Grille 620 — Restaurant in Ellicott City

A Disappointing Anniversary Experience:

Our anniversary dinner at this restaurant turned out to be a major letdown. From the moment we arrived, it was clear that our special occasion wasn't being given the attention it deserved. When we were asked if it was a special occasion, we mentioned that it was our anniversary and were promised a surprise dessert. Unfortunately, that promise was never fulfilled.

The first thing we noticed upon entering the dining room was the excessive noise level. It made it difficult to have a conversation without raising our voices. To make matters worse, the tables were placed too close together, leaving us feeling cramped and uncomfortable.

As we settled into our seats, we couldn't help but notice an incident involving another waiter. His bottom accidentally ended up hanging over our water glass, which we found amusing but also indicative of the lack of attention to detail in the restaurant.

Our experience with the service continued to disappoint. Despite having two servers, who we were informed were in training, our water glasses remained empty for an extended period. While we placed our orders, including an appetizer of Ahi Tuna (which was passable) and a Manhattan cocktail (which was good), it seemed that our requests for refills and additional drinks were being overlooked.

The problems persisted when our food arrived. My wife's salad was brought out promptly, but my water glass remained empty, and my drink order was forgotten. To make matters worse, when my $47 Ribeye finally arrived, it turned out to be a sirloin cut instead. Although I expressed my concerns, it took the intervention of the host, Joe, who claimed to be a former butcher, to confirm that it was indeed a ribeye, but the kitchen had cut it differently due to my temperature preference, medium rare!? Joe offered to replace it, which I accepted - but by then my wife had almost finished her dinner, and my appetite had waned due to the overall experience.

Throughout the evening, our glasses remained empty, and it took a considerable amount of time to receive a wine refill or even get the attention of our servers. The replacement "ribeye" eventually arrived, but by then the moment had passed, and I wasn't particularly hungry anymore. To add insult to injury, our plates were never cleared, and the dessert was carelessly dropped on the table along with the check, signaling the staff's lack of professionalism.

Feeling disappointed and wanting to express our dissatisfaction, I approached the young man at the host table upon returning from the restroom. However, things took an unpleasant turn when Joe, the host, intervened and got confrontational with me, falsely accusing me of yelling at the kid. When I clarified that I was simply expressing my disappointment, Joe's response was shockingly unprofessional: "Well, I look forward to not seeing you here again." At that point, I couldn't contain my frustration and declared it the worst dining experience I had ever encountered.

Overall, the combination of a loud atmosphere, extremely poor service, and below-average food made our anniversary dinner at this restaurant a complete disappointment. We had hoped for a memorable evening, but instead, we were left with a lasting impression of incompetence and a lack of care...

The service and the food is excellent it's definitely a place for adults I didn't see many children there however I will say that you can expect to pay a very high-cost. I ordered a bowl of cauliflower cream soup which was excellent a fleet of 12 oysters 3 separate types of four and some potatoes with onion rings and a rack of lamb chops which were very good extremely excellent food was terrific. They have a great Supply and variety of top shelf and very well high-end both expensive and less expensive alcohol Scotch Brandy whiskey Etc and an excellent creme brulee with honey oh, they also have a magnificent goat cheese, cheesecake which is much lighter than your normal dense cheesecake much fluffier but extremely smooth and very very good. After ordering 12 wasters two sides lamb chops 1 beer which was Blue Moon a shot of scotch which ended up costing $16 and that was the halfway between high-end and decent priced they had some that were between possibly 8 to $12 and some that charged all the way up to $22 a shot. But after ordering two desserts creme brulee and the cheesecake the 12 oysters three separate types of four, lamb chops and two sides potatoes and onion rings that came with the lamb chops along with the incredibly awesome cream of cauliflower soup, the blue moon and the shot of scotch adding a 20% tip I spent $150 and that was just for myself. The food in the service were great and when I tell you the food was great it was definitely next level great I eat it a lot of different places and I am very finicky however the food was tremendous however it's hard to justify spending that much money no matter how good the food is and no matter how great the service is $150 for one person that is a blue collar worker and isn't it rich. Is definitely a once in a while splurge that unless you have the money to do that with is definitely a very expensive treat however if you have it to spend and you don't mind parting with that kind of money for one person and you have a hefty appetite and order like I did then go for it. It's definitely worth it. I'm certain that you could spend less if you didn't drink alcohol and you only ordered one dessert and instead of getting a whole 12 count of oysters got something more reasonable as a appetizer I'm sure you could stay right around $100. Without a problem. Are lamb chops were awesome and excellent. However if I could suggest anything that most would be more than happy and content with due to its high quality and excellent taste the cream of cauliflower soup was to die for. And the creme brulee with honey was very very good but the cheesecake The Fluffy light goat's milk cheesecake it may sound a little off but believe me when I tell you it's not what it sounds like and it is the best cheesecake I have had in a very very long time and it's hard to get better than New...

Look no further. Eat here.

I have a new #1 favorite go-to restaurant in the Baltimore metro area and it is Grill 620. It's not close either.

On a recent rainy Tuesday night, there was not a seat to be had in the spacious dining room by 6:30 and this alone should say something. Despite formidable competition in the very same parking lot (Faci Pizza and Mad Chef are venerable eating establishments in their own right), Grill 620 separates itself from all known competition by applying a simple formula with bombproof expertise:

Completely wonderfully fresh and ingeniously prepared seafood entrees (the landlubber faire may be equally great but I do not objectively yet know this);

Impeccably perfect serving staff, always watching and available but never intrusive. Yes their job is to turn tables and maximize profit, but they do it so superbly that a customer does not feel like a cog in a big business machine. There is no rushing, no pushing and no upselling. Just quiet competence, raised to an art form.

Wow the customer at the margins. Our wow factor was decaf coffee, ordered as an afterthought. Petite personal french presses arrived on our table. A generous way to serve and fun too. It was all pretty cool.

I ordered the fresh hake over linguini, after the best bowl of Maryland Crab Soup I ever had anywhere. My dining partner had the red snapper with mushrooms. We both loved everything we ate, and we wanted to take the waitress home with us, to be our personal serving congerie at every future restaurant we might visit.

Now the bill for the two of us approached $150 but was worth every penny. No Grill 620 certainly is not in everyone's budget. But if expertly prepared upscale seafood is what you seek, you can only do worse than here. You cannot do better. Just...