Noir Restaurant & Lounge — Restaurant in Baltimore

The space is nice, and the decor is esthetically pleasing as well. I went there for a Mother’s Day brunch that was reserved in advance. We arrive at the reserved time, 1 pm and were told it would be another 5 minutes because the “private” area was being set up. 1:15pm. I go ask again and I was told it would be another 10 minutes because the area is still being set up. The establishment was too crowded to stand inside which troubled me a bit to begin with. Myself, Including party of 4 remained outside in the cold as it was a bit chilly at the time. I was assured by the host at the door that she would come and get me when it was all set up. But by 1:30 pm I still didn’t see her and I thought surely she has forgotten us. So I go back inside and she still tells me it isn’t ready yet and that the area was still being set up. At this point we are getting anxious although we realize that Mothers Day is one of the busiest restaurant days of the year. But when you have a reservation for 1 pm and it’s now 1:45 pm, your patients runs a little thin. Finally she comes to get us and I look at my phone to check the time and it’s 1:50 pm. She sits us at a table inside and I say to her, I thought you said we were waiting for the “private area” and she says well this is what we have now I was trying to help you out so you wouldn’t have to remain waiting. I’m like ok, that was a little rude but hey thanks for your help. So my party and I are just looking around extremely confused and uncomfortable and then the host comes back and says, “you want the private area right?” And I’m saying I just want whatever it was that was advertised on the page and I booked and confirmed. So she escorts us upstairs into a private area and it was 4 tables in total and 3 of them were filled with other guest. It was enough space between our tables so that wasn’t an issue. We just thought well at least now we are seated and can order. A waitress comes with laminated menus and she takes the same 4 from guest to guest and then brings them right to us. Never sanitized. Red flag number 2. At this point it’s 2:05 pm. I wipe the menus myself with a sanitizer wipe from my bag. She takes our orders, and we order drinks. At 2:25 pm no drinks, not even a glass of water come out, which I thought was odd. Water is usually the first thing to be brought out. But maybe that has changed since covid? I’m not sure. Even the drinks we ordered hadn’t arrived. Around 2:40 pm the waitress comes with 4 jugs of orange juice that she sat at each table but this time, her mask was down under her chin. Red flag number 3. She then came back with 2 out of 4 drinks for our table of which we didn’t touch. 2:56 pm, a gentleman comes out carrying a tray with 2 plates on it and he gives that to the table next to ours. He wears no mask at all. The last and final flag, and at this point I’m done. He brings 2 plates to a table with 5 people. So they all get their food at separate times. Of which that table said their food was cold. I looked at my phone to check the time, it’s now 3:03 pm and I have no food. I’ve been here since 1pm and this is unacceptable. And this is when we make our exit.

Many issues occurred that didn’t have to, even though it was an already busy day being that it was Mother’s Day. But these were reservations. I would have felt a bit better about the experience if I had been told the honest truth from the beginning so I could have made a decision to leave right away, not two hours later. I would have also felt better if I had seen an owner or management in our “private area” to apologize for the delay. To reassure us. To offer us a complimentary piece of cake or something. But we got nothing! If I had gotten that, I would have come back again. But I didn’t get that or any type of explanation or apology. I looked at my daughters and said now where will we find to eat on Mother’s Day without reservations. God was on our side. We left and went somewhere else that seated in less than 5 minutes. We had our drinks in 5 mins. And our food in 25 minutes. And...

For my wife's birthday we hit the road for a small weekend getaway in Baltimore. The online pictures of the food looked amazingly delicious, it was a black owned establishment and we wanted to support the cause and "SMASH" some great food so Noir was where we decided to seek a dinner reservation that Friday evening. We couldn't miss the white Christmas lights above the entry to the curb that decorated the front of the restaurant. When we entered, immediately to the left there was a young lady at the podium. We waited a few minutes while she was on the phone. She was too consumed with the call to acknowledge us or to simply gesture for us to hold on. Finally a gentleman behind the bar area with a full set of women's fingernails noticed what was happening came over to greet and seat us. He ended up being our waiter/waitress. He was very polite and offered friendly service.

We ordered drinks. I had a Pepsi and my wife had a cocktail. The Pepsi was sweet and weak. Seemed to be a common theme at the places we ate at in Baltimore. However my wife's cocktail was strong. They did not skimp on the alcohol. My wife was what I call "oily" or what others would call buzzed by the time we left from that single drink.

