Enotria Restaurant & Grill — Restaurant in Maryland

Can I leave a half a star?? Back in 2012, we had a Family Reunion and we traditionally go out to a local establishment the night prior to accommodate all of the people driving in. That year they picked Enotria. Due to our party size, the menu was predetermined however there was no complaints regarding the food. Infact several people, including my mother have made returned visits to this location due to that 2012 trip. However today, that has changed....

"Authentic Italian Cuisine" is the tag line for this place and I would like to say that this statement is FAR from the truth. I am not a food critic but when it comes to Italian food, I made frequent trips over to visit my Italian family (at least every 2 years) and I have eaten as north as Milan, Genoa, Venice, and have traveled as far south of Naples & Capri.. never would I have been served what I got this evening at Enotria.

My wife and son attempted to enjoy meatballs as their appetizer, and let me start off by saying I am well aware many people like poaching their meatballs and I personally prefer pan-searing or grilling them before I place them in my sauce but with that being said, when they took a bite, the meatballs just broke apart and like in a super tender, juicy way but in a bland greasy lackluster way. The sauce itself was extremely basic, like you opened up a can of sauce and put salt & pepper only. The sauce wasn't even worth the bread they brought to the table.

Even the bread was barely anything to get excited for. The only thing I liked was that it was warm, however there was no crunch to the crust. I can't even tell what was served with the bread in the oil dish.

As for the entries... My son got his favorite dish, Penne Arrabbiata (my family is from the Lazio region) however after tonight, he may be scared to order it.. I love cooking with olive oil but when I saw his plate and you can see the separation of oil grease and pasta sauce. Also Arrabbiata is spicy, there was nothing spicy about it. It just tasted like a greasier version of the tomato soup they served with the meatballs

My wife got gnocchi. It was served in that bland tomato "progressive" soup and you could tell that her gnocchi was over cooked. Also then they topped the fresh mozzarella, it didn't melt right and there was a huge clump to 1 side of her dish.

Now for the pièce de résistance, I ordered the Tuscan Chicken platter. According to the menu, my dish is: "Chicken breast with roasted grape tomatoes, asparagus, and prosciutto in a light white wine and garlic sauce, topped with fresh mozzarella cheese, baked and served with oven-roasted potatoes" When reading this I was expecting my tomatoes, Asparagus & potatoes to have some sort of browning on them due to the "roasting" description (in fairness the menu doesn't say Roasted asparagus, but this is how I read it), and that my chicken would either have some sort of white sauce on it or perhaps my plate would have a small base of this white sauce (like i have seen in several Chicken scallopini dishes). Oh no, my plate came out looking like someone just ladled something from a crock pot. The grape tomatoes didn't have that dark color red I am accustom to seeing when I roast them & the potatoes where pure white!! Of course everything was just soaked in this white garlic sauce (i will admit, it was tasty) but I didn't need my meal drenched in it.

I will end this with a positive and 2 negatives. The waitress was nice however I dont like the process of bringing out my food, asking for extra Parmesan and then having to leave for 5mins+ Why not just bring it out, who doesn't love extra Parmesan?!? Lastly the bathroom, 2 sinks only 1 soap dispenser and it is not in the middle. The sink on the left has to wait for the sink on the right to be...

Our youngest son announced he was getting married last winter and we were looking for restaurants for the rehearsal dinner. Early on I mentioned Enotria but thought it may be too expensive. We were also looking for a catering place for the wedding. After months of attending wedding events, visiting restaurants, ect we ended up realizing that A. Enotria was reasonably priced and B. After visiting the restaurant and talking with Paolo that it was the place to go and we ended up deciding to do both the reception dinner and the off site catering dinner for the wedding. While finalizing the plans we decided to go to dinner and met Anna the other manager as well. She was so wonderful, personal and reassuring we felt like family. The reception dinner was fantastic, we had the patio to ourselves and the staff did a great job being attentive and efficient. Anna called the wedding day to confirm everything and also let us know that they would allow us to use the food warmers for the wedding as well which was a huge blessing. The food was incredible, better than we expected. We had ordered lasagna , chicken alfredo, salad and bread and had more than enough. The lasagna in particular was the best I've ever had, lots of meat, no skimping and was very filling. I highly recommend Enotria for a date night, reception dinner, wedding, ect and it will be our first choice to go out from now on. A big thank you to...

My son ordered the chicken chesapeake, and the chicken was soggy, undercooked, and under seasoned. The sauce was thin and tasted very fishy. Told the waitress she said she would send over the manager. When he came over, he was not happy and said we use fresh crab. (im sorry. I've had a lot of dishes that use crab and none taste fishy it was like they didn't drain the crab before putting in sauce) he asked what he wanted in return so he ordered the chicken marsela that i had ordered which mine was good. He brought out looked nothing like mine again. Chicken was under seasoned. The sauce was like soup was not like mine, which was a lot thicker than his. When the bill came, i asked the waitress if the chesapeake was taken off and the marsela put on. Since the price was about a $10 difference. She said o we dont do that since you got a replacement meal. Ok, but we didn't eat the other meal. You took it back, and she said again they dont do that, and since we had a birthday cake, they usually charge to bring out the cake, so its even. What the what, really. I did not ask for the manager again since he was rude when we complained...