Caruso's Grocery - Pike & Rose — Restaurant in Maryland

The good: The food was good to excellent. Trout was fresh, perfectly cooked. A little heavy on the butter. Decor/vibe was cozy and welcoming.

The bad:

The greeter/host/maitre'd was unwelcoming, cold and quite hostile toward a staffer who tried to ease the check in process while a small line formed. Set a pretty negative tone off the bat.

The restaurant is LOUD. Our party of 4 basically had to scream at each other to be heard.

Two of us arrived first. The waiter brought water right away and said he would be back to take our order in a few minutes. Once the other 2 in our party arrived, he came back almost immediately to take our order. Needless to say, we were not ready yet.

We ordered a bread and mozzarella appetizer; I asked for gluten-free bread so I could enjoy the appetizer as well. When the appetizer arrived, no gluten-free bread accompanied it. We had to wait at least another 15 minutes for the gluten free bread to arrive, and I had to ask at least 3 times about its whereabouts. I even spoke to someone who looked like a manager but was generally clueless and unhelpful. When the bread finally arrived, it looked suspiciously like a toasted Udi's bun, and I was told that the reason it took so long was because they baked them fresh. The waiter was quick to add that it wasn't his fault. Um, yes, it was your fault that you failed to let me know it would take 25 minutes to prepare an Udi-like bun. If I had known that, I would've ordered a salad.

When dessert-time rolled around, I enquired about the gluten-free options. The waiter looked at me blankly for about 5 seconds. He then responded "I don't know" and "I think none of them." I asked him if he could please check with the chef about this. He did not look pleased about having to do this. When he came back 15 minutes later to ask for our dessert order, I asked about the gluten-free options. He said "none of them; except the sorbet." I said "Really? Not even the creme brulee?" He said "I don't know. Let me ask again." We all agreed that he probably didn't check but more obviously couldn't give a sh*t. The third time he came back he confirmed that the creme brulee was gluten-free. Though our desserts took another 20 minutes to arrive, they were delicious.

For better or worse, Pike and Rose has become quite a hot dining destination. People expect great food and service. If you can't make that happen, then you shouldn't be there. If they work on training their staff to offer stellar service, this could be a phenomenal dining option. Until then, it's a pretty disappointing place and not one I'm likely to return to anytime soon. I would caution those who are strictly celiac to STAY AWAY until staff is...

I’m gonna start with the bad first..

The room.

Very tight squeeze and incredibly uncomfortable. Other patrons are literally in your face when you’re eating and are also uncomfortable. I don’t mind a brief chat about the food w/ other people but it’s awkward having people watch every single bite you take because they’re within 12 inches of your table. Ruined this experience for us. To management, please open this place up. Sacrifice a table if you have to and create some more space because this is way too cramped of a place to enjoy a meal. You can barely get in and out of these tiny tables. And I’m not a big guy by any stretch. I can’t imagine how someone 6 feet tall would fair here. Extremely uncomfortable.

Onto the food.

We ordered the semolina dusted mozzarella and this was probably one of the worst fried mozzarellas I’ve ever experienced. I genuinely sat there thinking, “if one could ruin cheese, this would be how to do it.” My wife hit the nail on the head when she said, “this tastes like Keto.” I mean absolutely spot on. Very strange one to say the least and we did not bother with anymore bites after the first one. Disappointing.

And the star of the show: the pasta.

We ordered the famous Spicy Neopolitan ragu & the white truffle mushroom Alfredo w/ chicken and wow! Absolutely amazing. Quite possibly the best pasta I’ve had in this area to date. The noodles on both dishes were cooked al dente and to perfection and the sauces blended with it very well. The Ragu dish had a lovely tomatoey (sp) flavor to it while the Alfredo was bursting of truffle with every bite. Accompanied with the house bread, was a magnificent meal. You can tell these were authentic noodles because we left absolutely stuffed with no blood sugar crash afterwards. The price is a little much but I understand why this is the case. Would I return and pay $25 for a small bowl of pasta? As good as it is, most likely not as often as I’d like. Still a great bowl and worth the try.

Overall, this place was both sides of the spectrum for us. Started off horribly and sorta stayed that way until the pasta came out which took it from 0-100. Given the extreme nature of this experience, I’d say rating this place as average is only fair. It wasn’t horrible because the pasta saved the day, but it also wasn’t a top marks situation because of...

We decided to check out Caruso's Grocery in Pike and Rose as my wife will be working close by in the near future. We heard that it was excellent, and love Italian food, so decided to give it a try.

We made a reservation, which was a great idea because they were very busy. After walking through the bar area, we were taken to our seat. Very nicely greeted by the hostess, and we were on our way. We were seated at a four-top which was excellent given the size of the portions, etc. and this gave us plenty of room for the two of us.

Very cozy restaurant, that is well decorated and gives you the feel of the classic Italian restaurant. There is a group room in the back that can be seperated off from the main dining area, so a great place for parties and group events.

For dinner we had the Tomato and Basil Caprese.. Delicious, but this dish is one of my favorites and I will always order it if you serve it. One of the better caprese dishes I have had. For main courses we had the Chicken Parmigiana and the Veal Francaise. The Chicken Parm came with a side of spaghetti with Marinara sauce. The Veal came with vegetables. Both were large portions and we ended up sharing both. To close we had the Classic Tiramisu and the Crema Bruciata. The Crema Bruciata is a Creme Brulee with Orange infusion. Delicious, and I highly recommend it. We did have a bottle of Pinot Grigio which tends to drive the costs of the meal higher.

Our server was Nicholas P. and he was excellent. Stopped by frequently to make sure we were enjoyng ourselves and had a great understanding of the menu to help us make choices beyond my standard fare.

Overall a good meal. Make a reservation...