Darker Than Blue

Good food. Service was nice but a little slow. Loved the atmosphere. Will go back again.

I was with a group of 8 ladies and we stumbled upon this restaurant as it was an early Sunday afternoon and the Caribbean place around the corner was closed (we were not aware). We had taken 2 taxi’s to this location from the inner harbor and did not want to waste anymore time driving around as we were starving. A friend called and asked if they were open and a staff member indicated that they were. When we arrived at the door however a staff member said that we needed reservations. He then called the owner and we explained our situation and he seated us. My only qualm is that the owner proceeded to tell us before we were seated that this was a quaint and classy place as if he assumed we were wild animals and have never been to a restaurant.
I enjoyed the delicious Sunday Brunch. At the end of our meal we also asked the owner about taxi services and he called a car service for us that his patrons frequently use. Very pleased and will surely return.

Best fried chicken and mac n cheese I’ve had in quite some time! Shrimp, grits, catfish fingers also A+

Dinner in the hood… lol!
So one of my besties and I went there on ⁵⁄₃₁ to use the groupon she had purchased a while ago. We were both super excited to check out this place and I’ve heard good things. Maybe it was an off night…
First I drove by the location. If it had not been for my navigation I wouldn’t have seen it. The signage is not noticeable for the business. Even walking up to it I noticed the awning for the health clinic next to it from my navigation picture. Inside is not what I expected. It’s a house changed into a restaurant. Ok I can get with it. The art work that was displayed for sale was nice. The music was mellow. We were seated near the back where the bathroom was right around the corner and the kitchen was not too far either. It is a row home business! Ok yay entrepreneurship and small business!
The hostess/​waitress/​receptionist/​busboy had a wonderfully calming demeanor with all she had to take care of! Knowing there was a lot to do we were patient as she handled it all. This seems to be a two person operation. One in the kitchen, the other doing everything else! Every time she came to tell us the specials or take our order she was interrupted by the phone ringing and would stop in the middle of speaking with us to go deal with that. It was a little annoying as we stayed patient. Once she did tell us the specials they sounded yummy and it changed both of our minds from our original choices. Oh and it BYOB… so no alcohol is served here unless you bring it! Thanks for letting us know!
She brought out the mango peach iced tea and rolls which I loved. I had the salmon stuffed with crab, with broccoli, and rice. The salmon was great, the rice and broccoli had NO seasoning and had to be doctored up a bit. Overall the food was ok! I do have leftovers so hopefully today they will be better.
Once we were done the waitress boxed up our meals for us and brought us the bill with the 18% gratuity already included and these high priced dishes! Mine was $ 28 and I feel like that was way over priced for my meal. I can understand it for a smaller business to jack up the prices a little but DAMN! And would I have given 18% for the service given NOPE! But I do tip for great service in general!
Once we were done we were told about dessert available. Which is delivered fresh every Saturday from a bakery! Say what now??? So it’s Friday and its almost a week old! I’ll pass!
It was about 8:45 PM and now we are the only ones there just talking and finishing up our iced tea and the cook is standing near the door I guess giving the cue it’s time to go! So once we left out he followed to pull the gate down and I guess they are closed for the evening! Well alright then…
Really doubt I will go back unless it is with a family member that knows more about this place. Like with a lot of things, try it once for yourself so you can judged it for yourself!

My review is a 2.5, didn’t want to round up. .
I have heard awesome things about this place, found me a Groupon, so let’s go.
Location: ugh I’m glad the place closes at 9p, can’t say I’d want to be around there much later. There is street parking, it is metered. Talk about sketchy sketcherson. They prefer the reservation; however, they don’t really answer the phone. There may have been three additional parties there. Not sure if the reservation was needed. The inside was quaint but nice. I liked the colors, artwork, music… totally jammin’ on the one during dinner.
Service: The hostess/​server/​everythang else had a wonderful quiet spirit, other than that, the service was kind of… SLOW. Is it normally like that? I especially enjoyed when she was in mid explanation of the menu and she promptly walked off to pick up an order. But wait, she did come back… well she had no choice, she was the only one.
Food: It started with rolls. To me they tasted like store bought rolls with some sort of salt/​herb mixture. Read: more salt than herb. Not. My. Fave. The menu looked really good, from apps of catfish fingers to salads and what not. The food that I saw being brought out looked great! Large portions, beautifully fried chicken… nom nom. Any who, I ordered the special, which was basically a seafood dish with mussels, shrimp, sausage and salmon over rice in a seafood broth. It looked pretty, again, another large portion. The mussels tasted ahmazing, the rice was underdone, the salmon was overdone, the sausage lacked flavor. The shrimp were huge and tasted okay. The house brewed mango peach tea was supa…
The bill came, gratuity was included… for what? I gotta pay you for doing *in my best Dolla Bill from The Players Club voice* nothing nothing! Service was less than…
Will I be returning? Child bye, I won’t be riding back down Greenmount for subpar service and food.

