I always know it's restaurant week because it takes me about 3 times longer to find parking because The Prime Rib always valets their cars into normal street parking spots.

ugh.

I went to Tabrizi's on Saturday night. It was packed, but I had made a reservation when I first heard about restaurant week. I was pleasantly surprised by their selection. The choice was among seven or eight appetizers and entrees and four desserts--much more selection than I've had at other restaurant week restaurants. They were also some of the most popular (and most delicious) of Tabrizi's offerings. I had the corn and crab chowder to start, the baby lamb chops (with basmati rice, vegetables and a port wine glaze) and chocolate mousse cake. My sister had an eggplant and goat cheese appetizer, the lamb kebabs, and the creme brulee. We had a bottle of wine and came out under $100. My philosophy on restaurant week is if you love the restaurant to begin with, they probably won't let you down with special promotions.

A group of us went to Meli Friday night and it was excellent! They let you choose any appetizer, entree and dessert off of their menu. The butternut squash ravioli appetizer was amazing, and everyone really liked all 3 courses. Service was good too. Definitely would recommend.

I love Restaurant Week mostly because the Bicycle is such a great restaurant and I love their overflow. Keep up the good work.

I have notice this year a lot more restaurants which would usually cost a lot less than $30 to eat their on a normal night.

A group of us went to Lebanese Taverna in Harbour East and although the food was excellent, the service was the worst ever! It took more than four hours from start to finish.

We had a 7:00 p.m. reservation and they seated us promptly, but it took about 15 minutes for the waiter to take our drink order and then about another 20 minutes to bring our beers and wines. Then it was about another 20+ minutes before he brought the menus to us. We all ordered the special menu, which included an appetizer, a glass of wine or beer, the entrée and a dessert. He requested that we place the whole order at that point, which was fine.

When he brought out the appetizers, he just placed them in the middle of the table, but there were about half as many appetizers as diners at our table. When the entrées finally came out, three came, then about 10 minutes later another few and then finally the rest. By this time, it was almost 9:30 and we were getting restless.

A table behind us put their order in, and after waiting about 45 minutes, were presented with their check, even though they’d never gotten their food. They were livid, as they’d been there for almost two hours!

The waiter finally came around and asked us about our desserts, and we mentioned that he’d taken the order earlier. After another lengthy wait, he came back with three desserts, and disappeared. When we finally saw him again and asked where the rest were, he had to take the order all over again. About 10 minutes, he came back and said that the items we’d ordered were out, and we’d have to get something else.

When we finally got our checks, it was nearly 11:00 (he asked if we wanted separate checks and we said yes, since there were 10 of us). Almost every check was wrong, with things missing and other things added or double charged. That took about another 15 minutes to resolve, and we finally left at about 11:15.

Granted it is Restaurant Week and it was a Saturday night, but I can’t see any excuse for this meal to have taken more than four hours! They could have turned over that table twice in the time we were there.

While we all loved our meals, I won’t be going back there any time soon. It was just a huge exercise in frustration for all of us.

We went to Oceannaire on Saturday night and it was packed. There were probably 25 people in the lobby area waiting for tables. We found a great spot at the bar and were seated within 5 minutes of our reservation. Although we were directly outside of the kitchen exit (and heard many expletives when servers entered the exit and fouled up service) we still had a great time. It was a bit loud but our server couldn't have been nicer/more attentive and the food was excellent.

I don't have a sweet tooth, so Restaurant Week is the week I'm least likely to go out to eat due to the crowds and the included dessert deal. Now, if they threw in a little more of the main course or allowed 2 appetizers...

interesting comments in regard to lebanese taverna.

we were there saturday night also, in the bar section and we didn't order off the restaurant week menu and it took foooorever. I thought it was just because the bar section was understaffed but it sounds like it was happening throughout the place.

Pigtown, its a good thing they didn't have a one-and-a-half hour table limit. :)

EL, where was that photo taken? I am intrigued!

