She said...."Really good for dinner or lunch. Went here for date night and got the hanger steak with truffle mac and cheese. Really yummy...you would think the hanger steak would be tough, but this hanger steak was not! It was really good and seasoned well. The truffle mac and cheese is obviously good. The service is nice and its perfect for a date night out!"
He said..."
Awesome place to wind down right after work! I've been a few times for their Happy Hour, which occurs Monday through Friday 4-7 PM. Awesome seafood and don't forget to ask for their complementary biscuits! Sometimes they forget to give them to you and you don't want to miss out on them. They're delicious!
Review Source:Black's Bar & Kitchen
Overall
4.75 Stars
Gold medal - Scallops
Silver medal - Filet
Bronze medal - Oysters
I come to MD once a year for work and I visit Blacks AT LEAST once every trip. Â The food, wine, bread, and the mini dessert sample are all A+
Blacks has the BEST seared scallops. Â This is the only restaurant that I can think of that serves seared scallops. Â They are soft not chewy.
The filet here is delicious. For some reason the meat in MD taste better, than the meat in California. Â Every bite has much more flavor than the meat in CA. Â Maybe the humid weather brews better cows?
The oysters are fresh and delicious. Â No salty sea smell or fishy taste. Â Fresh and good!
HAPPY SCALLOPING!!
The food here is unquestionably very good, but the service leaves much to be desired. Â And ambience...depends how much you like bright cafeteria lighting. Â I arrived late on a Sunday evening (9pm, 30 minutes before close) and rather than be blinded by the indoor lights and frozen by the overenthusiastic A/C, chose a spot on the pleasant outdoor patio. Â Server brought my menu right away, but that was the last thing he did quickly, despite the paucity of other guests in the place. Â As soon as I could catch his attention I ordered - lobster bisque and shrimp & avocado salad. Â Both were marvelous. Â It was hot and muggy outside, but water refills were not automatic - again, there weren't that many people there, so no real excuse for not paying attention to this. Â While I was eating, the couple at the table next to me were joined by two friends, who pulled up chairs and their loud conversation was impossible to ignore; one fellow was closer to my table than his friends'. Â A more attentive waitstaff might have moved them to a vacant 4-top further away, but again this was ignored. Â Overall: food 4 stars, service 2 stars, average 3. Â There are too many good places in Bethesda for me to come back here.
Review Source:One of our favorite restaurants and rarely disappoints. Â We recently enjoyed dinner on a Saturday night and it was surprisingly not as crowded as normal - we walked right in around 7:45 and were able to get a booth in the bar area. Â
The fried calamari (the best I have ever had) and the wood grilled bruschetta were both terrific. Â My daughter and her friend both had the hanger steak and raved about it (they also loved the side of whipped potatoes). Â My wife and I shared the barbecued duck tostado (interesting and very good) and the crab cake sandwich (which I would rate as good, not great).
Drinks are a little pricey but the food is always good and the service is always outstanding.
One tip - If you sit in the bar area you can order off of the dining room (full) menu and the bar menu.
Get reservations. I walked in a 7:15 and there was a 30 min wait and I had to sit at a bar table by the outside door with cold air blowing in. Other than that I had great yellow fun tuna served rare which was paired with some vegetables. Dessert seemed expensive for little portions and so I skipped on it. Very cool atmosphere and a good place to take a client or drinks after work.
Review Source:I enjoyed my experience here. The patio was NICE! The service was pretty good...the waiter knew a lot about the menu including food and drinks and he was able to make recommendations that were on point. I had the scallop dish and it. was. GREAT! Seriously. My drink was great...I'm not sure of the name but it had vodka, raspberry liqueur and some other things but it was very refreshing for a warm day. Â I definitely plan to go back! I heard that the brunch is good too.
Review Source:I've been to Black's at least four times for dinner in the past year, and each time I go, I'm reminded how solid of a restaurant this is. Everything I've ordered - the grilled branzino, fried chicken, cornbread, seafood stew, soup specials - is always just as you imagine it to be: with a simple preparation, delicious and well-executed. This is not the kind of place for foams and liquid nitrogen - just solid cooking and a hearty meal.
Everything about this restaurant hits a great balance. The decor is understated but classy, the servers are somewhere between telepathic and very hospitable, and the prices are par for the course in Bethesda.
Overall, Black's is a reliable neighborhood spot for really any occasion.
Nice classy place. Â Â Very nice service; great decor, hip and trendy.
