Old Hickory — Restaurant in Maryland

I booked two weeks in advance for a party of 5 as the online option was not available. The individual on the phone was very kind and he was able to book me quickly. Day of my brother's graduation from AMU we arrived a 1752 but was not seated until 1819 - almost 20 minutes after our 1800 RSVP. The hostess stated that they are waiting for a 5 top table to open - normally she would pull marble tables together to have us seated immediately but from pass experience it hurt her back so we will have to wait. My family and I understood the reason but was surprised by the response. At the time 5 additional families have come and are now waiting to be seated. Once we were lead back we noticed there is actually plenty of availability but most seating were for smaller parties for 2. Less than half of the restaurant was occupied. Technically a server could have combined seating for us but they did not and will have you wait until a group is done. My family ordered salmon, steak, lamb, and salad - with 4 al a carte. Salmon was dry and over seasoned. Lamb is two small portions that are thick cut - I recommend you pass. The type of cut for the lamb was not that best. Pork chop is a very large serving size but when we ordered medium, we received it under-cooked. Two steaks we asked to not add seasoning, as other reviews stated the food will come out salty - best call we made so far. Overall most protein is cooked on a charcoal like grill and you get a lot of burnt end taste - I just don't prefer the taste of carbon on expensive cut of meat. Bread is complimentary and as much as I enjoyed it - a piece of hair tickled my lips as I went in for a second serving. I lost my appetite following. The sides I believe are the best out of everything especially the carrots and mash potatoes. If you are graduating and are looking for a place to celebrate after - I recommend passing. The price is just not worth the meal, the ambience, the experience. Now I will say Klaus was an amazing server - hilarious person. He is the only thing I would recommend. Family of 5 we paid approx. $650 with tip included. Food is mediocre. It was served on plate that is hard to cut and execute as well as extremely dull steak knives. Ingredients and protein are not high quality. The ambience is cold and sterile - the bar and waiting area is a much more beautiful scene than the rest of the restaurant. And the menu is overpriced for the choice and availability provided. I just wouldn't...

I had an abysmal fifteen minutes here. I have a food allergy, I’m allergic to gluten. I also don’t eat red meat. I went here expecting to find something under the entrée menu (fish, chicken, etc.)

When I arrived, I asked the bartender what on the menu was gluten-free. He said that steaks do not have gluten in them. I rephrased the question, “Do any of the sauces on these items have gluten in them? What about the entrées?” (Anybody with a food allergy will know that flour is often used as a thickener for sauce.) He stated unhelpfully again, "None of the steaks have gluten in them." I understand this, I have a gluten allergy, I understand that meat does not contain gluten. I asked if any of the sauces had gluten in them. At this point, another male patron got involved, saying, "Here, sweetie let me read the menu for you. I can probably help. None of the steaks have gluten in them." I directed back to the bartender, and said, "Which out of these six entrées have gluten in them?" And circled them with my hand to make it very clear when my question was. He, again, responded unhelpfully with a patronizing tone, "All crabcakes are made with flour." (Which, btw, they're not. I went to a better restaurant after this experience, and got an awesome crabcake without flour.) Again, this is not helpful, I needed to know which items were gluten-free. I asked the question one more time, "Can you please just tell me which items on this menu are safe to eat for gluten allergy?" The bartender then let the other male patrons speak down to me instead of just answering it for himself. Multiple men at the bar began speaking over me to explain to me what gluten was, telling me that gluten was found in bread, etc.

All in all, this was a humiliating and upsetting experience. It seems funny in writing, but to be the only woman at a table with men who are talking to you like a child is to feel belittled. It is unacceptable that a restaurant would allow its staff to treat female guests like this. I came to this expensive restaurant hungry expecting that there would be staff well-trained in food allergies and customer service. I was wrong. I say this also as a former waitress, it’s really not hard to memorize allergy safe menu items for...

I attended this restaurant for a group outing of 12 to 13 military members for dinner, and prices were pretty high, especially for the service we received. Where do I start? The service was abysmal because the servers were rushing us to place an order; I had the Maryland crab cake. My wife had the Maryland lump crab salad, which was average, especially according to the price. The atmosphere at the restaurant was noisy, and it was tough to have a conversation due to the loud noise.. the servers were dressed in white coats. We couldn’t tell if they were waiters or cooks.. to top it off when it was time to get the check, one of the Patrons at our table asked for the bill and how to bring the check, and then the check total was $883. Naturally, we told the waiter that we wanted the bill split 12 ways, to which he responded there was a policy at the restaurant they could only take four credit cards at one time, which baffled us. The restaurant tells you they only accept four cards after you place the order for the meal, and when you ask for the check, there are no signs in the restaurant to warn you. The waiter immediately told us that he would get the manager, to which we didn’t ask for a manager, but he insisted he wanted to manage the return. He was pretty rude and direct. He said it was a restaurant or hotel policy to take it all except three cards. We informed him his waiter told us for cards, to which he said he would make an exception and make it for this; this gave us the impression that there was no rule and that they made it up on the fly. The manager was not understanding and told us to figure it out as he stormed off to the front of the restaurant, leaving us all to go to an ATM to get the money in cash to pay for the. This is not the type of service I would expect from a restaurant that costs this much. I was very disappointed, and it was an embarrassment. I will never eat...