It's the Bicycle. If you put your cursor over the photo, it should tell you. EL

Ryan... we were sitting at the long table in the bar area. It was long beyond my outer limits! Also, someone said that the bartender was the waiter for the entire bar area. How inefficient is that!

We went last night to restaurant week at the Brass Elpehant because I had never been there before. A party of four, so we all ordered something different. The apple pear tart is not something i thought I would like, but I liked it the best. I had a huge pork shank and creme brulee that was very good. I was told it was an Italian restaurant, but it did not seem Italian to me?

They sat us right away, free valet parking and the service was pretty good.

Our server took us on a tour and the house is really cool!

Damimmo was disappointing. The waiter went out of his way to hide the restaurant week menus from multiple tables around us. It was a struggle to get a discounted menu. Give me a break. The service was intentionally slow to maximize cocktails. We eventually had excellent food. I'll take my expense account clients somewhere else the rest of the year.

My fiancée and her friends went the Oceanairre on Monday night. She said it was fantastic. A great way to sample more expensive cuisine at a reasonable price. The crabcakes were the best part of the RW menu. Plus, the service was fantastic.

Petit Louis, as always, was delicious.

It isn't just RW that can cause you to have a 4 hour dinner at Lebanese Taverna - that is always how it is there, I'm not sure why!

The crabcakes are the best at Oceanaire and really worth it during RW Week. The deserts there leave something to be desired.

Trying out Petit Louis this Friday.

Saturday nigth dinner at Gertrudes, my first time dining there. I had the shrimp torte, heavy but good. Stuffed yellow bell pepper, also good but I filled up on the bread, my downfall, and could not finish. Had a bite of my pumpkim cheesecake which I probabaly would have finished as well, if not bread dependent. Great bottle of wine, would love to go back in the summertime to eat outside in the courtyard.

My husband and I went to Flemings on Saturday and had an excellent meal. The portions were very large and the service was wonderful. My husband had a beautifully cooked prime rib and I had a delicious piece of artic char. We were never rushed and the restaurant was very crowded (in the good way that it creates a energetic atmosphere). I would highly recommend it for RW. A $30 three-course meal is an excellent deal there. They are also offering a winter prefix menu throughout the season. Three courses for $35. Menu looked good.

I went to Louisiana on Friday night with a group of friends (six of us in all) and had a wonderful meal. I had never been to Louisiana before and didn't quite know what to expect. The service was good, but a bit slow at times, but the food and atmosphere were excellent. The dining room was packed at 7:30 and to be honest I was expecting smaller than normal portions for RW. Much to my surprise I had the best crab bisque and my steak was way to much to eat in one sitting. I will absolutely return.

A group of us made reservations for a birthday dinner at The Gin Mill. It was very disappointing. While the service was very accomodating, the food was lousy. Several diners got the salmon and said it was only okay. A few got the risotta and weren't impressed at all. The majority of us got the beef tenderloin which was overcooked. The peppercorn sauce it came with was scarcely found and not peppery at all. The potatoes were overly lumpy and cold, and the accompanying veggies were bland and soggy. Portion size was pretty small and many diners were still hungry, even after dessert.

The appetizers weren't as bad as the entrees. The squash soup was incredibly sweet. Salads were fine. We had a few mussels that weren't steamed enough and somewhat raw. The chicken wings had way too much salt/sodium and were practically inedible. The mac & cheese was the tastiest of all the food we got the entire night.

The menu listed a free glass of wine or classic cocktail. We assumed the waiter would inquire about our selections, but that didn't happen. After ordering, we had to inquire ourselves about what was written and what the choices were. The cocktails were good, even if we did have to badger him about them.

Desserts were tolerable. The banana bread was good, but anything drenched in caramel sauce can't be that bad. The pound cake was dry and boring.

We won't go back to The Gin Mill anytime soon. They certainly can't compete with the other Restaurant Week participants.

Don't worry nocodiner, the Gin Mill will close in a few months anyways. It been the same dog-and-pony show for years now.

