Atlantic Food & Spirits — Restaurant in Ellicott City

I debated on posting a review because I was really hoping the restaurant would make the situation right but what they did was laughable at best. We have been to Atlantic on several occasions. We tend to choose to go there for special occasions because the food is a bit pricey, but the atmosphere is nice, the food is usually good and service is pretty good. We come from Glen Burnie area, so the place is not local, we purposely go there. Well last Thursday we went for my mother’s 80th birthday there was 6 of us. The food was terrible. The mushroom ravioli was like soup, sauce so runny that it didn’t even stick to the ravioli, this is something that in the past had not been like that. The soft crab was overdone and so crunchy and had so much batter on it that the some batter needed to be picked off in order not to hurt your mouth to eat. The smash burgers were dry and again overdone, they had nothing on them no seasoning or anything like that. But what was the worst was what me and my 80 year old mother had. We order the special which happened to be Halibut. The description in the menu was very misleading. We got the Halibut that came with little potato’s, and spinach. I took one bite of a potato that was covered in the sauce it came with and it was so spicy hot that I started choking. I immediately told my mother not to touch it because she would have definitely choked. The waitress was like yea it is super spicy isn’t it. Well that would have been good information on the menu or when ordering. So I let the waitress know that there was no way we could eat that, and she said what would we like. We both wanted the Halibut so we both said could we have the Halibut but without the sauce. Well we get our meals, and we get halibut and it literally had nothing on it at all. No salt, no pepper, no spices, no butter, nothing!!! The waitress even said to us when she brought the food back that she had tasted the original in the back and it was awful hot and she could not have eaten it. Well both of the halibut that was brought back was so overdone and dry, I asked for melted butter to try and help it, but that didn’t work, there was very little spinach and potatoes in the dish as well. The meal cost $400 total with the tip. I called the next day and spoke to someone who claimed to be the manager. I told her the whole thing and she assured me that it would be made right. She took my information and told me she would call me back. During the call she had mentioned that there was a new line chef and that may have been the breakdown, she also said that that is not the way they serve food. About two hours later I received a text from them giving me $50 to use at another time. That did not even cover one meal that was horrible. The $50 was laughable, there was not even a phone call with an apology or anything. We won’t be back, nor will we ever tell anyone to go there ever again. We have already told our friends of the situation and advised them not to return back. I honestly didn’t post prior to this because I wanted to give Atlantic the chance to make it right. I my mind the entire meal should have been competed and they should have had us return to make it right. I didn’t make a big deal the night we were there because I did not want to ruin my mom’s birthday by complaining, since I just knew they would fix it...

I had wanted to try this since the renovation and new ownership. I love seafood and so my husband and I went there last Monday for dinner.

We were seated by a pleasant, young hostess immediately and the dining room was somewhat crowded for a Monday. Several patrons sat at the bar as well.

I liked the airy and nautical decor and had already looked at the menu so had an idea of what I wanted.

It was clear that they were short staffed, they did a nice job of helping out. The manager came by several times and was seen circulating throughout the restaurant and I could see he was actively helping the staff which is always a plus.

They seemed short of servers. The bus boys had things handled and were very helpful each time they dropped food.

Our server was actually the bartender so I could see she was juggling bar customers, restaurant drinks, and several tables.

I got a Deep Eddy cranberry but was brought a Deep Eddy grapefruit which is fine as I like both, and I had a glass of Villebois Sauvignon Blanc. I chose the seared sea scallops for my entree and the side of Brussels. I started with 6 White Stones oysters on the half shell.

The oysters were fresh, well shucked, and the mignonette was tangy and perfectly seasoned. The bottle was awkwardly placed amongst the ice. I would bring it to the table rather than have it float about on the platter. My husband got the Pretzel with beer cheese and that was fantastic. I should have ordered more pretzel as there is always more cheese than carbs.

The sea scallops were seared nicely, a decent size and the goat cheese polenta was a nice combination, as was the butternut squash, roasted corn on top of a lemon Thyme Beurre Blanc. The brussels were flavorful but a little softer than I usually like.

My husband ordered the double smash burger (with bacon and blue cheese) : it's always plain and dry for him. He got fries as his side. He did not enjoy his burger, he said the blue cheese looked off (he does order it often so it wasn't that it was the cheese it was just the visual representation of this particular blue cheese) and that the burger wasn't what he hoped. Too iron-y and gamey? I know it's meat what is he talking about?! But he didn't eat much of his and at this point he wasn't going to send it back or complain because he was full from the pretzel.

I would go back again and try something else. Maybe he would too or I just won't go with him next time. I like supporting local restaurants and the staff did acknowledge that it was unusually busy for a Monday. Having been in the hospitality industry for so long I know how these things can affect the flow of a shift. Not to mention the folks who are showing up are under extra pressure and stress with the job shortages and pandemic stressors as a whole. Total was $ 105 before tip.

Plenty of parking space and also a liquor store adjacent which can be handy if you are running low on...

I was pretty disappointed with this restaurant for reasons I will explain. 1- I made a reservation for two people on a weeknight at dinner time. Actually it was an early dinner. I was told when I got to the restaurant (on time for the reservation) that there would be a little wait. There was also two or three groups ahead of me waiting as well. All of those groups ahead of me must have had reservations even before my time and they must have been waiting as well. They were all seated before my part of 2. Not only did all of them get seated, but a large group that came in behind us were also seated before us. I did appreciate the free appetizer. However, waiting for 30 minutes or more when you have made a reservation for just 2 people on a weeknight is not preferable. 2- The food was mediocre at best. Unfortunately, my crab cake had shells in approximately every other bite. That is not what I expect with a high quality crab cake. Asparagus was dry and stringy. And the garlic mashed potatoes had a sour flavor and not much garlic. The seafood pasta dish that was ordered by the other person in my party was not very good either. It was rather bland and the pasta did not taste right. 3- they definitely did put the money into the ambience and the decor because that was nice. I like the atmosphere. 4- The staff was very friendly and helpful, however appeared somewhat inexperienced. The server had a great attitude. 5- I thought the prices were significantly on the high side for what I was getting. I was expecting a much higher quality meal for the prices. Some suggestions that will sum up my review. I would definitely put more time and energy into your scheduling system and reservation system that has a built-in backup in case it gets very busy. Customers who do not have reservations should be definitely less priority than those who have reservations. I would suggest putting some time and energy into improving your menu which had very few choices. Please expand your menu selection. However, I know that you have a new restaurant and these little things need to be worked out over time. Please increase The choices on your dinner menu items especially your side items. Put some additional money into a very experienced chef and into higher quality food suppliers. High quality food that is visually appealing will bring customers back. I'm hoping these comments will help improve the restaurant because it is in a great location and there are lots of people who have high hopes for...