I sat at the bar for a quick bite. Â Very good service, decent menu selection and good looking raw oyster bar.
I had oyster stew and the mushroom flatbread. Â The oyster stew w/caviar was delicious. Â The flatbread was okay. Â This is real "flat"-bread. Â I mean paper-thin flatblead. Â Toppings were good. Â
Yes - expensive but a nice treat.
Bottom line: Fantastic food, presentation, service, and attention to detail.
I came here for my birthday and had a wonderful time. I enjoyed the delicious Carolina Mountain Trout. The cornbread was scrumptious, but I wouldn't have ordered it if I'd known we'd get free bread at the beginning of the meal. Even the free bread was an effort to set up a great meal.
There is a very convenient parking structure adjacent to the restaurant. Even though the restaurant was crowded, reservations secured us a spot that was pleasant and well attended by the staff. Service was very prompt and pleasing. Their attention to detail showed in many ways. I had "Happy Birthday" printed on my menu, small treats were given to us on our way out, and the staff was willing to make the celebration that much more enjoyable.
Overall, my experience at Black's was incredible. Wholehearted thanks to their restaurant and staff.
I came in soaking wet from the rain on Tuesday afternoon and when I walked into the door and said i was so sick of the rain I was looked at like I had just said 'I like big penises' in public and was frowned apon. Maybe it was my eyeliner running down my face, however I still had lunch with the ex... The food took forever to get to us, making us late for our meeting with a friend... and I had a shot of vodka, and two martinis, and both of which were nicely chilled... our bartender had a good sense of humor, but was lacking on the smiling, and was very awkward. My cesar salad with oysters was so off... it was drenched in dressing, shredded lettuce, and the oysters. Seriously? a $20 salad came with FOUR tiny ass oysters... which were spicy and didnt taste good with the salad.. at all... my other half had the risotto which he told me was always top notch there. He was right. It was good. I dont think I'd ever go back to this place.. maybe if I were with a group of friends and we just met for drinks.
Review Source:On a Monday evening we had dinner with drinks before and during the meal.  An order for two  rye  drinks was requested as well as two glasses of wine.  When the bill arrived we learned that the two rye drinks were $26 ea.  The waiter said immediately upon our surprise at the charge that he probably should have mentioned it, which we agreed should have been done.  We walked away and said we would never reenter that restaurant again.
Review Source:I love Blacks. Its a nice foofy white table cloth lunch spot, great happy hour and nice Bethesda 'finer' dining spot.
Now that I'm a "mom", I have other priorities.... like baby changing stations.
go figure.
The oysters were fab. White wine crisp. Service was spot on. But when baby girl had a blow out diaper... no changing spot.
Sorry, Blacks. Â The nice little table in the bathroom that hosts a candle and fine linens was converted into a baby changing station.... a mom has to do what she has to do.
Moms like their afternoon Sauv blanc while meeting up with friends, so consider adding some plastic baby gear to your ladies room.
It pains me to do this, but I came here for dinner last Saturday night and the service was absolutely atrocious. The server was completely inattentive (didn't come to check on us, didn't bring refills, took forever to get wine) and 45 minutes after we ordered, we realized that we hadn't received our appetizers yet. Our bottle of wine was almost empty before we got our first course.
We were seated outside and suddenly the temperature dipped and we were freezing. I even overheard the manager say to a waiter, "Wow, it's cold. I don't know how much longer people can sit out here." While he didn't offer to move us, he did go look for a table when I asked him if we could move inside. I'm sorry, but if you see people sitting outside with a small child and acknowledge how cold you think it is, be proactive and move people in. There were available tables inside so we were able to escape the cold.
A request for more wine took a solid 30 minutes before it was received. The food was great - as expected - but it took FOREVER for it to get to our table. This is so unusual for Black's. Also, we asked for dessert menus but it took our server another 20 minutes to come back and get our order after dropping off the menus. By that time we completely lost interest - and she lost a good tip.
Highly disappointing.This wasn't the first busy Saturday night Black's has seen so there really is no excuse - they should be conditioned in working under busy conditions.
went for happy hour and it was SOOO busy... had to wait a LONG time for two people.
the house red wine was really good! had two glasses while waiting!
we had some shrimp, calamari, mussels, and the flatbread. Â everything was good except for the flatbread which had absolutely no flavor! Â it was still a little pricey for happy hour, but totally worth it for the seafood!
