Crush

I made reservations 2 weeks ago for group dinner of 10 at Crush. I called several times over the last few days to confirm my reservation and no one ever answered the phone. I finally sent an email last night to confirm my reservation when the restaurants manager responded they were closed! So I’m left to find a reservation for 10 people with less than 24 hours notice. I don’t know what’s going on but this is bad business!

Very poor service. We had a group dinner for work. They mixed up everyone’s order, had no idea who ordered what, and were totally inflexible in what individuals wanted just because we were in a large group (20 people).
All the steaks came out at once and got cold as all the fish came out 5 minutes later, followed by all the chicken 5 minutes after that.
Salads were boring and underderessed. Shrimp and grits were delicious, but minuscule portion.
Absolutely nothing was above a B+. unremarkable. Don’t waste your time or money.

Today we had surprisingly good experience at Crush.
No, it wasn’t the same WOW experience that we were accustomed at Demi (the «underground» addition of Crush that was unfortunately closed), but this time the food tasted much better then we remembered and the service was just OUTSTANDING. If it will continue this way we don’t see any reason not to become the regulars here.

Went here with a friend for dinner. It was pretty easy to find and it was nice inside other than that I was underwhelmed. I can’t remember what I had and that speaks volumes for me because I love food! That being said won’t be returning…

Went for a few drinks and appetizers for my birthday and I will say this is a pretty chill spot. Ample outdoor seating, and ample bar seating. We sat at the bar and the bartenders were attentive. We just ordered a few appetizers (they were ok… nothing to rave about). I had the grapefruit crush and it was really good actually. Would go back for that drink.
Over all a good experience.

Four of us went to Crush last night for dinner, and we definitely enjoyed ourselves. Yes, it is not an inexpensive place to eat, but it is very nice, very trendy, and a pleasant place to dine.
All four of us got the prix fixe menu, and there was enough variance that we could have easily all gotten different starters, entrees, and desserts, and that keeps the cost down considerably. The drinks added to the tab, but all of them were very good as well.
Three of us had the spinach salad with feta and pumpkin seeds, and it was excellent (I said we COULD have all gotten different meals, not that we did ;-). The feta crumbles didn’t overpower the rest of the flavors of the salad, and the vinaigrette dressing was superb. The fourth had the shrimp starter with tomato sauce over grits and that was excellent.
The main dishes we ordered included «airplane» chicken, the blackened chicken and pasta, and the filet of beef. All were good, solid dishes. The chicken was tender and flavorful and the beef was good. Nothing outstanding, but nicely done in all cases.
Finally, we did all have different desserts. The chocolate flourless cake with raspberry sorbet, the blueberry almond sponge cake, the apple caramel cake, and the ice cream all met with our approval. We finished our meals full and pleased.
So why doesn’t Crush get 4 or even 5 stars? Well, the meals were all good, but the starters and desserts easily overshadowed the main dishes. It’s as if they were willing to try some new things as bookends to the meal but not along the center. I guess I expected a bit more from Crush and, while I enjoyed myself and would go back again, I probably won’t go out of my way to do so. I look forward to trying their «small plates» option sometime and would not talk anyone out of going there, but you have to adjust your expectations.
Crush looks great and the service is very nice, but the food needs to step up a bit to meet the promise.

Oh, the perils of a doomed restaurant location. Crush didn’t have the dough to renew it’s liquor license. Demi, the terrific restaurant incarnation in the bowels of Crush, just closed. No booze is a crusher. Nah, nah, nah, nah, hey, hey, hey, goodbye.

Just wanted to add a quick update. Came to Crush last night for dinner, this time baby in tow. I always appreciate when people are happy to accommodate small children, especially when another staffer (not our server) came over to let us know we were welcome and to compliment our child on her good behavior. Since we were seated right above the bar, our daughters playful chattering was drowned out by the noise. It is rare to find a place that happily seats children, but also has decent ambiance but this is it!
Would be a 5 star review, except the prices are a bit steep. One more tip, order the field green salad! The dressing is amazing. For the second time, I ordered the «vegetarian risotto.» It is SO good. It’s huge so once again I brought half home but would gladly eat it for dinner again tonight!

