Proper Cuisine — Restaurant in Baltimore

Proper Cuisine formerly Prim & Proper

Dress code: The dress code statement on the website doesn’t align with what I saw patrons wearing. Wear what looks good on you! Don’t go looking like you’re going to the grocery store though. I wore slack, top, blazer and Penny loafers.

Ambience: It’s giving southern plantation vibes. Along the lines of “Get out” when the lady is stirring the tea but it’s a nice vibe. The artwork is interesting. I need to sit with the pictures to determine what they’re symbolizing.

Parking: just valet…it’s free!!!

Food: We had a large party and so let’s get into these dishes.

Oxtail egg rolls were delicious. They give you four so you can share with your significant other.

Salmon bites well I guess they were okay nobody really said anything about them.

Jerk chicken pasta was good. I’ve had better from Pimento Grill in DC, which I believe is closed now😔

Honey Jerk Lamb these were a winner. 🏆Y’all gotta try them. They were cooked to perfection, still had the gamey taste. However it wasn’t overbearing but present (I love that taste). The sauce was SUPERB! Two sides come with this meal so I got asparagus and Mac n cheese. The Mac is CRAZY!!

Crispy salmon~ well there are two takes on this dish, as three people ordered it. The first round was dry there was no sauce drizzled on the salmon but the sides were good. The person that got theirs last got a FRESHLY prepared salmon which didn’t stand a chance once it was placed on the table. Now, this salmon was juicy, the sauce was overflowing and it was said to be delectable!

Red snapper (head on) was so good that someone placed a to go order after tasting a tiny piece! This was only ordered because they were out of oxtails and Cornish hens.

Dessert: SKIP DESSERT! But if you can’t help yourself…do not order the bread pudding. It was hard and basically tasted like French toast with ice cream on top.

Service: Lacking! They need more than one person attending tables. I swear our waiter/bartender was the ONLY person taking orders for the entire restaurant. Don’t get me wrong…he was very pleasant and accommodating, especially when he had to double back and inform us of items that were no longer available. Not his fault! The restaurant just had an extremely large party the night before and they cleaned them out.

I may revisit one day! Those honey jerk lamb chops gave me life. I took the bones with me to get all the meat off once I got home. I gotta be a lady in the streets and the way I wanted to devour those chops without a fork and knife could ONLY be done at home!!!

Try it! You’ll enjoy something on the menu for sure. It’s a nice vibe and experience.

Cocktails: try the...

I don’t know where to start, so I’ll just start at the beginning… Came into the restaurant, was greeted, then waited some time before a table was found. Mind you we can see plenty open tables available. The problem was, the host was the ONLY host and waiter for the whole establishment. While still waiting, maybe about 10 min at this point a guy in sweatpants, a hoodie, and a du-rag came from the bar and asked if we’ve been helped.. We mentioned someone acknowledged us but hadn’t come back.. he then goes to speak to “Han Solo” and he comes back to seat us. While the restaurant looked fancy and put together, later it started to seem as if it was just for show. We ordered a few appetizers and our food at the same time since it took a while for the ONE waiter to wait on us.. Our appetizers came out; the oysters, honey old bay wings, and salmon bites.. All UNremarkable.. Salmon bites a bit dry (but the honey helped), oysters extremely small so we didn’t eat them, wings (nothing great about them). Shortly after our adult cuisines come out and again nothing spectacular. Macaroni and cheese tasted like straight milk and I’m pretty sure had milk in the bottom. Mash potatoes were salty and re heated of course, broccolini was too hard. Branzino was very lemon zest and the only thing they had enough seasoning on was the skin.. Mind you the snapper said “Filet” but was whole with the head, and the branzino said “whole” but was more filet with tail. The crab cake was OK but there was no sauce to go with it or anything, and the creamed spinach was more cream of cream soup with a pinch of spinach as the surprise guest.. The lamb chops were kind of good (actually) just too spicy for some, so it was not so enjoyable for the person who ordered it. Maybe have a hot or mild selection…. But Of course the server was very busy with everyone else so he barely checked on us… The kicker was….. Gratuity was already added so I’m sure he didn’t care if he didn’t get back to us..

Not so prim and def not proper in my eyes… The best thing was the free valet, the valet person was a little chill, took a little time but when we came out it didn’t take him long to get the car and he recommended we wait inside. Thank you...

This was a very ghetto experience and I should’ve checked the reviews before trusting the word of a paid social media post. This place is, for lack of a better term, insufferable and unbelievably disorganized. First and foremost, my GPS took me to their previous location only to be redirected to another building across town. I was unable to call them to ask clarifying questions because they don’t answer the phone. When I finally arrived, there was no signage anywhere indicating that Papi Cuisine was at that location. Instead, I was directed to a restaurant called Proper Cuisine.

50% of the menu was out of stock (this was midday might I add), and they said it was because of the “Jeezy concert”. Instead of updating their menu and online ordering system to reflect what’s actually available, people are still able to purchase items that are out of stock. Interestingly enough, another patron waiting on her order told me they are out of items on a regular basis — so clearly the Snowman had nothing to do with it. Not only was I missing items but I had unnecessary spillage in my bag due to careless and improper order handling/packaging. They also couldn’t answer basic questions about portion sizes and quantity. The shift manager was no help and completely USELESS.

Smh never again. At least if the food quality was good, it could’ve somewhat made up for the poor level of service. But sadly they are incapable of redemption. If you value your time and money, do not come here. It’s not...