Baltimore needs more people like him.

I think the area needs a spark and may find one with this cafe

congraulation boss on your new restaurant, i will be pass there soon to visit but for now I GOT TO GO.

congrats, I knew that you would do it best of luck!!!!!!!!!!

I had dinner here on Saturday with four friends and it was a complete disaster. Our reservation was made for 7pm, we spent about 15 minutes standing in the doorway waiting for someone to acknowledge our presence and then it just kept getting worse. The food is mediocre (except for the macaroni-which was great), the service was worse than terrible, and the menu offerings are generally overpriced. I dine out quite often and this place is just not up to par.

I had brunch on this pass Sunday with my best friend. The place is great. We really had a wonderful time.

The food was pretty good by the service was quite poor. Our reservation was taken as a 5 instead of a 6 even though I called to confirm the night before. When we arrived, we were told that we would be seated in 5 minutes even though the restaurant was empty, because the buffet was not ready (instead of seating us and taking our drink order and letting us wait in our seats.) Then, we we told rudely by the chef and owner that our party was going to be split up on a 4 top table and a 2 top table because he did not have our reservation. The owner, Casey asked if we had a problem with that, and we said yes, b/c everyone in the party doesn't know each other, and we would like to sit together, he said "oh well". When I asked to have the tables pushed together, we were told we would have to wait and see who else comes in ... even though we had a reservation. So, we waited about 15 minutes to be moved.

Once we were moved things were better, the food was pretty good ... but the young waiter sucked his teeth when we asked him to clear some of our plates ... and when we told him that we were not all paying together.

We are all young black professionals. I will never go to this restaurant again, and I will advise my friends and co-workers not to do so either. It's unfortunate when we can not support black business. To get more for your money, better selection of food (they have seafood and steak) great service, a liquor license, try Mrs. Shirley's (also black owned) on Coldspring Lane.

Michelle wrote: "try Mrs. Shirley's (also black owned) on Coldspring Lane."

Well, I love Miss Shirley's, but I am very surprised to hear that the Dopkin family is black. Who knew?

WOW, I had dinner there just last week and the service was great. The stuffed shrimp was my appetizer with the southern platter side dishes. I want to see this place successful, so I will try them out again. My experience was quite the opposite of the previous person

A couple of weeks ago my wife and I were down with something like the 'flu and didn't feel like cooking--so I went to Darker Than Blue to get "take-out." The mildly bad news is--don't try to carry it home--you'll just ruin great food (although they packed it as well as they could!) but the good news is that this man knows how to cook!!

I took our fried chicken dinner home and even though our appetites were not up to par due to the illness, we both ate like there was no tomorrow--and had left-overs.

We love the place and wish Casey and his crew the very best!! We WILL be back--to dine in his very attractive space!!!

I had dinner here with a friend yesterday, we both were really impressed, nice elegant, cozy atmosphere, the owner was our server and he was very pleasant and accommodated us quit well, his hospitality was second to none, the menu was quit unique,, the food was well prepared and the serving were enormous, we enjoyed our time there and look forward to going there again, I highly recommend this restaurant

i had lunch at darker than blue on wed this week the food was good but it wasn't jerk chicken as the menu states but very good, the waiter was very nice the owner/cook a little cocky for my taste i will try it once more to see if it's some place i would tell my friends and clients to check out.
Emergency Service coord @ johns hopkins hosp and the owner of Loc's 4 Life Hair Salon

I'd heard so much about this place that I had to stop there for lunch the other day. The food was wonderful, and our server was very attentive without being overbearing.

I had the seafood salad sandwich (it's chocked-full of fresh shrimp), and my friend had the swiss burger. We were very pleased with both the food and the service. I'll definitely be back.

I just dined at Darker than Blue to celebrate a friend's birthday but the chef/owner was so rude to us that it really put a damper on the evening. The birthday girl had spent all week scouting out locations for her birthday dinner and after meeting with Mr. Jenkins personally and confirming that he could accomodate a party of 16, we were surprised that we were then told that we would be split into 4 different tables. After we asked our waiter to please go check with Mr. Jenkins about it, he came out and basically gave us a scolding and a lesson on the flow and noise level of a restaurant. As someone whose family has been in the restaurant biz for a while, there is nothing better than having your restaurant filled with laughter and good conversation over your food. For a soul food restaurant, that would seem like a no brainer.

Mr. Jenkins then came out to ask how our food was and because we did not reply immediately, he demanded again, "How's the food?!" Not good enough to be addressed like that Mr. Jenkins.

I cannot deny that the food was well done and the young gentlemen serving us did a good job staying on top of things. But if Mr. Jenkins doesn't quickly learn that there is much more to a successful restaurant than good food, his business will, sadly, never acheive its potential.

