely return for a special meal or to show off a good place, even though a non-restaurant week tab may approach triple digits per person (wine, tip) if you go moderately crazy.

Vin tonite!

Several friends and myself dined at Sotto Sopra on Monday night and we had a very disappointing, if not disastrous experience. The only positive aspect of the evening was the valet parking.

First, the bottle of wine we ordered wasn't chilled, so the server brought us a second bottle that was similar, but not really as good. Then, it took 40 minutes to receive our appetizers, which were mediocre at best. Entrees were just as lackluster, if not more so because several ingredients were missing from some of the dishes. Dessert is what killed the whole experience. Apparently they ran out! The server had to come tell us that the pastry chef must have had "amnesia" or something, so all he could do was bring out whatever they had. And what was brought out wasn't even worth eating.

To top it all off, we only received a $12 discount, for nearly a $200 meal. This is one experience I won't be forgetting about, especially when I'm telling friends to not go to Sotto Sopra!

We went to Aldo's for the first time. The menu was fairly diverse for RW. Portions seemed slightly smaller (based on what we saw other patrons getting).

The food was excellent! No corners cut there. My wife had a glass of wine that was $11 for 1/4 of a glass. Are there any restaurants left that offer a reasonably priced glass of wine?

They also tacked on a 19% gratuity which surprised me. I don't recall that happening last year at other restaurants. Maybe it did though.

Lunch at the Capitol Grille was excellent! Really enjoyed the filet mignon. Dinner at Lebanese Taverna was good, but I am not sure if it wouldn't have been cheaper to just get a regular meal. Tonight is Sotto Sopra, I hope they live up to the so far, excellent food.

Fleming's was excellent for dinner last night. The portions were served at their normal size, and the food was delicious. Also, the service was excellent.

Decidedly underwhelmed by dinner at Corks.

Lunch at Black Olive was quite nice - the only downfall was uninspired entree sides. Everything else was superb.

Dinner at Nasu Blanca was my favorite, with everything 'regular menu'-perfect.

Food at Gertrude's was delicious, though unsure if the $30 price was a deal for crostini, risotto and chocolate cake. Service was spotty, but the restaurant was very busy, so it was to be expected. Cocktails from the bar were outrageously expensive but the wine was yummy and fairly priced.

I avoided restaurant week this year for all the negatives I experienced last year (and those mentioned previously). High volume and lethargic dishes did in the "upscale" places I attended. Fortunately, I don't drink so sticker shock from cocktails never happens. I also have become weary of the new imposed gratuities that have been cropping up. If an owner wants to make sure that their staff is well compensated then train them and staff appropriately or build it into the price of the meal. (oops that's their profit.)

We've opted for a "close-to-home" restuarant week experience. Monday - Petit Louis, Tuesday - Brasserie Tatin, and Wednesday - Taste. Tonight will be Alonso's, and Friday - VIN. We've been saving up for this splurge week for months.

The duck leg confit at Petit Louis has been my single favorite item so far. The huge leg was so moist and the skin just crackled when touched by the knife. A little bit of heaven!

The best overall experience so far has been Brasserie Tatin - wonderful food (especially dessert - the Marjolaine, a multi-level hazelnut cake and the Tart Tatin, their wonderful caramelized apple tart), amazing service, and great atmosphere. Which is not to slight the most delicious frog legs and pate I've ever had. They also offered a wine pairing option. For just $15 they paired a wine with each item. The pairings were spot on! My first visit but definitely not the last.

The food at Taste was quite good but service was a bit spotty - no refills and no suggestion of coffee with dessert - not a problem for me, but a real problem for my husband. The warm fresh berry cobbler was a standout.

And onward...

We had dinner on Monday night at Prime Rib, and then Wednesday night at Blue Sea Grill. Both restaurants blew me away. The service was excellent, and the food was excellent. Blue Sea Grill's rockfish definitely rocked. Prime Rib's prime rib melted in my mouth, and their Restaurant week menu included two fabulous sides of mashed potatoes and creamed spinach. The only offbeat thing was the carpet at Prime Rib. Between the shiny black tiled walls and the leopard print carpet - I felt like I was dining in Zsa Zsa Gabor's bathroom.

Sabatino's last night...not bad for my 1st visit. And it was a very good deal for the large portions.

I hear Oceanaire has extended their restaurant week through next week.

Groucho, how much one get a quarter of a glass of wine? That doesn't make sense.

