Bushmill Tavern — Restaurant in Maryland

I'm always a little nervous when I go to a place and the sign advises me to seat myself. I walked past a few tables and while most of the tables themselves were clean the seats were not always cleaned. But, thankfully, I was tended to quickly, got my drink, and then my food came out hot and fresh in a reasonable time. I did ask for a Coke and wasn't told that it was going to be Pepsi, though. Which is fine, I still like Pepsi, but if I knew they had Pepsi instead of Coke I probably would have asked for a different beverage. I also didn't get a refill on my soda for my meal which became a bit hard when I ordered so many cheesy, rich dishes to try the place out.

Being a tavern I ordered a fair bit of tavern food and quite thoroughly enjoyed myself. I had pub pretzel bites and these were pretty good. I suspect they may have been some sort of batch thing that they could order in bulk, but I couldn't be sure. Either way, they were still pretty good and seasoned good on top. The cheese sauce that it came with was really nice, and when I needed to take leftovers home, they gave me some extra cheese in a cup for me, that was very very much appreciated.

I also had Cap’n Crunch chicken. These were chicken pieces breaded in a Cap’n Crunch coating and sprinkled it with powdered sugar. It sounded insane but it was actually really good. I'm not much of a mustard person but the mustard sauce they served this with really balanced the dish out a lot. Otherwise it might have been too sweet so just a tiny little dab really added to it.

The real prize were these duck fat fries with a garlic aioli, oh man these were delicious. I love ketchup but the fries rocked in the aioli above everything else. These were thick and crispy on the outside and fluffy in the middle it was the perfect kind of fry you want.

Lastly this was a Smoked Cheddar Crab soup. It was very unusual. I ate most of it but I don't think I liked it. A cheese-based soup just really felt odd on the tongue, because your brain expects it to be some sort of sauce or dip instead of a soup. The bites that had tater tots in it were much better because it was something to balance out the richness of this cheese. The cheese also really overwhelmed the crab meat, so of all the dishes I would definitely not get this one again but it wasn't terrible it was just very weird.

There was also a QR code on the receipt to pay which was nice, because it was easy to just pay after getting my to-go box. I liked that feature. Overall I am going to come back to the tavern. I know they have great snack food now, I'm curious to see how their...

The food was pretty good! They were willing to accomodate my annoying and picky requests and served my BMT filet sammie toppings on the side, as I had requested. The steak didn't come out the correct temperature, it was cooked medium-well instead of medium. Despite that, the sammie was good and the fries were awesome. Everyone liked their food except one of the kids. My daughter ordered the mozz moons but didn't like them at all. :-( Also, we ordered the kids chicken fingers with fries and the Bushmill Burger. All were well liked!

When you walk in there is one of those "please wait to be seated" signs, but nobody was there to seat tables. So, we just stood at the host stand for a moment while everyone else just kind of stared at us. Once I realized that there was no host/hostess coming to seat us, we sat ourselves. From the looks of it, they appeared to have just one employee working the whole front of house. She was the server, the bartender, the food runner, the busser, and the manager all-in-one.

Next to the high-tops by the bar, there is a sign on the wall advertising the daily specials and deals. My family and I came in on a Tuesday, the day that "kids eat free." However, when we got our bill the kids meals were still on there. I asked our server about it and she basically said that the deal was only available during the evening-time and thus didn't apply to us. My family and I finished our meal and were leaving by about 4:45 p.m.-4:55 p.m., so I'm guessing what that means is that "kids eat free," after 5 p.m. I would kindly suggest that management consider including that information on any signs or table tents used to advertise the specials. Furthermore, if the "kids eat free" special doesn't start until 5 p.m. on a Tuesday, (or any day) that leaves only a small window of time for some families to dine. (not all families) I personally wouldn't want to bring my kids out to eat at a restaurant after 7 p.m. even if someone paid me! I would be more apt to consider dining at this establishment on Tuesdays if there weren't time constraints associated...

Stumbled into this by accident while traveling. Appears to be a standard local's roadside bar from the street but food was way better than you'd expect.

Was a live performer the night we went and he was good and made me wish we weren't trying to make time traveling and could spend some time there with some drinks. Went at about 8 on Saturday during the games and while the bar side was pretty full, the main floor was fairly empty while we were there and we were seated in what would likely be the dancefloor if it were busier.

Menu choice was mostly what you'd expect from a bar restaurant but for a few more upscale selections and I have to say the food quality was WAY better than our expectations or even the pricing would suggest. They have a cheesy crab soup that was great and was very flavorful. They make duck fat fries with a garlic dip that was superb. And my steak and cheese was a genuine steak and everything was very fresh. Wife had a dinner salad that was a crafted creation more than a thrown together side salad. We both left happy.

Downgrade to 4 on atmosphere just because the performer, while good, had his volume painfully loud which would be fine if it were packed while we there. Instead it felt like getting personally and individually serranaded by a county singer playing at an arena with the sound team and equipment from Rammstein backing his play. Definitely could have reined that in for the occupancy. Like we needed range hearing suppression to keep from getting a sonic assault beamed through our skulls.

Service got a bump down to 4 because as slow as it was, the server didn't come back to check on anything or refill anything and had to be chased down to get a check while there were only 2 tables sat, but food was quick and it could easily be a 5 on another visit.

Floor had a lot of large TV's carrying the current hockey...