Thanks! Might save that for a few months when it's warmer!

Thanks! I'll mention the River Watch to her, too!

Thanks for the ideas. We did go and try Original Fish and Chips this past weekend and it was good. Had read that they were voted best fish/chips in Baltimore area. Chips not great, but fish/seafood was very good. Thanks for the other ideas; we'll try them out. And seeing as it only takes 30 minutes to get downtown, looks like she can enjoy what the city has to offer, too!

My daughter just moved to Middle River, MD and it's an area neither of us know well. Looking for two suggestions: 1) high end restaurant for special occasion and 2) other great food...any type, we're open to all! Thanks!!

We had mussels as one of the appetizers...they were good, as were the escargot! Lucky for you that you've been there on good days! We will not be going back!

Having lived in the DC/Baltimore area for many years, I had heard of Mannequin Pis and generally, it had good word of mouth reviews. Here, in a nutshell, is what we went through:
- I made reservations online a week in advance and was informed that just because you make a reservation does not mean you have that time reserved; you must get a confirmation call.
- Waking up one morning last week to see that I had gotten two calls after 10pm the night before, no messages left. A quick Google search said that it was Mannequin Pis calling me. No messages, mind you.
- I then proceeded to call them 4 times during business hours to have my reservation confirmed. On the 4th call, over a period of days, someone finally answered and told me, nope, sorry, we're booked for that night. I had to explain that I had already made reservations. So the day before our reservations, I was finally able to get confirmation that we could have dinner.
- Our waiter, while sweet, spoke so softly that we had to constantly ask him to repeat what he was saying. The first beer we picked was out of stock; we were told they had sold out the night before. The second beer was also out of stock. Was there not time in that 20 hour period to run to a beer store or call a distributor and get more?? We finally ended up telling him the type of beer we wanted and said to bring anything that fit that description.
- We both ordered one of the weekend specials. It sounded great. Within a few minutes, our soft-spoken waiter returned to say that the special had sold out the night before as well.
- The appetizers we ordered were the highlight of the meal, however, a woman kept coming to our table, asking if we were done with them when it was clear there was still food in both dishes and we were in the process of chewing.
- As a replacement dinner for the one that was sold out (and if you run out of a special one night, but know you have to serve the special the next night, am I crazy or wouldn't you make more the next morning so you're ready?!?!) was steak. Holy cow, we could have gotten a better quality cut of meat at our local Safeway and grilled it up ourselves!!! And the "greens" advertised in the menu that came with our meals was a handful of lettuce, tossed on the plate, no dressing, just straight out of the cellophane bag.
- For the $90+ dollars we spent, we think we probably got about $15 worth of food. The service was abysmal and the overall attitude that this restaurant is a little piece of Belgium in Central Maryland is laughable. Steak with french fries and dry lettuce is not indicative of Belguim or any other European country.
- Please change your mind and do not go here. There are so many other places that are outstanding. Drive a few extra miles and have a wonderful dinner somewhere else!

I have a daughter at Towson University, but I'm not well-versed with the restaurants in the area. She will be turning 20 in a couple weeks and I'd like to take her and a handful of college friends to something nicer than pizza and less than jacket & tie. Does anyone have any suggestions of good places anywhere around the north end of Baltimore/ 695 that would be fun for a group of mostly college kids?

I'll be on business travel in Tampa for St. Patrick's Day and wondered if anyone could suggest a sure-fire Irish meal restaurant I could go to with my friends?? Thanks!!

I'm really curious about others experiences at Iron Bridge Wine Co. in Columbia, MD. I rarely make an opinion on one visit, but this may a first for me. We went last night, which, unfortunately, was a wine tasting night and the place was packed. No problem, we diligently waited our turn and were seated after an hour.

After that it just goes downhill. Service was less than optimal and other diners, seated near us and after us, were receiving their appetizers and main courses long before us. We rarely saw our wait person. While our appetizer was fun and interesting, the main courses were less than desired. "Cheesesteak" is a filet with a side of mac n cheese. Good concept. Horrible mac n cheese. It was as if the chef had mixed cheese whiz with elbows and then added water.

A positive note, the wine was very good. We are not afficionados, but our server was able to recommend two wonderful reds which we enjoyed quite a bit.

I'm looking for a reason to go back, but it sure won't be based on our experience from last night. Anyone have some good feedback for us?