We went to Mezze and had a really nice experience with a few minor problems. My biggest complaint was the size of the table: way too small. We had small plates all over the place. Then you factor in the water glasses, wine glasses, sangria carafe, and the cone of pita. Then I overheard that one of the servers didn't show up for work, so the service wasn't spectacular. But we got a lot of food for the price. My favorites include the spinach pie, crab cakes, and the baklava. All in all, it was a success b/c we had fun and would go back.

I have been to Lebanese Taverna twice and had horrible service both times. If I weren't so addicted to their special hummus, I would never go back!

This restaurant week, I tried out Pazo. I wasn't all that impressed. Everyone tells me it's amazing, but nothing I had made me want to come back for more. The shrimp appetizer was particularly disappointing.

I also went to Abacrombie in Mt. Vernon, which I'm happy to say was nothing like Pazo. The carrot soup with cayenne was delightful. The chef also offered us an amuse bouche, a smoked trout chowder, which I would order again for sure. My friend ordered the pork with apple butter, and it was amazing. Plus, my sweet potato pound cake was just different enough to be exciting, but was still delicious. I can't wait to go back.

Had RW dinner at the Black Olive last night. The only hitch was a 20 minute wait for our table (guess the hostess didn't give the 6pm reso their 2 hour limit ;) ) It gave us some time to check out some of the food coming out of the kitchen. Once we sat the menu had only a few options which helped us with our decision making. We had lamb in parchment served on cous cous, grouper kabob with zucchini and yellow squash, and the village pie for entrees. The 4 dips and seafood salad for apps. The seafood salad stole the show. Generous amount of tender pieces with outstanding flavors. Service was great as well. Can't wait to go back.

i went to dammimo last week for the anniversary special ($25.00 for two courses, and had the same problem with the waiter not bringing the special menu. we ordered an extra app (beef carpaccio) $17.00!!!!!!!!! we still spent 175.00 for two. won't return. however, we went to roy's last night for RW, and it was great. sat at the bar and had a very nice time.

Three co-workers and I had dinner at the Oceanaire last night. While the food was wonderful (great crabcakes), we were there for almost 3 hours! I had to run two blocks to put extra money in the parking meter before we even got our dinner! Tables around us came and went; we noticed, but we were so busy talking we didn't inquire as to why it was taking so long. It turned out our server forgot to put in our dinner order. She compensated by bringing us an order of their terrific mashed potatoes on the house. Then she kept completely disappearing, maybe she was afraid that we were going to yell at her,which of course we weren't. Considering how she had practically hovered over us before the business picked up (our reservations were for 6), it left a bad taste in our mouths that we could be so easily forgotten in lieu of all the other tables. And on a Monday night no less.

We were a group of 4 at Lebanese Taverna on Friday night for a 7:30 reservation. The waiter was all rush, rush, rush...asking if we are ready to order after having just given us our menus. I put my order in for the appetizer and main entree and said that I will wait until later to order dessert. "No, No" I was told...I must order it all now because that's how it goes into the computer. What?!?! It seems to be no problem to add additional drinks to that check, but I have to be rushed with my complete order all at once? Fine. Then it took about 20 minutes and a visit to the host to just get our drinks to the table. No water even. Appetizers and entrees came out at different times. Thankfully we had already planned on sampling each others meals because otherwise mates would have gone hungry. In the end, of course, desserts had run out and we couldn't get all that we had been rushed to order up front. Oh. And one person decided to order an app/entree/dessert off of the menu instead of the RW menu...it cost the same. So in spite of a decent meal, I do not believe it was any bargain and I am in no rush to get back there anytime soon. And I stress decent...not impressive and certainly not worth the poor service.

Beth -

I totally agree about Pazo. We went Sunday night. They gave us the option of "upgrading" the RW menu for $10 extra per person, which we did. There were a few stand-outs, like the Rib Eye and the scallops with brown butter, but everything else was extremely forgettable. I have no complaints about the service at all. I just think that they could have made better choices to showcase their menu during RW.