Food is awesome! Service is awesome! Atmosphere is awesome! I highly recommend you make reservations because the place is tiny small. It’s a very intimate setting, but I could imagine that this place fills up fast on the weekend. One setback was that the restaurant is too dark. They could stand to turn up the lights just a little bit. We could barely see our menus so we had to use the flashlight on our phone to read the menu. But that’s really the only recommendation for improvement that I can think of. Highly recommend. And, yes, it’s in a not so good part of the neighborhood, but let’s face it… that’s where the best food is most of the time anyway! Large portions and their grits are FAB! I will return again!

Love love loved it… loved it so much i bought a Groupon. Cant wait to go back. BYOB and B Happy.

This is a very good restaurant with a staff that works hard to give you good service. Went on an early Saturday evening and the place had just a few customers. It is a small place and I can see it can be tight when they have live music. Unfortunately for us there was no live music on this particular evening. We had catfish fingers for an appetizer and Paella and glazed salmon for entrees. The ambiance was great and the food was better. Also, the chef greeted us on the way out.
I was told to call ahead or check the website for the dates/​times for live music. I will do just that and come back here to check that out.

One of the nicest owners I’ve ever met-​he really sincerely cares about your experience! The food I had was outstanding-you’d never know he was once a marine corps cook (haha) Will seriously be back soon!!! Not in the greatest area (all about perception) but we never felt anything other than safe during our walk to and from the car… I highly recommend checking it out!

Went this weekend. The owner was very nice and made us feel at home. The staff was excellent and I really enjoyed this place. I ordered Talapia and grits. The fish was cooked perfectly.
I will go back and recommend it to everyone!!!

It’s a small little restaurant but when we were there it wasn’t crowded. Unfortunately we had a very long wait (45 minutes) but the owner/​chef came outside gave us a sincere apology for our wait. They were also out of certain ingredients for the dishes and substitutions had to be made.
When the food did finally come out, my date and I were very pleased. I loved the cajun sauce that came with my meal. Overall we were very happy with the meal itself, no the wait time.

First off, you should know that this place does not serve alcohol — it’s BYOB.
We were a group of 4 at about 7pm on a Saturday night. The hostess/​only waitress asked us if we had a reservation and gently reprimanded us for not making a reservation, even though the restaurant was almost completely empty. That was weird.
The ambiance was ok. Not too upscale or trying too hard but it has a bit of character. They play mainly R&B and jazz music in the background.
The service throughout the night was the by far the slowest I’ve ever experienced in my life. There was just one waitress but, as I mentioned before, the place was basically dead! The waitress pretty much ignored us all night and would bring water whenever we called her over and asked for it. The food took a good 1.5 to 2 hours to be served. By this time, we were all a little antsy and hungry.
The food came out — and that’s when this 1 star review became a 3-​star review. If I could rate this place on the food alone, it would get a 4.5. Most dishes are about $ 20 but the portions are enormous, so you get value for your money. It’s also among the best southern food I’ve ever had. The crab in the dishes was particularly delicious and plentiful, although I thought the shrimp in our appetizer was way overcooked and my salmon wasn’t the best quality salmon. The flavors, though, were impeccably executed. Well done, lone chef! (I just assume there was only 1 poor guy in the kitchen, since our meal took so long to prepare).
Go here if you’ve got all night to relax and are craving delicious, rich southern cuisine. Don’t go here for a quick bite or if good service is important to you.

Really excited about the Living Social deal that my partner and I purchased. We live in the neighborhood and love it here and were SO EXCITED to try Darker Than Blue!
BUMMER: It was so difficult to get a reservation that I asked to have my Living Social deal refunded. We called during business hours (when we could see people inside) and the phone wasn’t answered, left messages that were not returned, and went by the place to find it closed during posted business hours! WTF! The answering machine doesn’t give you any indication of how to make a reservation — it only serves as another level of advertising, which is sort of redundant when you are calling because you already want to go there.

4.5 stars
I’ve been here twice thanks to Groupon! This place is a hidden gem. If it were located in Mt. Vernon or Fell’s Point, there would be a line out the door – it is that good. I’ve only been to Darker than Blue on weeknights for dinner, so I can’t comment on their brunch or live jazz, sadly.
The first time, I had their fried catfish and grits with sauteed spinach which tasted amazing, although the cheese grits that day were lacking flavor. But paired with the catfish, it was great. The peach tea was so-​so. The second time I had the blackened Louisiana tilapia which came with sauteed spinach and a spicy cream sauce with pieces of salmon and shrimp – perfection! When you visit this restaurant, that is the dish to try. And the sweet cornbread that replaces the mundane bread and butter is delectable.
My only complaint is the prices, because I am still a broke student. But the food is SOOO worth it. Perfect place for date night, cozy and intimate, friendly staff. MUST EAT HERE!

