Shark Bar And Seafood House — Restaurant in Maryland

My husband and I came here on Friday July 10th to have dinner and drinks. It wasn't crazy busy we got seated right away. They checked out temperatures at the door. That was a plus. The waitress working the outside area didn't greet us for for about 15-20minutes. She looked overwhelmed so my husband walked inside to the bar and got us drinks. The waitress came and greeted me while my husband was gone getting our drinks from the bar. I immediately ordered our food. She bought us some water. The dj was playing the music was great. Needless to say a hour went by... NO FOOD. I was then ready to leave but my husband said give them a little more time. I waited another 15 minutes before getting up and walking out. My husband walked to the bar and paid our tab for the drinks. A manager came and offered a discount for the food. We didn't want the discount as we had already paid with our time being wasted on a Friday night.

Moving forward.... Me trying to support local businesses in the area where I live i decided to give them another try as the menu looked really good from Friday and i still wanted to try the food besides the awful service from Friday. I ordered online the exact thing I ordered on Friday but adding more. I made this order in Sunday evening paid online. Crab cake, fried shrimp, jerk scallops, catfish nuggets, double order of spinach and cajun corn. Got there to pick up my order called as it stated to do. A young lady came outside and had a bag with 2 small containers a one large one. I said that can't be my order I ordered alot of stuff. She went back in and I followed as she asked someone where the rest if my food was. Finally got my food and asked for cocktail sauce. It took I kid you not 10 minutes for me to get cocktail sauce so I could leave. Got home opened the food and order was wrong. I was missing my fried shrimp but had a extra order of catfish nuggets . The crab cake was burned. The cajun corn looked pretty bad. The catfish nuggets where overcooked as well and had ONE fried shrimp mixed in with it. The catfish nuggets had bits if hard things in it as if the flour or whatever it was breaded in needed to be changed. So obcourse I'm livid after spending almost a 100 dollars on takeout to get home to this.. A TOTAL WASTE OF MONEY AS EVERYTHING WAS BURNED AND I WAS MISSING PART IF MY ORDER. So much for giving them a second chance to support a local business. I tried to call but I'm guessing they where closed by time I got home to let them know about this and got No Answer. I feel like I was beat out of my money. Oh... the sauteed spinach and scallops where good. That's the only thing...

4 nods for Shark Bar...Hey yall. It's your Local Guide coming to you again with another great review.

This the one, this the spot I've been waiting for since becoming a transplant in this area. A nice, local hangout with good food, dope music and above average customer service, all in a safe and clean environment.

I'm finicky and normally it takes me awhile to warm up to a new establishment; I give them time to work out the kinks. We came on a Friday night to watch the NBA Finals and grab some drinks and eats. Arriving around 9pm the place was already in full swing. The bar was filled so we opted to sit at a high top in view of the several televisions. (The TVs could be a bit bigger, but whatever, they are plentiful however)

We were immediately serviced and asked what we wanted to drink and eat. I wanted a Margarita and asked the server what kind of Tequila would be used and he said 1800. Now yall I'm saddity...okay bougie too and refuse to drink cheap alcohol. 1800 isnt the best of the best, but I settled with that as I have that brand on my bar at home--I usually use Don Julio, Avión or Patron and 1800 is close behind.

However, when the drink came out and I tasted it I immediately knew cheap/rail alcohol was used. My guy tasted it and said it could be the Margarita mix they used. I thought, errrr maybe he was right and didn't mention anything to the server. But the next morning I woke up with a slight hangover from that one Margarita drink that I couldn't even finish...ya girl knows alcohol and the throbbing in my head confirmed it---a cheaper tequila was involved. Definitely NOT 1800. I also had two full glasses of water as well, as being hydrated is Libations Rule 101. There should not have been any reason for my head pain, other than whatever rail tequila was used. Not knocking strong, cheap drinks, they're just not for me.

Food came out fast, even considering the large Friday night crowd. We had the catfish nuggets and chicken and waffles. I enjoyed the nuggets (really delicious & filling), but my guy said the chicken strips were fried too hard. We actually wished they served chicken wings with the waffles instead of strips.

The DJ was on....his mix kept me rockin' in my seat all night. Absolutely no complaints.

Overall I will be back and highly recommend. I might even return in July for my birthday celebration. But I'm going to have to ensure that the bartenders know my drinks are special---made...

The food was good but it took almost two hours for us to receive our food. There weren’t a lot people in the restaurant either because of COVID. I did enjoy the food but I doubt I’d return.

Update: So 3 years later (post COVID) and I decided to return to Shark Bar. I have such a love hate relationship for this establishment because the food is actually really good BUT the service is absolutely terrible.

I went on a Thursday evening where they had a live band playing. Me and my guest arrived at 8pm didn’t get seated until 9:30pm, didn’t get served until 10pm and the kitchen closes at 11pm.

After complaining a couple times we FINALLY got served. Only to be told that they were only serving fried foods because the kitchen was behind. So basically if you waited all that time for chargrilled oysters you were definitely deflated when they casually said “fried foods only” once someone came over to serve us.

The manager was just very nonchalant in my opinion. He was just like “no one is getting up” because they don’t have a limit on tables, but then you have a notice on a QR code menu that says something about a 90 minute limit. So I was confused.

At that point I wish I was an undercover food critic or Bar Rescue because they really need a revamp in service. This is a popular establishment because of the food and live events. But the ratings will continue to be low because of the service. If they don’t care about that then cool. However, if you want more patrons, set a time limit or set a capacity limit. Also train your servers, just do something that makes the service and experience better for the customer. The food is not the issue.

So now $143 dollars and a two hour wait later we were finally able to eat and slightly enjoy ourselves. No offer of “hey let me cover your drink or appetizer for your experience tonight”.

We ended up tipping our waitress a total of $43, she got the 18% that was already included and an additional $23. This young lady was seating, serving, answering questions and de-escalating situations.

If you plan on visiting, maybe try going earlier in the day for a better experience.

Maybe I’ll wait another 3 years to see if things have changed lol. Like I said the food is good, the service is a -0.

Ps. And of course I’ve been to Shark Bar...