The Sterling Tavern — Restaurant in Berlin

I had the great opportunity to surprise a friend of mine for her birthday🎉. I drove 🚗 from Baltimore to the Eastern Shore to celebrate her awesomeness as a friend, mother, grandmother, great grandmother and great great grandmother. YES‼️ I said Great Great grandmother. After asking her sharing she would enjoy seafood, especially crabcakes I went to Google. I searched "great seafood in Berlin, MD 21811" I read 👀 some of the reviews about this place then checked their menu (Reservations are not required😉). I wanted to make sure they had crab cakes 🦀and fresh oysters 🦪 on their menu📋. I also wondered how different their fresh oysters may be from the eateries in Bmore🧐. The area where this restaurant is located 📍has a "small-town" vibe. The streets and sidewalks are narrow but there was plenty of parking around the back. There is also a few parking 🅿️ spots out front, including disabled ♿️ but it’s going to be about timing ⏱️ to get those. We were pleasantly greeted when we entered and shown to our table. The space is a bit tight in some areas. They have indoor, outdoor and bar seating. Perhaps next time we may venture outside, if it is not a sweltering heat day. For appetizers we ordered fresh oysters and the loaded onion rings. The portion for the starter loaded onion rings (🌟🌟🌟🌟) can feed more than one person. The oysters (🌟🌟🌟🌟) had a briny, salty taste and were served with horseradish, lemon and cocktail sauce- 😋 YUM! (answering my ❓ about where they stand with my hometown). They were as good as my most recent experiences at the eateries in Baltimore. For our main dishes, she chose their fried Crab Cake sandwich🥪 on Brioche with sweet potato fries. After getting advice from our server on some of her favorites, I chose their Crab Louie stack which is jumbo lump crab meat, avocado 🥑 , pico, fried green tomato🍅 and chipotle mayo with fried wonton chips. For drinks she had lemonade and I had unsweetened iced tea. Our appetizers and drinks 🥤came quickly which was a little surprising because more customers were beginning to come and they were seating some upstairs🪜. Our main dishes took longer but what do you expect? We came during lunch/brunch on a Sunny Saturday. As for the taste of the food, my Crab Louie Stack (🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟) was delicious. The flavor with the mixture of soft & crunchy textures made me want to savor every bit of it. It's one of the reasons I decided to order something to go (Old Bay Chicken Wings🍗). My friend said the crab cake (🌟🌟🌟🌟) was full of taste and was not overbearing with filler, the brioche stoked her love of bread & was huge so she decided to only eat one slice of it. As for the sweet potato fries (🌟🌟🌟🌟), she said they were a subtle sweet with the just the right amount of crispness. We give the food 4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. Value for money = 5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. Atmosphere 4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - for their multiple seating choices (just a little tight in some areas). Menu Choices - 4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - this is a seafood eatery and they offer a great selection of seafood, fresh, grilled, broiled, and fried. Vegetarians 🥑 🥬🥦🥔🥗 would not find a lot of options here apart from a few sides/starters. Parking 🅿️ gets 5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ because there is plenty of it around the back and the size of the spaces accommodate several size vehicles. ♿️ Accessibility gets 3.5⭐️⭐️⭐️ because although The restaurant has a great ramp, and the bathroom can accommodate a wheelchair 🦼 , there are certain seating areas of the restaurant where it would be challenging to navigate. Server/Staff = 5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ because they were friendly, professional, informative, and kept us updated to any changes in how long it may be for certain things. My overall rating for this restaurant is 4.5🌟⭐️🌟⭐️ stars, and I would definitely come again and try some more of the dishes, suggested by...

We frequently go to the farmers market in Berlin on Sundays. When we do we always have brunch somewhere. Many times it is at The Sterling Tavern. Today was the last time we’ll be back.

We ordered brunch to include a breakfast sandwich, flatbread with sausage and raspberry-filled beignets. It was the worst meal we’ve had in a long time. In fact, I cannot even remember the last time we had a meal this bad.

To start, the breakfast sandwich was on an incredibly dry croissant roll. The sausage in the sandwich was 1/8” thick and dry, akin to leather. The sandwich was also Luke warm.

The flatbread arrived without home fries. After speaking with the server we were told there were no home fries that were ready so we were offered French fries. Great. French fries with breakfast. Then, after cutting into the flatbread, we discovered there wasn’t any sausage as stated in the description. Of course given that the sausage on the sandwich was such poor quality it was probably a blessing in disguise. Why not tell the server? She didn’t really seem interested since once our food was brought out we never saw her again. She never stopped by to see if we needed anything else or inquire about the food.

Lastly, when we placed our order we asked for raspberry-filled beignets. What could go wrong? The beignets arrived and didn’t have any raspberry filling! And they were also dry. What a terrible meal.

Perhaps the worst part is that the fries were lathered with truffle oil. It was awful! No truffle oil please!

So, do yourself a favor and go elsewhere. I would suggest...

Didn't actually get to dine here, so this review is based on my experience with the hostess. My husband and I stopped by for outdoor dining on a Thursday evening June 4th and there wasn't a crowd. The young woman at the host stand said she would seat us at a lovely table on the patio, right on Main St., it just had to be reset. My husband and I stepped out onto the sidewalk to wait. While 'our' table was being cleared, another pair of ladies came in and were taken to a table on the side patio. I watched as they asked the hostess if they could instead have the table we were waiting for. She told them okay, even after they asked if someone else was waiting for that table! She then came to seat us at that table on the side patio and when I asked what happened with the other table we were waiting for she said, 'those ladies asked to sit there so I have this table for you...I don't want to ask them to move again'. I was incredulous! There was nothing wrong with the table on the side patio and had we been seated there when we first arrived we would have been perfectly happy. My issue was with the callous disregard we were shown by the hostess. Not so much as a perfunctory apology was offered for her very deliberate action. We chose to leave and take our business up the street to Blacksmith. The restaurant biz has been hit hard due to Covid-19 and they still aren't able to reopen at full capacity. I think the manager/owner should be aware that they are losing much needed business because of poor...