Finally made it to level this past week for the first time. Â No complaints with the food - definitely a cut above the rest. Â I also liked the fact that they get their food from local sources. Â My wife and I shared a couple different dishes including the smoked scallops & bacon flatbread, that night's lamb tenderloin special, some hand cut fries (someone there has sharp hands, let me tell ya), and some type of pork spring rolls. Â Oh, my wife went berserk for the cucumber margarita - very refreshing! Â I thought the beer selection was wimpy compared with all the wine and food choices, but hey, that's just me.
Our server was attentive and knowledgeable on the menu, but it did seem like he had to make an effort to be friendly with us. Â I come across that a lot in Annapolis -especially if the place is newer or trendy. Â The biggest disappointment for me and my wife was just how frickin' LOUD it was in there. Â They were busy, sure, but some sound absorbing panels on the walls and ceiling would go a LONG way.
Level has some of the best tapas I've ever eaten. The calamari, French fries, and tuna tartare are all mouth watering and addictive. I'm dreaming of tasting each of them momentarily at 10am and wishing they were open now. The hand shaken gimlet with fresh cream is the best gimlet I've ever tasted. If you feel like I'm saying best alot you're absolutely right I am. Go for yourself and see what I mean, you won't regret it.
Review Source:I was just here for a work dinner on Wednesday and boy, am I glad we made the drive down to Annapolis for this place! In fact, it was so good that I am dragging my boyfriend back down here next weekend!
I'm sure you're all curious about what has me singing this places praises, so here the breakdown:
--Korean Duck Tacos
--Blue Crab and Corn Risotto
--Tuna Tartar
--Sea Bass Civeche
--Hand Cut French Fries
--Bacon and Scallop Flatbread
Even though this places advertises small plates, their portions are by no means measly! 2 orders of each above fed a party of 6! Everything tasted wonderful! The only criticism we had about the food was on the risotto. You couldn't really taste the crab in it. It was delicious, just no crab flavor. It was lost in the creamy goodness that is risotto.
Level also happens to employ several masterful bartenders who mix superb cocktails! The presentations were as lovely as the drinks themselves! Although, there seemed to be a consensus that the Cucumber Margarita is a must try!
The came dessert in the form of milk and cookies and chocolate banana bread pudding! Yum! Â The perfect ending to the perfect meal. (as always in my humble opinion)
I'm giving this place four stars because their cocktails are outrageously good. Â The cucumber margarita was delicious and I liked the summer sangria, too. Â There were a lot of other concoctions I would have loved to try... looks like their mixologists have put some real thought into their menu.
The food was very good, but it didn't blow me away. Â We ordered the cheese and charcuterie plate, which was nice but not outstanding. Â Small portions of the cheese, but I did like that they served it with several homemade additions (strawberry balsamic reduction and something else with dijon, both of which were excellent). Â I also had the Korean BBQ duck tacos. Â Everything was top-notch except I wasn't a huge fan of the corn tortillas (too dry?).
All in all, this place was nice for a night out. Â I would go back to the bar and order maybe a dish or two as an appetizer, then finish dinner somewhere else.
Loved this place. My lacrosse team played a summer tournament in annapolis and we wanted to do an upscale night that wasn't too expensive or too stuffy. Â
this place had a phenomenal yellowtail tuna with wasibi tobiko, a decent mac and cheese and great lamb. The beef stay was a little bland but hey, it happens.
Definitely try the fun drink menu. We had some awesome Moscow Mules in ice cold copper mugs.
We appreciated the great service for our evening.
This absolutely goes down in my book as one of the most outstanding, exceptional dining experiences I've ever had! Â I made the reservation on Open Table and called to follow up to make sure they could accomodate our group of 10 adults and 6 kids, especially with so many kids. The woman who I spoke to was very cheerful and helpful and said they were looking forward to having us. The food was outstanding--very fresh and local! What made our experience so great, however, was our server Lorien. Her service was EXCEPTIONAL! From taking pictures for us, to making sure everyone always had a full glass and a full plate, she was very personable and went above and beyond to make our experience top notch. Thank you Lorien! We will be back for sure!
Review Source:Took the love of my life there for a surprise. Get the; Â pur`eed carrots, sweet potatoes....Get EVERYTHING!!! Get the blood orange martini!!!
If its cold, get a table away from the front door, sit in the back. But for that situation it would be a 5 star rating.
If your looking to impress someone & eat good food, take them. I will be back.