We ate at Alonso's/Loco Hombre on Monday. The scallop and bacon appetizer was delicious, apart from the too-tart sauce, and so was the soft shell crabs. My husband was happy with his choices as well. But then my dessert - strawberry shortcake - turned out to be one of those nasty spongecakes from the produce department with berries and some close relative to Cool Whip!

Last night we did Spice Company. The food was amazing, the entree portions generous, and the service was very elegant. Both restaurants offered a good deal for the money, and I'm happy with the choices we made this year.

I ate at True last night. Service was great, if impersonal. Lobster bisque was fantastic--the butter for the bread was to die for. My salmon was PERFECT though I think there was way too many greens (spinich and artichoke hearts) and not enough potatoes. For desert I had the cheesecake, which would have been great had the middle of it not still been frozen. Another hour defrosting and it would have been perfect. All in all I enjoyed my dinner a great deal.

3 restaurant week meals so far. One very nice, one fabulous and one, well I don't think I can recall another dining experience so disastrous.

Capital Grille for lunch - nice selection for a restaurant week menu, service was prompt and the food was everything you would expect.

Black Olive for lunch - always a great showing. They were out of the octopus salad. This information was conveyed to us as soon as we sat down along with the substitution that was offered (Portuguese sardine wrapped in grape leaves - a fantastic alternative)

Taste for dinner last night. I was so looking forward to trying this restaurant and I was so disappointed with everything about the evening: a server who stopped serving the lukewarm appetizers half-way through our party to deliver a drink order to a neighboring table - and then only having 5 of the 6 orders; running out of bread at 7:30 (bread did mysteriously appear about an hour after we asked for it and were told they were completely out); running out of desserts, not telling us until 20 minutes after entrees were cleared and about 2 hours after we put in the order and not offering additional options; a manager who was not terribly apologetic about running out of food and who gave us inconsistent information about was and was not available; and a final wait of about 20 minutes for our check. To their credit, the bill did include an adjustment for the missing desserts.

Restaurant week is a time to shine and entice patrons to come back and order from the full menu. Capital Grill and Black Olive understand this and will get repeat business from us. As for Taste, the quality of the food could not make up for the service/management problems. None of the 6 of us would go back or feel comfortable recommending it to anyone. That's a true loss for the restaurant.

Sotto Sopra was not great, appetizers were so-so and my veal entree was the worst I have ever had. The creme brulee was ok. This was my second mediocre and overpriced meal from the restaurant, I won't be going back.

Ate at Red Maple Mon. night. It was my first time having dinner there and I wasn't sure what to expect because we usually go for drinks and I haven't heard much about dining there. The food was really good. I had the crab and conch chowder which was spicy with fresh corn kernals. My entree was the hazelnut crusted tuna which, to my surprise, came out in two large portions. I was expecting smaller dishes but I guess I've only ever ordered tapas while there for cocktails. The chocolate cake was ok, I probably would have been better to order the hazelnut mouse instead. Two negatives of the evening: We had 7 p.m. reservations Mon. night and were very disappointed to hear they were out of the mango martini and red sangria. Both excellent choices and all our party of five ordered. The plus side of this is I found two other drinks I like which are the peach martini and the cranberry cocktail made with cumumber. It's incredible! The other negative is the seating. It's really hard to eat from a soup bowl while hunched over a very low table in a very dark room! I think RM is definitely on the "place not to take your parents" list. All in all, I'd try dinner there again.

Last night we tried Taste for the first time and the food was pretty good, but they were clearly overwhelmed. They should have been better staffed for such a busy evening. They too were out of several bottles of wine and desserts. And when we got the second choice dessert sorbet, the flavor changed from the time we ordered until the time we got it. I think they ran out and had to whip up new sorbet which turned out to be apricot, probably from apricot nector they bought or had onhand. I can't say I'd make a special trip to go back, but the person I was with said they'd try it again so perhaps we will. I bet their food is a lot better when they aren't so rushed.

Flemings tomorrow night!

