My family and I tried to go to Tabrizi's last month for a celebration dinner. Traffic made us about a half hour late, but I called about 10 minutes before the reservation time letting them know that would be the case. The man on the phone said it was fine.

When we arrived, the restaurant was more than half empty. The hostess refused to seat us, however, under orders from management because the kitchen was backed up. She told us it would be 10 minutes and offered us seats at the bar. A member of our party is disabled and could not comfortably sit on the high bar stools. I asked if we could sit at our table instead, but just agree not to order. She said no, we had to sit at the bar.

So we stood awkwardly in the bar area, waiting. No one said anything to us for about 15 minutes. At that point, I started calling restaurants in Federal Hill. After we had been standing for a total of about 25 minutes with no further explanation or communication, I told the hostess we were leaving.

We had a lovely dinner at Pazza Luna instead.

I was bummed. Tabrizi's had been on my list for at least a year, but I have no interest in going back.

Anonymous, I guess the management mistakes continue

I like Tabrizi's, although I do worry about its survival. The CNNMoney report was dead on. Nothing lives in that space. And experiences like the one anonomyous had don't help. My big complaint is that the service is uneven. The wait staff contains some really good folks, but there are a couple that are not so good.

We've enjoyed the food, although some of the entrees are a bit expensive. I think they've done a good job though of adding lower priced items to the menu. Also, I believe they hired a new chef this year, so that may have something to do with the quality improving. The lamb burgers in pita, the mushrooms with duck sausage, the spaghetti carbornara and the wings (yes wings) are among my favorites.

Whoops! Sorry for the double post. Guess I got impatient and tried to speed things up by hitting the post button again...

Went to Tabrizi's earlier this year in February. It was my first time dining there and was highly disappointing.

I, personally, am not sure why they are still in business either because their food was horrid.

Ordered lamb medium, it came out so rare it was not even edible. Nothing exciting about the meal at all, and completely not worth the money compared to other restaurants.

Since you're still waiting to know why I took a chance and went back a second time....
Not a great reason to go back - have friends who live in South Baltimore
(I live near Fells Point) and we flipped a coin to see who had to suffer
driving through the mess downtown. I lost. They picked Tabrizi's because
it was unusually warm that night and we could sit outside. I was going
to be safe and stick with hummus and grape leaves but felt adventurous
and couldn't resist the "Foie Gras on a bed of sautéed Oyster Mushrooms
& roasted Pine nuts" and "Stuffed Artichoke with ground Lamb, finished
with Veal Demi-glace and pine nuts." Ahhhh!

I recently used Tabrizi's as the site of my rehearsal dinner for my wedding in late September. To be brief: Michael worked within our budget to come up with a great 3 course meal and wine for all our guests. The people I talked with after the dinner had nothing but very nice things to say about the food and service. I was very satisfied with the planning which Michael showed throughout the process.

I am very hopeful that Tabrizi's will succeed where others have failed based on my experience and hope that other people will get the same service I received for my event. Michael could not have put together an evening like the one I experienced if he didn't have both creativity and attention to detail, neither of which happen without energy and love for what you do.

Laura - I think the new chef came on this summer. I had had disappointing food prior to that, but not since.

The wings are nothing special they are just a fluke. They are the only thing that was left by the original chef Josh Hill those wings have been on quite a many late night menus in the city and Chef Hill is known for them so if you take them away what do we have left. The same food that was served on Charles Street only the best luck i wish

Elizabeth, it is true that the Harborview community is bigger now than 20 years ago. But Pier 500 didn't go down because the lack of business, but because personal reason of the owners which cannot be mentioned here. Sixty or more percent of our customers are not local, they are distant,
As far as the other readers with their comment, I can only say that there is no one restaurant that I know of where every customer is satisfied every time. There is always the risk of having your meal over or under done, the proper way is to ask your server to replace it, which does not make the restaurant bad. Remember, humans work in the kitchen, not robots, and under pressure people make mistakes. We don't have a new chef as Laura suggests, Ryan Worthington has been with us for two years now.
Tabrizi's changes part of its menu twice a year to adjust the diet to seasonal changes, the Middle Eastern part of the menu remains a classic. We served hummus, baba, falafel etc. 20 years ago when not many Baltimorians knew what hummus was, and will keep doing so for the next 20. There is nothing wrong in offering 600 years old food dishes!
As far as the chicken wings go, I can tell the "Fat chef who travels a lot" to change his name to who cannot keep a job a lot..."
Tabrizi's is not going anywhere at least for the next 10 years.

