Cypriana - Baltimore — Restaurant in Baltimore

TLDR: Decent Mediterranean eats in a cozy atmosphere. For Valentines Day a 25% auto gratuity, only wine by the bottle in the dining room and a rushed service rubbed me the wrong way.

Vibe: 4/5. Located in Roland Park across from Homewood Field, Cypriana has a lovely location. One major perk is that they have their own private parking lot across the street, which is free for restaurant patrons. Inside, Cypriana gives off wine cellar vibes with its dimly lit interior and long stretching dining room. There is a nice sized bar as soon as you walk in that is perfect for after work drinks. The main dining room consists mostly of 2 and 4 top tables that can be pushed together for larger groups.

Service: 2/5. Unfortunately Cypriana had several misses during our dinner, none to the fault of our server, but to the restaurant itself. We had a dinner reservation for 4 on Valentines Day, so understandably this is a special night for restaurants. Leading up to Valentines Day, Cypriana was advertising on social media some "very special things planned" for the big day, so we were extremely excited to see what they had in store. When we sat down at our table, we come to find out that the special for Valentines Day was a 25% automatic gratuity. That was the big surprise! Typically we tip 20%+ regardless, but having this forced upon us due to Valentines Day was irritating. Once our server arrived at our table and began going over the menu, she brought to our attention that just for Vday, Cypriana was only serving wine by the bottle and they were not serving their entire flatbread menu or their signature cocktail The Mati. So not only were we forced into paying more, but we were stuck with abbreviated food and drink offerings. Talk about pay more, get less. Even with all the immediate letdowns before ordering, we decided to trudge on through dinner. Food and drinks came out wickedly fast, sometimes too fast as our table became overloaded with full plates of food. The menu leans heavily towards appetizers and small plates so meal pacing is understandably difficult from a service standpoint. However, there were instances where we felt rushed by service to finish. Several waiters would come by trying to bus the same dish we were still working on which got old after the 2nd to 3rd time. One final thing to note, we had made our way through our dinner and ordered dessert, a lovely baklava. With forks at the ready, we were in the process of scooping up our first bite when one of the staff that we had zero interaction with all night swooped by our table to scold us for using a fork to eat. "You are only supposed to eat Baklava with your hands!" Jokingly we obliged, but honestly I'm paying for this meal, I don't need someone telling me how to eat it.

Food: 3/5. As mentioned above, we decided to order a half dozen small plates and appetizers and overall everything was decent. The stars of the show were anything pita dipping related ie. the salad sampler, sesame roasted feta, hummus of constantinople, and the sheftalies. They make all their pita in house and it comes out pillowy soft, pairing well with any dip. The sheftalies were little pita pockets filled to the brim with hand rolled pork and a tomato cucumber relish that had a lovely balance of savory and tart flavors. Some other things we ordered that were forgettable were the falafel, macaronia tou fournou, moussaka of Cyprus and the cheese puffs. All these dishes were perfectly fine, but just missed the mark whether being slightly underseasoned or dry in texture.

Overall, we spent nearly $350 for a table of 4, after the 25% auto gratuity. Maybe without all of the Valentines Day stipulations we would of had a better meal, but it will be a long time before I give Cypriana...

Call today for your reservation for the most amazing gastric experience in Baltimore. This was my second time visiting Cypriana. AND I WAS NOT DISAPPOINTED.

The first time was during Covid and they had sat the dining room up in a little park. That was a magical night. The food and atmosphere were so amazing that night we thought it had to be a one off.

On a whim I decided to return 4 years later. I was able to get a reservation when they opened at 5pm. Free, private off street parking. By 5:30 the restaurant was filling.

We ordered the salad platter, falafel, stuffed grape leaves and fried feta. I cannot begin to even explain to you the explosion of flavors that I experienced. The salad platter had 7 different salad to eat with homemade pita bread. A great way to sample a lot of flavor profiles and different Greek foods in one large dish.

My husband and I agreed that there is no explainable reason that food should taste this good unless it is made not only by an enormously talented person, but with a chef’s kiss of love. Please don’t even get me started on the kindness, attentiveness and knowledge of our server.

We placed some restraint on our desire to eat every bite of the food we ordered so we could save some room for what we were sure would be an amazing selection of desserts. I was NOT disappointed. I don’t remember the name of the dessert, but it was made with fried angel hair pasta, honey, butter, pistachio nut dust and a cream. I have never been so happy I didn’t finish my dinner so I had room for dessert. Not to sweet. Crunchy. And just the right amount of decadence. And a very nice size portion to share.

One last thing. The coffee. We elected to share a French Press of coffee. Now I have had coffee in some fancy schmancy restaurants, but I have never had my coffee mug heated up. I truly hope this is an attention to detail. Because if it is….we were blown away. If not, I feel a little like a country bumpkin thinking this was purposeful. My husband and I both thought maybe the cups just came out of the dishwasher, but we were the first people to order coffee. So that didn’t make sense. If this was an accident it was a moment of amazement for us. Extra nice touch with the French Press. The cream for the coffee was whipped heavy cream. The coffee was delicate and mellow. When paired with dessert it was the perfect ending.

As always when the plates are cleared the check comes. I had not paid attention to the prices when we ordered. We did not drink alcohol. Two iced teas and a French Press coffee for 2. I figured we had easily spent $150-$175. My jaw dropped to the floor when the bill was $109 with tax.

If you want to find a local, upscale restaurant that serves food that is made with love and unbelievable quality and taste like what winning the lottery must feel like….call today for your reservation. My only 2 regrets are not getting the hummus again or ordering the Moussaka.

It is a comfortable restaurant with staff that make you feel like you are eating food a Greek grandma might have made for you.

Thank you to the Cypriana team for making another magical meal for my husband and I. We won’t wait 4...

My wife and I went here last evening with another couple who had been here before. The owner came to our table to greet us. He knew that this was our first visit and that my wife's cousin and her husband had been there before.

This is a Greek restaurant, but, as it's name implies, it features food from the Greek side of the island of Cyprus.

We had two appetizers for the table. The hummus with a soft pita that had air between its two layers was delicious as was the Keotedes, meatballs on a skewer.

My wife's cousin and her husband shared a whole fish that they fileted themselves. They both enjoyed it. My wife and I shared a grilled salmon which tasted very good. The portion size was generous for one person but sparse for two. The price was scaled for one person so that was reasonable.

We had excellent service. The server was friendly, knowledgeable and efficient. He came to the table often enough to serve our needs but not so often to be obtrusive.

This place has excellent quality food at reasonable prices. Parking is across the street. That's fine in nice weather but inconvenient in the rain.

I highly recommend this place when the weather is good.

We came back to Cypriana for dinner. I had the salmon again. This time I didn't share it with my wife. She had her own entrée. I noticed on the menu that they say that they serve the best grilled salmon around. It's pretty courageous for a restaurant to print something like that right on the menu. I order salmon often when I eat out so I do have a basis for comparison. In my opinion, this place might actually be correct about having the best salmon.

I also had the tomato bisque, also delicious.

The prices are reasonable, and the service is excellent. I...