By The Docks — Restaurant in Middle River

It’s disappointing to have to write this review because I’m a LONG time customer.

A couple of months ago, I came for dinner and the quality of food and taste were definitely off from what I’ve been used to getting here. We assumed the kitchen was having a bad day or something.

On 2/14/24, I called at 734p before heading their way to see how it was looking since it was Valentine’s Day. In short, the female that answered told me that they are booked right now and not taking reservations, but since it’s only two in my party, I could come and wait as a walk in or see if there’s availability at the bar.

The restaurant is a 45min drive from my home. When I arrived, I was told that they aren’t taking walk ins, so I made them both aware of my conversation with one of them before heading their way; they both denied speaking with me, but were the only two staff members at the hostess desk and answering the phone calls coming in. They weren’t friendly nor helpful and were clearly irritated and a bit overwhelmed with the number of reservations, etc. for the night. We (amongst many other patrons) heard their conversations with people calling in and the remarks they were making between each other about those calls-very unprofessional.

We waited no more than 20min and two seats at the bar became free.

We sat at the bar for 8min before anyone even acknowledged our presence. We had to ask for menus. We only waited about 5min or so before receiving our first drink order once we placed it. We waited about 10min or so before anyone came back or appeared to be free and had to ask if we can put our food order in.

They only had a special menu for Valentine’s Day and made it clear that the kitchen was not permitting substitutions and you couldn’t order anything that’s not on the menu. Our meals came with asparagus, carrots and small potatoes. We had originally asked to substitute the potatoes for rice on one and fries on the other and were advised of the kitchen policy, but they sure did make an exception for us to purchase a side of the rice (not listed on the menu as a side, but listed with another menu item as an accompanying side) for $6.

It took about a half hour for the food to come out. While waiting, another guest came to the bar from a bar floor table stating that his steak was raw. Soon after, one of the ladies next to us was inquiring about her food that she ordered two hours ago and had apparently driven here from PA just to eat here. We got our food before she did and I must say, she was pretty calm about it, so kudos to her for that! Now, about the food we received… The imperial sauce was the same as it was a couple of months ago-not good. The crabcake was dry & flavorless. The lobster was a bit dry as it had just been overcooked; no butter served with it either. The shrimp were overcooked as well. The scallops were almost at the undercooked mark. They served me two small pcs of dry broccolini & potatoes and the other person in my party zucchini instead of the asparagus & carrots; when I brought it to the bartender’s attention, she attempted to immediately speak with the kitchen when a man (possibly mgt) informed her that they ran out of asparagus so they substituted broccolini. I asked about the carrots; the other bartender went to ask the kitchen & was told they ran out of carrots as well. Serious lack of communication between different positions of staff. Our bartenders were great though, once you got your turn with them-there were only two.

As a whole, the restaurant seemed to have taken on more than they could handle regarding the number of reservations/guests that they had. Every level of staff seemed overwhelmed and shorthanded.

The quality and taste of the food just does not seem to be as good anymore as it had been for so many years.

Since we came back on Valentine’s Day, I may give them one last opportunity on a non-holiday day just to see if the kitchen really just had a bad night a couple of months ago and a busy night tonight or if something really did change and they just aren’t up to...

Born and raised in Harford County Maryland, I can appreciate a good crab cake. When I moved to Pennsylvania in 2007, I learned there's no such thing as a good crab cake in Pennsylvania.  Having gone to many restaurants in Pennsylvania,  I stopped looking for the ultimate crab cake.  Pennsylvania is known for its Pennsylvania Dutch food that doesn't include crabs.

What makes a great crab cake?  A great crab cake has these qualities:

It has large succulent chunks of crab meat

It has very little filler and won't fall apart easily

It has a robust flavor

It has fewer ingredients and more real crab

Size matters. Eight ounces of minimum majestic crab meat upward to 14 ounces!  Yes, they are a heavy mound of delightful, savory mass of crustacean meat

The crab stuffing had air fried exterior oily free crunchiness and firm but mildly moist chewy interior

In my early adult years, I lived in Abingdon, Maryland, home to the most popular crab cakes in the country, Box Hill Pizzeria! Yep, a small town local pizzaria blossomed into a full scale eat in dining restaurant that sells seafood state wide. They sell the most amazing crab crakes.

Out of curiousity, I always wondered if there were better crab cakes to be found.  I embarked on my crab cake quest for the ultimate crab cake contender.