After reading EL's prior post about Mr. Tabrizi's recent wanderings around the world and in and out of the restaurant business, it will be interesting to see whether, as he claims, he will stick to the current business and location "at least for the next 10 years."

As far as CNN article which I agreed to publish, I think they have failed to mention why the spot is deadly in their opinion. I don't think it is, and if it is cursed as some suggest, then curses can be broken.
As far as service goes:-It is a major issue that every restaurant owner deals with, I can tell you that unlike other major big cities, Baltimore does not offer a large qualified core of hospitality professionals, those who are good have jobs and made a career out of it, many applicants who respond to our ads are corporate people who think " I can always bartend or be s server" to supplement my income, they don't know that even to be a server it is a science by itself. Bartending isn't about mixing drinks and smile, it is about being able to create a very welcome experience and discreet connection with a guest, people come and pour their life story at the bar, they come to vent out, to talk about problems and other issues, they don't come because they are thirsty. Sure, there are many who come to have just fun and good company. The key is to listen, offer support if needed and understand. The same with servers. I have a pile of applicants who are in retail and think there isn't much to it- it's only taking the order and serving the food, they are dead wrong.
The only thing I can do is retain good employees who care and love what they do, hire new ones who want to learn and train them on daily basis.
Owning your business isn't easy, especially a restaurant, it is very easy to write something bad about someone when hiding behind a fake name. I can only hope that people will take more responsibly when writing a review or express their opinion before smearing someone's livelihood. Be objective without any personal agendas!

South Harbor Tavern closed becuuse of TOO MUCH BUSINESS!!! Indeed,
"Ed" the prior co-owner who is one of my regular customers has told me that the place was THE happy hour place on Fridays in Baltimore. More than 2000 people gathered Fridays afternnoon for a drink, and Budwiser truck was on the street replenishing the stock every hour, however the neighbors and new buyers who spent top dollars on the new condos and twonhomes in Harborview wanted a quiter place to live in, the developer was pressures and the lease was not renewed. It has nothing to do with the location being bad. It is just politics in action.
I am not a reporter, but I know that before publishing a story you need to authenticate it based on facts, not guesses. (To prevent laawsuite) Why no one reporter have called the previous owners of this location and asked about the true reasons for closing???!!! This way you bring facts from the source to your readers.

"It's interesting that one important reason why Tabrizi's has succeeded -- as much as any restaurant could have in that location in this economy -- wasn't discussed. "
Elizabeth, how about contacting Mr. Tabrizi himself and ask him???!!!

Ask what? This wasn't my story, but it looks like the reporter did talk to you. I should also say that in my 35 years of writing about restaurants, I have never had a restaurant owner tell me he or she closed because business was bad. That's quite a record. EL

A story of success is totally different from one of failure...I thought it will be a little inspiring to let also people know about success stories, it does not have to be Tabrizi's, just in general.

Mr. Tabrizi, you do realize you've just insulted everyone here by yelling at Elizabeth for an article she didn't write on a *blog* that talks about restaurant successes all the time?

Might I suggest you learn the difference between journalism and blogging, and perhaps learn what a byline is and where to find it?

Wow, I've been to Tabrizi's and was on the fence about it. However, in today's economy where I am so much more careful about where I spend my money, Michael Tabrizi has managed to convince me NOT to spend it with him. Before his comments, I was thinking perhaps I should go back and give it a second chance.