Make a reservation if you want to get a seat at Level. The food is great and isn't super expensive. Our favorite plate is the scallops (you must try them). Service has always been spot on, and the restaurant isn't so loud that you can't have a conversation.
The only negative is the beer selection- could be better. One of our favorite places to dine in Annapolis.
Level was very good, and could have been fantastic.
First, their small plates are small but not tiny. Given the quality of food, the price is very fair.
I had two dishes. One was brussels sprouts with truffle and parmesan. The other was the risotto. The risotto was very good and the sprouts was sublime. There were so good I was tempted to try the beets too, but I filled up on these two.
The selection of wines by the glass was so-so, so I had a an excellent cocktail with ginger beer.
The service was terrific (except see below). When I asked what the soup of the day was, the waitress said it was mushroom. I asked her if it was vegetarian, and she immediately said no, it had chicken stock: points for knowledge and attentiveness. When I asked her about the risotto, she again neatly made a distinction between vegetarian and vegan. This earned my admiration for the place.
So why not five stars? I'd been having a fantastic evening, so I ordered dessert: a bread pudding with chocolate and carmelized banana. It soon became clear that the pudding was a disaster: it was burnt at the top and dry all the way through, both problems pointing to overcooking. With more than half of it left uneaten I asked the waitress (who until then had been very attentive, but as the place filled up had become scarce, so I'd had the dessert for a while by then) for the check.
When she offered to bag it I told her why I hadn't finished it. There was no apology, just a smile and a cheerful, "Oh, okay, I'll let them know!" Thus, there was also no attempt to make the meal right: no offer to make me a fresh one, or take something off the bill, or anything at all.
I never ask for a comp at a restaurant, and even when something goes wrong I always insist on paying full fare; mistakes happen, and if nobody took any risks we'd never get any rewards. But I would have liked the staff to at least try to end my meal on a good note. It's not like I'd finished the whole thing; my pudding had patently been taken apart to see if any part was salvageable, and left significantly unfinished, after a long time!
Overall, this was a minor blemish, but it did leave me disappointed. To be fair to the restaurant, if the pudding had been cooked 10% less I'd be calling this one of my best meals of the year. But they do need to both educate and empower their staff to fix problems better.
Went on a Friday night. At six, the upstairs was almost empty. By eight, it was packed and hopping.
The service was very cordial and professional. The server turned us on to some amazing cocktails, particularly a fantastic limited not-on-the menu Negroni, and the marilyn d. rose. Cocktails were a bit pricy, ($15) but excellent.
The server also recommended a wonderful cab, Worthy, "sophia's cuvee". It's $50 a pop (you can get it in wine stores for about $30).
Loving variety and surprises, we enjoyed all the plates we ordered. Some plates stood out more than others for us. The Spicy Tuna Tartare was devine! The Bacon and Scallop pizza was really a hit too.
The upstairs has only a few small windows in brick walls, so it's sort of dark. It was a sunny warm day and we were hoping to have a nice view and warm breeze. But we knew this about the place coming in. It was by no means dank or dismal though; our party of five was a lively bunch and we really enjoyed all aspects of the place.
Oh, finally, the place was clean. Very clean. And the table ware was chic but elegant.
Our full bill came to be $268 plus another $60 tip on top. But, subtracting the two bottles of Worthy ($100) the three off-menu special Negronis ($45), another four cocktails ($35), food pre-tip was about $17 a person.
While it's still fun, I think there are better small plate options now. The cocktails remain  inventive but some of the better ones I have had, are no longer on the menu. Tonight's Duck Confit Asian style just did not work. While every component was good, it all resonated on the same tone. I had hopped for some acidity from the kimchi puree but it might as well been squash baby food.
 I also have a growing concern that their gift card system is far from perfect. It was a huge ordeal the last time I tried to redeem, and tonight my card showed no value. Not sure why I would keep it if it no longer had any cash on it.
We were excited to dine at Level after all of the great reviews. We arrived 15 minutes earlier than our reservation time of 8pm and were seated right away...looked over the menu, picked out our drinks...picked out our meal...waited, waited...15 minutes and still no water, or "we'll be right with you"...nothing. 10 more minutes we saw 2 tables get seated, water, drinks...after 5 more minutes we saw another table get seated with attention so we left...
Shame, because the food and drinks we saw others enjoying looked great. We ended up going a few doors down to Stan & Joes Saloon and got great service and pretty good bar food-but it wasn't the night out we were anticipating.