On the docks, Middle River, Maryland, was a favorite contender in the 1990s.  My favorite dish there was the stuffed lobster. My fondest memory was the large size of moist, firm lobster stuffed with mouth watering firm, flavorful mounds of lump crab meat.  I remember it was so stuffed, I was able to eat the crab 'stuffing' for three days!

Twenty-five years later, I returned to see if my favorite meal was still there, Stuffed lobster!  It's a timeless entree served with mini home baked rolls. I admit, I didn't care for the rolls much because they just didn't have that flakey interior out of the oven freshness.  Nor were they piping hot. I dont doubt they were yesterday's rolls.

I ordered a plate with a sufficient amount of crunchy, pricy, mildly seasoned calamari.  This appetizer alone was very filling and worth a try.

Our meal arrived a good 20 minutes moved later. I moved on to the savory rosemary flavored roasted, semi crunchy, butter basted mini potatoes. I'm not a fan of potatoes, but I did enjoy these magical mini mounds. They were bursting with flavor!

Next on the plate was asparagus. They were the large round fleshy kind. I didn't care for them at all. While they were cooked somewhat soft and a little less fiberous than most asparagus, they left little to be desired. This $50 meal deserved thin asparagus!

I moved onto the baby carrots. They were cooked tender and picked up the delicious flavor of everything else, but leaving the carrot greens on the end was just plain weird and annoying.

The lobster, approximately 10 oz, was tough, dry, and full of broken lobster shells, and had no particular flavor beyond buttered lobster.  I was very surprised how mutilated the lobster shells were when I tried to pull the lobster out of the shell.

The 'stuffing', crab meat, had a very homemade horseradish yellow mustard like look and taste with slightly more moist breading filler than Box Hill.  It was mildly crunchy outside with a robust, mildly spicy, but too much yellow mustardy taste. The amount of crab meat probably was about eight ounces, not like my memory of the late 1990s stuffed lobster serving I had in which the huge amount of stuffing lasted me three days.  Still, it was a sufficient amount to compare it to Boxhill Pizzeria.

While the new revamped interior remodeling from years gone by is a huge plus, the food was not on par for the price.  I have to give this pricy meal...

Wanted to celebrate my birthday on Labor Day 2024. Heard so many good things about this seafood restaurant. Apparently those that recommended this place probably haven't been there awhile. My philosophy is simple as I am a restaurant critic and food blogger. Treat each customer the best and they'll come back again. Think of the customer as free advertising. Walked in and although we had reservations we were put in the back. There were plenty of tables in the front or mid section. Granted maybe the waiter we were assigned to had back tables responsibility. This wasn't a cheap inexpensive restaurant and maybe they should consider that customers may be offended. Needless to say we were greeted by our waiter. Sometimes waiters can ve too a commodities. Ge asked us if everything was OK every second he saw us. Don't get me wrong but I feel he was going a little overboard. We heard that there cream of crab was excellent. My wife and daughter love cream of crab and instead of ordering a cup they ordered the bowl which was huge. Maybe the cook was having a really off day but to put it bluntly no taste, tasted strange, no semblance of crab flavor at all. Terrible!!!!! I ordered a T Bone Steak. I thought one side is a rib eye and the other side is a sirloin strip. I only got the rib eye portion attached to the bone and there was 90% fat and very little beef. My daughter had a sirloin strip. It was cut so thick she wanted medium rare. It came out raw.!!!! My wife had the crab cake and it was so so. We had oysters on the half shell. Yes they were freshly shucked but we ordered 2 orders one dozen combined of clans casino. Yes there was the bread crumbs peppers and onions and bacon but they had it under the broiler a little too long. Why? The clams were so tough! You may ask why I didn't complain. I wasn't in the mood to argue and raise my. Good pressure and die. I teach cooking at 2 community colleges, and know all the excuses. Why bother. I'd rather share my experiences with you guys. We paid big bucks and got terrible food! Believe me it was horrendous. My wife said after the fact that there was new owners or management change? Well it was for the worst. Yes I know alot of establishment hunted during the pandemic and inflation us taking a beating on business but if you expect to earn a little profit them you need to pickup and actually care about quality because one bad review can hurt any business! Wordcspreads pretty quickly and no one is going to spend monies on food and be disappointed. Others have said, give them another chance, they may have had a bad night. I say absolutely no way! Your...