We came here for our anniversary, and it's one of the places we talk about again and again - like, "remember that time we devoured that seafood stew? Mmm." Â
We split everything, and it was all great. The duck, the salad with the creme fraiche in it, and of course the seafood stew. Â We also had truffle mac and brussels sprouts. Â All great. We even had leftovers.
This place is great. I actually used to work here back when they reopened for about 6 months as a server and I remember everything being the best quality Jeff could find. I went here recently for my birthday with my family, (almost 7 years later). There were 6 of us and everyone loved their meals. I chose from the a la cart menu- fish, brussel sprouts.. and asparagus. The fish I had was unbelievable. As always, perfectly cooked and seasoned, (I believe with only salt and pepper). Sometimes simple is better and doesn't mask the natural flavor.
We also ordered Addie's muscles, a fish appetizer special that had some sort of lentil served with it, (I think- I'm writing this review almost a month later), and bruschetta. Everything was just amazing.
What I can tell you about this place is the quality of food, presentation, and ambiance all make for an amazing experience. If you haven't tried it, it is definitely worth the money.
Unless you're one of those typical YELP jerks that no one can ever please no matter what is done for you, there isn't any reason not to appreciate this place.
One of the best restaurants in Bethesda. Â I love the modern decor and atmosphere too. Â It's perfect for a dressier dinner or special occasion which is rare to find without having to venture into DC. Â
My old stand by is the mussels. Â I really like the Thai mussels that come in a flavorful lemon grass, coconut milk broth. Â I've had mussels several places in town (Food and Wine, Mussel bar and Redwood) and Black's are the best and a good size too. Â The seafood stew is also delicious. Â Generous portions of fish and shellfish cooked perfectly. Â Dessert is just okay, it read better than it tasted-I would skip that next time.
When I used to come here it was for their happy hours. Â They have great deals on food and beer. Â Reminded of the good ole days of Gulf Coast Kitchen. Â Anyways, this is the second time eating in the main dining room. Â The first time was last year and it wasn't a good experience. Â This time around, my wife and I really enjoyed our dinner and the service was great.
We had the oyster stew and Addie's mussels to start. Â They don't offer many appetizers on the dinner menu. Â I should of asked if we could of ordered from the bar menu for their crispy squid and fried oysters. Â But we enjoyed these appetizers. Â For a change, it wasn't salty.
For dinner, we had the duck breast and the fish of the day -branzino. Â For sides we got the cauliflower and brussel sprouts. Â The duck breast was a small portion but was cooked a perfect medium rare. Â Never tasted duck list this before. Â It was awesome. Â The fish was served whole and was grilled with olive oil and salt. Â Again, this dish was good. Â It did have a lot of bones, but what can you expect.
We didn't see anything we liked for the dessert so we opted to head to Woodmont Grill to get their Warm Five Nut Brownie.
One of my top restaurants to dine at. I love everything about this place. The decor is modern, the service is top-notch, and food quality is incomparable to restaurants of the this style.
I've been dining here for over 5 years. My wife and I primarily come to get fresh oysters but always end up with the all the courses...including desert. Always. Especially my wife, it is not often I am able to get out of dinner date without desert.
There is a small, but nice variety of entrees to choose from. Ranging from seafood to duck.
Overall excellent, you need reservations to sit in the dining room, but the bar has tables and can be a fun place to lounge and eat as well.
Happy hour Chesapeake oysters were solid. Â
Service was saaaaaaaahloooooooooow like honey. There was barely anyone in this place and our bartender was pretty inattentive. Â
The oysters were slow to come out as well, we watched the lone gentleman in charge of shucking, he did a good job but it took a while. I would hate to be in here waiting for a dozen oysters (or anything for that matter) when they are actually busy.
Had dinner at Black's a month or so ago with friends and it was great. Nothing I had was bad and we all take bites/help ourselves to each others food. Seems to be the norm, and I'm not complaining. This allows me to try four different meals!
I had the mussels with fries. I was apprehensive but did the Maryland style with old bay corn etc. It was very different then anything I had tried before and good.
The atmosphere was great, sleek, it was crowded but not overwhelmingly loud. The bar area looks like it would be a fun place to stake out for happy hour...
Can't wait to go back and try something new!
