Guilford Hall Brewery — Restaurant in Baltimore

Some friends and myself were at Guilford Hall Brewery for the Ultimate Drag Brunch for Baltimore Pride. It was one of the worst experiences that I’ve ever had at a restaurant/brewery.

Our server tried his best to get things out to not only our table but other tables and it was glaringly obvious that there was not an effective system set up to run food to tables for such a large event. My group was there 30 minutes before the drag show started and did not receive our appetizers until almost an hour later. Our mimosas that we ordered never came. We were a party of four and it definitely seemed like they were prioritizing larger groups over us, despite being sat after us. The party of four next to us did not receive three of their entrees or their drinks as well. I ordered a burger with bacon and after over an hour of waiting it was cold and only had the patty and bacon on it. When I said something to the MANAGER, he said the burgers were build your own and I should’ve asked to get more on it. This is not noted on their menu and the server did not mention it. However, it does state on the menu that bacon and fried egg would be extra additions. We heard another table near us (angrily speaking about not getting service), a party of 8, never got their drinks and multiple entrees as well.

The only saving grace of this brunch was the entertainers and I felt bad for them because a crowd that was seeking BRUNCH was hungry, irritable, and many were not in the mindset to have a good time by the time they started. All of this was understandable, since everyone paid nearly $40 for entry alone and still had to purchase food and alcohol in addition to cover (for food and drinks that never came). All in all, our table got a plate of $20 chicken wings and a pretzel (FOR A PARTY OF FOUR after 2.5 hours). But the food we never received was “comped”. You can’t call food that was never delivered and meat on a bun “on the house”.

If I were the owner, I would be upset at losing the hundreds of dollars in food and alcohol sales that were lost during such a large event, due to mismanagement. To be clear, I don’t fault any of the servers who were constantly on the move but were victim to a faulty system and management between those that were serving, the kitchen, and the bar staff. We attended a drag brunch run by SadBrunch in DC the weekend prior with a substantially larger crowd and they ran everything efficiently. None of us will...

TLDR: Cool building with decent selection of beers and elevated German bar food. On the pricey side and service needs some polishing.

Vibe: 5/5. Located on the edge of Remington, Guilford Hall is a literal diamond in the rough. When you first arrive, you are greeted by the towering wooden gate entry that opens up to the brewery's courtyard. The courtyard has ample outside seating if you want to enjoy your pints outdoors. Inside, you can tell the building has undergone an extensive renovation. Gorgeous hardwood floors, exposed brick and a dozen large biergarten style communal tables. They also have a large wooden bar that you can belly up to if you like.

Service: 3/5. The staff at Guilford were very nice, however we felt the service piece was a bit lacking on our visit. My party of 5 arrived on a Sunday afternoon to a mostly empty brewery. We were seated immediately by the hostess and our server came over almost instantly to hand out menus and introduce, great start. However, after we gave our drink and food orders, we were not to see our server again for another 30 minutes. Guilford had around a half dozen staff members "working", but most were just hanging out around the bar. Eventually, we walked over to the bar to ask a employee to check in on our food, and fortunately it was ready. From this point forward, the service was better, but I feel one shouldn't have to remind the staff to tend to the customers, especially when it's not busy.

Food/Drinks: 3/5. Guilford offers diners with a large array of elevated German bar food as well as a dozen or so in house beers. While the menu has alot of nice options for even the pickiest of eaters, the execution was only so-so. On my visit, my group ordered the burger, chicken paprikash, soft pretzel with beer cheese and pork schnitzel. Portion sizes were ok, though I expected slightly larger plates for the pork schnitzel and paprikash considering the $25+ price tags. The pretzel was excellent and the burger was also decent, with $15-20 price tags. On the beer front, we had their hefeweizen, berliner weisse, Baltimore pils and Guildford lager, with all of them being decent. At $7 a pint and 13 for a liter, this is pretty standard brewery pricing. Overall, everything we consumed at Guilford was satisfying, but unfortunately it is a forgettable experience, especially compared against the dozen or so other breweries in Baltimore doing...

Went for brunch and was incredibly disappointed by the food. Other than the food, it was alright! Beer was decent, service was fine, space is quite nice. One star for the food, 3 stars for everything else.

Food Notes:

The Hangover - this is essentially poutine with braised short rib and a runny fried egg on top. Sounds amazing but it was not. Cheese curd was almost non existent, gravy was insipid and, inexplicably, there was pico de Gallo on top which was not listed in the menu description. Fries were just okay. Short rib and egg were good but I actually don't know that it was short rib -- it could have been any tougher braised cut. It was certainly not bone in short rib which is what I expected.

Grilled Caeser Salad - This was like a side caeser salad at TGI Fridays. There was nothing grilled about it, they sprinkled something comparable to Kraft Parmesan cheese on top and, despite the menu noting that it had a classic caeser dressing, they seemed to have also used Kraft creamy Caeser dressing or somesuch. It was totally ridiculous.

House Salad with the addition of grilled chicken - the chicken was just a piece of leather shaped like a chicken breast and the salad was so lightly tossed with a vinaigrette it was barely noticable. The person who ordered it had to get a ton more vinaigrette to try to make it palatable which was not successful. As with the caeser, it was also kind of small.

Fish and Chips - This was fried fish and french fries but it certainly wasn't fish and chips. Despite the menu saying it was "bier" battered, it actually had some panko like coating. Also, they use flounder rather than cod which is confusing. As with the Hangover, it also had pico de Gallo or something similar on top which is also confusing. The highlight here was the condiments. The tartare sauce was quite good -- strong of tarragon and other herbs -- and, surprisingly, the cherry lavender ketchup was as well. On first blush it sounded terrible but the cherry wasn't noticable and the lavender was not so overwhelming. You probably have to like lavender to enjoy it though.

The beers here were decent (specifically the Vienna Lager and the English pale ale) so I'd probably come back to drink beer but I really can't recommend for...