My dining companion and I were of split opinions on this one — I liked the food, the generous pours of wine, and the ambiance, even on a slow Monday evening, and he felt the food was overpriced for the small serving sizes. A good special event destination, but possibly not for voracious eaters.

For the price, I want the food to scream my name. It didn’t, but it was pretty decent.
The complimentary bread seemed a bit stale, but it was still okay focaccia. We ordered crush drinks, of course. The grapefruit crush was refreshing, a bit pricey for the booze type included, but okay. We just went with sides, kind of bar food style. The lobster mac and cheese and the truffle fries were our choices. The lobster mac was yummy, but it was no Wit & Wisdom tavern mac. I feel like adding lobster just makes it sound upscale, but it does nothing for the Velvetta-​esque shells and cheese. Luckily, I like Velvetta. The truffle fries were pretty tasty though. Not duck fat though =/​But, they were still pretty tasty with a helping of parmesan cheese and some salt. The truffle flavor was there, but was for from overwhelming. We opted to go to Wit & Wisdom for dessert. It was okay, but I’d leave it at that.
We played musical chairs at the restaurant. The waitress was nice, but decided to move us in the midst of our bread munching because the group next to us was planning on expanding. It was a pain, but she was nice about it.
I’d probably go back, but I wouldn’t beg and plead.

My (new!) fiancé and I had dinner here last night for NYE. All the reviews seemed like the experience at Crush could basically either be great or be awful. Thankfully, we were much closer to great. My only real complaint is that the menu on the website was pretty different from the menu at the restaurant, and it wasn’t a special NYE menu and it didn’t seem like it was just a seasonal menu. I like to/​am somewhat obsessive about checking the menu before I go somewhere so that was a little disappointing but everything we got was really good.
We both ordered from the prix fixe menu ($ 42) and I got the caesar salad, salmon with butternut risotto and haricot verts, and almond blueberry cake. He got the calamari, roasted chicken (with really awesome bacon fingerling potatoes), and the flourless chocolate cake. Everything was really good.
No complaints about service and we were seated promptly for our 8:30 reservation. There are a few other things on the menu I’d like to try so I’ll definitely be back.

A big group of friends and I went here recently for a birthday dinner. We called ahead, kind of last minute (a couple of hours ahead, b/​c our other reservation fell through), asked them if they were willing and able to accomodate ten people. They said sure, come on by.
Once there, we were seated promptly, where our large tables were set up. I liked the ambiance very much – trendy, clean lines, modern, nice bar, bamboo wood elements, etc. But unfortunately that is where the good things about Crush end.
Everything on the menu sounded good, but was a bit pricey. I went into thinking, «well, it’s a special occasion, so let’s just go for it,» but I regret spending my hard-​earned cash here. The food, once it arrived, was nicely plated and visually appealing, but the food is nothing to write home about. Not one bit. For $ 20 – 30 per plate, I expect my food look AND taste good.
All of this, I could deal with, but the one thing that bothered me the most was the bad service. Our party waited OVER TWO HOURS to get our food. I understand we were a big group, but there is no excuse for a higher-​end restaurant kitchen to take that long. For goodness sake, most of us got SALADS. We got to Crush initially around 7:30 p.m.; we weren’t eating until 9:30 — 10:00 p.m.
The only redeeming factor about this place were the drinks. They were all pretty good – They have a few good beers on tap, an extensive wine list, and a few interesting dessert cocktails. If I ever end up going back here (which is unlikely), it would be for drinks only.

I tried Crush for the first time during restaurant week, although my parents have been here a few times and are always happily satisfied. Although I did enjoy my meal, after looking at the menu and reading some pretty good reviews, I’ll admit I was a bit disappointed.
For my first course, I tried the Napoleon (a stack of fried green tomatoes, crab, and avacado)– and while you can never go wrong with these three ingredients, I wasn’t thrilled with it. I chose the chicken for my second course– and the chicken itself was not anything special. Luckily for me, the chicken came with a side of lobster mac and cheese, asparagus, and crispy onions which was terrific, but alas, it was just on the side of a dry breast of chicken. Though I typically never say no to a chocolate cake option, I chose the apple cake with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce and I was very satisfied with my delicious choice.
The food was above average and while we weren’t paying the full price due to the magic of restaurant week, I can’t help but think that this place is much like the one it replaced (Taste). Each of the items on the menu sound great on paper but they just end up being a bit disappointing. While it’s certainly not the most expensive place in Baltimore, it’s not cheap– and if I was paying full price, I would have been much more upset with my meal.
Crush has a trendy, upscale ambiance unlike anything else in the Belvedere Square area– they really have transformed this venue that was once a shoe store. With a nice, large bar and several private dining areas, I’d say this would be a good place for a private party if you’re looking for one in the area.

