Balkonie Restaurant, Bar and Lounge — Restaurant in Berwyn Heights

So let me start out by saying, The establishment is owned by an African-American. I was told that's the reason for the leaders picking this establishment. But he is the epitome of why a lot of us don't like patronizing our own people's establishment. My first time there leaving straight from work to meet up my card playing social group. This is about a two-week maybe more new meet up spot for everyone. The majority of the group are people of color. So I walk in and all of the tables are full of players. I decided to sit at the bar and get me some water and take a look at the menu. For anticipation of maybe eating something a little later on. I was not going to consume any alcohol. I sit at the bar the owner comes to me and says how may I help you? I said may I have some water with some lemons on the side plz. He leans over and "says well that's the thing if I give you and everyone else water how am I supposed to make my money?" I took a minute because I needed to process what I just heard and how I feel about it. I said (1) you make your money off of happy returning customers and not how much tap water you give away. (2) As a business owner you're supposed to pay attention to potential customers I'm in uniform meaning I'm just coming straight from work could it be consuming alcohol is not the first thing that I want to do? (3) If you sell bottled water offer me that along with a menu to view. So he gives me this deer stuck looking at a headlight look. So I told him I will not be eating or drinking from his establishment nor will I come back or refer it to anyone. He steps back and his bartender comes up with the water ice and lemons. I reach into my pocket and I give her $5. She takes the money and puts it in the tip jar and tells me thank you. I said no love that's for the water. She looks at me and says we don't charge for water. I said sweetheart I'm paying you $5 for that water you can either put it in the cash register or take it for yourself. But I'm paying you for the water. And I got up and walked away from the bar and said it wanted the tables. I stayed for maybe an hour and 45 minutes. The time I was there everything was going down hill. There was supposed to be a DJ something went wrong with the DJ and the owner. The bartender wasn't supposed to be working that evening and she came in only to assist. But when you have the owner walking around intentionally vexing his customers and not helping her efficiently with the bar and the food. I understood why she became frustrated and left. Members had ordered food and were waiting to be served. Other members were trying to place orders. Last week a gentleman was charged $3 for a beer. Last night he was charged $6. Last week he allowed the customers to start a tab. Last night you could not start a tab. One of the members stated that there are other promoters that hold events at this establishment. And the price gouging and the poor customer service and amongst other things is not what given by the owner and his staff. So that leaves me to believe that the owner perceived our group to be not worthy enough to be treated fairly. And we're insignificant and we don't deserve the same kind of treatment that's given to the large promoters that he does business with. When I left it was about 50 players. We were also celebrating the birthday of one of the leaders. She had invited her mother and some elder family members. She couldn't even enjoy herself. She had to constantly take complaints and try to mediate situations between members and the owner. And also try to stop members from just leaving which a lot of...

I'm not sure what the deal was. Maybe it was the day of the week (Tuesday), but it was not a good experience in any way. A coworker and I went here because of the reviews.

We got there and there were 3 parties. Only one in the dining area. No host, so we walked over to the bar. There were probably 5 people I could see in the kitchen, just hanging out. After 5mins or so, one of them realized I was staring at them and came out. We sat down and each ordered an old fashioned and water. We got our bottles of water and then tried to order food. The menu was nothing like the one on the website. I asked for two different things and they said they were out of both. I asked what they did have and the only thing was suya. We both got it anyway, figuring maybe it'd be ok. We got the steak before our drinks. It said it came with a side of our choice and the only other thing on the plate was raw onion. It was small and half fat. Pretty tough, but decent flavor. Then we got our drinks. Definitely not an old fashioned.

After we finished eating the steak, our waitress came back and handed us the checks. She didn't ask if we wanted anything else (not that we would). $15 for a kid size amount of a cheap cut of steak and $14 (said $12 on the menu) for an old fashioned that was labeled "Copy of Long Island".

I wish we had taken pictures. What you see in the pictures here is nowhere close to what we saw. We had a white table cloth and that was it as far as high end dining. We ate cheap steak with toothpicks, poorly made drinks and bottles of water with no glass. Paper plates would have rounded out...

We went a few weeks ago. The experience was disappointing and underwhelming. The food served was inadequate and not worth the price tag. The environment and food display gave off a school cafeteria/pot luck “vybez”. A recap of our experience can best be described below.

Brunch was served on porcelain plates paired with carry out style, napkins and shrink wrapped plastic utensils. The actual food offered was not as advertised. The waffles were small, cold and soft “Eggo” style waffles not Belgian as depicted. The chicken was a tad undercooked and the eggs were bitter.

We were served by staff instead of serving ourselves (like at a typical buffet), none of the food was labeled.

The Brunch was overpriced and the food and condiments were a bit limited to be considered a brunch. Basic brunch package options were grits, bacon, eggs, home fried potatoes, rice, chicken, fish, waffles and fruit. One type of syrup, ranch, hot sauce and cold butter was available upon request. $$$ - $24.99 – Basic brunch; $39.99 – Brunch with bottomless mimosas; $49.99 – Brunch with bottomless mimosas, shrimp and crab legs

I emailed mgmt stating my concerns and offering recommendations, I have yet to receive a response.

Not worth the money, quality not as advertised, don't...