Lexington Market — Local services in Baltimore

Around lunch time on Monday 8/26/24, I went to Lexington Market by myself to get some jumbo-lump crab cake from Faidley's Seafood. My uber driver dropped me off on the Eutaw Street side. I was scared (to my surprise) about going in because outside there were at least 200 skidrow-looking people playing loud music…some yelling, cussin’ & fussin’ at themselves…others were yelling, cussin’ & fussin’ at everybody else! And while I didn't see any criminal activity going on, I'm sure there was. I wanted to get back in the uber but he was already gone so I hightailed inside as fast as I could hoping it was safe inside long enough for me to order another uber to get the heck out of there.

Thank goodness inside Lexington Market was nothing like what I saw outside on Eutaw Street. One of the first things I noticed were two security guards making rounds which calmed me down a little. Then I noticed how very clean, open, welcoming and vibrant the place is. As I walked to the other side to get to Faidley’s, I felt a little better as I saw more security and diversity of individuals/families relaxing, shopping and enjoying their food.

Faidley’s is on the Paca Street side of Lexington Market. Paca Street was clean and safe…nothing like Eutaw Street…nothing out of the ordinary...but because Eutaw Street was just on the other side of the building I didn’t let my guard down while outside out on Paca street for a few minutes. When I ordered an Uber to pick me up, I used Faidley’s address (119 N Paca St) to be picked up on Paca Street.

Even though Lexington Market, in and of itself, is a great place to eat…and even though Faidley’s jumbo-lump crab cake was good, I wouldn’t recommend going there because of the madness I saw on Eutaw Street. Before going to Lexington Market, I read a few reviews and the ones I saw were positive and encouraged people to visit. After my visit, I read A LOT more reviews and, indeed, some reviewers mentioned the problems...

I been here a few times years ago and haven't been back since late 2011. Had I done a review then, it would have gotten 1 star, zero if I could. It was so ghetto, so sketchy and felt very unsafe. I don't know how I made it out of there.

Fast forward 11-12 years later and I am very impressed with the renovation. Its very clean, much more colorful, vibrant, a great staff that keeps up with the sanitation. Lots of different type of vendors and good food, albeit a little bit expensive but some vendors are very reasonable. So for that, I would recommend checking this market out if you happen to be in Baltimore for whatever reason.

The BIG issue I have is the surrounding area directly outside of this market. Once you go through either exit, you'll be in the midst of lots of vagrants, drug addicts, homeless, very shady characters, partaking in lots of "street activity". If you have a family or a hot girlfriend I would be very careful traveling through here. Its not necessary but if you are with a group of people I would travel with them. The good thing is a lot of that activity seems to be prohibited inside the market.

If the outside "street activity" wasn't so prevalent, I would boost this place to a good 4. Unfortunately, because of that I have to give it a 2.

PROS: -Lots of cool vendors, good food -The renovation is very nice, very clean and so much better than the old market.

CONS: -The shady people and activity outside the market is...

I absolutely love going to Lexington Market! They have a bakery as soon as you walk in that has the absolute best baked goods. They sell fresh Burger cookies...if you know you know...if you don't they are shortbread cookies with fudge on top and when I mean Fudge on top I mean a nice heap full of fudge. Now I could be wrong they might be butter cookies but I'm pretty sure they are shortbread. They have cupcakes you can get 3 for 4$ and they are absolutely moist and the icing is creamy. They have cakes by the slice or whole cakes...try the strawberry crunch cake!!! pies by the slice or whole ones a bunch of other types of cookies that are always fresh matter of fact everything is fresh nothing I've ever got has ever had any quality issues. The employees are very friendly. There was a older woman one time that must have been in a bad mood one day because had the food not have been irresistible I would have told her to go F herself and quit ordering. When you order sometimes you might want a variety of items so they will go item by item meaning you might be like can I have 3 sugar cookies they will grab them then ask anything else or something to that degree well it was only the second time I had been there and every time she got my items she had an attitude and I guess I wasn't saying what I wanted fast enough so she said I don't have time for this next time figure out what u want... there was more to it but...