Darren W.
Yelp
Let me preface this review by saying that I have never been enthusiastic about The Baltimore House. I can recall seeing their commercials on local TV for years and wanting very much to try them, if for no other reason than that they were a seafood restaurant that wasn't Red Lobster. Although, after about 5 mediocre-to-bad visits over the course of as many years prior to my Yelp tenure, I finally gave up on them. The reviews I read on Yelp in the years since my last experience with Baltimore House only affirmed my boycott.
That was until Kay had a hankering for mussels, again. Why not give BH another chance?
And BH does them pretty well if our meal was any proof. The mussels were as tender, juicy, and buttery as they should be with some chopped garlic added to pump up the flavor quotient.
I couldn't decide on what to order for myself, so I went with their Seafood Norfolk, which features everything I pine for when I errr...sea-dine; lobster, scallops, crabmeat, and shrimp were all unimaginatively thrown together and sauteed in a butter sauce.
Was it good? Well, yeah. To be truthful, I was starving, and the aforementioned ingredients are difficult to botch. However, combine that with a lifeless baked potato, burnt croutons, and a decent but obviously pre-fabricated Oreo mousse dessert, and I cannot give BH anything more or less than a 3.
Kay ordered the extravagant Admiral's Seafood Platter, a smorgasbord that includes a lobster tail, scallops, shrimp, oyster shells stuffed with their Crabmeat Imperial, and filet mignon, all prepared yet again with BH's magic component, butter. She did let me taste the filet mignon, and through that morsel, I learned in splendid fashion that medium-rare is always the way to go when ordering steak. This was ideally cooked beef.
Our server did a fine job and was a nice kid, so I have no gripes on that end.
The interiors of The Baltimore House are eccentric and vast. You never know which room you'll be seated in. There's the room with the kitschy pirate statues, a few others I cannot recall, and then the faux nightclub.
Guess where they put us.
My back was turned for the duration of our meal, but based on the strident, pounding 80's dance music, multicolored lights, and odd barks and hoots that assailed my senses, I thought a wild party was afoot somewhere in the house.
When I turned around, I only saw a handful of middle-aged suburbanites at the bar.
Before we left, our waiter revealed that there were some "serious" drink specials that night, particularly on Jager bombs.
Call the babysitter. Ask her to stay a little later. Woo. Hoo.
The Baltimore House is an oddity that fails to be extraordinarily good but is in no way egregiously bad. If they were a little less pricey, I'd recommend them as a go-to for those times when one is desperate for seafood, but being that they're in the "Spendy" range, I'd advise area diners to stay away like most of the other reviewers on Yelp have.
P.S. BH also houses a restaurant-within-a-restaurant called Kazoku that specializes in Japanese fare, including teppanyaki and sushi, but they were closed when we were there Friday evening.
P.P.S. I should have taken a picture of the opulently wacky enclosed waterfall display outside. Clark Griswald would be impressed.