Tried Crush for the first time this weekend and loved it! Fun, trendy atmosphere — great food and drinks — perfect for a night out! Will definitely be back!

Went here for Restaurant Week with my husband and another couple, so I can only comment on the food and not whether it was worth their normal menu price.
My Meal:
1) Soup of the Day — nice, creamy corn soup. It was very warm and filling for such a cold night.
2) Roasted Chicken Breast, Lobster mac & cheese, asparagus, & crispy onions — chx was a substantial size, very moist, and seasoned very well. It had a slight smoky flavor. The only thing i found wrong with it (and this is like pulling teeth) was the chicken skin was a little too greasy for my taste. The lobster mac & cheese was AMAZING! It was so good that after letting everyone at the table try some, we decided to order a separate side of just the lobster m & c. ($ 10 for a good size bowl of it).
3) Chocolate ganache — creamy and soft. very yummy. i prefer my ganache served colder. this one was more of room temperature.
His Meal:
1) Shrimp & Grits — very, very delicious. Grits were cooked nicely and not too overpowering. I wouldn’t have minded if the shrimp portion was a little larger.
2) Bistro Steak — steak is sous vide so it came out to a perfect medium rare. the blue cheese added a nice kick to it. My husband ate the whole thing and said it was just the right portion.
3) Chocolate ganache — (see above rating)
Overall, all four of us were really, really pleased with our meal! Their beer and wine selection is not so great, but I had their pomegranate martini and it was pretty good… not too sickeningly sweet like some other places i’ve tried.

What’s restaurant week without trying somewhere that you keep saying you mean to go to?
His meal:
Grilled NY Strip — hand cut truffle french fries, sautéed spinach, housemade steak sauce
This didn’t really seem like a NY Strip. It looked more like top round, actually. Not as tender as it should be, I only sawed through about half of it before I gave up — just not worth it. The fries tasted more like the parmesan that was grated on top, and barely had any truffle flavor. The spinach was just a green squishy pile, and it stayed that way — it didn’t offer the nice contrasting flavor that it could have, so I left it alone. Would definitely not order this again.
Her Meal:
Pumpkin Ravioli — sage brown butter, bacon, pumpkin seeds
These looked like store-​bought ravioli — four perfectly identical ones. I’d gladly pay Buitoni $ 5.99 for a package of 18 or so of these, but certainly not $ 10 for these four. They were cooked nicely, and the right temperature (which I’d appreciate later), but they just weren’t special. I don’t like paying that much for supermarket food. The bacon seemed like over-​cooked bacon bits, a real waste of flavor — and, they were cold. The pumpkin seeds were unnecessary. Each bite that included a bacon bit was really strange — off-​putting texture of being overcooked, and the temperature differential. I love a good hot/​cold salad, with hot steak over cold greens, but this definitely was not a good, or intentional, contrast.
Salmon — miso barbecue glaze, mushroom stir fry, potato scallion springroll, japanese mustard
I asked for the salmon on the rare side, which I assumed was safe to do on a Friday at a busy restaurant. Not the case… The fish didn’t even smell good. It came out lukewarm (even the edges that were cooked all the way through) and fishy. The barbecue glaze had not even a hint of miso, and was more of a drizzle of sauce than a glaze, so the sugars in it hadn’t had a chance to caramelize. The fish definitely wasn’t seasoned before it was cooked — a little salt and pepper before it hit the pan would have really changed this dish. The mushroom stir fry was bitter and cooler than it should’ve been, and also wasn’t seasoned well. The spring roll was tasty, but didn’t seem to go with the dish.
While we sat and ate, we saw lots of desserts go by, then return to the kitchen half-​eaten. By the time we were finishing up our entrées, we were pretty unhappy with the place. Nothing felt worth it or tasted nearly as good as we thought it sounded. We asked for our check and hopped on OpenTable to grab a quick reservation for desserts at Woodberry Kitchen, then headed out.

