Highly recommend The Food Market, its my favorite MD restaurant.

Sally Os

Verde was fantastic and really fast! Shoutout to our server Tyler

We had a delicious dinner at Mera this weekend.

We went to Rusty Scupper because we had gotten a gift card for Christmas. It was really tasty! I had the Short Rib Oscar and my partner had the pork chop. We would both recommend it.

Edit: the meal there was 3 courses for $55, so probably not the best value although it was really tasty

The menu looks good, but I can't help but feel like I'm being severely ripped off. I could order the chicken sandwich and the mac and cheese off their regular menu and pay $22. If I order the chicken sandwich, the mac and cheese, and a dessert off their restaurant week menu it's $45.

We had good food but bad service at Foraged. I would go back again not during restaurant week; my partner does not want to go back.

Restaurant Week website lists the menu as $40pp; when we arrived the waitress says $45pp. Fine. Waitress says they offer a wine pairing with each course for $20pp; when the bill came it was $25pp. Fine. The waitstaff mixed us up and gave us each other's food for every course despite clarifying who got what after the first mix-up. Fine. The kicker for my partner was a screwy mix-up where they forgot to bring us the second half of our meal and then got kind of salty about addressing it when we asked about it. Ended up having to pay for and extra round of wine tasting to get the pairing timed with the dishes when they finally came out and had a flat rose with dessert after they simply re-served the wine they'd initially tried to give us an hour before. Again, I'm sure 99% of those problems were RW-related because they were slammed with reservations and I would totally go back some other time, but my partner doesn't like "pay more to eat less" places in general and the service experience made him extremely bitter.

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That’s a county person opinion if I’ve ever heard one.

They’re mediocre. Like the atlas group of hampden, minus the sexism and racism

People have run the numbers and restaurant week is not a good deal for the customer.

https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/352677/is-restaurant-week-a-rip-off-we-did-the-math/

Probably unpopular opinion, but I don’t think that Restaurant Week is actually the best time to try new places. Prices don’t seem to be any better, kind of seems like a rip off; it’s all prix fixe, which works for fancier places, but just seems like catering food from places that don’t usually have this type of service

Foraged is a NO for restaurant week, not sure about regularly. I went for last restaurant week and they had no restaurant week menu at all and no deals even though they were on the website… it was ridiculous. This time I am trying Sotto Sopra!

Lol I wrote my post before scrolling to see yours. Seems like they just can’t get restaurant week right.

As someone who lived in Hampden for a long long time, I highly disagree that they're mediocre. They've got some absolute bangers on their menu.

If you wanted mediocre that's what Cafe Hon was for. If you wanted inedible that was Golden West.

Food Market wasn't the best food in Hampden but it was far better than "mediocre"

Food market is just wildly expensive for what you get, which is why it’s mediocre. They’ve got some okay items on their menu, but nothing I tried was ever better than mediocre. Overcooked steaks and burgers. Tiny portioned apps. Everything wildly under seasoned.

I don't eat steaks or burgers so I can't really say anything to that, but I've had some good food their and didn't find the prices to be that bad.

But if you're just used to fast food I could see it being something of a shock. Your dollar will go a lot further at a McDonalds.

Some of the menus this time around are just insane. At Taco Mama you can get the Loco burrito + flan off the RW menu: $30. Loco burrito + flan off the regular menu: $25.

Why would you go there for steak and burgers? I go there to try their unique take on classic American dishes.

You should stick to the fast casual chains.

Oh, no. I haven’t eaten fast food in probably 15 years (except chipotle, but obviously not in hampden cause that one is awful).

I’m comparing it to other restaurants: foraged, la Cuchara, Thames st oyster house, tapas teatro, alma cocina, etc.

I went to Cafe Campli and loved it. They're debuting their dinner menu this week. Great vibe, friendly service, and everything I had was delicious. They also have wine pairings for each course, which I'm a huge sucker for.

I tried their burger on someone’s recommendation after complaining that all their other food was crap.

And I got a steak because I think I just wanted steak

Yeah, it's not one of the best restaurants in the city. But it's not "mediocre" that's a bit absurd.

