Sunshine Grille Bistro & Catering — Restaurant in Maryland

Before last night, we have had several breakfast meals at this establishment which have not disappointed; the breakfast meals offered: 1) value (meaning a lot of goodness for the money; about $30 for a breakfast for two) and 2) quality (meaning fresh ingredients prepared minutes before being served to us). Because of these good experiences, we decided to try dinner. I'm not saying we won't come back but I will patronize other local restaurants before returning...

We ordered a kid's meal with salmon, turkey sandwich with fries and gravy and the Rockport pasta. The salmon was a generous portion but it was dry, smelled fishy and served warm. The turkey sandwich was lean on meat, served warm (not hot) with a watery gravy. The Rockport pasta was served hot but with a mere three shrimp, rubbery chicken and a lousy sauce. I'll take a stab at it and say that your gravy(ies) and sauce(s) are devoid of real cream and butter while rich in flour, water and SALT...

If one looks at a map, this eat-in establishment is the only one around for more than a few miles. I want to patronize a local establishment but not when served subpar food. Last night's dinner lacked value and quality even though we dropped nearly $100.00 on this meal. To say we were disappointed is an understatement. I read another review from within the past week by another patron and it just seems that value and quality have both gone out the door. And I didn't mention the wait staff yet. We were ignored for long stretches of time and the place was barely half full. While eating the main courses, we needed water refills and napkins; we got neither during our dinner! We did end the evening on a fairly good note since we ordered a slice of Skyscraper cake which the three of us shared but it was quite pricey. There are a lot of good reviews about this establishment but our dinner meal was a big blunder!

n.b. We were considering your catering services for an upcoming wedding but we just don't want a genuine disappointment served up on our special day...

UPDATE to owner's response::

1. If you're doing something really good or something really bad, that's when I'll point it out to someone.
2. Who are you to challenge me (like you have challenged others in this forum) about my opinions and experiences; are patrons required to only gift you 4.5 stars and higher and anything less is unwelcome; I shared my truthful and genuine comments about our meal that night - you coined the word disaster... if it fits, own it & wear it!
3. I didn't voice any concerns that night (but I did the next day and not a month later) because we were celebrating my fiancee's birthday; we didn't need to drag the poor quality of the food and service into our celebration that eve.
4. While you seem to revel in attacking the messenger versus the message being conveyed here about dining in your establishment, you didn't take any responsibility for serving warm (not hot) food, inferior portions nor sauces and grav(ies) that are replete with flour, water and SALT. Given the way you appear to want to bully others who give your restaurant 1 star reviews, I guess this is a part of your character and also a real shame.
5. Yianni eventually did step in where the waitress failed but again, that was only after a very long pause in service and only after we had finished our meal.

One more thing, regarding your statement of a "mind-boggling breadth and variety of food" that you serve - let me offer another perspective - there is no way that your restaurant can be doing a 5 star rating on every entree you serve all the time. You might do better to consider trimming your menu and focusing on fewer entrees with more value and quality control... once again, I dropped a $100 bill on a dismal...

I cannot even begin to describe the love I have for the sunshine grille, especially the breakfast. If you read no further into this review I urge you to please check this place out for yourselves!

I want to highlight the exceptional hardworking staff before the food. They are dedicated to your dining experience ensuring that it is positive. Shout out to Irene! Her allowing my friend and I to make annoying requests combined with the delightful breakfast choices has become the reason we will be regular diners. Side note: I have been twice before and only had positive experiences with all the staff that has helped me.

Breakfast is my favorite, so I may be biased. I absolutely love a place you can go that can nail the cook on eggs, bacon, and pancakes (aka The Classic). I believe a true sign of a talented restaurant is how they serve eggs. I have ordered them two ways and they have come out perfect each time. My over easy-eggs had runny yolks. The scrambled eggs, fluffy (not rubbery or dry with that awful browning on the outsides). The bacon I requested to be extra crispy and I was satisfied. The pancakes have that little golden crust, but soft and fluffy on the inside. I am partial to the banana because they have little banana coins nestled within the batter. Now I must tell you, if you order home fries expect potato medallions that are soft and under seasoned. That can be easily fixed with some table-side salt and pepper, but I wanted to warn you. I have ordered a special they once had in the fall - banana fosters french toast. You had to love sweet, but this was a dream combo for french toast for me. As much as I love The Classic, I am going to branch out and continue to eat through the menu because all of it looks so good.

Okay onto lunch, I ordered Lamb Souvlaki to-go. I loved the saltiness of the lamb meat with the tang of the feta. A tad overdressed with a flavorful tzatziki because the toasted pita fell apart quickly. It delivered the most traditional and perfect flavor combination with only one issue, the disintegrating pita.

Sorry for the long winded review, but the delightful menu choices deserve to be highlighted. I hope this review convinces you to go out of your way to find this bistro nestled on the corner of Harford Rd and Fork Rd. Please...

I've been a fairly long-term customer at this restaurant, visiting periodically over the last ten years. There has definitely been a gradual decline in quality over the years and at this point, I don't anticipate returning again. Our last two visits in particular left a lot to be desired. Visit #1: Came for breakfast. My entire order was incorrect, like literally the entire thing. I didn't realize this on time to tell the waitress because she dropped it, left, and I didn't see her again until she came with the check. At that point, I just paid without complaining because I had made do with what I had. The restaurant was so busy, it was difficult to get any staff member's attention so I rolled with it. Visit #2: EXTREMELY overwhelmed staff. I don't know whether this place is suffering from a staffing shortage, or whether they purposely staff like this, but the staff were literally running around. I hope that when management reads this review, they understand that none of the specifics are directed at the staff. When you have three wait staff to cover a dining room that is literally bursting at the seams with people, who are also running food, this is what results. When our food began to arrive, we had to request silverware. No napkins were offered at all. Our drinks were not refilled at all until the manager suddenly appeared out of nowhere to intervene. I don't know what went down between this manager and the people helping us, but after he realized that we weren't having our drinks refilled the staff acted extremely frazzled and nervous around us, as if we had complained. I'm not going to go into specifics because I truly believe these staff were being ridden to work harder in an environment where they were already pushed to their absolute limits. I am almost certain that these staff were pulled aside and something said to them. While I'm grateful that the manager was being pro-active and trying to make sure we were being taken care of, what I don't appreciate is sitting in a restaurant where staff morale is clearly at an all time low. You can smell the misery and dread in the air. Management,...