My wife said it was a good thing I was planning or proposing or something ...
We arrived about 15 minutes before our Saturday 8pm reservation thinking that we might be able to get seated early, but business is booming at Level. The hostess asked us to wait in the upstairs bar, which was less crowded and noisy than the downstairs waiting area. We were pleased to be seated on-time at a four-top even though there were only two of us - we appreciated that the restaurant didn't try to make us wait until a two-top became available.
We started with a Fresh Lemonade (yummy!) and a spicy Bloody Mary with Jalapeno Vodka (horseradish-y) and shared four plates. The Pan-Seared Sea Scallops were excellent - very flavorful and perfectly cooked. The small Sweet Potatoes themselves were good, but we found the bacon to be very fatty. The Cuban Pork Spring Rolls were fried, yet very light - the dipping sauce adds a lot of flavor here. Combined with the filling Smoked Pork Adobo Flatbread (definitely one of the bigger plates), there was too much pork so think about diversifying more than we did.
We were REALLY looking forward to happy hour here, due to reviews and reading about their great happy hour.
Upon arrival, we got the feeling from the hostess that 'we were lucky to be there'.
Should have left at that point, but didn't. Waited for seats at the bar and asked for a menu (it was 5:35-- happy hour is until 7pm). The bartender gave us a menu and we ordered a crab dip thinking it was the happy hour menu,.. it wasn't. 1 glass of house wine, 1 cheap beer and one crab dip (that tasted NOTHING if crab) later and the bill came for $30. When I asked the bartender about it he was SO rude. Literally didn't acknowledge that I was speaking to him and I was directly in front of him. He said I should have ordered from the happy hour menu, which was not given to us.
More important than giving is the wrong menu was the attitude of the staff: 'You are lucky to be there'-- is their opinion.
PS-- not for nothin'-- I am a nationally published travel and food writer-- eating at places like this is what I do for a living. Never again at Level.
My bf surprised me with dinner reservations at Level on a cold Annapolis day. We ordered the pea shoots and puréed carrots, fettuccine, a flatbread, bison, sweet potatoes, and apple dumpling.
Everything was fabulous and the service was spot on!
The con - it was absolutely freezing in the front eating area. Â The poor greeter was shivering. Â Every time the door opened the wind whipped through.
I will definitely be back - just not in the winter!
I don't typically comment on very many bars and restaurants, but this place stands out for one reason: no TVs with sports on them. I don't come to a place to watch sports or have it on in the background because that can be done at home, if you're into that sort of thing. Level eliminates such annoyances and keeps it simple.
The food is good, particularly the sweet potatoes and bacon. The beer selection is small and they don't have anything on draft, but I'm ok with that because it's more of a cocktail bar. Of the few places I go downtown, this will remain as one of them.
The atmosphere and service were great but I was not wowed by the food--not nearly as delicious as I'd hoped. Â On the low end was the grilled calamari--very chewy, barely edible. Â We didn't even finish it. Â The cuban pork spring rolls were very greasy and salty. In the middle was the bison--tender, tasty, but not something you could really share. Â My husband really enjoyed the spinach risotto but I thought the garlic was overpowering. Â On the high end was the crab dip--by far the best tasting of anything we tried. Â
We each ordered a cup of coffee, which came in a small French press. Â That would've been fine but it meant only half of a cup each--not quite the full cup I was expecting. Â Overall, I probably would not return for a date night where we anticipate spending a lot of money. Â Maybe for fancy cocktails and appetizers with my girlfriends, but not a nice meal out.
So, we've been here a couple of times since my last review and eaten both times.
We've had a variety of plates and shared them all between our group.
Last night, we ordered the bacon and mushroom flat bread (delicious!!!!! I had to force myself to share) Garlic fries (I still smell this morning!) tuna tartare (I didn't try but it looked delicious and I'm assured it was) roast sweet potato with bacon (very interesting taste, I would definitely recommend the salt and sweet together was amazing) beef satay (beef cooked beautifully so that it fell off the skewer) fish chowder (very fishy, a little too much for my taste but the bit I did have was lovely) ooh what else? Â I can't remember!
Our group sampled a few cocktails, one of which was a little overdone with agnostura bitters. Â I had the homemade cream soda which was DELICIOUS! Â Not too sweet at all. Â I will definitely be having more! Â I also had a club soda which I thought was a little overpriced at $3. Â However, not to moan, this place is delicious and ambient. Â The staff are very attentive and treated us really well. Â
Go here!! Â If it's the last thing you do!!!
