Avenue Kitchen & Bar — Restaurant in Baltimore

Edit: was here twice in the last month. Quality has definitely dropped a bit. Last night we had Brussel sprout side and falafel sliders. The Brussel sprout portion was smaller than previous and were so large they ended up being crispy on outer layers, and way under done inside. It was hard work to cut through and chew them. Rookie mistake. Also they changed up the sauce, not feeling it. That was the first time I had falafel sliders. They were good, but soooooo tiny. Which is fine, but for the price it is meh. Another couple we were with had a burger and their fries seemed as if they were sitting around a long time. Like warm and stale. We had this problem a couple weeks ago, when here with my parents. My fries were meh. Also I had the fish sandwich a few weeks ago omg the bread to filling ratio is terrible. (Had this problem the last time I ordered that sandwich) there was just way too much bread. This is a huge pet peeve of mine in restaurants. This is such a rookie mistake.

I know that restaurants often switch up menus around seasons, but I was a little disappointed by the most recent menu changes. Vegetarian options seem to have been removed or an after thought. My wife loved the spicy version of chicken sandwich, which is gone. The mushroom sandwich is gone, which was easily one of the best sandwiches in baltimore. The addition of the impossible burger is a lazy boring vegetarian choice. Even fraisers is doing that now. The novelty is gone...

Despite all that the deal nights are good deals, and the outside area can't be beat. Still worth coming for deals or for a great outside environment. But a couple meh experiences in a row I think I may not be back for a bit.

This place was pretty solid. I would highly recommend it. In its current incarnation, it is making decent use of outdoor seating. It is a relatively recent opening. The menu is a lot of regular stuff, and some tacos. They have some vegetarian things, but not enough. We tried the tacos, with a somewhat skeptical eye. They were delicious! I had fish tacos liz had the shrimp/chorizo. Definitely the best hampden taco for sure. Everything was fresh and hand made. The drinks were also hand made and delicious. We had margaritas and caipirinhas! Chatted with the owner a bit, he was very nice. Also 13 dollar lobster night on Thursday. An ode to old hampden with places that previously had lobster nights. Oh and great happy hour deals too! Worth...

PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO READ THIS BEFORE YOU GO!!!!!

Where to begin with this place... My lady and I were on a date to watch a comedy show after dinner on a Friday night when we stopped by this place. The time was approximately 6pm when we sat by a VERY nice hostess. She provided us the menus and some waters as well (not the waiter).

Time had passed by and around 6:20pm, a group of 12-14 girls were also sat by another person who seemed to be a much older male waiter (to distinguished himself from the others, he was wearing a STP hat). Time had passed by and I saw this waiter taking drink orders from the large party, going back and forth, refilling their glasses, etc.

By now, the time was around 6:50pm. We had STILL not been seen ever since we were originally sat down by the hostess, so I left my table and walked to hostess stand to discuss what was going on. After a few minutes of back and forth discussion, she stated that the male waiter that I mentioned earlier in this review, was suppose to be our waiter. I chuckled as I mentioned he has not been doing his job OR there is a severe miscommunication going on about the tables. All this is going on while the GENERAL MANAGER (Ali) is pacing back and forth just looking across the dining room, not going around tables, checking to see how they are doing, assisting the FOH (Front of House), etc. So failure on his part. Thus, leading the hostess to take our order too.

After a few minutes when I sat back down, the STP cap wearing male waiter comes and gives us silverware and drops napkins WITHOUT saying a damn word... No introduction, no apology, NOTHING. It's pretty comical and disappointing at this point.

Around 7:15pm, our food arrives, a Turkey Burger and the Rack of Lamb. Both mediocre flavors, they were salty more than anything else.

The only decent thing that was done was when Ali came up to our table, apologized, and provided a small discount. Which by the way, adding 20% gratuity is ABSURD. Try having your waiters actually WORK and not rob your customers. Ali went on to defend his waiter to state, "typically he gets a lot of compliments"... Pretty awkward when the man has no sense of awareness and politeness to work in customer service, let alone the restaurant industry that forces you to interact with people. Overall. 1/5 stars. We will NOT be coming back...

We enjoyed the atmosphere of the restaurant, but that was about it. The food, drinks and service were very underwhelming at 6:30pm on a Saturday when it wasn’t busy at all. Extremely overpriced for bland and flavorless food that didn’t even come out made properly. Server told us from the start that the menu was relatively small, but that it was because they put the time into making everything perfect, which was actually the exact opposite. We got the Bang Bang Shrimp as an appetizer. $20 for 5 pieces of large shrimp which 1 was breaded and fried with the shell on it, and another still had the shrimp legs attached. Their $18 burger I ordered medium well came out dry, well done and very bland. It was supposed to have caramelized onions, but instead it came out with thinly slices raw red onions, 2 huge leaves of lettuce, 2 large tomatoes, and some aioli sauce. I think they thought by adding large “garnishes” to the burger would make it more appetizing/worth more, but a burger from any chain restaurant would’ve been better, honestly. Waiter didn’t come back to check to see how our food was until we were almost finished eating, and there was only ONE other table of 6-8 people in the dining area, so didn’t get to mention my burger being made improperly, until I was almost done. He was very apologetic for not coming over to us sooner and said he would take the burger off the check. I told him that wasn’t necessary and just wanted to let him know so he could relay the cooking issue to the chef, but he still insisted and took it off. My boyfriends turkey burger was also just average, not at all worth what we paid for it. The only thing I enjoyed was the French fries which surprisingly were seasoned well. My $15 “crafted cocktail” strawberry margarita was just a heavy poured basic margarita with some strawberry syrup. They also had a bottle of cleaning spray and a rag just sitting on the ledge 2 booths down from us, not the most sanitary way to keep cleaning products around food. I don’t write too many reviews for places, but there were just a lot of things this place could’ve done better if they cared and wanted to. They quality of food and drinks don’t match up with the prices they charge. Go right down the street to the Food Market and you will get what you pay...