I recently had the great pleasure to enjoy a meal at "Darker Than Blue Cafe". I took my brother and cousin there for a birthday meal. My brother and I are members of the guest service industry so our standards are very high. We where greeted by a sweet young lady who seemed to be on her second day (just guessing I know experience when I see it) she seated us and promptly took our drink orders. We got our drinks and bread quickly. The cornbread along with the food and sweeten tea. It was all so good. We where even greeted by the Chef Jenkins himself. Which seems to be his standard.

I found out about this place from the Best of B'more magazine and drove down from PA to check it out. I was very glad I decided to make the drive. The atmosphere was nice and relaxing, the owner/chief was very friendly and pleasant, and the food was excellent. I will definately be back!

I think that ALL of the comments on this post can be safely regarded as fake now. That is sad, because fake comments make a place look desperate and phony, like a marshallow peeps turducken hot pocket.

Would anyone else like to do the post post-mortem on this unctuous piece of effluvial backwash?

Swarm!

Hmm...hard to tell, really. Some people have been told to always be "nice" (look up the original meaning, folks), so they won't say anything negative publicly.

So, are we just piling on anyone who is nice and making a first post? If so, how to you gain cred around here?

If only every post about a restaurant was accidentally kept alive with single glowing reviews strategically placed every month or two. When writing fake reviews for your restaurant, try to keep your own sense of your personal awesomeness to a minimum ("Chef Jenkins himself").

it's surpisingly long-lived compared to the 2000 or so other dead posts. Maybe the owner gives people this url for positive commenting.

Occam's Razor sleuthy boys and girls ...

If you ask the Google, this site is the first one you will see where a customer could comment. Plus EL's review is on the restaurant's web site.

It is odd that the Google didn't didn't tell me about any other use review sites. Everything looks okay here. I'm only Almost Bue. Who likes Chet Baker? Raise your hand.

Hey Owl,
My order from the meat place in PA is on its way. Looking forward to that lebanon bologna. Getting the smoked turkey breast and some turkey bacon too.

Who likes Chet Baker?

He was my favorite Doctor Who. Oh wait, that was Tom Baker...

The first time I went to this restaurant, I was impressed. My second visit, not impressed at all! The hostess/waitress did not have the correct time for the reservation. She was extremely nice, but overworked because she was the only wait staff on duty. We were told that would could not bring balloons or a cake in the establishment for the most insane reasons. The chef/owner comes out, after we asked to speak with him, and was not accommodating...and he was extremely arrogant and rude.

The saddest part to me was that we were an African American party of 10. But a caucasion party of 4 came in and received the most hands on, perfected service I've ever seen. He spoke with them for about 5 minutes, several times. We had to ask him to come over and greet us. When we did, he blew his breath very hard and said how is everyone doing? He would have been better to walk away.

While the food was delicious, the service and the attitude of the owner left a lot to be desired. I hate to make it racial, but it was a clear cut scene of a black man catering to his white guests and ignoring his black paying guess who spent $200 in his restaurant that was mostly empty on a Saturday night. I hope he gets it together and learns to treat all people the same and stop kissing up to the people whom he THINKS will keep him in business.

We won't EVER go there again.

The post that won't die. It's amazing how this one comes alive almost exactly every three months.

Oh what the hell, let's play Mess With the Complainer.

We were told that would could not bring balloons or a cake in the establishment for the most insane reasons

I would LOVE to hear some insane reasons. For example:
– Cake has two letters that represent the same sound ... devilry!
– Balloonmen murdered my ancestors on Glargon VI in 2314.
– If you bring balloons in here, the restaurant might float away.

Those are insane reasons. I'm guessing the chef's reasons weren't exactly insane. How's this for a reason: this is a small restaurant with other guests, not a party hall you rented. Show up with your own cake? This is a restaurant, we serve food here, leave your food at home.

Race again? Come on.

Here's my take on the facts as YOU presented them. You want to take over a restaurant with a loud party (because of the balloons and birthday revelry of ten people), bring your dessert and spend $200 for ten people on a Saturday night. Honestly, just from your own description (and race is not a factor) you sound like a server's nightmare. I've seen tons of parties like this. They are a nuisance to share a room with.

Let's do a little math here. Party of ten spent $200. I will give you the benefit of the doubt and say you left a 15% tip. So minus tip and tax you spent about $160 or $16 per person ... on a Saturday night.

http://darkerthanbluecafe.com/Menu.html

Looking at their menu, I can't imagine how that is possible. Here's the data for entrees:
Grilled New York Strip Steak $20.95
Blackened Louisiana Tilapia $18.95
Grilled Chicken Alfredo $12.95
Slow Roasted Half Chicken $17.95
Slow Roasted Baby Back Ribs $21.95
Darker Than Blue Burger $10.95
Fried Chicken Southern Platter $18.95
Maryland Crab Cake Dinner $22.50
Broiled Stuffed Salmon $20.25

How could you get a $16/person tab? Really? I'm mean seriously? Really, I want to know.