We went to Corks on Monday evening. I noticed right away, they changed one of the published entrees from Grilled Beef Filet to Grilled Flank Steak which came with a scallion and potato pancake, corn, green beans and shallot relish, chocolate demi-glace. The flank steak was delicious for flank steak but it certainly wasn't fillet of beef. The scallion and potato pancake didn't have any flavor but the bean and corn relish was tasty. I had the chocolate mousse for dessert which was a soup bowl full of fluff. If it wasn't brown, I don't think I would have known it was chocolate. My husband had the White Wine Braised Airline Chicken Breast with grilled Polenta cake, sautéed spinach and artichokes. He was very happy with his choice as well as with the Gardener's Gourmet Fresh Spinach Salad with toasted almonds, grilled Vidalia onions, sliced white peaches. I had the Watermelon Salad which I enjoyed. Corks added a dessert choice of three mini cheesecakes to their published selections which was a nice surprise My husband enjoyed them. I don't think I would go back but my husband who chose the better dishes said he would be happy to return.

Tuesday we went to the Capital Grille. My husband had the Capital Grille Garden Salad, Kona Crusted Sirloin, & Cheesecake. I had the Caesar Salad, Filet Mignon Au Jus, & Chocolate Espresso Cake. The Capital Grille's bread basket is probably the best I have had in Baltimore. There was a variety of breads and some very crusty rolls. It has been our experience that the bread served in area restaurants is always soft and spongy. We both like our meals but we both like the items my husband ordered better than the items I had. The service was excellent. My beef was too rare for my liking. It was instantly removed and a new piece of perfectly cooked fillet served along with a fresh, hot, side dish of mashed potatoes. The Capital Grille was all you would expect from a topnotch Steakhouse.

Wednesday night was The Oceanaire. It was busy and loud when we arrived and got louder as the night wore on. We ordered cocktails (the superb James Bond Martini) and settled in to enjoy them along with the beautiful relish tray which was served. We felt some pressure from our server to order dinner before we were ready but understood they were busy and wanted to move things along. Restaurant Week isn't the time to linger over your cocktails. My husband ordered the House Salad, Chesapeake Bay Style Lump Meat Crab Cakes, & Strawberry Sorbet. I had the New England Clam Chowder, what was supposed to be Stuffed Gulf of Maine Lemon Sole With baby bay shrimp, brie cheese and blue crab but instead of the Sole they substituted Turbot which was disappointing, and the Tin Roof Sundae. Surprisingly there were no accompaniments to our dinners. My husband had two crabcakes on his plate, I had my fish. Our server never suggested ordering anything to go with the entree. The fish dish did not work. It was an unusual combination of flavors and I could detect no brie which was probably a good thing. The Strawberry Sorbet was too tart for my taste. The tin roof sundae was a brownie with vanilla ice cream a smidge of hot fudge and whipped cream. We were not offered coffee probably to keep us from lingering.

Tonight we are going to Petit Louis. I hope it lives up to it's reputation.

We dined at Corks, Black Olive and Wine Market for Restaurant Week. As noted by others, the grilled bronzini and the baklava ice cream at Black Olive were both wonderful. We had a bit of a wait for our entrees, though. Service and food at Wine Market were outstanding and we will definitely be back -- especially since one can get wine at very reasonable prices. Corks food and service were also very good, but I believe we were overcharged (unless one glass of wine, one coffee and one iced tea cost $40 total!).

Fourth and final restaurant week experience - Spice Company. My first time there and what a treat. Service was impeccable and the food - from appetizers to dessert was wonderful. Tuna may have been slightly overdone, but the halibut, salmon, sea bass and duck were all perfect. Definitely a new place to add to the repertoire!

To Umberto, she ordered a glass of wine. The glass was only filled about 1/4 of the way (though my wife thinks it was less than that!) I hope that clears things up.

Jack's Bistro- We went in thinking this was going to be the star of restaurant week; even better then the absolutely superb meal we had the night before at Ryleigh's. We left Jack's Bistro decidedly disappointed. The presentation was wonderful but it ended there. Although my wife liked the macaroni and cheese with chocolate sauce, the potstickers and chicken croquette were flat and unimpressive. The skewered beef had an unappealing under-taste and the BBQ'd short rib had so much fat that Richard Simmons would have had a stroke just looking at it.

We had dinner at Oceanaire on Wednesday. The service and food were excellent, although we felt that we would have done better cost-wise to order off of the regular menu. My boyfriend ordered the blue marlin, which was excellent and I ordered the stuffed turbot. It had a mild flavor, but I enjoyed it very much. It was disappointing that you didn't receive side dishes with your meal. We ordered rice and broccoli which added a great deal to the bill and were complete overkill as far as quantity. I understand that these restaurants offer a la carte sides, but I thought that for restaurant week, they may offer one side or a vegetable with the meal.