Great atmosphere excellent food nice please to enjoy a meal with friends
parking can be a little tough

The lobster mashed potatoes served with the salmon are a flying flavor kick straight to your soul.
The calamari is very flaky and not rubbery at all. The basil aioli served with it is a nice counterpoint to the more traditional marinara sauce.
The complimentary bread and olive oil served as a precursor to to the meal is above average.
After eating here, I know that I definitely like radishes now.
On the action-​movie-​parallel-​satisfaction-​scale, this place is District 13.

Sometimes you just end up going to a place that you wouldn’t have chosen on your own. I had the opportunity at a wedding Reception Dinner to sample some chef creations at Crush, a «trendy» casual restaurant in Baltimore.
I had phoned ahead a couple of weeks ago to specifically let them know I was going to be with a party and I’d like a vegan meal. At the dinner when orders were being taken I just told the waitress I requested a vegan meal. She asked, «for the appetizer?» I said, «The whole meal, just bring me what you’ve got,» and that was it. Nice and easy.
There were 3 courses. I started with a gazpacho. Crisp, garlic, tomato, oregano. Nice. I almost forgot to take the picture. I could have used something other than soda crackers but I did hit the foccacia and olive oil. I’m still going under the assumption that it’s a yeast bread and shouldn’t have any animal stuff in it. (Here’s where that question about 100% comes in. See my facebook group «NYC Vegans and vegetarians» (that’s vegans with an ‘s’), for the discussion questions).
I dove right in but remembered the picture before I licked the bowl. The salad was arugula, avocado, and compressed watermelon. I thought the watermelon was a clever idea but I preferred the texture of regular watermelon although the balsamic tied it all together. I totally forgot to take a picture.
On to the entrée.
It was a very nicely plated vegetable dish. The waitress announced each dish and the ingredients as she put it down, very nice touch of elegance. This dish was roasted corn and peppers with edamame and scallion slivers and which had a wonderful roasted flavor which played nicely with the sweetness of the corn. The Napoleon of zucchini and tomatoes was a nice combination of textures and muted tastes and the micro-​greens added a bit of sharpness. Warmed tomatoes are not my favorite but applaud the chef’s creativity and diverse offering. The avocado purée did add a rich creaminess and played very nicely with each bite of veggies.
Dessert was a sorbet which I found a tad on the sweet side but perhaps that was my anti palate revolting against the visuals of all of the other chocolate desserts.
All in all it was a very thoughtful and creative endeavor by the chefs and aside from a lack of any real protein aside from the veggies fully met all hopes of flavors. I think that if you’re going to serve only veggies you have a perfect justification for super sizing portions lest they look like side dishes on a plate but perhaps even more creative would have been to seek out a way to get those proteins in the entrée with either a bean or tempeh or seitan selection. I know chef’s aren’t versed in using these items but it’s always a hope, wish and dream that mainstream chef’s are locked in a vegan restaurant for a complete service and forced to taste everything that comes out of the kitchen.
Although I wouldn’t recommend Crush if you’re a vegan searching for a meal I would definitely say that being a vegan at this dinner was a most comforting experience. I hope more chef’s can duplicate the flavors offered to me at Crush. Also, I didn’t really look at the regular menu and don’t know if what I ate was normally offered. I didn’t look over and see what I ate as sides on other entrees and I do give great credit for preparing my food especially for me, (or giving me that illusion). I must suggest that if you find yourself being the only vegan in a crowd going to crush a phone call would be a good ideal.

My friends and I had high hopes for Crush — we all had been salivating over the menu for days before our dinner plans. Unfortunately, the restaurant overpromises and underdelivers, by quite a bit.
If you were to minus out the fact that the food looked and sounded far better than it tasted plus the lengthly wait time for anything to actually make it to our table (drinks included), the evening would have been perfect. The atmosphere was great, the décor was nice, we were in great company — however, if I am going to spend $ 60-​$ 70 per person for a meal, I want it to be memorable. Instead, I’d rather forget the amount of money I spent on a so-​so meal.