We tried eating there for restaurant week a few months ago but it was packed to the brim (we didn't have a reservation). We went back the next week and had a lovely meal. I had the veggie plate, which was filling and tasty, unlike some restaurants' versions for non-meat eaters. My boy had a nice cut of steak (don't remember the details). I think the fact that it has made it so long in such a non-prime location must mean they are doing something right?

I went about a year ago, after hearing my parents rave on and on about it. The food wasn't great, the waiter was *very* put-out at the questions I asked ("What's a shortrib?" ... I know they're common, but I honestly didn't know. And he described it like a rack of ribs ... imagine my surprise!), and the rest of the service was awful, too. (He said he'd choose a glass of wine for me, then someone else brought it out, without anyone being able to tell me all night exactly what it was I was drinking.) Maybe this sounds goofy and petty now, but it was just a bad experience all around. I sent an e-mail complaining and never heard a peep. I'll never go back.

I had a really bad service experience there as well. The food was good, but the service was so bad I won't go back. There are too many other good restaurants in Baltimore that offer good food AND good service.

THe food has slipped a couple of notches, but it is the staff that has taken the biggest hit. It seem s like they were trained at a fast food resturant and they are doing you a favor.

I was listening to restaurateur/chef Timothy Dean on the Marc Clarke Show last Wednesday morning

Wasn't that the Marc Steiner show?

Maybe he was on Steiner, too, but believe me, no way I could confuse the two. :-)

This is what I posted during restaurant week last summer:

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 night. 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!

We had great food at Timothy Dean but I can honestly say we'll never go back. The service that we had there was terrible. It took us almost three hours to complete our tasting menu meal.
I thought this may be a one time thing so we returned another night with friends- there were 6 of us- and the service was even worse. It's very unfortunate because again, the food is great, and it's nice to see another upscale option in that area but they have major service issues to work out!

My fiancé and I dined at Timothy Dean's for restaurant week. While the portions were slightly small, we expected them to be that way since it was restaurant week. We both really enjoyed what we had. We went on a random week night without reservations and got seated right away. The service was good when we were there and then as we were leaving Timothy Dean was up front by the bar, clad in his chef's uniform, and asked how everything was. I am a big fan of the chefs seeming to take a real interest in how their customers liked their food. And I think it is also always nice to have the presence of the owner there.