Last night we went to Roy's for dinner. It was wonderful. I had no complaints about the short rib meal. It melted in your mouth. It was a regular dinner portion that came with mashed potatoes and some baby vegetables. My mom had the tiger shrimp and loved it. It was well spiced, so beware!

Now, after reading these other posts, I have some places that I need on my list for the next restaurant week.

The Prime Rib has extended its Restaurant Week menu until September 2.

Vin was great. Prawns and edamame ravioli with a lemon buerre blanc was a superb dish. Salad was fine. Hangar steak was quite good as was the cheesy mashed potatoes, with a hint of blue cheese. Subtle and sublime. Petite dessert menu was fun. My dessert banana tempura wasn't hot (as I expected), but ok. Very good wine selections, fairly pricey, though. A most beautiful dining room, quite avant and romantic. I want to go back and try some of the funky small plates and a good wines. I saw some order the whole red snapper. Caution! It is a plateful and a mess by the time you are done. It is deep fried and left to you to secure the meat from around head, tail, backbone and all. It would be as if you brought a deep fryer on your trek in the Amazon region and this was one night's fare. Patrons seemed to like the taste, but it required some work.
Vin is recommended. We'll go again.

Ditto to the above about Jack's Bistro. What a disappointment. The grilled corn cobs were tasteless. The crab cake was bland and the short rib was mostly fat. A much better meal at Spice Co.

I can't say enough about our wonderful meal at Bicycle on Friday evening. It was the most beautiful food I have ever seen. Everything was delicious! Especially the lobster ravioli. The service was attentive but not fawning. A perfect dining experience. We will definitely be going back.

Bicycle on Monday - food was good, service was even better
Spice Company on Tuesday - food was excellently prepared, although a bit boring, service was impeccable
George's/Mt. Vernon on Wednesday - enjoyed the meal, met the chef, waitress was spot on
Nasu Blanca on Thursday - while crowded, the waiter did his best and the food was delicious. I want to try it again
True on Friday - I was extremely disappointed. No one at the valet stand for 10 minutes. No one at the front desk, so we stood for 25 minutes waiting, only one waitress and one server in the entire restaurant, wine was $5/glass for the first round. Our glasses were significantly smaller than the tables around us. When guestioned, the waitress said that she filled ours with the same amount - which was so totally untrue she might as well have smacked us. Three of us got the steak - tough and cold, broccoli was gritty. When we ordered a bottle of $38 Zen Zin, we were served with a bottle of Dancing Bull. What a disappointment!!
Lunch today at Ryleigh's Oyster and we are taking friends to Pazo's tonight for their first experience. After True, there's only one way to go - up!

The Baltimore Restaurant Week web page is showing the following retaurants as carrying over Restaurant Week:
Babalu Grill, Blue Sea Grill, Brasserie Tatin, Brightons Restaurant, Capital Grille, Mezze, Oceanaire Seafood Room, PAZO, Petit Louis Bistro, Prime Rib, and Ruth's Chris Steak House (Pier 5 & Water Street).

We made a reservation through Open Table for Timothy Dean Bistro Saturday night. Only 6:30 and 9 p.m. were available, so we chose 6:30 (way early for us), only to be told when we arrived that they had no record of our reservation. This has never happened to us before. We had to wait 45 minutes for a table to open up, which meant plenty of time to enjoy excellent mojitos (but $11 apiece--!) We were happy with the menu offerings. The special Timothy Dean Caesar salad served in a parmesan tuille was fun.
My husband had the sea bass special. They added a soft shell crab to the tasting menu for the night. My husband enjoyed the creme brulee with fresh berries and I had a special double chocolate cake with a scoop of truffle ice cream. Portions were small, but all that we wanted on a hot niight. The annoying thing was being told that the place was totally booked, but seeing 8 empty tables at 8 p.m. Clearly, the system could stand some improvement!

went to sabatinos a few weeks ago and was disappointed. we were celebrating my fiancees birthday and the waiter was notified of it and was asked to bring some sort of dessert after our meal with a candle. it never happened,he forgot. he also didnt know much about wines. we also were not aware of their late night menu which is very limited. the food was not that good, very overpriced compared to other restaurants and not visually appealing. i emailed the restaurant about the problem and their response was that it is not their policy to educate their staff about wines and their menu is limited late at night (after 11pm)because their kitchen staff works very hard all day long..no apology,just excuses. save your money,go to olive garden instead