My wife & I enjoy going to Blacks most of the time. We have experienced most of the Menu and I can run down our fav and a few to stay away from. The flatbread is a great starter as well as the calamari and oysters. Cornbread is a must have for those cornbread lovers like myself. Â The lunch risotto is fluffy and flavorful too bad it's not offered for dinner. Burger was a hit and so were any of the steaks I've tried specially the RibEye. Seafood stew is fresh and savory and the pork chop is moist and seasoned to perfection. The Veal chop however is not a winner. It is over seasoned and not cooked well. The fried chicken had real nasty gamey taste I couldn't handle for more than 2 bites. None of the desserts really stood out and were average at best.
Service is always outstanding and the prices are reasonable considering being in Bethesda.
The wine served in the happy hour ($5.00/glass) is cheap, vile, undrinkable swill.
The bar serves this wine ONLY during the happy hour. It is not listed in the menu because the restaurant does not want to be embarrassed. The wholesale price per bottle (I checked) is $4.50. Imagine the profit when it sells this wine for $5.00 per glass. The bar reduces the price for certain beers and mixed drinks. When I asked the manager why they serve cheap wine, his answer was " we serve lots of wine and if we had to reduce the price of the regular wine we serve we will make much less money". So, for all of you who have no idea what wine you are drinking, just go ahead. For those of you who know something about wine -caveat emptor !
The only good food  item on the happy hour menu are the Oysters. The shrimps are tasteless, and the fried chicken is all dark meat (the manager did not why)
I had my anniversary dinner here (after some rather obsessive Yelp searching) and I have to say that I was a little bit disappointed with my experience here.
The ATMOSPHERE at Black's is pretty great. It's bustling but not overwhelming. I really liked the feeling of the restaurant. It was definitely classy without being really stuffy. (Although as a college student, I still felt like a kid pretending to be a grown-up.)
Our SERVICE is what really sullied this experience for me. Our server just seemed like he didn't want to be there. We were brought out menus that said "Happy anniversary!" on them and he wished us a happy anniversary. However, he didn't seem very sure when it came to telling us the day's specials and explaining the menu to us. Already, I felt really uneasy and not very comfortable with him. Since we are simple folk, my boyfriend asked for a wine recommendation, and I understand not being THRILLED to give one, but you know, maybe a smile would be nice. I'm still under 21, so I requested a Shirley Temple (those things are delicious, I will milk being under 21 forever) and I could've sworn he gave me a bit of a look even though I explained that I can't legally have wine with my meal. (Plus, I really wanted that Shirley Temple.) He wasn't very attentive to our table, either; I didn't feel his presence much. I could hear other waiters interacting really positively with their customers, so I just couldn't understand why ours wouldn't relax and smile and make us feel like it was a good place to be. It got to the point where we were scared to ask him to take a photo for us because we just felt really uncomfortable doing so.
The FOOD here was all right. I was definitely expecting it to be better. We ordered one of the appetizers of the day, the bacon-wrapped asparagus salad. That was fine, although I expected more asparagus, less salad. Not anything to write home about. Bread basket was fine, too. Cornbread and some kind of Italian bread?
I ordered the seared scallops and my boyfriend got the hanger steak.
The scallops were very tender. Texture was perfect, and the garlic mashed potatoes were great I'm not the biggest fan of Swiss chard, so no comment on that. The beurre blanc was a bit too heavy and made it really difficult for me to finish the meal in one go. (To-go boxes for the win!)
My boyfriend's steak was less than satisfactory, though. He ordered it medium, and although the inside seemed medium, the outside was much too charred. It lent the entire steak a bitter flavor that the chimichurri sauce couldn't remedy. (I didn't get to try the sauce.) My boyfriend also got the truffled mac & cheese, but he didn't seem to love it much.
For dessert, we got this deconstructed s'more that tasted... okay. The brownie wasn't very sweet, the marshmallow was okay, and the graham cracker ice cream was decent but not enough to save the entire dessert. There was a graham cracker (?) and it... didn't taste like much.
The meal was underwhelming and the dessert didn't do much to salvage it.
We were also served little chocolate chip chunks that were... weirdly just okay also. Seemed like a little chocolate chip blondie of sorts? Meh.
All in all, I was expecting a lot more. The restaurant is BEAUTIFUL without a doubt. Definitely a great environment for a more upscale meal. But our food was mediocre and our service was slightly less. Â
Minus 1.5 star for just-MEH food at not-meh-at-all prices.
Minus 1.5 star for sub-par service.
I can't give the stars on the atmosphere alone, I'm afraid.