I sure hope Mr. Ben Ugoeze, the manager at Lebanese Taverna is reading this blog. It sounds like the problems with the service are endemic.

"he asked if we wanted separate checks and we said yes, since there were 10 of us"

did i read that right? that's a major faux paux in my book. No matter how bad the service was.

Generally when we go out and it's a large party, i don't expect the waiter to be able to split the tabs (some places won't even do it if you have too many people). So it doesn't surprise me that they messed up the checks once you got them.

That said...waiting 4 hours is pretty ridiculous

Went to Petit Louis Friday night for the first time. The meal was delicious, but the drink I ordered even better. I asked the bartender to make up a sweet cocktail of his choosing. He made this delicious drink with St. Germain (an Elderflower liqueur) and Sauvignon Blanc. Order it on your next visit!

Does this bother or upset anyone else? 5 of us went to the Brass Elephant on monday, made reservations.

I personally had truffle scented butternut squash dumplings, the best salmon I may of ever had, on a cedar plank with buttermilk fried cauliflower with an apple smoked bacon laced honey mustard sauce. With a minted tomato chutney on manchego and finished with a dense and intense flourless chocolate cake.

My husband had a stuffed chicken that was really moist and tasty, he was nice enough to share.

The service was well recieved and not pushy other than one point that annoyed me and annoyed my girlfriends.

The SERVER told us about a love it hate it valentines menu they are doing. Then a MANAGER came by to tell us about the valentines menu.

Then the EXECUTIVE CHEF, although very cute told us that he just adjusted the ala carte menu to a $25 menu.

When can I eat in peace and not be told about the restaurant promotions so much? I could barely remember all what they told me! Is this just me or does this happen often at the Brass Elephant?

My daughter and I were excited about meeting friends on Saturday from Pa., who we had not seen for fifteen years, at Sammy’s, on Charles Street, for Restaurant Week. Upon being seated, we were not given the special menu. We asked our waitress and she stated that they were not honoring the special menu until Sunday. We were unhappy with this answer and asked to see a manager. We were told there was no manager, the hostess then came to our table and said that the waitress misunderstood the instructions for the day and gave us the special menu. We couldn’t help but notice that other patrons were not given the special menu nor were any other patrons offered this menu the entire evening. While enjoying our dinner, a woman came to our table. She was with a large theater group and expressed to us that people were waiting for our table. After inquiring about her comment, we were told she worked at Sammy’s, but it was her day off. We asked our waitress if she could seat us at another table in order to accommodate the theater crowd. She said that there were no tables available even though we noticed several tables in the restaurant were empty.

Although we enjoyed our meal, we were extremely unhappy with the way the staff dealt with the rudeness of this off-duty employee who acted like she was in charge of the seating arrangements. Even her husband made comments. Upon leaving, I spoke to Sammy about our unpleasant experience and he stated “we just try to please everyone”. As we left, we were acknowledged with enthusiastic hand waves.

The experience at the restaurant was extremely unprofessional and we will not be returning.

My wife an I went to Petit Louis Sunday evening. It was our first trip there, and we didn't even know it was RW, which was a pleasant surprise. I ordered off the RW menu. Potato and leek soup was very good. Duck Confit was excellent, as were the mashed potatoes it was served over. My wife ordered the grilled salmon, which was a little bland, but the fingerling potatoes were good. Desserts were ok. The flan had an eggy taste to it, and a little more solid than I'm used to. The poached pears were excellent though.

Overall, I would go back, even if just to get their duck confit.

On another note, I agree that Pazo doesn't have anything on the menu that I would crave to go back for.

Mike G. wrote The flan had an eggy taste to it ... This would be surprising because ...?

Calvert... there weren't 10 checks, because there were mostly couples and a few singles. I think that there were five checks.

The waiter was the one who suggested it and said that he had to enter everything under different numbers, so it was easy to give separate checks. Otherwise, we wouldn never have done that.

I have to disagree about Pazo. The pizza, the bruschetta (which is actually roasted scallions and cheese), and OMG the sunflower crackers! I'd go just to sit and eat the crackers.

