Anchor Bar Frederick — Restaurant in Maryland

Update: change from 3 to 4 stars for food, but 4 to 3 for environment I finally came back after 4 years and it looks like they've renovated. The restaurant is very dark now, more of a dank bar feel, which I like if I'm there hang out and drink beer, but not so much for a family outing. I was sat in a spot that was so dark it was hard to read the menu, which was also right underneath a dimmed light. My guess is these can be turned up, and they should, but for me the whole section was extremely dark.

The biggest improvement is despite the menu still saying Kaiser rolls, the BBQ bacon burger I had came on a perfectly soft butter glazed bun that was delicious. I hope they really have completely got rid of the Kaiser roll abominations and never go back.

The wings are still fine, but don't come here if you want heat in your sauce. The x-tra hot, which is the second "hottest", is barely equivalent to a BWW mild and didn't even make my nose run. Definitely trying the "hottest" the next time, but I don't expect much hotter.

Staff and service are still great. Nice selection of beer and drinks. Crab dip is still a banger, but not enough bread. Great hangout spot in the bar. Even though the lot was pretty packed, the restaurant was not, so most of the cars in the lot were probably for Olive garden next door.

I really want to give Anchor bar a higher rating, but the extremely dark section of tables really bothered me, and though the wings taste good and are well cooked, the lack of heat in any of the advertised levels are a joke for a place that claims to be a wings place.

Original review: Very friendly staff. The crab dip is excellent with large crab chunks, but the price is a little excessive for the amount of dip. The wings are great. Perfectly cooked and meaty, and the sauces are perfect. Medium is a bww mild, and Xtra hot and hot are about the same are a little spicier than a bww medium, so start with the hot sauce. My guess is the dangerously hot sauce that they have a warning on isn't very hot. Service was very fast on a busy Friday night, beers were served right away.

I had to lower my rating from 5 stars and kinda want to give a 1 star just for attention after going a second time. They use Kaiser rolls for their burgers and just like everywhere else they ruin the burger. Kaiser rolls are the worst and makes the burgers taste extremely bland. I couldn't even finish my burger because it was like eating a mouthful of flour. They need to change the buns...

Initially I was not going to leave a bad review. Five members of my family went there on Easter Sunday. Our server was sweet as could be but I think she was stoned because she couldn't remember things we were asking for first off. We ordered a couple appetizers and they were yummy. Apparently they didn't have soda guns available and we were told we could not purchase a canned soda that those were only for the bar. My dad who's a Vietnam veteran wanted a Diet Coke and was told no. A little while later I took the server aside and said look this man served your country the least you could do is give him a Diet Coke so she checked with a manager and brought him one. Are food came we are all eating and my son had ordered the seafood alfredo. He ate the protein off the top first then proceeded to dig into the broccoli that was inside the pasta and the first bite of broccoli he pulled out had about a 7 inch knotted up piece of hair wrapped around it. They did remove it from our bill however a manager never bothered to come out to talk to us to resolve the issue or anything. We paid our bill and before leaving I decided to call and ask to speak to a manager. Whoever answered the phone and wanted to know why I wanted a manager. I should never have been questioned. The poor manager we spoke to was out cleaning their catering truck. I learned in this conversation there was more than one manager on site so there was no reason why someone couldn't have gotten the other manager and someone couldn't have come to our table. The manager we spoke to was very kind unappreciated us not giving a negative review. However I've been sick ever since I ate there. It is now Tuesday morning and my stomach is finally feeling better.I had a salad along with the appetizers that I had eaten. I was not going to leave this review but after getting very sick from eating their food I decided I should go ahead and leave a review. I've eaten there before and everything was delicious but maybe their kitchen staff doesn't know proper food handling and I would assume there is likely cross-contamination if I got sick from a wedge salad. I will just say eat here at your own risk it may have just been a bad day but I will not be...

So last weekend, my son and I went to grab lunch and we were sat down by the manager Daniel. He was very polite and friendly, he came across some dirty tables that he was originally going to sit us down. They weren't wiped down, so he took us to a table of 6 to sit when its just me and my son. It was fine, and I understand...maybe they were busy or short staffed, and they'll get to it when they can.

It wasn't that busy, we noticed 2-3 servers moving around the dinning area. So we sat there and waited ...nobody came to us or even acknowledged us. I gave them the benefit of the doubt, maybe they're short staffed or something. So we waited and waited....nothing. There was 2 round tables behind us, a family comes and sits down in one of them, immediately they get asked for their drinks. Another family comes in and sits at the other table, and the same server goes to them and ask for their drinks.

Meanwhile, my son and I are sitting there with our menus down....and nobody spoke to us. So I got up and went to the front, requested for a manager. They grabbed Daniel, who was the one that sat us down in the beginning. I told him what happened, and he wanted to make it right...but I declined his offer because I was heated. He then said "Wow, you guys waited at least 20 mins and nobody came to you? Next time you come back, ask for Daniel...and I'll take care of you."

I returned yesterday night to have dinner w/ my family. I asked the host "Is Daniel in tonight? Can you grab him for me?" The host said "sure," and walked away from our table. Throughout the night, the manager never came. I really didn't want any freebies, just maybe an explanation of that incident. But he never came...I'm not sure if the host forgot, or he did. But if someone requests for a manager, I would assume...there's a little sense of urgency. On top of that, our check had a extra charge when it shouldn't have had that. It was one thing after another, the only highlight of the whole situation was our server Lauren. She was amazing and friendly. Very very accommodating and just extremely nice, so...