My wife ordered the ribeye steak, rice, and grilled broccoli. I ordered the lamb chops, rice, and the 4 cheese Mac n Cheese. We also ordered the steak egg rolls for a starter. The steak egg rolls arrived dark brown and over cooked. They were about average. The meat and cheese filling were not evenly filled. I didn't taste the cheese in my first portion. My wife described the cheese as tasting like block cheese or govt cheese. On my second portion I could taste the cheese. The cheese in this one was heavily concentrated at one end of the egg roll. It wasn't evenly distributed inside of the egg roll. This I'm sure is what my wife was trying to describe. The egg rolls arrived with a sweet tai sauce. I didn't think it coupled well with the egg rolls so I thought the egg rolls tasted better without it but my wife felt the sauce helped the egg rolls out a little bit.

My wife's steak was a nice portion but was tough and not seasoned too well. Her rice was undercooked and the grilled broccoli had no flavor. I was disappointed in my lamb chops. They looked nothing like the pictures on their Google page. They were "tiny-tiny" over a bed of rice. My rice was a little mushy but the lamb chops were very tender. There was a slight gamey taste to the lamb chops but they were not bad. They were not seasoned consistently and the steak sauce didn't pair well with it. We were hoping that the 4 cheese Mac n Cheese would save the night. What business marketed as a Black Owned business would get it wrong when it came to putting soul in the food. On this night it was Noir. The Mac n cheese had no flavor. Similar to fresh noodles garnished with cheese baked on top. My wife was disappointed in her birthday dinner. It hurt to see that because see was really set on having an amazing meal like what was advertised in the TikTok video that recommended Noir.

Another patron sitting nearby struggled with grits that were too soupy. My wife saw her dripping it from her spoon in disappointment. My wife said she must be having a similar experience with her food. It was obvious we didn't eat much from our plates so when we asked for the check the waiter asked if we wanted to go boxes. We were not trying to be rude but my wife quickly declined. Our bill was over $100 total. The music selection, the ambiance, the waiter, and the drink that had my wife too buzzed to complain about the poor experience is what kept me from giving it a single star. Overall 2 stars. This food did not represent Baltimore too well and certainly did not do anything to represent the Culture. The next night we took a table at Jimmy's Seafood. They came with their A game. My wife was satisfied and it made up for the bad...

Where to begin. Overall just an OK experience which was brought up to OK by the owner Tony who checked in on us and took constructive feedback very well.

We ordered drinks and they were both good and just the right amount of strength for a dinner date.

We ordered the Old Bay wings fried crispy. The texture and freshness out of the fryer were great. A little too much Old Bay in them for my Wife and I but as the owner said we cook hi blood pressure style on the wings :-). I called them drinking wings. When you drink you don't mind the salt and the bartender loves you more. It makes sense since above the restaurant is the club portion of the establishment.

The decor is really cool and nice and the music although loud wasn't bad at all. I enjoyed bobbing my head while enjoying my dinner date. They did their best to keep the social distancing numbers at Bay, but people wanted in. They did leave every other table open which was good.

My Wife's Salmon and grits were not good. The cheesy sauce was the best part. Without it the grits were bland and tasteless. The salmon was overcooked and hard. Tony was a gracious host and listened to the feedback and removed my Wife's meal off of the bill because he saw she did not enjoy and he offered us additional drinks.

The lamb chops had a nice flavor were tougher than I expected. They may have cooked them well instead of medium like Tony said they should have. I didn't request well now was I asked so I guess they took it upon themselves to cook it that way. The flavor was good though. The fried rice was interesting, it had a hint of sweetness which I wasn't expecting. I think it could have been cooked in the wok a little longer for a little more crispy texture but I liked it. The sweet potato casserole I ordered was creamy and I liked the addition of the nuts for texture. It could have used more all spice in it to add bit more flavor.

It is a very busy spot on a Saturday night.

I don't think we will be going back just because it wasn't our cup of tea but I really liked the owner and his customer service so I wouldn't tell anyone else don't go. We didn't go upstairs to see the lounge part but he described it as very nice amd offered us a tour. By this point it was getting late and we were tired from a long long...