Mezze does have ridiculously small tables. Trust me, I used to serve there. It was always a challenge to fit another plate on the table. I always ended up combining things onto one plate to make room.

It's surprising because although I know flan is made with eggs, I don't want to eat a sweet gelatin omelette for dessert.

Speaking of separate checks, last time I went to an office luncheon at a local Ruby Tuesday, the check had each person's order grouped separately. Made paying up very easy and was just as good as each person getting her or his own check. Don't know if they all do it.

Dahlink - ROTFL!

I may be weird, but I find separate checks, except in a business context, to be asking too much of a server. If I need my own check to get reimbursed by work, I'll tell the server right at the start.

When eating with friends, I always have enough cash so I can give the person who uses a card (or pays cash) my share plus tip.

These are friends I'm eating with, right? If we can't work out who owes what together, and make sure the tip is enough, something is very wrong.

All right....back to this split check nonsense.

Maybe I have a differing opinion from everyone else as I have been in the industry for a long time but I think this trend is getting a bit ridiculous...Is it really too much to ask that if you are dinning with groups larger then say 4 that you think ahead and bring adequate cash with you. Granted we are living in a time were everything is on credit, and with economy being the way it is the days of people picking up the check are becoming long forgotten but splitting one check into mutiples really is inconvenient and time consuming.

The issue is split checks fall into the realm of things no one really understands unless you have been in the industry. Diners who have never worked in restaurants might find it perfectly acceptable to ask a server to take a check with multiple food items,tons of cocktails, bottles of wine etc. and split it into multiples, but as someone in the industry let me say it is frustrating and time consuming.

First the basic task of running multiple credit cards is time consuming, everything is computerized so frequent mistakes are made and on a busy night it is hard to remove yourself from the hundreds of other tasks servers are responsible for (which no one realizes) and devote 10-15 minutes to processing one check.

EL...As our dame of modern dining standards are multiple split checks now an acceptable norm, and should longer waits to accomodate them be met with disdain or quiet and sympathetic acceptance.

Oh by the way....Today's brilliant restaurant design idea.
ATM IN ALL LOBBIES

Let me reiterate, we did not ask for separate checks. He offered and we took him up on his offer. It the offer had not been made, then it never would have come up. We're grown up and we're friends, so we could have worked it out, but he offered...

Additionally, the issue with the checks was very minor in comparison to everything else, especially the four hours it took us to have dinner, three of which were spent waiting for service.

Question for Pigtown -- was there an automatic "large-party" gratuity added? If so, how did it get broken down?

There didn't seem to be a large party gratuity added. I got the restaurant week menu, which was $30.09, and then had a glass of wine ($7.50) in addition to the one on the RW offer. He initially charged me for two additional glasses, and ordinarily, I wouldn't have quibbled, but since we'd been sitting waiting for everything for hours, I asked him to change the bill.

The initial bill was $45, and the subsequent bill was $37.50, but no gratuity was added. I tipped 15%, because given the circumstances, 20% was excessive.

Nothing personal Pigtown....I agree the glaring problems with your experience included much more then the split checks....I just wanted EL to weigh in on the overall issue of multiple split checks as it is rapidly becoming the largest trend and source of complaints in restaurants today

Wow looking at the time of these blogs we must all have some really light workloads and annoyed bosses.........Ha Ha

My name is Grace Shea and I am one of the owners of Lebanese Taverna.
I really appreciate all of you taking the time to tell me about your experience at the Baltimore location during restaurant week. Let me first apologize. It is obvious that the restaurant was not staffed to meet the needs of such a busy night. I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed the food and I know on any other night you would have enjoyed the service as well. One of the most valuable things we can receive from our guests is their feedback especially providing details we can work with. It helps us to improve ourselves and train the staff on how to better handle situations.

I would love to talk to you directly, if you have any concerns please feel free to contact me at lebanesetaverna@mac.com.

Thank you again and I appreciate your willingness to share your experience.

