What about my favorite Chinese restaurant, China Best in Owings Mills? It was featured in local musician Brandon Walker's music video "Chinese Food for Christmas" on youTube:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=w1uZ_W7atDE
True, China Best also has an all-you-can-eat sushi buffet, but it's primarily a great place for Chinese food.

Thanks for the link, John! I loved the video!

My wife, parents and siser went to Ciao Bella in Little Italy before Mass on Christmas Eve (ok, so not Christmas Day, but still relevant all the same). It was excellent. Our meal was 2:00 in the afternoon, and there were maybe 10 other people in the restaurant. that was great, since there was no wait for our food and the owner/check, Tony, ws able to spend a few minutes with us. I def. recommend for dining, whether around the holidays or not!

Three friends and I enjoyed a Top 10 suggestion, Sonny Lee's Hunan Taste, even though we had just watched the most potentially appetite-killing movie: Sweeny Todd. No ground meats for us, thanks.

Sonny Lee's service was fine, and the food was tasty -- my salt-and-pepper squid was delicious but a little salty (not a problem). It also wasn't crowded at all at about 1:30 p.m. or so.

I particularly enjoyed the generous complimentary starter, a sweet pickled napa cabbage salad, and for dessert, a tiny scoop of rainbow sherbet.

Dear Elizabeth,
I thought a while before writing and sending this, but finally decided, “What the heck? Let it all hang out.”
Being without a functioning kitchen, my family and I necessarily had to go out for Christmas dinner (though it certainly wasn’t our choice). Since the only restaurant you found which was serving that day which we hadn’t already tried was Eichenkranz, we decided to give it a whirl. Oh, my!
This is a restaurant which was so monumentally bad that it was actually … FUNNY! My wife and I will be chuckling over this experience for years to come.
Someone who blogged on the subject of this place actually had the chutzpah to compare it – favorably, no less! – to Haussner’s of late and lamented fame. The container of kitchen slops from Haussner’s would have been a vast improvement over the dinner we had at Eichenkranz.
The only thing with which we were served which was in any way acceptable was the Wiener Schnitzel, which at least had the grace to be nice and tender, although it was largely tasteless. One of my party had the prime rib, which was ordered rare but arrived from the kitchen mostly well-done, and was tough as shoe leather into the bargain. The side dishes were all prepared from dehydrated mixes of a dismal quality which would have been rejected by the kitchen at any self-respecting orphanage. The service was glacially slow. There were apparently no first courses on offer, and we finally gave up in despair over being offered dessert and, so, left without it. We weren’t offered after-dinner coffee, either.
I would like to think that this place is some kind of joke, but I doubt very much if that is the case. It is not a patch on Haussner’s on their worst day, and compared to a really first-rate German restaurant, like the late Berghoff in Chicago or Luchow's in New York, they don’t even belong on the same planet.
I doubt you’ve ever visited Eichenkranz. I can’t imagine you taking the place lying down. Therefore, please take my word for it and don’t waste your time.
Sincerely,
Dave Barton

Wow, sorry you had such a horrible experience at Eichenkranz. I just had dinner there Friday night with some friends and we had a great dinner. My friends have already asked when we can go back. We had sauerbraten, pork with apples, sautéed scallops, stuffed flounder, and it was all wonderful. I will admit the red wine is served cold, but for some reason that just makes the experience even more charming.

So glad we didn't go to Eichenkranz! We almost did that last year but no one knew where it was.

This year, we went to Olive & Sesame in Towson. It was.. pretty good overall. Priorities were few - a place that was open and had a bar, and wasn't serving a Special Holiday Menu.. .
So it was hard to be too disappointed in the less than stellar food. We did end up ordering from the Japanese side of the menu, grilled fish/seafood. We should have known better and would not repeat that at least not on a holiday, but would definitely like to check out the Chinese side of the menu, as the steamed dumplings were as good as I remember steamed dumplings being.

The hot sake was great though & the beer was cold. We arrived around 5:30 and were seated right away, by the time we left at 7 it was pretty packed.

There was a celebrity sighting I think - the guy who made the Chinese Food for Christmas video was I believe at the next table, at least that was my impression when ABC came in for a quick interview. No singing or dancing though.