I made a reservation for 8 w. cc. They made us wait a little but they had out table ready in no time. All the plates are tiny so order at least 3-4 to start. Here is a list of all the plates I ordered/tried:
Duck pizza a little too salty
Scallops with sprinkled lemon zest and agave sauce (MUST GET)
Beef satay
Garlic fries are tasty
Pork eggrolls are meh
Japanese eggplant feta and olive oil yummmmyy
Oh and they have an amazing beer selection :)
I am a big fan of this restaurant for a splurge on a date night!
The service is young and upbeat. Â There were two times they were not able to answer my questions about the menu/drinks, but they always went to ask and came back with a precise answer. The one glaring flaw about service was that when we asked for the rest of our flatbread to be packed up to take home, we realized that another half was missing once we opened the container. Â I have never had large portions of leftovers missing from the container. Â Even if it was accidentally dropped and had to be trashed - please mention it and don't think I won't notice.
Ambiance was current, rich, and sophisticated.  The bar looked like a cute place to meet up with friends.  I really loved a lot of the design elements.  It  just felt good to spend time here.  Though I will say having been seated near the hostess stand, it felt weird because she was staring at us eat the whole time. Â
The drinks were interesting. Â A fun part of the meal for an extra splurge. Â Best drink of the night - bourbonapolis. Â Proclaimed at our table as "my new favorite drink ... ever". Â Disappointing drink - Some vodka based drink that had a huge stalk of celery in it and the glass was rimmed with white pepper. Â It was too vegetable-y and savory (I had hoped for something refreshing but was disappointed).
The food was well made and tasty. Â The parmesan and garlic fries were not as much a hit for us as it was for other reviewers. Â The pile of garlic on top of the fries was completely raw and too biting/burning. Â The risotto was a nice texture and deliciously abundant with cheese. Â Cheesy flatbread was done simply and with perfection. Â The quality of cheese was apparent as the flavors sang in this dish. Â The Japanese eggplant was under seasoned and over priced. Â The grilling did not impart as much smokiness as I expected. Â The cookies and milk dessert is just that, well executed and nostalgia fulfilling but ultimately pedestrian.
Overall - Great atmosphere, fun dishes, and reliable flavors. Â While the prices are high for the food itself, I am happy to pay the extra for quality local ingredients and the ambiance.
** Note to management - please update your menu on the website! Â The type of foodies who come to your restaurant are those who look at menus ahead of time. Â I was surprised to find many different dishes on the restaurant menu compared to those I had my heart set on that were on the website menu and no longer available. Â One of the biggest draws for this restaurant is that it is seasonal, so updated menus are necessary and appreciated. Â **
Top 3 restaurant in Annapolis, probably the best. Â At this point I think I have had every dish they make, while some are better than others nothing is disappointing at all, and the things that are great will haunt your foodie dreams. Â The menu straight forward and unpretentious as is the atmosphere. Â It is not cheap and it shouldn't be, it is worth every hard earned penny. Â Can you tell I love this place?
The drinks are also on another level, if you can make it in for happy hour, you can get some 5 dollar cocktail and discounted food so you don't have to drop a C-note to eat here if you don't want to.
Musts: Tuna tartar with wasabi roe, lamb sausage with foraged mushrooms, sweetbreads, grilled calamari is unbelievable, Cocktails- Moscow Mule, 360 Gimlet, Bees knees
This place made me so happy. Â
I've been missing what this place has to offer: solid mixed drinks and a well thought-out menu. Â The ingredients are local, but that didn't seem to affect the price as it would in most places. Â
Seriously, where has pumpkin moonshine been all my life? Â The mixed drinks were strong and priced about what I'm used to. Maybe it was the alcohol, but with our order, you would've thought we hadn't seen food in days. Between the two of us we ordered the risotto, lamb chops, octopus, sweet potatoes, and honestly I can't remember the other (damn the drinks!). Â The menu changes with what's in season, so don't look for something you love to be there all the time.
The decor was warm and comfortable. Â It was busy, but I didn't feel like people were on top of one another, and the service barely lagged. Â It was a Wednesday, so I'd be interested to see what a Friday night looks like here.