Carey - I agree with you about Pazo's sunflower crackers! I have eaten there half a dozen times or so and never had a bad meal. Never tried it during RW though, so YMMV.

We went to RA Sushi on Monday. Turns out they don't start the RW menu until 7pm, after happy hour. As it was only a bit after 5 (yeah, we prefer to eat early - no crowds that way) we opted to order off the happy hour menu and saved quite a bit of money. Thursday we're trying Gertrude's after a 10 year boycott (a downright nasty server).

We went to Lebanese Taverna last RW and loved it. Service was attentive and the food was great.

Piggtown - That sounds fine enough with me. If i am in a big party and the waiter offers, saying it will be easy, i admit i am likely to take him or her up on it, because even though more often than not i do split the bill among my friends, it is a pain...so i don't blame you there...sorry if any offense was taken.

but as GM pointed out, i think this is a valid discussion point that might be worth it's very own post.

Red Maple, My boyfriend and I went to the Red Maple for Restaurant week after looking at their menu online. We were seated quickly and odered shortly after that. the service was good and I enjoyed my meal but my boyfriend's was on the unimpressive side. I got the soup with lemongrass and coconut milk, it was very good and the scallops which were also very good. His egg rolls were bland except for the sauce that was on the plate and he got Braised Beef Ribs off the bone with a pomogranite sauce that had a strange taste to it. Dessert was good. I liked the atmosphere and the experiece but I think even at restaurant week prices we paid to much for a mediocre meal.

My wife and I had dinner at the Brass Elephant tonight. We were a bit early for our reservations and had a nice cocktail in the Tusk Lounge upstairs, the cocktails were 2 for 1 but I couldn’t have a second Manhattan on a weeknight. But we appreciated the offer, and it will entice us to go back for happy hour very soon.
We were then taken to our table downstairs. The entire building is beautiful. There was a large party in the front room and as we passed I was worried about the noise, but our table in the back by a fireplace, lit by candles, was nice and not loud at all. They were only featuring the restaurant menu, the regular menu was not provided.
The chef sent out a small amuse bouche of smoked salmon and chive cheese on a crostini. It was a delightful bite that would have been wonderful on a bagel. The server came around with a basket of bread, olive loaf and ciabatta, and served us each a piece. We found this both a nice way to handle the bread issue discussed at length here and also to keep us from eating too much bread, which we both love.
For appetizers we had the butternut squash dumplings, which had a surprising light sauce, and the chicken livers. Reading the menu I assumed that this would be a pate, but to my pleasant surprise they were fried, mmm. Both were wonderful.
My wife had the cedar planked salmon which was cooked perfect with fried cauliflower and a zucchini wild rice timbale, which she really enjoyed. I had the pork shank which fell off the bone and was tender and very flavorful. Although good, I wondered where the tender asparagus on the side came from at this time of year.
Desert was nice and it was pleasant that it was actually an appropriate size, just a couple of bites to finish the meal. The flourless chocolate cake was finished with a bittersweet chocolate sauce that went well together. The apple tart and vanilla ice cream hit the spot.
The chef came around and asked about our meal and chatted. While he did mention the new menu I did not feel the “sales pitch” other reviewers have mentioned.
Service was good but missed on a few notes. We ordered a bottle of white wine and it was placed in a chill bucket away from the table and once we had to ask for a refill. I don’t mind refilling my own glass but I won’t get up to go fetch the bottle. The server also mixed up our checks with another table, if only he had brought my card back because their bottle of wine was less expensive than ours.
We spied on our neighbors and all the food looked great, we will go back.

Wow looking at the time of these blogs we must all have some really light workloads and annoyed bosses.........Ha Ha

Time is fungible.

Time is fungible.

You wascal, you!

8 of us went to The Capital Grille last Friday night. I am not one for chain restaurants, especially steakhouses, after a particularly bad, and pricey meal a couple of years ago at Morton's. The Capital Grill was relatively crowded, and we did have to wait about 20 minutes for our 8pm reservation, but it was fine because we were given a great table, overlooking the Harbor. The food was really great, but we went WAYYY over the $30 per person with our additions.

