Pax River Ale House — Restaurant in Maryland

The Pax River Ale House is something like the uncle that you see once, or twice, a year at Christmases and birthday parties. Considering that you went out of your way to be there, and their attempts to get you to like them, you'd really like to be able to say that you like them, but the experience just annoys you.

On each occasion that I've been to the Ale House, I've not been able to summon the wisdom to understand why the server would take my name for an order, forget it, return and make a point to write it on their pad as to not forget it, only to then call me something completely different on our next interaction - and then learn that something similar had happened to everyone else.

On each occasion that I've been to the Ale House, I have become increasingly convinced that there are no shoes available on the market that are capable of preventing you from slipping on the floors on your way to the bathroom.

On each occasion that I've been to the Ale House, I've come no closer to understanding why half of my dining party would be without cutlery while the other half are knee-deep into their orders. There is the distinct impression that the servers are painfully aware of the slow service, poor ambience, and the natural capacity of the restaurant to be overwhelmed and then attempt to offset the negative experience by being as loud and obnoxious as possible in the vague hope that you might construe their frenetic behavior as friendliness when, in reality, it only adds to the nausea of feeling as though you might have unintentionally gate-crashed a five-year-old's birthday party to find one group of children running around on a sugar high and another in the corner wailing over their helium balloons escaping to the stratosphere.

I'd like to say that I won't be back, but with so few options available as an alternative in the local area, I'm sure that I'll be dragged ever more to the Christmases and birthday parties with the uncle that I...

We used to live in the area-left about four years ago-and we used to come to Pax Ale House when it first opened. Back then, it was a more upscale pub food and drink atmosphere.

We came through the area tonight and stopped in. First the good: beer list is nice. We both enjoyed our selections. Also, my husband had a cheeseburger, and it was tasty, with great fries on the side. Also-the waitress and management were attentive and reactive to our issues.

The not so good: the establishment has obviously changed into more of a bar with the restaurant as an afterthought. The front windows are gone. The lighting is harsher than I remember, and it just seems like they did a downgrade. The menu is much smaller and it doesn’t have the nice selections I remembered, like steak frites.

They have a pretty good pizza selection, and I was hoping for a good pub pizza with thin crust. I ordered the BBQ chicken. While it was thin crust, the pizza was inedible. The middle was so soggy a fork and knife had to be used, and it really ruined my meal. The onions were supposed to be carmelized. Nope. See the photos.

I did alert the waitress, and she did offer to bring something else. I declined. It isn’t her fault; it’s the kitchen’s fault. But other than the beer and burger, this was not good.

They did take the pizza off the check, which was...

They do it again and again! I have been here several times now. And I still appreciate how fresh, creative and flavorful the food is. I honestly don't want to go anywhere else when choosing to go out for lunch/dinner. My favorite and a must EVERY time I go there is the Ale House Fries with EXTRA EXTRA jalapenos. The wings are HOT (temp) and crispy out the outside and not dry! The mini burger sliders, and Bavarian Pretzels are a favorite among the family. The voodoo chicken sandwich was a tad too salty for me, but it's "blackened" and I should have known better. I always think "hmm, this sounds delicious, but I probably won't like the saltiness, I'm going to try it anyway!" Even with that being said, absolutely delicious! Make sure you have napkins haha! The Cajun chicken pasta is none other than absolute comfort food, tender chicken and perfectly cooked pasta in a delightful creamy Cajun sauce with onions, peppers and fresh herbs, my mouth is watering a bit as I write this! The jumbo lump crab cake dinner was also delicious, the fingerling potatoes were soooo good, those were honestly my favorite part of the dish! It wasn't my dish to begin with, it was my son's, so he was sharing bites. Service is great, everyone is polite and helpful! Also, their orange crush is delicious, if you like to have an adult beverage every...