Although this place is called Level, they actually have two levels...each with their own bar. Â
We came here for cocktails and small plates one evening and I really enjoyed it. After a quick glance at the cocktail menu, I noticed the Bourbonnapolis and ended up having a few that night.  It's made with Woodford Reserve bourbon, St. Germain elderflower liquor, pumpkin purée and lemon.  I know what you're thinking: "Pumpkin purée? What the hell is wrong with this guy?!"  There is nothing wrong with me or the drink...it's delicious!
If I'm being honest, I can't even remember the food because the drink was soo good...
The place was packed, even at the bar. Â Parking is a little tight, but it's Annapolis...what do you expect. Â I'd definitely suggest stopping by Level on your next bar tour.
This was one of my first impressions of Annapolis, and it was great! We came downtown for dinner, and after walking around decided on Level. There wasn't a huge wait, and we were seated within 10 min (which was awesome, considering that would almost never happen anywhere in DC on a Saturday night)
We split a bunch of small plates, starting with the garlic and rosemary fries. These were awesome, and had lots of great flavor. We split the roasted broccoli, roasted lamb, ahi tuna tartar, and scallops. Everything was great. I'm not a huge tuna fan, but my date loved it. The lamb was well cooked and seasoned perfectly. We then got dessert, which was a playful milk and cookies dish. The cookie was giant and served warm, with a side mug of chocolate milk with cookie dough foam. For me, the fries and cookie stole the show, but everything was delicious. I also tried the summer sangria which was tasty as well.
I'd absolutely recommend this to others. It was a great date place, but would be a lot of fun for a girls' night out or to bring anyone from out of town.
It was a hot Thursday evening in July. My wife and I had driven from Philadelphia to Annapolis for a wedding. She was really hungry as we walked around the downtown looking for a place to eat. I looked at the Yelp app on my phone. We are vegetarians so the nearby results were giving me nothing: lots of seafood and steakhouses.
As my wife affected by her hunger and the intense heat became grumpier, I saw one sign of hope on the app. A small plates restaurant where one review mentioned a Fall menu. A seasonal menu. This reminded me of Deterra in Ambler, PA which changes its menu seasonally and has some great dishes.
I am very wary of the small plates concept. That usually means high price for little food. But with no other card to play I suggested the small plates place with a weird name that I considered a possibility only because one Yelper mentioned they had a seasonal menu. My wife did not sound impressed but asked if I could get the menu on my phone. I did and she said, "Wow, they actually have things we can eat. Let's try it."
I am so happy we did. Level was probably the best restaurant meal I have had in the last year. I wish I had occasion to go back to Annapolis. That's how great it was!
We started with gnocchi. It was a very small plate but a very tasty and innovative use of gnocchi. It had a chili oil sauce that was delicious and the perfect pairing of crispy crust and soft inside.
Then there was hummus with pita. This pita was wonderful. It had salt and pepper on it . I would have been happy just snacking on that for an hour. The hummus was very good with little bits of peach mixed in.
The eggplant appetizer is really good. My wife and I were naughty and had it with the feta cheese it comes with. Together they tasted great.
We then ordered a special, the vegetarian pizza. It was good (the blend of cheeses was particularly good) but if I had to do it again, I would probably order another small plate or two instead.
We had to try dessert because we had had such great food and wanted to see what they could do with dessert. Wow! A nice small serving of bourbon vanilla ice cream. And the grand finale, a bread pudding with a caramelized banana on top. Both desserts were so wonderful I would suggest going there just for dessert, but the other food is so great you have to go for the full meal.
Small plates prices tend to be pricey and Level is. I think my wife and I spent a little more than $80. My advice would be to skip drinks to save money and focus on the wonderful creative delicious food coming out of that kitchen!
The rustic vibe, the farm-to-table ingredients, the genius pairings of flavors, the music playing in the background--I love everything about this place! My boyfriend and I were fortunate enough to not have to wait for a table because all traffic was concentrated around the waterfront for July 4th festivities. We were seated at the cocktail area, high tables with high stools. This was perfectly fine with us. It was a pretty good spot anyway, as it gave us a great view of the magazine photo-worthy bar.
Imagine Virtue Feed Grain doing only small plates and you get Level. Wait staff clad in t-shirts and jeans, utensils in mason jars, still water from an unlabeled wine bottle, your check delivered in a hollowed out vintage book..It's all about casual Americana here, which isn't something that restaurant owners always succeed in pulling off. I really don't know where to begin in praising Level...