I went to Sotto Sopra for a RW a few years ago and it was excellent. I ordered the ribeye and it was a contender for best steak I’ve ever eaten in my life.

The Food Market was fucking incredible for a long time after it opened in 2012. Whenever I've gone there over the last 4-5 years, it's definitely lost its edge. I can't even really pinpoint what the issue is, but the magic is gone. It used to legit be one of the best restaurants in the city though.

I’ve tried so many times with them. The food looks good on the menu, but is executed poorly, like straight iff Sysco truck. I like the snowballs across the street when they’re open though.

Yeah. I tried it first maybe 6 years ago, and thought it was okay. But by 5 years ago it had gone downhill. Now, as another person said, it’s basically sisco truck microwaved crap. Not quite, but not far off

Oooh yum! I went pre pandemic and it was great, I’m excited to return!!

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Also, Foraged is usually excellent. RW must just not be their bag.

Maybe I will go back one day, but there are so many incredible restaurants in this city, one bad experience its hard for me to want to return before I try something new!

Rw is generally hell especially when visit baltimore or downtown partnership extends it and its wear and tear on staff. I hated working RW but knew it was ok money, good biz for the restaurant but needed added gratuity. Youd make more money on half the plates on a normal night (depending on place and setup) but i hope post covid its a better experience on staff at least from the years i spent in it. Downtown partnership did like winter Rw and visit baltimore did the other from what i remember. I cant even bring my self to go out to one these days. I cant blame the patrons they got great deals at prob most places. Ill shut up now.

I went to Twist in Fells and it was incredible!!! Seriously such a good deal too.

Prices are stupid for a shitty amount of food.

yeah we did limoncello over the summer. the serving sizes were laughable & the service was bad. i assume it’s because they’re all slammed & have been treated like garbage even moreso during rw.

We had a great meal at The Tilted Row, which has become our current favorite restaurant in the city. We've been there a few times before and their RW menu is more like face value.

Baltimore Seafood in Canton is running a pretty good deal for 20 bucks. Half pound of shrimp and half pound of crab legs with corn and potatoes. About 9 bucks cheaper than normal menu price so not a bad deal.

This is where I am as well. Haven't been in years because it just was no longer as good as it once was. Still will visit this weekend as my grandmother wants to go somewhere.

Food Market has fallen off. It used to be one of my favorites but my last few experiences were underwhelming.

Blue hill tavern

Was at Black Olive for RW. It wasn't that great. I'll give it a shot after RW.

All of their vegetarian options are garbage

It’s also loud, seats are uncomfortable, and you’re always crammed in there.

I'm not surprised. Everything there is kinda crap.

wait do people not like Golden West? i love Golden West, except their service is insanely slow.

My only issue with them is their food is inedible. Other than that they’re fine.

dang. hard disagree, i love their burgers.

You like horribly overcooked hockey puck burgers?

I had one once years and years ago when I still are burgers and I still remember it as the worst burger I’ve ever attempted to eat. I couldn’t get more than a bite in. It was so bad it was memorable.

that’s wild, i’ve never had that experience there!

Was it good or bad?

It was delicious. Blue hill has never disappointed me . They have a two course meal for restaurant week but you can always order from their regular menu as well. The owner Mell catches the fish they serve . The food is always fresh and yummy.

I had lunch at By The Docks as part of Baltimore County Restaurant Week earlier this month. The 3-course crabcake lunch special for $23 was great. I plan to return for some of their weeknight specials.

I called them because the RW menu was literally more expensive than the regular menu which made no sense.

...and what did they say?

They just said to come in and they’ll take care of me and give me 15% off. Didn’t even address the issue that the RW menu is more expensive than the regular menu.

A group of us went to The Guilford Brewing Hall for lunch. Despite it filtering as a lunch option, the only did the menu during dinner. Ok, fine. Had a gluten-free friend who was told he could have literally only one thing on the menu despite again filtering for gluten-free specifically. Food was all WAY overpriced and most of it came out cold. I sent home fries back because they were ice cold and they 100% nuked them and brought them back. Potatoes do NOT microwave well! Our friend paid $21 for a teacup worth of Shepard's pie. Everything was underwhelming taste-wise.

Only good things were the pretzel and the beer.