Balao - Fresh Seafood & Cocktail Bar

I chose this place because it was new and wanted to show my future wife a great time for our 2 year anniversary. I made reservations earlier in the day and upon showing up checked in with the hostess. We were asked if we had a reservation and then were told to walk up a back set of steps. We walked up and came out upstairs at their back bar. There were no seats open so we walked in through the door which was the server area. We looked around for a few minutes before finally asking a server what we were supposed to do as the hostess provided no direction. We were told to “just find someone and they will tell us what to do”. After doing so we were told to just sit wherever we could (what was the point of the reservation?) After finding a table we were not greeted for 10 minutes just to be told that we would be helped in a few minutes. Finally we were given water and ordered a bottle of wine. The wine came out fast and we ordered from the Restaurant week menu. Our appetizers were delivered and were delicious. Then the dinner came served by another server. (At this point we had not seen our server since the appetizers were delivered) We finished our scallops which were amazing and then waited another 10 minutes before our server even knew we had already eaten dinner to order dessert. The dessert was really good and I loved the cocoa puff brownie! Overall the food was amazing but our experience was horrible. We sat in an empty room by ourselves in the dark and hardly saw our server the entire night. Should have just waited downstairs for a table to open up at Burwell’s.

Drinks were good but the food menu is very small. The scallop Entree only came with 2 scallops, and the lump crab was a very very small portion for $100 meal for two

Quaint rooftop bar and tables. Food was fresh and delicious. The space is very small so it might be hard to find a place to sit or stand if it gets busy.

The food was delicious and our waiter Aneel was very kind and knowledgeable. I plan on coming back again very soon.

Giving 5 stars for the super chill upstairs patio and tasty Tequila Mule cocktail I had.

Great food and service. Creative seafood menu.

Awesome evening! The staff really made it special!