I guess I'll start with the food. The food is what you'd expect to see on a Food Network Chopped competition. The chef or chefs are so skilled. He/she/they really know how to bring out the best in fresh fish, fresh cheese, etc. Nothing is masked beneath an overpowering sauce. The farm greens salad, for me, was the star. It was the star because it started with really fresh veggies. Then came this light, not cloyingly sweet, strawberry-tinged dressing that complemented, rather than fought with or drowned out the flavor of the produce. I really dig that! I'll mention a less impressive salad in a coming review for another Annapolis restaurant. So this is my favorite, and an example of how Level gives the customer something unlike other restaurants' offerings.
However, I will say that one dish we sampled would have died on the "chopping block"--the olive pizza. Olives are naturally already quite salty, then you get tons of parmesan (also salty) and this red sundried tomato pepper sauce (strong and salty). Â I usually like my food salty, but this was a bit too much. In the future, maybe the chef(s) can try to use a milder cheese and less of the pepper sauce...
The olive pizza is the only less satisfactory aspect about Level. Everything else is worth trying. delicious and worth your money.
Speaking of money, I think Level is an amazing deal for what you get. For the same amount of money elsewhere, say a chain known for monster portions, you could get an over-fried or tasteless appetizer, Â using ingredients from the freezer. At Level, $10-1$14 will easily get you something delectable and unforgettable like tuna tartare (That fish was probably swimming in the ocean not too long ago) or house-made gnocchi.
For fans of relaxed environments and simple food made with local ingredients, who don't mind smaller portions, Level is the place for you. If your idea of fun is a Cheesecake Factoryesque entree then you're out of luck.
I really want to like Level. The food is high quality but the few experiences I've had here aside from the food have been rather...underwhelming.
Instance 1: Restaurant week with a large group. Service was awful like so awful it soured the great food. Disappointed with portion sizes because I didn't know it was more of a tapas style/small plates joint than a "regular" restaurant. Felt mildly gyped. No fewer than 3 tables nearby were turned over while we waited for various courses. Shouldn't have to wait more than 20 minutes between courses.
Instance 2: Evening with much smaller group. Had wine (great wine menu) and a couple of small plates. Good food. Ehhh service but it was busy so while it's not an excuse I can overlook that.
Finally tonight another large group but we rented out the upstairs. The food was decent quality, we didn't really splurge on anything super outlandish (the risotto is to die for). The drinks were great but imagine my surprise when I shelled out $10+ for ONE drink.
In all, the food is really good quality which is great if you want to go drop $100 for two people on drinks and small plates. But if you're looking to save cash? I hear they have a great happy hour (which I have yet to visit!)
Just had to get away from the touristy, crabcake madness of downtown.... and yelp led me to Level. Such a fantastic find!
We walked here from our hotel near the state house. Very easy, safe walk.
All local ingredients, from local farms. Very cool and always great to support a place that supports its community.
Really yummy, creative cocktails. Their list of drinks can't be ignored. Try at least one.
My husband and I shared probably four small plates... flatbread, rockfish ceviche, spring rolls, lamb chops. Â Ceviche and chops were the standouts.
Sit at the bar for a while before dinner and watch the bartenders mixing outrageous cocktails. Really fun night, and so thankful yelp led us to Level.
(gave it 4/5 stars only because i've only been there once and don't have much to compare it to. and because once those cocktails kicked in i probably would have loved most anything :-))
Great food but limited menu. Â I think this is more of a wine bar than a tapas place. I was expecting to see pages and pages of tapas, but they only had one page. Â But one page of amazing tapas! I still think my favorite place for tapas is Mezze in Baltimore.
I was very surprised by their unique hummus with apples and awesome flat bread to go with it. You can tell it was made with fresh ingredients. Â I could probably snack on this all day. Â
For my meal, I had the Quail and  bok choy.  which were also just as amazing. For small plates, 2 are perfect for a meal. If you are really hungry, you might require 3-4 plates, or all of the plates on the menu. But it does get pricey when you add them all up.
I heard so much about their drinks that I had to get one of their seasonal specials. Â I was very disappointed. Â They were SOOOO sweet! Â So I had to mix in some water to tone it down. Once I did that, it was very good and I felt like I got 3 drinks out of one!
As with all other small plates restaurants, you go here for tasty small bites and drinks. Â If you are looking for quantity, this is not the best bang for the buck.
We had dinner here on a Saturday night. The ambient noise was a bit high for a comfortable conversation.