The table shared 2 large plates of calamari, which was really delicious and tender (this was not included in the RW deal). Most of us had Caesar salads as our 1st course, and a couple had either the garden salad or the clam chowder, all of which was perfectly fine. For the 2nd course, 6 of us had Filet Mignon, and 2 had the Kona Sirloin. I have eaten a lot of filets in my life, as it is really the only cut of steak I like (other than the occasional prime rib or rib eye when prepared properly), and this filet was absolutely in the Top 5 of my life. It probably was even in the Top 3! It was so tender that I could have cut it with my fork, and it just melted in your mouth. Cooked perfectly rare and it was simple as could be. The table also shared 2 orders of creamed spinach (I am still dreaming of that creamed spinach, it was that good), an order of mashed potatoes, and an order of truffled fries. All the sides were great, but pricey, as they weren't included in the meal. For dessert it was an even split of the cheesecake and the flourless chocolate cake and both were a perfect ending to a nice meal. The service was attentive and wonderful, and we had a lovely evening all around. Goodness, even the valet guys were nice!

Now, here is the bad part....as I said, we went WAYYY over the $30 per person and ended up at $95/person including tip. All of us had 2 drinks (I was drinking Makers Mark and ginger at $9 a pop (!)), as well as coffee. So, yeah, we kind of negated the whole point of the $30 deal, but we will definitely be back for special occasions.

Dawn, I'm sure your experience is just what the RW people are hoping for!

"He made this delicious drink with St. Germain (an Elderflower liqueur) and Sauvignon Blanc." Mel, the Wine Market makes something similar with Prosecco and St Germain with some fresh lemon...delicious! I was hooked from the first sip :)

Two RW experiences to share - went with a party of 6 to Night of the Cookers last Saturday night. The menu choices were really diverse and highlighted many strengths of the kitchen. Highlights were a smoked crab/shrimp quesadilla, a shrimp/grits entree that was quite tasty, and very good short ribs as another entree (the server noted this would be added to their permanent menu). We sampled all of the desserts, which were very nice, but, the standout champ was the Gran Marnier cheesecake (a real delight). All in all, a terrific experience that exceeded expectations.

Last night, my wife and I ate at Cinghaile. Again, all of the food was very tasty - oyster rissotto and duck ragu over homemade pasta were both winners, as was an olive-oil cake for dessert. We decided to go with the wine-pairings for an additional $20/person, and were very happy with being able to sample a variety of different Italian wines (the dessert wines in particular were very good). Both experiences were very positive.

Dahlink, funny you should say that because as we were leaving, I was joking to the rest of our party that we had totally fallen for the old "banana in the tail pipe".

My co-workers and I went to the Capital Grille for lunch today and had a wonderful experience. The service was excellent - polite, friendly and very attentive. We expected smaller portions for the lunch menu and were surprised that that wasn't the case. Three of us had the filet mignon, and as Dawn already said it was one of the best I'd ever eaten. One person
had the citrus glazed salmon, which was a large piece of salmon excellently prepared. The only person who didn't rave about her meal got the crab & lobster burger - she said it was good but not as great as the salmon. I think if she hadn't tasted the salmon first she would have been much happier. We ended up taking our deserts to go (strawberry cheesecake and espresso chocolate cake), we were just to full to eat them. At $20.09 we feel like we got a bargain.

With Restaurant Week being extended through next week we're talking about going back.

Last night a friend and I went to The University Club at the Towson Marriot thanks to the extended RW.

They were definitely very quiet but the food was quite respectable, especially my appetizer of a smoked duck quesadilla.

Dessert was phenomenal - a raspberry/port wine sorbet.

For something different and for fellow suburbanites, the University Club is worth the visit.

Excellent, attentive wait/bar staff as well.

Put it on your radars!

EL-We just went to the brass elephant tonight with my girlfriends because of your article in the Sun about the new chef.

