David's — Restaurant in Severn

I don't generally get involved with doing reviews, but this I hope will help the leadership of David's toward a positive direction rather than scaring away future guest. Staying at the hotel my wife an I decided to give David's a try. The styling and design was tasteful. After being seated the manager, I believe, reviewed the menu for us. I found the live music way too loud. My wife sitting next to me I couldn't comprehend half the time. Our server took about 10 to 15 minutes to acknowledge us but didn't actually greet us for about a half hour. I couldnt understand 90 percent out of his mouth due to loud music and the fact his voice was practically a whisper. Our two beers took about 20 to 30 minutes. We ordered two crab corn chowder about another 30 minutes. The soup was good, but the crab meat garnish was sub par it appeared to be special not jumbo, super lump, lump or backfin. It was watery lacking flavor and had an off texture. I suspect possibly Asian or South American crab meat. The micro greens besides be a colorful garnish imparted an agreeable enhancement to the palate. Our entrees, my wife crabcake and me rockfish crab imperial, took about 30 minutes or more. My wife's crabcake was mounted ontop of a small jimmy hardshell crab. The top shell was removed but I noticed the upper section of its legs were not red. The crab was partially cooked. I guess it's more of a creative way at presentation but I wouldn't plate a crabcake with partially uncooked crab underneath. My rockfish was an extremely small narrow thin tail slice. I've been fishing the bay my whole life and have a strong suspicion that it wasn't wild rockfish but the farm raised hybrid of bass and rockfish. You can tell by the broken and uneven stripes on its sides. The fish arrived and I was amazed that someone could let this leave the kitchen. The fish itself was not just well done but agreejustly past well done not a drop moisture. It was cooked down to the point it was like fried pork rinds. And then the grand contrast the crab imperial mixture was this pale mushy flaccid paste spread ontop, not appealing at all. It was immediately sent back. I asked for a menu to order something else, which took way to long. I ordered a hamburger med. rare. The manager promised me she would make sure its cooked properly. After a considerable long time she said it would be 3 minutes which means another 20 minutes. A different server brought it out and...well done. I pushed it forward...I'm done.. I give up. You never want problems, but when they occur it's an opportunity to create a guest for life by listening and addressing the needs of your guest in a constructive expeditious manner. Food leaving the kitchen passes many hands, the line cooks, chef, expeditors, food runners, and servers. If it's not right you still have an opportunity to correct it, don't send out food that is sub par. And if something has to be refired or replaced have a manager personally run the food. As things slowly spiral out of control its if the staff becomes more sparce and non existent. At this point it's late at night and all I had was a bowl of soup. One detail I almost forgot, when my soup arrived I asked for fresh pepper from the pepper mill. She said we don't have a pepper mill...really... what's that ontop of the sideboard..oh. She brought over the pepper mill and placed it on the table and walked away. The correct action would be to offer pepper and grind it for your guest. As a whole the night was a complete failure on many levels. The menu appeared to be promising but fell short in delivering. Quality control non existent, set yourself up for success. When things head south you still have opportunities to rescue yourselves. I got up to my room at about 11:30 and shortly thereafter I started getting severe stabbing stomach pains, upper and lower GI track. I spent until 5 o'clock in the morning sick spilling my guts out in the bathroom. It was horrible. I had soup, a bite of fish and a bite...

I was excited to try this place in hope that it'd become a nice place for weekend brunches. This area has very few places that are as nice in appearance. Sadly, my experience here last Sunday for brunch was so disappointing.

First, they didn't even have a brunch menu. When asked, the hostess said they do have brunch that consist of some items that don't sound exciting. Maybe that's why it doesn't warrant its own menu.

My table thought they only served all-day breakfast items on this day because this menu was already on the table when we sat down. After seating, we were left alone for about 15 minutes. I had to go tell the hostess that we were ready to order.

Per our request, the waitress came to our table ready to take our orders. There was no introduction or explanation of the menu. However, unable to accept that a place like this would only have the few items on the all-day breakfast menu, we asked. Only then, the waitress brought the full regular and drinks menus.

The selections on these menus are varied. Many items sound appealing.

We ordered the David's Tea for Two, 5-Star Omelette, Buttermilk Pancakes, Crab Hash, and Burrata. Unfortunately, our disappointment escalated after we placed the food.

The shockingly slow and lack of service ruined our experience. It took forever for our drink and food to come out. For about 25 minutes, we were left to just sit there and wonder. The waitress never checked in with us.

When our drink came, it surprised us! We thought "for Two" meant the drink would come in a pitcher or such for us to pour into two glasses. No. This drink comes in one mug with two straws. We wish this were clarified on the menu or by the waitress.

After bringing out the drink, our waitress never came back to our table. A server named Rocky brought our food and became the highlight of our experience. He was polite and helpful. Noticing that our waitress has abandoned us, Rocky went above and beyond to ask what we needed and brought them.

The food was neatly presented. I liked the big lumps of crab meat in the hash. However, most of the food lacked flavors that would make them memorable. The one item worth detailing is the Burrata. Its heirloom tomatoes were firm, fresh, and vibrant in colors. The herbs were also fresh and fragrant. The ricotta was smooth and of quality that went well with the balanced balsamic reduction.

Our waitress didn't come to our table again until we flagged her down for the check. Even then, it took another 10 minutes for us to pay.

In addition to these service failures, other details that dampened my experience include seeing food stuck on one of the glasses, having to walk outside of the restaurant to use the bathroom, and paying on a small hard-to-use credit...

Went here for Happy Hour. The 2 hours that my group and I ended up spending there could not have been more unhappy. We arrived and the bar area was about half full. Certainly not overcrowded. We found a comfortable area for the six of us. Twenty minutes later, no server had arrived so a couple of us went to the bar to order some drinks. When we were finally able to catch the attention of a bartender, he asked us where we were sitting. We told him and he asked if we had seen a server. Why, you might ask would we approach the bar if we had seen a server, but logic does not apply here. We responded that we had not and was he sure that there was one? I sure hope so, he replied. Not encouraging. 15 minutes later, since no server could be seen and we still had no cocktails, we went back to the bar. The first bartender that we spoke to would not even look in our direction, but we were able to get another bartender to take an order of drinks and an appetizer. When the mozzarella stack (large 5 inch by 5 inch deep fried slabs of mozzarella) arrived at the table, the person informed us that they were not a server and could not take an order from us. They also brought no silverware, or appetizer plates or napkins. The dish looked lovely, although there was no way to eat it. Someone brought over one set of silverware for the 6 of us to share. They then asked if we would like more silverware and appetizer plates. Sigh. 20 minutes later, someone from the restaurant came over and said that they were sending a server over. A mere hour after we arrived a server finally appeared. He asked us if we would like to move to the dining area so that he could serve us. When we told him that we were settled into our area, he informed us that he could not serve us and left. A manager could then be seen having an animated discussion with the server. He reappeared and told us that he could take an order from us. An hour and a half after we arrived, we were finally all served a cocktail and appetizers. One of which was wrong. They offered us cornbread for our troubles, which is one of their specialties. The saddest part of this story is that they appetizers were actually quite good. The mozzarella stack, calamari, and the cornbread were well seasoned, prepared and flavorful. All of that is completely overshadowed by the utter lack of customer service. My friends and I would absolutely not return to...