Half Note Lounge

In a nutshell, an attendant mistakenly removed our drinks from the table when we stepped away for a few minutes to socialize with the crowd.  When we complained, the manager outright refused to replenish our drinks.  Very disappointing, poor people skills, and bad customer service.

I attended Half Note for Father's Day Brunch with my family.  I heard a lot about the restaurant, so I was excited to give it a try.  For brunch, Half Note offered a buffet that included an omelet station, waffle station, grits, eggs, pork and turkey sausage, bacon, fried fish, baked salmon, salmon cakes, yams, fried chicken, mixed veggies, greens, home fries, mac & cheese, crab legs, and steamed shrimp.  The buffet also comes with a complimentary mimosa. All of this for 26.95. Now here is the low-down:

Positives:  
- The food was well seasoned and quite tasty; I absolutely LOVED how the baked salmon was prepared.
- Waffles can be prepared with several different condiments from chocolate chips to chocolate sauce, to strawberries and whipped cream. There is even sugar-free syrup
- Omelet station had a variety of options including shrimp with old bay and Cajan seasonings to add to your omelet.
- Omelet chef was very professional and speedy in preparing omelets.

Negatives:
- My waitress was slow and often no where to be found. When she was around, I found her to be somewhat inattentive.
- The complimentary mimosa was HORRIBLE. It tasted watered down, or perhaps the champagne was flat.
- The buffet line was extremely long and slow to move through. This is partially because a server must actually plate food for customers. I understand Half Note is trying to maintain some kind of serving size and ration out the food properly but this greatly slows down the line.  During my time at the buffet, there were only 2 servers for a full buffet of food!
- The waffle line is entirely too slow.  There needs to be at least 4 waffle makers in service during peak hours.

Bottom Line: I would return to Half Note for brunch only because the food was good. But my expectations for good service won't be high at all.

The Basics: Half Note is a small restaurant and bar/lounge. It has live music and regular happy hours, and serves brunch, lunch, and dinner. The crowd is primarily African American professionals in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. Half Note is located off of Route 450 in Bowie inside a small outdoor shopping center (strip mall).

Review: I am being generous in giving Half Note two stars because the service does not even deserve one star. I have visited this restaurant/lounge on several occasions with friends and have repeatedly received terrible service. I have only returned because friends selected the place to celebrate special events. The food, drinks, and music are great (hence the two stars), but the place is overpriced and not worth the trouble. Half Note has the potential to be an enjoyable spot to listen to live music, but before this can happen, there need to be major changes in management, staffing, and the way groups and customers are treated and handled.