Love Pomelo — Restaurant in Baltimore

I there twice last week. The first time the service was impeccable and the food was enjoyable- highlights the unique coffee drink, the apertivo ribs and the burrata. The pasta dishes were OK. The salad highly recommended by one of the servers was OK- but overpriced.

Our next reservation was for six on Saturday night and my excitement towards having a great local go to restaurant was tempered during this visit.

We had an 830 reservation and assumed we would be seated upstairs but we were not - we were told we could wait to go upstairs, but that the patrons were finishing their dessert- or we could be seated downstairs by the bar. since it was already 835 and the upstairs crew did not seem to be in a rush, we chose to take the downstairs table ( as a host trying to show off a new restaurant this was disappointing, but we continued on )

btw, good thing we didn’t wait for the upstairs table because we noticed that they took almost an hour to finish up their desserts. this this taught me that the restaurant is still not handling table turnover properly- although, when you make a reservation, it says you will only have a table for an hour and a half

anyway, we were happy to be seated at a table for six near the bar which was fine untiil the middle of our meal when the rowdy crowd at the bar was so loud we could barely hear ourselves talk. It felt like a party bar and not a nice restaurant.

During this visit. the service was not as good and was intermittent, with the server, seemingly forgetting about us for a while

in terms of food across the six of us who had champagne, wine, appetizers, dinners, and dessert , we tried almost everything on the menu (which is quite small and they were out of three items). The highlights were the burrata and the carpacio.. The other entrée dishes shared by six guests were all OK,, but not great

I have not decided whether I will go back there, but if I do, it will not be with a large group for a while as that visit was just not great. I think I’ll be taking my guests to another restaurant but looking forward to trying love Pimelo again. During Aperitivo hour where their strength seem to shine (but less so on busy night with a...

**lovely staff and atmosphere but tiny portions

I was SUPER excited to try this place, as I absolutely adore Cafe Dear León (which is owned by the same people). My friend raved about the Wednesday pasta deal they tried a few months ago (specifically the truffle pasta), so I wanted to try that. I made a reservation for Wednesday (there were many openings which was nice) on the second floor.

When my boyfriend and I came in, we were greeted warmly and led upstairs. The waiters are very attentive and nice! Anytime my water even approached being halfway full, someone would be there to fill it. Since it was dinnertime, the lighting was dim and romantic. The decor is simple but elevated, and the seats are comfortable.

Now onto the bad...I was very disappointed in the pasta. The Wednesday deal seems amazing as it's only $20, but the portion was unbelievably small. I'd understand if it was designed to be an appetizer or a part of multiple courses, but this was not mentioned while we were ordering. The menu changed from when my friend went, so the truffle pasta was not available. I decided to try a crab and tomato pasta (I forget the exact name). They were generous on the crab (yay!), but I got such a small amount of pasta noodles that I felt the ratio was off. Taste can be subjective, but I think the tomato pairing didn't go well with the crab. My boyfriend got a classic carbonara, which he said was overly salty (I tasted it and I agree). And he's Italian, so he's eaten many plates of carbonara in his life!

The pastas did taste freshly-made and so did the other ingredients. I'm not doubtful of the quality, just the portion size. We both left hungry.

Overall, I think this was an ok experience. Major pros are the friendly and attentive staff, and the warm, welcoming decor. I would consider coming back and trying their regular menu, since that could be a different story compared to the Wednesday pasta menu. I think that the deal is meant to attract customers in hopes that they will order more, which is fine! But then, please make it clear to the customers that the portions are small and that you recommend ordering...

I expected this to be a "nice" restaurant, but Love Pomelo exceeded my expectations across the board.

The restaurant's decor was tasteful and unobtrusive, and despite being a relatively small space I didn't feel crowded. The acoustics were good, which is something a lot of restaurants need to consider. I enjoyed their music selection, which was at just the right volume for me.

The service was exceptional, and is much closer to fine dining than I expected. Our server was attentive without being intrusive. Our silverware was changed for each course and the table was swept for crumbs. If one of us got up, we returned to find our napkin folded and replaced. Perhaps it's silly, but little touches like this really enhanced my enjoyment of the meal. It's also noteworthy that they did all this on Wednesday, when they serve $20 pasta and half price wine, so they don't lower their standards of service when they run a special. Our servers were very familiar with their wine and spirits list and gave good advice on beverage selections.

The food was excellent! We had just returned from northern Italy shortly before eating here, and the pasta we had was as good as anything we ate in Milan or Florence. Their tartare was great and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys beef. Their tiramisu was a fine finish to the meal, along with sparkling wine and some amari.

Love Pomelo was a very pleasant surprise. We were expecting a nice meal in a nice restaurant but we got five star service and food at a very...