G & M Restaurant — Restaurant in Arbutus

This place is known for their crab cakes. That's where the fanfare begins and also ends... the ambiance was that if an old steak and ale restaurant/pub kinda. It wasn't very crowded so we were seated right away, the drinks were decent and the bathroom was clean. On a high recommendation we tried this place for a date night in July of '23. The crab cakes are HUGE as described, have lots of lump crabmeat as expected and were I guess. We ordered the double as our appetizer. It comes with two sides. I would definitely recommend that you ask for a longer broil or the inside is still gonna be wet and a lil soggy. We ordered drinks, one was supposed to be a Henny margarita & she returned with only a shot. After some time passes w/o acknowledgement from our server the unbusy barkeep was approached for correction, we were dismissed and told to wait for our server who has already gotten the request wrong. That was the 1st and major turn off.. Upon ordering, I asked about 3different entree's to which I was met with consistent push back of "we don't do this", "they won't cook it like that", "sauce can't be put on the side" from our waitress.. honestly at that point I didn't want anything from the establishment & was ready to go. I was reluctantly talked into a chicken breast topped with lump crab and an imperial sauce. It was mayo based, which I'm not a fan of & asked for it on the side and she (the waitress) basically refused saying it would separate like she didn't understand that I didn't want it at all. She didn't try to provide or offer suitable alternatives nor any suggestions of another dish. When it was put on the table it looked unappetizing, with an orange crispy color. I took a nibble of sauce & it was disgusting to me. When I wanted to send it back I was told by the waitress (Nicole), she had to go ask the manager 1st before removing the plate... So depending on what the manager says, only then can you remove a plate from a table?? I've never heard of such a thing in all the restaurants I've been too. Was I going to be expected to pay for food I didn't touch, delivered by a waitress who was uncooperative during ordering and overall didn't look appealing, regardless of whatever manager approval she claimed to have needed?? I think not! Moving on, my S.O. ordered a steak to which we were 1st told "they only cook it one way" then was still asked how he wanted it. He simply requested Med Well. When that steak was cut into, it was still bleeding. Not one clear juice dropped from that steak. There was no rim of brown and then pink. It was all red. That was disgusting to say the least and if anything that level of 'rareness' of meat is a particular taste, not to be forced on others especially if you don't know their dietary preferences/restrictions. There are other ways to enjoy a steak before you get to well done or worse.. I was appalled to wrap up the summation of the experience. There was no eagerness to help us enjoy our service. It was definitely giving "you can get what we got and that it" energy. When I'm paying my good money (still over $120 with one entree removed & would have gladly spent more if we were handled accordingly) I would think that their service would have been better especially with all the fanfare that supposed to be associated with this place. We still tipped even though I didn't think she earned it. It showed in her face that she was shocked she got a tip but still managed to seem annoyed even as we walked outta the door. I was beyond over it. In conclusion, I might order some crab cakes to go but nothing else nor would I set down in dine in this establishment again...

I only took a picture of the crab cakes. The one thing I enjoyed.

4/'24 Edit: this review is almost a year old and never addressed my management. Take that...

We had fantastic service. Michelle (might not be spelling this right) - was an awesome waitress. She always refilled water. She had a great knowledge of the menu. She brought sauces without us having to ask for ketchup, tarter, etc.

This restaurant has free WiFi. Plenty of parking outside. There is a bar area in the restaurant with TVs, bar stools, etc. There are 3 entrances - going into the bar, going in the front door, or walking up the stairs. We ended up walking in the bar because we had never been here before so we had to walk all the way around the bar/tables to get to the dining hostess. He was friendly.

The restaurant has an upscale appearance but casual dress. It is relaxing and quiet enough that you can hear your company you came with. There are some cool nautical decor with ship pictures, ships, bottles (like lost at sea) on the walls and throughout the restaurant.

The food -

The free bread and whipped butter - average. The cream of crab soup was served with saltines - creamy, tasty, good soup that my boyfriend would order again. The crab cakes were good and very crabby. He would get them again. The pork chops - juicy and tender, not spicy. I would order them again. It was something different for me since I do not order Mediterranean food, ever. They were cooked perfectly. We got multiple sides: garlic-herb mashed potatoes (good), garlic-parmesan potato wedges (pretty great - just needed a bit more of the garlic-parmesan to make the whole wedge have some of that flavor), brussels sprouts (special vegetable of the day - yummy) and lastly the french fries (tasty, nothing special, not really crispy).

Desserts - They have oodles of desserts to order from (cheesecakes, cakes, pies, ice creams, over 20 different specialty pastries) and they are homemade!!!!!!!!! We got the peanut butter round pasty and the mint chocolate chip ice cream since they were out of the cookie dough ice cream. The round was pretty good but the chocolate was a little bitter to me so my boyfriend ate it instead of me. It actually had crispy rice krispies on the outside of it which was a nice touch and something different. The ice cream was pretty awesome - rich flavor and creamy - they serve it in a cup dish that is stainless steel and cold so your ice cream will stay cold longer - awesome idea.

Everything we got here was good. We could order all of this food again. We could come back again if in the area in the future. Definitely above average out of all the places we have tried. 4...

We visited Maryland for the first time and like many first time visitors, We wanted to find the best Crab dishes. Our hotel staff recommended G&M as being the best in the area. I hope that it is not.

We ordered 2 items: The Crab Dip appetizer and The Chesapeake Club Sandwich.

After trying two spoonfuls of Crab Dip, I pulled 2 large pieces of plastic out of my mouth. Our waitress Monica was not around, so another waitress that was walking by asked what was wrong. I showed her the large pieces of plastic. She repeatedly apologized, asked to take the Dip and the saucer with plastic back to the kitchen. Monica returned and apologized, stated that the plastic was from the cream cheese package and that it was accidentally baked into the dip. (Heated Plastic can be toxic). She offered to make me a new dip FREE of charge. I accepted.

While waiting for the Dip, my Sandwich arrived to the table. While the Sandwich was huge, it was also flavorless. I asked for Aioli to bring it to life. She brought it out with Bang Bang Sauce as well. I was grateful. She later brought out the new dip and again apologized and said it would be FREE of charge. Being full off from the sandwich, I asked her to bring a box for the dip and the check.

Our uber arrived at the same time the check did, and I quickly signed, left a 20% Tip, and proceeded to leave the building. While walking out, I looked at the check and realized, I was in fact charged for the Dip. I saw Monica by the door and showed her the bill and reminded her that she said the Dip would be Free. She said “I never said that and I would never say that.” I told my mother what just transpired, she also clearly heard Monica tell us that The Dip would be Free. Monica reiterated that she never said that. We asked for a Manager and asked if she could get them quickly because our Uber was waiting. She disappeared for a while, so my mother walked to the back of the restaurant to find them. My mother explained the situation to the Manager, who also backed Monica saying, they don’t comp items even if there was Pieces of Plastic baked in them. We didn’t have time to continue this debate due to the Uber waiting.

I am extremely disappointed at how this was handled. Contaminated Food, Bland Food, Lies, and Lack of Accountability. I would never eat her again, have informed the hotel not to recommend guest to this restaurant, and will tell everyone that I know in the area about...