Ellicott City Restaurant Guide

This is my favorite restaurant. Great food and service.

Valentine's Day. The place was packed and there was a good ambience to the place. But that's how it was before we were seated. My girlfriend and I are medical students... meaning younger than the average middle-aged patrons. We wait 30 minutes after our reservation, no big deal, yet we were led down to the "private room" with two tables. Our table was tiny...the plates sat 1 inch from each other! In looking at our other seated companions, another younger-looking couple about 28ish or so (but still younger than everyone “upstairs”), sat relegated with us to the bottom wine cellar. Above us, the floorboards crackled loudly and it just felt like a big Valentine’s Day mistake. We waited 20 minutes for a server. The couple next to us was worse off having already waited 40 minutes. They eventually opened the cellar door, stopped the nearest worker in the restaurant and asked if we had been forgotten.
After I couldn’t take it anymore, we got up and left. On the way out I spoke briefly to the maitre d’ about the table being too small and if we could change tables. After a pause, never looking me in the eye, he then proceeded to add us to the bottom of the to-be-seated list behind nearly a dozen other parties! One hour had passed since our 6:45pm dinner reservation. We ate somewhere else that night.
We were dressed nicely, we were courteous, but something was obviously wrong. I have had pleasant and enjoyable experiences at Café de Paris in Columbia, but truthfully, I was looking forward to sampling their Baltimore’s Best reputation. This was my experience, and I’m writing to you on February the 14th. I will never come back nor will I recommend this restaurant to anyone else. And if you are wondering about who would write such a negative comment and whether or not I am credible or not, I have lived in Columbia and Ellicott City all of my life, sampled nearly every reputable restaurant in the area, but this has been the only time I have ever left a restaurant after being seated. Just make sure the maitre d’ looks you in the eye when he’s talking to you. If not, you may have a problem.