Don’t let the location scare you away. Yes, it’s in a questionable part of Baltimore. I’d read about this place in Charmed Magazine and since I do love a BYOB, decided to give it a whirl! (The groupon helped persuade me a bit too!)
My husband and I went for dinner on a Saturday night. Had I been with a group of girls we probably wouldn’t have even gotten out of the car. But I felt save with a boxer by my side, so we went in. ;) The food really blew us away! This was truly home cooked soul food with a modern flare. There was so much goodness on our plates we had to take boxes home. All in all we found it to be a cute, cozy date place. The only disappointment was that they didn’t accept the groupon straight from your iphone but instead wanted the printed version.
Take two … we loved our «hidden gem» so much we returned for my birthday brunch with a group of 10. The jazz southern buffet sounded amazing! But what a disappointment! The buffet was just ordinary scrambled eggs, pancakes, bacon, eggs, and biscuits. So disappointed after dragging nine people to eat here. Fortunately we brought lots of bottles of champagne and they kept the OJ coming!
Definitely try this place out for dinner and skip the brunch!

My husband and I met friends at Darker Than Blue for dinner this past Saturday, after hearing so much about the place before. I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed my experience. It’s not a big place, but it is beautifully decorated, with jazz music and soft lighting providing a nice touch. Frank, our server, was friendly and attentive.
For drinks we had the peach mango ice teas, and for appetizers we enjoyed the catfish fingers, which were accompanied by a tasty salad. The only disappointment at that point was that they had run out of the cornbread, which we had heard so much about, and wanted to try.
For the main course we ordered:
1. The prime rib, which our friend thought was a bit too fatty, but was otherwise tasty.
2. The salmon and grits, which his wife enjoyed
3. The chicken and waffles, which my husband thoroughly enjoyed
4. The Southern Fried meal for me (mac n’ cheese, sauteed spinach, fried chicken and candied yams), which was delicious.
The portions were extremely big, so either come on a completely empty stomach, or prepare to box your food to enjoy later; we ended up doing the latter, and noticed that most of the other diners did too.
Towards the end of the meal, the chef and proprietor, Casey Jenkins, came out to chat with us. He was extremely friendly, and grateful for our patronage. Given how pleasant our dining experience was, he can be sure that we will likely be back again.
Darker Than Blue, which is located in a transitioning area on Greenmount, absolutely deserves continued support. He can count on ours.

My sister had birthday reservations and the owner was STANK about the whole thing telling us that we had reservations at 1pm when it was ACTUALLY at 11 am (My mom spoke to someone weeks before about changing the time from 1 to 11 and they said it was a-​ok). It wasn’t like the place was busy anyway. Her little birthday brunch was suppose to be a menu brunch yet when we got there it turned into a buffet. We had soul food for brunch… who does that?! I wanted breakfast for brunch! We weren’t given the option to order off the menu THEN the crappy food was OVER PRICED! $ 25 for yams and mac & cheese!!! ABSURD! When the rest of our party arrived we couldn’t even sit together because all of the other seats were «reserved». We were the ONLY customers and we were there from 11 – 1230. The food made my stomach hurt and the owner is a sarcastic, condescending a$$hole idiot who kept smiling every time he got smart with us. DON’T BRING YOUR KIDS! I fear he may be an a$$ to them too! Learn how to run a business efficiently. Do not go here! If it wasn’t for my sister I wouldn’t even have looked their way. Ps they do NOT play jazz music! Hole in the wall UGH!

They give you little bites of corn bread before your meal. These little things are unreasonably good. I love corn bread, but these little guys taste like they could kill you. And with flavored butter too! Absolutely delicious.
Had the chicken and waffles which I haven’t had since I lived in Atlanta. Half a chicken, quartered and fried in the best breading I’ve had on fried chicken. A belgian waffle the size of a large square plate. Real whipped cream and strawberries. Maple syrup. Cut off some chicken, some waffle, dunk the bite in the whipped cream. Yum! I dare you to finish your plate! Sweet savory goodness.
UPDATE 8÷23÷13: I ate at the famous Roscoe’s House of Chicken & Waffles two days ago. This is supposedly the standard for delicious C&W. And it was very good. However, it just made me think about this dish at Darker Than Blue. Darker Than Blue is WAY better than Roscoe’s. No offense Roscoe, you do good work, but DTB can’t be beat here.

Darker Than Blue Café is a great place for a good time. The food is a real attraction. I love the cornbread basket. The corn bread is soft, sweet and warm. The appetizers are really good. I loved the salmon cakes corn salsa. The cakes are good-​sized and well seasoned; the salsa was also good. The plantains that come with the curry wings are perfectly grilled.
The entrees has both gourmet and fast food options. My fiancé swears by the Darker Than Blue burger. The salmon and risotto is also very good. However I always find the best entrees are not on the menu. They’re the specials! My favorite specials were the grill pork chops, the rustic pasta, and the paella.
There are flaws. There’s no bar. You can bring your own wine, but no beer. The desserts and sweet potato butter served with the cornbread are so-​so. Also, the restaurant is owner-​operated so the service is some times slow.
However the owner/​chef is very friendly, and the music, mostly jazz, adds to the atmosphere.

Meal started out with the best cornbread and sweet potato butter imaginable, then got better. Had the rustic pasta special, which I’d eat again tomorrow.
Jazz ensemble cranked up about halfway through dinner. Very good.
Staff was superb. Another reason to come to Waverly.