Today's restaurant and takeout reviews
Poor Richard. He didn't have a particularly great or a particularly awful time at Julianna's Bar and Grill from what I can tell from his review, which appeared in today's paper. Those are the toughest reviews to write, as I know from many, many years of having to write them.
It sounds like Rob Kasper had a better time of it, traveling north to Fallston to try Andrew Maggitti's gourmet market, deli and bakery for his takeout column. Yum. You may know Maggitti as the former chef of the Brass Elephant.
(Barbara Haddock Taylor/Sun photographer)
Comments
That's one mighty fine looking sammich.
Posted by: mmmcorn | March 5, 2009 7:02 PM
I was confused by Gorelick only giving two stars to the service at Julianna's (the same as for the food and ambience), considering that the only bits of praise in his review were for the "nice" servers and "enthusiastic staff".
Posted by: hmpstd | March 5, 2009 7:13 PM
TNow I'll always wonder if "nice servers" and "enthusiastic staff" are euphemisms much like "good personality".
(I keep getting funky responses when I post. This may well be the 3rd post)
Posted by: Eve | March 5, 2009 9:56 PM
RE: Maggitti's -- Ooh, ooh ... and it's on the way to Wegmans too! I do not recall ever having given up Sfogliatelle for lent.
Posted by: MD Canon | March 5, 2009 10:28 PM
Maybe "nice servers" and "enthusiatic staff" are like when someone sets you up on a blind date with a "great personality" ...
Posted by: Joyce W. | March 6, 2009 6:57 AM
Is Magitti's where DiPasquales used to be?
Posted by: RayRay | March 6, 2009 8:45 AM
Well, the owner of the restaurant didn't think much of his review:
http://talk.baltimoresun.com/showthread.php?t=189088
Posted by: Kathy | March 6, 2009 8:51 AM
We just met my co-workers at Julianna's last week (my first time there). I'd have to largely agree with Richard's review. The staff was excellent and some of the food was fine. I had a burger and was disappointed that it seemed of the pre-formed previously-frozen variety (based on the texture on the outside - but I could be wrong) and wasn't cooked as ordered. However, the toppings were tasty. My husband had a sandwich and was happy with his but I don't remember what kind. I ordered off the children's menu for the baby (and was disappointed by the options and by the "mac & cheese bites" which were deep fried pieces of macaroni and cheese. He ate pita pieces from the cucumber dip (which was tasty; a combination of dill, lemon and cucumber) instead.
The decor is overwhelmingly dark in the dining room and it was disappointing that none of the happy hour specials from the bar carry over to the dining room. Since we wanted to eat and the bar was crowded, we didn't have much choice if we all wanted to eat and since it was empty in the dining room it seems like extending at least the drink specials into the dining room would do a lot to help.
Posted by: r hanson | March 6, 2009 9:08 AM
You're correct in your inferences about my use of "nice" and "enthusiastic."
Our server was so nice that he spent what seemed like 15 minutes chatting with another table when we were waiting for our check.
However, the other server -- not ours -- seemed completely on the ball, and came to our rescue.
Still, 2 stars feels stingy today.
Posted by: gorelick | March 6, 2009 9:40 AM
gorelick -- your original review didn't hesitate to offer explicit reasons for dissing the food and ambience, but it had not one bad word about the service. Now that you've finally stated why you dissed the service, it makes more sense.
Posted by: hmpstd | March 6, 2009 10:11 AM
It is interesting to see that Harford County now has a gourmet Italian market. When I was a kid in Harford County, Italian food options were pretty much limited to Frank's Pizza.
Posted by: Robert of Cross Keys | March 8, 2009 9:17 AM