Bertha's — Restaurant in Baltimore

Just left Bertha’s! I’ve been waiting almost three years to come and try their mussels. Let me just say I wish I had waited longer. First, our server told us that they had sweet and unsweet tea. I ordered a sweet tea with lemon. It came and did not taste the slightest bit sweet. Another server told me that they do not have sweet tea. Okay…

Next, we ordered the anchovy and garlic butter mussels. When the mussels came, they had a marinara sauce on them and what was obviously basil. When we inquired about the mussels (another server, since ours was not very attentive) he told us he’d take them back and apologized. He brought them right back to us, explaining that the anchovy and garlic butter mussels are new on the menu and come with a marinara sauce too. Okay, we thought. Tried them again and there was no hint whatsoever of anchovy. Mussels marinara is my least favorite way to enjoy mussels so it was slightly disappointing that marinara topped a garlic butter option, but I was willing to give it a try. However, again, no flavor of anchovy whatsoever. Finally I asked that they just take them back. So they did.

The shrimp po boy came (my boyfriend ordered it) and it was “fine”. My chicken crab dip quesadilla was really awful. The chicken was hard and dry, tough chunks. The crab dip had a decent flavor but was super light on the tortilla so it didn’t really add to the ton of dry chicken. The pico de gallo was the best part of my $18 quesadilla.

When our actual server finally returned, he gaslighted me about the mussels again saying that “oh they have marinara sauce on them also.” after I explained that there was no anchovy garlic flavor to them. Also, when I inquired about the tea, “So, do you have sweet tea? Or unsweetened and we have to add sweetener?”, he replied no, that we had to add sweetener. I explained that that is why I asked before ordering if they make sweet tea, because the sugar tends to not dissolve after the fact. When the bill came, he told us that he had taken the sweet tea off the bill ($2.50 I believe) and took 10% off the bill because “you didn’t like the mussels.” NO, YOU did NOT give us the mussels we ordered. Also the other server had said they’d be taken off the bill ($16). The bill included a nice 20% tip already written in. I understand the server is not responsible for old, dry chicken-but he certainly lied to my face twice about the tea and the mussels. So I would not have left a $10 tip for him given the option. I normally will give places a second chance but I will not in this case. Too many things went wrong that could have been avoided or made right. I’m big on customer service and I like to tip well when it’s right. Bertha’s didn’t get much right about this visit. The one star is for the friendly server who told me the truth about the tea and tried his best to make things better with the mussels being the wrong order (he apologized)- our server did not. $62 wasted. The best thing was the...

My family and I went to this place to get some food and drinks during the Fells Point Fun Festival and I don't see what the hype is about this place. The outside eating area is not wide enough so that when you sit on the open end of the area someone could fall and hurt themself because the ledge the platform is not even with the curb and there is not enough room to move the chair out to get up out of the chair. The price of the food is not worth it, my older brother had the crab cake that looked small and dry and the french fries serving was sooo small, my younger brother had the crab soup and it all vegetable and hardly no crab meat, my order was simple a cheeseburger with ketchup and mustard that came with a very small serving of french fries also and when I was served the cheeseburger it had lettuce and tomato not ketchup and mustard. for $14.00 I could of went to a local sub shop and got a cheeseburger sub with french fries and I would have gotten a huge order of french fries with that order. when it came time to leave I went into the bar to use the bathroom. I know that most of buildings in Fells Point are long and narrow but the doors to the bathroom are smaller than the regular size doors to a bathroom and how would a very big person suppose to use the bathroom if they couldn't get through the door? so I would say you could leave here bruised, broken,...

What have they done with the real Bertha's??? I have been eating here since they opened in the 70's even though I moved away from Baltimore I kept coming back. Even during the worst of the pandemic it was better than this! First you can't get a hard copy menu. I'm all for saving paper but not everyone can scan a code. There should be a few paper menus to pass along. 2nd I ordered a mojito and was served a vodka on the rocks. When I told the waitress that this wasn't a mojito in any world I know I received a blank look. I said that if they don't have mojitos just say so. When my mussels arrived they were well cooked and plump but the wine broth was tasteless. Usually they are served with lemon which was missing. I asked for lemons, salt and a side of mayonnaise. Only mayonnaise arrived. My dinner partner asked for bread which arrived with no butter so we added that to the list. We eventually received that after having to send someone to find our waitress but had to ask again for salt and lemon which I received at the end of the meal and most mussels were gone. This was not even a poor substitute for the Bertha's I remember. I know that restaurants continue to experience difficulties but they need to make sure quality is there or loyal longtime customers like me will go elsewhere! We're all aging so for Pete's sake please give us a...