Not in Little Italy

according to the city it is: http://maps.baltimorecity.gov

Everytime I have gone there it has been near empty, even at 8 on a friday. But food has always been good, chips and guac are AWESOME, good beers on draft and good margaritas. It is a huge space too.

yeah I've been there 3-4 times and it's always empty. Food is OK a bit close to Ghetto Perkins Homes for my taste.

yes, food is good, not great. Certainly not authentic, by any stretch. With the exception of Happy Hour, I dont recall it being very wallet friendly either.

their short ribs and pork are amazing.. great flavors in all the dishes too. if anything kills them it will be the location, although I think it's kind of lame for people to say they're afraid to dine two blocks from a housing project.

d for delicious

d for dance?

It's pretty sweet to be able to get some decent beers for $3 at happy hour.

I have enjoyed the food, but it does tend to add up.

erik -

I don't know if it's been said before, but people around here are really touchy about neighborhood boundaries. The city map doesn't mean much to the people that live in those places. They know what street is a boundary street and which isn't so even though a city map may say Little Italy - in actuality it may not be.

People need to get over the neighborhood boundaries thing.

...it's like between little italy and harbor east. i guess for little italy dwellers CENTRAL AVE is a boundary for them.

However, the parking garage across the street from Diablita is called the "Little Italy Parking Garage"

During non Happy Hours, Diablita is on Restaurant.com so the wallet pain can be eased.

Food is good. Tables are plentiful.

you mean between lil italy and fells point. there's nothing in between lil italy and harbor east but eastern avenue. there are places in Reisterstown called "harbor" something or another so that means nothing. I say ye go over to Perkin's and ask them what the neighborhood is

@bryanintowson: uh, Bryan, unfortunately I'm having difficulty taking your neighborhood argument seriously, as you live in Towson, which is probably just a cover so people won't find out you actually live in Timonium.

Maybe we should start adding "ish" to the end of neighborhood names when it's anywhere near the line. I usually describe where I live (the adorable little No Man's Land of Oakenshawe) as "Charles Village-ish".

Back to the topic at hand, that guac looks AWESOME.

@ m - not sure he is really arguing anything, just stating that people are pretty obnoxious when it comes to neighborhood boundries, and that erik with a k may be wrong about the Little Italy designation...but who really cares. What does him being from towson or timonium have anything to do with that? Hes right, people are touchy about it....he couldnt have moved from timonium to towson?

No one in Little Italy considers that side of Central Ave. a part of that community. The map may say yes but Rhiny confirms that it's not.

I shall return to the savannah where I await anymore geographical confusions.

@ tresme - thanks for the backup.

@ m - I was, as tresme stated, trying to tell Erik that even though the "official" map says one thing, the locals will say another so just to be wary that he'll get his neck stepped on if he slips up or fires back with an "official map".

And yes, I did move.

Locals and real estate shills may hate it but the census boundaries are what they are, sorry to those of you that live in Sharp-Leadenhall or SBIC and insist on referring to it as Federal Hill, or Upper Charles and calling it Mount Vernon, for that matter!

Evan- do you know what SBIC stands for? I'm assuming the SB is South Baltimore but I can't figure out the the IC. Hopefully it's not something really obvious so I don't feel like an idiot.

That side of Central is not Little Italy. It's as simple as that.

SBIC = South Baltimore Improvement Committee

(an odd name for a neighborhood)

SBIC is now SBNA, i think. That stands for south baltimore neighborhood association. When you are buyin the house, you say that it is in South Baltimore, when you are selling it, it all of a sudden becomes, Federal Hill. My favorite is just SoBo, like SoBo Cafe. no matter how you spell it, you still can't park.

Hey Sam,sorry, Hey Erik, heard the owners of the Reserve are opening up a taco stand next to Mad River.

Everyday I go home I wonder, did I buy in Fed Hill? South Baltimore? Riverside? SBIC? SBNA? The undistinguishable designation of my street is a stress that is turning my life in to a living hel...Erik, any help?

depends on where you are on Patapsco. I think once you cross Fort you're out of Federal Hill

We were there recently and eavesdropped on a conversation about the location being toxic, and that the owners are already looking for space over in Fells. If they do end up moving, I was thinking it could be a good fit for the old DuClaw's space? There really isn't their type of Mexican anywhere in Fells, is there?

I can't believe they closed Lemongrass and kept this "gourmet" mexican crap hole open. Same owners, right?

If they think they can draw a crowd with $3 drafts and $5 sangria but no free nachos or 'dillas in that location, they are nuts. or start serving up lake trout.

Different owners than Lemongrass.

@Tif

That was a joke. Fed Hill for buying/selling and South Baltimore for everything else.

Lemongrass was owned by the same people. When they closed Lemongrass they moved the better employees over to Red Star and got rid of others.