Mo's Seafood — Restaurant in Baltimore

I don’t complain at restaurants even when we have bad food or service. This by far was the WORST dining experience I have ever had. When we walked in, the host directed us to the back and up the stairs (didn’t guide us or anything.) Once we made it upstairs, they greeted us and told us to wait a few minutes while they clear a table, and then we were yelled at from across the room while the waitress pointed at it and told us to sit once it was ready. That was okay, but the problems started with the table they put us at. It was under a moldy/water damaged ceiling and an AC unit that kept dripping on my sister (later once this was brought up to the manager, he said it was just condensation from the AC and to not worry about it, dismissing my sister completely.) The appetizer plates at all the tables were not even (we had 2 plates for 4 people, but the empty 5 seater next to us had 6 plates??) and we had no silverware or napkins. Service was okay at first but took a turn once we ordered and got bread/butter.

The bread was really hot in the basket, and there were saltine cracker packets under it. The plastic from the saltine crackers melted and the ink soaked into the bread. It got on 2 of the 4 pieces, which was fine because we only got 2 appetizer plates! When we were read the specials it was just a picture menu with no pricing on it. We ordered our food and it came out EXTREMELY fast (good thing? Bad thing? Not sure). My sister and niece got pasta, I got crab legs and my father got the crab cake and fried shrimp. The food came out, but we had no silverware. We stopped a waitress and asked for silverware, to which she went on a HUNT for them because they had none! She took one set off of a random table, and then said she had to wash more and would be back with 2 more sets (apparently I don’t get silverware to help with my crab legs.)

The shrimp scampi my sister got tasted like pure clarified butter, and my niece’s Alfredo looked like soup. My dad’s food was fine, as was mine (but they ripped one of the big claws off a cluster??? So not 2 full clusters). The waitress came to ask how everything was, we asked for a fork for me and when she came back she stood near my sister and got dripped on by the ceiling. My sister commented that she had been dripped on and that’s why she moved her chair closer to the edge of the table. This is where the night went downhill. The waitress then got an attitude and said “well why didn’t you say anything” and disappeared for a while. She came back and asked how the food was and we were over it at that point, and asked for the check. She looked at my sister and niece’s untouched food and asked if they needed boxes, and when they said no she got a look on her face and grabbed their plates and walked away.

While she was gone I went to take a picture of the bread to show my mom. She came up behind with the check, and rudely asked if I had a problem and said I could just say something instead of taking pictures and making faces. After this, my sister came out straight and said honestly this was the worst experience she’s ever had at a restaurant. The lady then said you should’ve said something (it’s hard to say something when you’re constantly disappearing but) and said whatever I’ll go get the manager while giving me and my niece dirty looks.

The manager came out, didn’t really ask us anything other than why didn’t you ask for something else if you didn’t like your food. My sister was done with it at that point and just wanted the check back (the lady took our card and held it while we were waiting for the manager) and said she didn’t care. He was nice enough to take both the pastas off the bill, and we paid and left. While we were getting up to leave, the waitress was talking with other workers and staring at us.

Not a good experience at all, do not come here if you are expecting a nice family meal with good service. Attached is the picture of the bread with melted saltine packets that got us in trouble with...

I really was hoping this place was going to be great, based on all of the reviews. However… It was a great disappointment.

When my family and I arrived, we were greeted by armed security guard with visible bullet proof vests… Ummmm… Ok?

We were told to go upstairs even though downstairs was decent and seemed to be the more “vibrant” area. As soon as we got upstairs that vibrancy changed, and it felt depressing. We were sat next to a dirty table, so we moved because I didn’t want to see random food just laying there while we were trying to have a nice dinner. Our server — and I’m really not trying to be mean, but I’m trying to help you “picture” what we experienced — our server was a human version of ice cream melting on a cone… She was just super disheveled, over-it, had zero enthusiasm, and just sucked the energy out of the room. Honestly she like made us all sad…. and that makes me sad writing this. I really hope it was an “OFF” night, and if not, I hope she finds happiness in her life… Real bummer…

OK THE FOOD! The crab dip is true! Amazing! Big lumps of crab! Sooooo good! We said to ourselves if that’s good then it’s a green light to try the other dishes because the ratings are good. The stale bread served with the dip, to dip into the crab dip was stale and gross….. But the Crab Dip was soooooo good!!!

And so we ordered hush puppies, kids chicken tenders, mixed seafood with gravy and rice, and stuffed salmon. The hush puppies were decent but lukewarm; the mixed seafood and gravy dish was not bad, it was A LOT OF FOOD! Tasty, but it came out fast, and was not visually appealing — but it was good; not great but good. The salmon was good, crab stuffing was good, but the side of veggies was pale, mushy and disgusting. The potatoes it was served over was burnt to a crisp and super oily! NOT EDIBLE!!!

The biggest offense was the chicken tenders and fries for my son w/ a side of broccoli was DISGUSTING! Chicken and fries were COLD! Broccoli once again was dead pale green and gross!!!

This all was happening while there was food debris all over the floor, and staff complaining in the background about their shifts, and a big open room with sporadic patrons. It just felt… ICKY! lol…. I don’t even know how else to say it, for a lack of better terms.

Then the biggest offense was that our server who was over it and felt like a dark cloud loomed over her — charged us for the wrong table, and was apologetic and assured us it was remedied immediately.

In the end, would I ever go back? NO! Would I recommend? NO? Am I confused why everyone else rants and raves about this place? YES! Maybe we went on a bad night…. Maybe not. In the end first impressions are lasting impressions, and this left a VERY BAD IMPRESSION! PS: I was sick the next day… Bloating, dry heaving, and in the bathroom Most of the day……. NO BUENO MY FRIENDS… No...

Everything up until our dishes arrived was fantastic. The bread and crackers that were served were great, warm fresh bread is always awesome. The butter that came with it was exceptional, added a ton of flavor to the bread and the mash potatoes I ordered later.

Service was decent, a little lacking given how slow they were when we got there, but not bad. Positive was it was consistent even when they got busier closer to the end of our meal.

I really wanted to like this place. I ordered the Cod with mash potatoes and my companion ordered the salmon with pasta. My companions salmon and pasta came out fantastic, well cooked and flavorful.

Initially, I was told that the pan fried Cod would be breaded, but it came out as just a fish fillet. This is where the problems started. The pan cooked version that came out was not fully cooked. The meat looked similar to jelly noodles, translucent. I tried a bite and immediately stopped to avoid getting sick. I requested that they take it back since it was not breaded and I was hoping they would cook it till it was fully white and flaky. Round two, it came out excellently fried on the outside, but the inside was still uncooked. Given I had a long trip the next day, I did not tempt a Third try.

I do not eat fish often, but even my minimal experience was able to tell that cooked cod should not look translucent. Even being generous and waiting till I got back home for carry over cooking, it was still not safe to eat.

I would like to hope it was just a bad kitchen day and the normal cook was out. I rarely give bad reviews, but I would be very worried about someone getting dangerously sick if they are not assertive enough to ask that their fillet be cooked longer.

I do hope to come back again and try them again and hopefully it was just an off day. If I do, I will hopefully be able to update my review...