The restaurant was so European I thought, just so comforting.

I imagine this how the food on the food network tastes, it was so awesome. The butternut squash dumplings with truffles was so good, I want to go back tomorrow! But they are fully booked on saturday I found out ;-(

The chef marcus olson came out because we asked the waiter to fetch him from the kitchen.
I agree with a previous post, he is really cute! I kind of flirted with him, then he didnt come back, it was very busy when we left, anyways, does anyone know if he is single?

Oh, wow--Jill Gneere brings up another topic for us to pursue: hitting on the chef, yes or no?

A group of us went to Marie Louise Bistro last night. We arrived for our 6:30 reservation,were taken to our table and then warned by the hostess that it would be "a while" before our server could get to us. So we told her we would go upstairs to the bar to get our drinks and bring them to the table. She seemed relieved by that. It took forever at the bar where one person was handling all drinks and told us it was her second night. Back downstairs, the server came to the table just before 7 to make sure we had menus (they didn't have enough for all of us) and then left. We had trouble getting her back to order and we had to ask for water and for some bread. Our votives had no tea lights in them--which mattered a lot because the area where we were in the back has nothing but harsh, shadow-casting, recessed spots overhead. We asked for tea lights, and she finally brought them--much later--but didn't have anything to light them with. After checking with other tables for a lighter, one of our party finally walked across Charles St to a bar and came back sheltering a flame. It was a major improvement but one that came well into the main course.

Our first course came at 8:00--one and a half hours after our arrival. They were clearly very busy, but that's excessive. There was another very long wait for the mains--which were all tepid. We finished our dessert around 9:45.

Some dishes were better than others (though none were memorable), but they all suffered for being cooled off. This is a place where you can easily eat for $30 or less anytime, but the RW menu sounded so good that it seemed worth it to go. Unfortunately, they were not offering any of the dishes on the RW menu except the desserts! One now just orders from the menu. The special menu is still posted. Most of us decided to order a la carte from the regular menu because it was actually less expensive that way, but the server said we could only have the dessert tray desserts ($6) ordering a la carte. Which made the special desserts, in effect, about $10. Because those sounded more appealing than the hotel-perfect tray desserts, two of us ordered the RW meal.The poached pears stuffed with mascarpone were delicious--those were the highlights of the meal.

I think our server was doing her best in a situation that the restaurant seemed unprepared to keep up with. They should have been more realistic about the volume of diners, and they sure as hell shouldn't post a come-on menu that they don't actually serve.

Mel- I took your advice and asked about the drink you had at Petit Louis- sooo delicious. Thanks for the tip!!

4 of us went in on Friday night for dinner and we decided to "upgrade" our RW menu to include a wine flight. Nice idea, but it would help if the wine didn't show up AFTER we were done eating that particular course. But they get a pass because the food was simply delicious. 2 ordered the beef and the flavors were wonderful but they were barely luke warm. 2 ordered duck and we all ended up with completely clean plates! the chocolate cake desert was so so but the fruit & sabayon was delicious. $200 with tip for 4 with wine. We'll definitely be back!

Went to Meredian 54 (the former Red Fish) on Saturday night with my girlfriend. Service was a little slow, but not painfully - and nowhere near as bad as the other horror stories on here. Food was very good ... we both got the filet/crabcake dish (listed on regular menu for $28 ... so a good deal on RW). Sampled both deserts (tiaramisu, creme brule) and both were very good.

It just so happened our visit to Baltimore coincided with Restaurant Week, but by the time we got our group of 6 organized enough to make reservations for Saturday night about all we could get was a reservation at Roy's around 9pm. Only 2 of us ordered off the RW menu (the remaining 4 were uninspired by the choices). Although I have eaten some excellent meals at Roy's over the years, this past visit left a lot to be desired. I didn't enjoy my RW choices (a duck/tofu soup appetizer, mahi mahi main dish, and some sort of chocolate bar for dessert).

Chef Marcus Olson is single!