I think labelling the chef a racist because he didn't embrace your rude behavior is weak and so last year. Look inward.

I'm glad to see DTB is still alive. Let's hear about some good experiences there instead of this drivel. Continued good luck to chef Casey Jenkins. That tilapia sounds really good.

you don't know nothing

Did anyone notice that the complaint posted by Ms. Neely is thematically similar to a complaint posted on September 11, 2008? I can't imagine that DTB's principals really are party haters. But even if they are, the racial angle to the complaint was over the top.

Good point, She Who...

Party party party.

If sixteen people want to make one big table in a dining room that seats 40 is not insignificant. They will tend to dominate the atmosphere. Also a table of 16 will take 7 or 8 four-top tables when pushed together instead of 4 tables. So a 40 (10x4) seat room now becomes a 24 seat room with one giant table taking up all but two tables. See the problem? If you want to rent your own room, many places will do that. Remember it's Saturday night.

I usually just use this blog as a benchmark for how I am doing. I really never answer any of the responses, but this lady and there table where over the top. I remember this party. If I offended anyone I do apologize but our rules in our restaurant are meant to create a dinning experience for the entire restaurant not just your party. You wanted to bring in balloons we explained to you that we've had one ceiling fan damaged already because of a balloon string, and the only response we got from that customer was oooopppss your should have told us. Now here is the real problem when you tell a customer "NO" they feel slighted. I do not allow people to just walk in with outside desserts, I am a restaurant I SELL FOOD you need to get on board with this concept. I've worked in the restaurant for years and outside of Chucky Cheese people don't do that in respectful restaurants without tell someone that we have a cake can we bring it in WHO DOES THIS, would you walk into Ruth Chris with a steak under your arm NO why treat me like I don't matter. Now the big question that I will answer "I am not a racist". The table that you are speaking about has been to my restaurant at least a dozen times, they have been with me during the bad times and I want to share the good times with them DEAL WITH IT, Have you see the name of my restaurant it's taken from a old Curtis Mayfield song "WE PEOPLE WHO ARE DARKER THAN BLUE" it's a inspirational song dedicated to the rich culture of AFRICAN AMERICANS
so I thought that the name would be a great fit (southern cooking rich culture) I am happy to see that other people on this blog can see you are totally off base. We've been voted Baltimore's Best by on circular and in the top 50 restaurants in the city, weather you like us or not how dare you attack us with empty rhetoric. If you noticed there where at least 8 other tables in there that evening each with people of color and I approached each one equally and they where all repeat customers. The reason I didn't approach your table is because you where rude and out of line. My server was in the back in tears because of your rude treatment to her, but we maintained our professional attitude. We where more than happy to see you leave, and never return. Some people on this blog have been to my restaurant weather they enjoyed the food or not, weather they cared for the service or not. I've tried to treat each customer as if they where family, and i must say again I don't usally answer I just take it with a grain of salt but this woman is totally off base, she was wrong from the opening of the door till the moment she left. Now if you want to talk to me lady try calling me and not blasting me on a blog where people can see you are totally wrong.

I'm guessing it will be awhile before we see another comment complaining about how their party of 14 was treated badly.

By the way you spent $160 and left a $14 dollar tip to a server you said you liked, and was over worked not $200 like you said please "I'm done with his topic post all you want lady

I say well done Mr. Jenkins. Sometimes it's the bigger man that doesn't roll over to baseless accusations. Your comments are very welcome.

Bravo, Chef. That kind of lame attack doesn't often go unquestioned here. This is the second time this week where a complaint probably got more sympathy for a restaurant than bad press. You shouldn't have to respond to garbage like that, but people here really appreciate it when a restaurant representative weighs in.

By the way you spent $160 and left a $14 dollar tip

I KNEW it.

I'm glad I replied to their rant. After all it's not called Whining@Large. Good riddance to annoying people.

Hang in there!

Amen. If more people were called-out for their poor restaurant behavior, maybe they would think before they act ... or before they leave the house. Don't blow a lot of smoke up your server's behind about how much you like her/him, and then leave her a less-than-9-percent tip. Pathetic. I loved that when I was a server. People would go on and on about what a great job I did, and then leave me an evangelical prayer card instead of a tip. Stay home, people.

It's amazing how the most demanding customers are often the worst tippers. What's the psychology of that about?

Mr.Jenkins is very rude, and of course we know how it is when you show a little more attention to your regular customers; but I too noticed the way he caters to his European customers. We had a small party of four and when we requested wine glasses we were given some glasses he must have borrowed from Melba's. However you should have seen the long-stem wine glasses that were given to his other party of four; that requested glasses after us. By the way; the waitress who served us was in tears from the way Mr. Jenkins was treating her and we had to tell her keep her head up and recommended she take her great serving skills where she would be treated with dignity.
The food was good but his attitude caused us to lose our appetite.