The Bowman — Restaurant in Maryland

I hate leaving sub-par reviews, but felt the need to share. We dined at the bar on a relatively busy Saturday night. We came pretty early for dinner service, just before 5pm. We were promptly greeted where drink orders were taken. After that, things started to fall apart.

Food was very good, by the way. We do want to come back...

However, the bartenders became very busy between the actual bar (which had very few people sitting at it) and the tables in the bar area. Working in the service industry myself, I noticed a real lack of efficiency where the bartenders didn't seem to have designated jobs (i.e. one takes care of tables versus the other takes care of the bar/service bar for the restaurant, and they overlap as needed). There seemed to be no communication between them. We noticed several times that the bartenders would run food instead of leaving it to the actual food runners. And when you're not running your bar efficiently, you probably should not take on another person's job.

Additionally after our initial drink order and ordering a couple of apps, we waited patiently for someone to come back to get our entrée order. When apps came, we had no plates, napkins or silverware and had to ask for them. This took several minutes after food was dropped off.

When entrées came out, one of the bartenders oversaw the delivering of the food, but then berated the food runner in front of us about a shrimp salad wrap versus a seafood wrap. Completely inappropriate and very uncomfortable. We ordered another round of drinks at the opportunity of having the bartender actually paying attention to us.

Eventually we were asked how the food was, and got take home containers. We received two small containers (there were three of us) and had to also ask for some small separate containers for the coleslaw and macaroni salad so they didn't just leak liquid all over the rest of the food. Asked if we needed a bag, to which we said, "yes" - and it never came.

Not that we were going to order dessert or additional drinks, but we weren't asked about it (missed opportunity to upsell). Then when we put our credit cards out indicating readiness to pay, we got a head nod acknowledgement, but waited 20/25 minutes before the check even came. Then reviewed the check before waiting some more for credit cards to be run.

I can understand being busy. But having worked in places like this, the inefficiency and also lack of management (we didn't see any apparent managers around or anyone else helping the bar), was very obvious.

One other thing noticed - the scooping of ice using pint glasses instead of ice scoops. This is a dangerous practice. Risky. Glass can break or chip in the ice container. It's a food safety violation, and not a sanitary practice. I would highly recommend that management address that issue. Especially when the ice scoops sat there in the ice bin the entire time. I think we saw the ice scoop...

My family have been going to The Bowman for Thanksgiving for the last 6 years, or more. The food and service has always been excellent, until last year. Last year (2023) we had a reservation and arrived on time. We were told it would be about a 20 minute wait, so we ordered drinks at the bar and waited. The 20 minutes, plus had passed. I asked the Hostess about our table and she then told me we had to check in with another Hostess just inside the door leading to the back dining area. This was unacceptable, but not to make a scene I let it go. When we were finally seated, we waited for at least 20 to 30 additional minutes before I finally asked the Hostess if we could get some service. The server arrived shortly after, but was very rude and acted as if we were bothering her. The food was subpar also. Even though we had a bad experience, we decided to give The Bowman another try this year (2024). Again, we had a reservation and arrived early. We were seated immediately, there wasn’t very many people in the front room, where we were seated. The server showed up right away. We requested waters and cocktails. The cocktails arrived and I had to ask for water again. The server was obviously inexperienced in waiting tables. He lacked any etiquette in serving, He didn’t introduce himself, he asked things like “What do you want?” instead of “Is there anything else I can get you?” “Have you decided on what you’d like?” and such. After we received our food, he was nowhere to be found. The next issue is not his fault. We all ordered the Filet Mignon meal. The steaks were all cooked improperly. I requested medium rare and it was rare, my sons ordered medium and his was medium rare, my daughter asked for well done and got medium. The corn was bland canned corn. Neither my son nor I ate the corn. I couldn’t eat my steak, so I took it home and cooked it properly for the next evening. What is unsettling is that the entire time my plate with the corn and untouched steak lay on the table and our server never once asked if there was something wrong. I have to say that the drinks were not bad, the mashed potatoes and the cream of crab soup were good also. To say the least, it was a unanimous decision that we won’t be back. We are sad to have lost a good...

Party of six. Host at the door is amazing! We love him. Server was very friendly and attentive. Food was timely and delicious. Good band playing outside. So far, perfect night. Paid our dinner bill and moved to the high tops. Karaoke was starting and that’s why we were there. I drove down for Cape Cod for the weekend. It was my nieces 21st birthday. It was busy for the one bartender we saw. We walked up to the bar after gathering the tables order. The bartender explained that she would have to come over and check IDs. My niece has a Valid Maryland ID that has her birthdate explaining that she is 21 years old and it is not expired. The bartender said she had to get her manager because of the format of the ID meaning it is vertical and not horizontal. The “” manager.” Said that she could not accept the ID just because of the format. She then asked if my niece had her social security card. She of course did not but that leads me to question if she would have taken the ID if she had. So is it that you don’t take vertical IDs even when they are not expired or that the inexperience of the manager dictates who is served. I explained to her that the format had nothing to do with whether she could take it or not, and even showed her the Maryland law explaining that there are two types of IDs that are issued, but it does not say that you cannot accept one that is vertical, she said she was afraid to get in trouble and the owner wasn’t there. My nieces memory of her 21st birthday will be that she couldn’t get served with a valid ID at The Bowman. The “manager” turned what would have been a great birthday into a horrible memory. Ignorance is not an excuse. We went somewhere else right down the street who served her and we had a great time. Your loss. And the worst part is we really like going there, but we probably...