The service is good, not great. We were greeted promptly and drink orders taken. The drinks came very fast and we weren't ready to order yet, but it took quite a while for a server to stop by again.
The food that was good was very good, but some was very disappointing.
Good: The Japanese eggplant, the gnocchi, and the beef satay
Bad: The calamari was unacceptable - it had the texture of bicycle tires. The cheese (we had three) came straight from the refrigerator - most cheeses should properly be at nearly room temperature.
Next time we'll order the cheese first and let it sit on the table while we eat so we can enjoy it.
The server took the calamari off our bill without being asked. That was really very kind.
I'd give them 3.5 stars if I could. We'll try them again to give them another chance.
: (.....Another Annapolis restaurant falis the consistancy test. Â
We were meeting up with four other friends, so our party of six was ready to do some serious menu sampling. Â I picked this spot, since no one but myself had been here and my last experience was memorable.
Service was great and we were led to an eight top for six so we had room to spread out a bit and have extra chairs for coats and such. Â I noticed the menu had changed, which of course it should if you are practicing the farm to table trend.
First up: Â Beverages. Â Some wine by the glass, beer and a pitcher of the "Winter Sangria" described as cranberries, blood orange, red wine, clove syrup and spices. Â That sounded good for a damp and dreary Saturday night. Â The glass pitcher filled with a deep burgundy hued sangria looked like something straight out of a Martha Stewart Magazine. Â
The server, bless her heart, attempted to pour some into our glasses, but the extraordinary amount of ice and whole fresh cranberries made this a tricky endeavor. Â Needless to say, napkins were needed to wipe up the mess. Â The first glass was good, but as the evening wore on, the melting ice managed to dilute the contents, so the flavor profile went from a wine spritzer to pink ice water. Â Not good. Â By now, I was dreaming of ordering a martini, so I could at least taste some alcohol. Â But I refrained.
Next came our plates:
Grilled Calamari - Reminded me of a tender fat round noodle. Â No taste of the grill, no tang from the lemon, and certainly no flavor from the EVOO. Â Disappointing.
Cuban Pork Spring Rolls - Had these before and were a delight! Â See other review. Â This order, though nicely presented, was bland with no flavor from dijon, pickle, or shallot. Â Heck the pork didn't even have any porkiness. Â The meat was squishy soft and unappealing. Â Next.
Fried Oysters - Cute presentation, in a mini wire basket, but after one bite I was wondering what in the heck I was eating.  The inside looked like a very thin chicken McNugget.  When I fry them at  home, the inside is juicy, plump and still resembles the original shape of the oyster.  Did they macerate them before frying? Who knows.....
Grilled Japanese Eggplant - Just ok.
Gnocchi- Bland, mealy, and just flat. Â
Night Special - Sauteed pork belly over greens. - Ok so the bartender had mentioned earlier that this dish was sauteed in duck fat.  Wow.  Pork belly and duck fat, how much more sinful can you get?  Well no need to go to confession, as this small serving was barely touched.  This dish did not exemplify  the luscious ingredients it was comprised of.  And there was an off flavor to the whole thing....Anise?  I'm not sure.
Mushroom flat bread- Ok finally something I wanted to have another bite of but we are talking about a bit of bread with cheese and shrooms. Â Not the most creative offering, but the thin pie really did highlight the woodsy, flavorful and fragrant fungi.
Luckily, most of our other dining guests were pretty pleased, although I would doubt if they would ever say they weren't. Â My husband was not impressed at all as we discussed the meal privately on our way home. Â If it was just one or two dishes that were off, I would forgive, but almost the entire menu? Â Sigh. Â Another disappointment.
Came here for New Year's eve dinner. Our large group splurged on cocktails and lots of small plates.
Cocktails -- Our group enjoyed all of them, including a Moscow Mule; a Bloody Mary with jalapeno-infused gin instead of vodka; a Negroni with prosecco; a Jack Rose; and a Spicy Davis, which was rum, OJ, brown sugar, and bitters.
Food -- With such a big group, we ordered mostly everything on the menu. Highlights included a crock of duckmeat, fried oysters, veal sweetbreads, and sea scallops. The best small plate we had, however, was probably the radish risotto. Very rich and flavorful. A few of us had profiteroles and chocolate banana bread pudding for dessert, both of which were worth it.
Service -- Our server was also very knowledgeable about the entire menu and was very friendly and helpful.
Recommended on all fronts.
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