I've always heard good things about this place and I've enjoyed my drinks in my few visits. Â I really wish I can give 3.5 stars, but I'm going to have to settle for 3.
Oysters were good, drinks were good, but my fried chicken entree was mediocre. Â While the presentation was excellent, it felt like the fried chicken missed few things. Â Not only did it not have flavors, but also weren't fried long enough? Â Even middle part of the meat wasn't that warm.
Server was attentive and made sure our glasses were full. :)
Maybe the experience could have been better if I stuck with seafood!
I came here for lunch on recommendation from a server from the previous dinner. I was expecting a burger joint by the way the server spoke but got a bar and grill. Not particularly a bad thing.
The burger was highly recommended so that's what several of my coworkers and I got. I had mine rare and was pleased that they cooked it properly. The food was great and the matchstick fries were perfectly seasoned and cooked.
I do wish they had a greater selection of cheese.
Quick lunch with my colleagues so not much else to say--for now! Would repeat!
This place was amazing! Went here and ordered the blue crab cake sandwich. It was fresh and had a great sweet flavor. To make it better it was all blue crab. I hate how some places adds mayo and bread in to their crab cakes. But not Blacks. My friend had the gumbo and that too was superb! Â We also ordered some oysters that was beyond fresh and amazing.
The Decor was nice and inviting. And our waiter was extremely helpful. You can definitely expect to see me here again.
Oh my oh my. Â What can I say. Â The Blacks's took a good thing and continue to spread it across MD and DC. To start with they have the best happy hour in all the washington metro area. Â Great drink prices, 2 for the price of one ( $1 each oyster) that are fresh and amazing, 50 cent shrimp that are seasoned to the T. Â Food is always good and the staff is friendly and playful but not in a way that you want to punch them in the face. Â
I also highly recommend trying there other restaurants such as Blacksalt which is an awesome seafood inspired restaurant.
I don't think any restaurant in Montgomery County is doing seafood better than Black's right now. Â My biggest disappointment was with myself for waiting this long to try this place. Â I am a fan of the other restaurants in the Black's group that I've been to...Addies and Black Market Bistro...but other than drinks at the bar a couple of times, I'd never had a meal here until recently...HUGE MISS!
One thing that is nice about Black's is the versatility it presents. Â I would be equally comfortable having a casual meal at the bar, or even in the dining room for that matter, and at the same time, it pulls off being a fine place for a special occasion. Â
178 other people have told you about the food, so I will cut this short, only to say that every dish we had was executed to perfection, both in preparation and flavor (we tried salads, the corn bread, two incredible fish entrees, several of their side dishes and dessert).
The only thing keeping Black's from the full 5 stars, was the service. Â While it was absolutely satisfactory...it was just that.
Great happy hour, customer service, food and atmosphere!
Black's is one of my favorite Bethesda restaurants. The oysters, shrimp, calamari and mussels are always prepared to order and consistently fresh. They have an exceptional Bronzino (specialty menu) and the meats are also dependable. Black's upholds the Black Group reputation!
I'm a huge fan of this place. It's small, has outdoor seating, and is smart (as in sharp). It's not an uptight, stiff-lipped place at all. Rather, it's a classy place to have some great seafood and great drinks. Been here for several professional-career happy hour sessions, and it's just a really nice setting. The interior decor makes you feel welcome, and you just want to hang out for a while.
The service is attentive and courteous. The happy hour menu is done well enough to give you decent amounts of options, and the beer selection is great. Of course, when you're talking seafood, you're also talking cocktails, but I've never gotten a mixed drink here yet.
The crowd varies, but mostly I've seen young professionals who want a change of pace from the typical dive bar boozing for something that feels a bit more big-city/NYC metro.
Definitely go for the calamari if you love that, and their mussels are great too. Of course, you can't pass up on the oysters that Black's is known for.
A favorite in the Bethesda area for me. Will be back many times for sure.
Delightful surprise.
The name of this place doesn't do it justice.
It's sexy, it's cute, it's popular to boot! (5,000,000 points if you know the movie that line came from)
It has a loungey feel just outside of DC. The food was good but be warned, the portions are massive! Like Cheesecake Factory massive.
I had the scallops and decided to order a side of the truffled mac and cheese because somehow the scallops didn't seem sufficient on their own. Â Wrong.
They showed up upon a mountain of potatoes. I could hardly finish my mac and cheese after devouring all of the deliciousness of my scallop entree. It was sad.
Scrumptiously sad.
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