Michael's Cafe White Marsh-Middle River — Restaurant in Middle River

Michael’s, Michael’s, Michael’s, where shall I begin? I took my mom and my mother-in-law here for Mother’s Day lunch. There was no wait we were seated immediately. Our waitress came over within a reasonable amount of time we order appetizers and drinks that came out in a timely manner. Our waitress was very hospitable and nice, we sat at a four top part booth part pullout chair, to our horror, the table kept toppling over anytime we leaned on it. Nonetheless, we ordered drinks. They were fine. We proceeded to order entrées, we all got the crab imperial and we all opted for the spinach as a side dish. Unfortunately, the spinach was disgusting. It was not completely cooked, very very chewy and to add insult to injury, it didn’t have any flavor. We brought this to the attention of our server and requested a replacement side dish to which we were told that there were a few sides that we could substitute, but if we wanted other sides there would be a two dollar charge per side. Of course, we asked to speak to the manager, who then came over excuse my French, but looking kind of dumbfounded, we explained the situation and she began to reiterate that she could only replace our sides if we paid the two dollars per side. I told her that that is not how it was explained to us per the server, and that in all my years of dining, I’ve never heard a restaurant say anything like this, probably because it’s ridiculous…had we not been satisfied without our entrées, would we have been expected to pay a surcharge to have something else bought out that was to our liking? So after the three of us attempted to explain to her why we should not have to pay two dollars when the spinach is gross. She then offered to take the tasteless spinach back and cook it more. 😩 At the end of this little debate session, she decided to offer us ONLY brussels sprouts as a replacement for no charge. My mom and my mother-in-law were over it and they had decided that they didn’t want anything else from Michael’s at that point. I told her to bring them, hey I like brussel sprouts! Interestingly, she brought out one gigantic plate of brussels sprouts that were almost burnt to a crisp. There were a few on the plate that were actually edible. The rest of them were so crunchy, They were like potato chips on the outside. (see photo) At that point I was completely over it! 😠 the waitress horrified by what we just experienced, offered to pay for our desserts. We asked for them to go in a hurry to just get out of there, only to get the bill and see that she had only comped one dessert, and the burnt brussels sprouts 🤔 Needless to say, I will never recommend anyone to go here, we will not return…ever! And they should probably do some type of remedial training with their staff and management teams to make sure that Customer Service is a top priority for without customers there is...

We had reservations Saturday, April 13, it was 4 of us. arrived at 7pm, was seated promptly. The place has high ceilings, very loud. I like the intimacy and layout of Michaels on York Rd. The waitress immediately came over to see what we wanted to drink, after bringing our drinks we asked for a couple of minutes to review menu. She then kept on coming over asking us if we were ready to order, it was somewhat overkill. The prices on the menu are outrageously high for that area, $16 cheesesteak, wow! We placed an appetizer and one person ordered cream of crab soup, about 15 minutes later, the calamari arrived, still waiting on cream of crab soup, something that should be ready. After another 10 mins the soup arrived, they upgraded it to a bowl for taking so long. The rolls they offered were very good. We placed our order and it took forever for it to come out, our waitress went MIA for the longest time, we had to keep on asking the busboy and the manager for more butter for the bread as they barely offer any. I went to the restroom and saw the manager standing near that area and told him we have been waiting probably 45 minutes for our food; greek salad (small and blah), cheese steak (WAY TOO MUCH BREAD and barely any meat, come on), a crabcake sandwich, and a filet with potatoes... should not take 45 minutes! We ordered fries as well, it was like they opened a bag of frozen string potatoes, they were horrible. When our food was served, the person serving the food had her fingers inside each dish, to me this is unacceptable, never put your fingers inside of someone's food when serving. Overall experience was not good, doubt if I will return, I will go to the Michael's on York Rd if I have to, better menu selection, better food. Like I mentioned, if you are going to offer a $16 cheesesteak, load it up with meat, use better bread/roll, (tasted like it was stale/day old and just too much of it!), take a lesson from DiPasquale's, Ravage Deli, Cannella's, or Dominicks, they load the meat up and their bread is perfect. They definitely need to do something about the loudness in there as well, i'm not that old, but it is overbearing with the high ceilings. As we were leaving and heading toward 43, I noticed 5 employee's standing behind the building smoking. To me, this is a no-no. You want to smoke, smoke when you leave, just does not look good seeing your employees out back smoking, I guess that is where our waitress disappeared to for such a long time. On a side note, I did speak with Josh the manager before I left and filled him on my concerns, he is really nice and I'm hoping things will change there...

So Friday I woke up craving shrimp and grits. I live in Harford County and I didn’t think I could find a place near me with delicious shrimp and grits. I googled shrimp and grits near me and the first thing that popped up was Bar Louie White marsh so that’s where I went. Bar Louie whitemarsh was a horrifying experience from start to finish. First I get there only to find out they recently changed their menu and are no longer offering shrimp and grits. I could’ve cried. Instead I googled to find another place near where I could get shrimp and grits near me. Micheal’s Cafe whitemarsh middle river popped up and I went there. Luckily they did offer shrimp and grits. My waitress was way better than the waitress at Bar Louie but not great. I’d give her a 7/10. I was torn between a Wild West or an Old Fashion drink. She helped me choose the old fashion and I must say it was superb. I’d give the drink a 10/10. The drink was the highlight of the restaurant. The bar tender deserves a raise in my opinion. My second drink was a patron margarita and that was good a solid 8/10. I ordered 1/2 dozen raw oysters as my appetizer and they were delicious. They were fresh and honestly I should’ve just order a pound as my main dish. The complimentary bread and butter tasted god awful. That was the first time I turned a carb down. The shrimp and grits unfortunately also were disgusting. This was a very tragic situation. It didn’t taste seasoned or like the chef tried. However, I will say it was plated beautifully. All in all I’d rate my experience here a 5/10 for the shrimp and grits. I left here and actually cried. I tried to eat a shrimp just because I love shrimp and the shrimp was so bad I spit it out in a napkin and left it on the table. I actually left all my food on the table paid, tipped and left. I didn’t ask for a manager or send the food back I just left and cried. I felt robbed honestly $100 for oysters and an old fashion? Well the old fashion was delightfully delicious. I’d go back here just to eat oysters and sit at the bar. I wouldn’t eat anything other than the oysters. I’ll add a photo of my table when I left the restaurant with all...