The Hill

I was in Baltimore for a convention and as a group, we made our way here for our «big meal together». At first I was a little nervous. It’s kinda on the small side and we were a big group (20ish), but they sat us right away without issue. My guess is someone in our party made a reservation. The service was great. We had a lot of requests and they never faltered. I’m ashamed to say I didn’t order what Baltimore is known for and went with the pasta. I was craving it… don’t blame me. It was ok. On the other hand, the mac n cheese with crab and bacon was outstanding. I was a little upset it was a appetizer for the table.
Would I go back again? Sure. Are there better restaurants in Baltimore? Probably.

Went here for brunch on a Sunday. There were maybe 3 other couples in the place when we came in (definitely not busy).
Our waitress was extremely slow, did not write our orders down, and looked like she generally didn’t want to be there. There were 5 of us at the table and the food quality was all over the place. All of my food (eggs, bacon, potatoes, and toast) were completely cold. Another’s steak burger was tough and unchewable (the waitress never asked how she would like it done), and another got the completely wrong sauce.
The only reason we didn’t complain was because we were so ravenously hungry after waiting so long for our food.
Never again.

Three Words to describe this place. Get the Ravenburger. It’s only $ 18 dollars or so, but it’s worth your money. Everything you can describe that can be in a burger is in that burger and the burger is absolutely humongous. If you don’t get filled up by the Ravenburger, I don’t know what will. Other than the Ravenburger, nothing really caught my eyes on the menu.

Probably the rudest restaurant I have ever been to.
If you don’t know, it’s first come, first serve with the seating. They get annoyed with you if you don’t assume that and stand around not knowing what to do or if you’re supposed to wait (lack of signs saying otherwise).
Also, try not to go there with a living social or groupon. They apparently hate people that show up with them. Money is money, and those coupons are still paying customers, so treat them with decency– I always say…
Simply put, the best thing about that place was their mimosa in a plastic cup.
Second best was getting out of there.
Everything aside from that was tasteless, disappointing, lacked logical presentation (who puts lettuce leaves on a plate of french toast?!), and really made me wonder why they were even open.
Do me a solid and skip this hole. There are better businesses out there that could use your presence and your money. There’s no doubt in my mind that they’d treat you better and provide a tastier meal.

Man oh man, this place is about as hit and miss as you can get. 5 for ambiance and service, a pitiful 1 for food and speed of ordering.
We were there on a weeknight with maybe 10 patrons total in the place, including four outside on the sidewalk. Our waitress was nothing short of OUTSTANDING. Friendly, personable, forgiving and apologetic.
I was an out of towner so she explained to me what «Natty Boh» was and that I should get the local brew, even if it wasn’t the best… which I did and ended up semi-​enjoying them, for nothing more than I was supporting local Bal’more bizznass. The problems started after we put our order in, it took no less than 40 minutes to get the food, I really wish I had timed the entire ordeal. I could certainly understand this if the place was jam packed but it wasn’t even close.
So there was that. And then, there was the sad attempt at cooking a pork chop. I realize it’s a tougher cut to get just right but «super well done» is NOT the way a pork chop should come out and ultimately tasting like a hockey puck. This was my buddy’s dish and I tried it after he said «something is wrong with it». I’m the chef and foodie, he isn’t…and I could immediately tell the temp probably got to 190 in the center of this piece of crap and ruined the entire thing. I told him to ask for another but we had an O’s game to catch and couldn’t exactly wait another half hour plus for a replacement. The flounder dish I had was spectacular, everything was cooked to perfection from the veggies to the filet. But you don’t want either customer disappointed in their dish and the other could have been cooked just as well by a 10 year old.
Again, I can’t stress enough how great our waitress was who apologized profusely for how poor the pork chop tasted and even mentioned that the chef might not know how to prepare it properly. Management, if you ever see this… utilize this critique as a training tool and invest in some internal temperature checkers for meat or something. I want to return but the experience I had makes me second guess ever doing so.

After Unilocal wedding, after driving back and forth across Baltimore several times, after eating at Ale Mary with Samantha G. & James, I met a non-​yelp friend at the Hill. Aaaah! Civilization and maturity! I’m all over that!
We sat at the bar & caught up over a sauvy & the good ol’ days.
I’m a fan!

Recently moved into the Federal Hill neighborhood and after a day of heavy lifting in the 90+ heat, my friends and I were looking for a nice, easy place to eat without the crowds of some of the bars along Cross St. And so we stumbled upon the Hill!
It was easy to get a table and we were instantly overwhelmed with the menu options because everything sounded that good. The martinis were on special, $ 5 (it was a Wednesday), and there were a bunch of fun types.
Appetizer– the mac and cheese with crab. YUM! Three or four types of melted cheese with big chunks of crab. Couldn’t be better.
Entrees– Crab Cake sandwich was very good, maybe not the best of Baltimore but my friend still finished it all off. I had a pasta dish with scallops, shrimp, and crab in a white wine sauce that was wonderful! And another friend had the steak salad, which has strawberries and blueberries on it, which I personally love.
I have been back a couple time since and the service can kind of vary. On nights when there are two female bartenders/​waitresses they are prompt, friendly, and work well together. The time I went and there was a male and female server the service was much slower and she forgot to bring us water, but the food and atmosphere more than made up for it.
Have yet to get there during a busy friday or saturday, but looking forward to it!

Really cool spot in Federal Hill. Good drink/​beer selection, and awesome food. You can come here for late night drinks, dinner, or even weekend brunch. Staff has always been awesome to me.
My absolutely favorite menu item though is the Raven Burger. One of the best sandwiches I’ve ever eaten. It’s HUGE.

My friend and I came here over the Sailabration weekend for Sunday brunch. We arrived early, but we weren’t the first people there, there were already a few people waiting. The place opened just about 10:15 and we were seated immediately.
The hostess was extremely friendly and sweet but our own waitress was almost the exact opposite. That said, she was quite attentive, maybe a bit brisk. Our order was taken as soon as we set our menus down and our mugs of coffee were always full and we felt very comfortable taking our time sitting and talking.
Maybe I’ve been living in expensive areas for too long, or maybe The Hill really does have good deals on brunch, but I was beyond excited when my food came out. Most of the entrees run between $ 8 – 14 and were extremely generous. I got the Cowgirl omelet and my friend got the Southwestern omelet and we were both pleased. The home fries were deliciously, almost ridiculously salty (be warned however, if you don’t like your potatoes salty, consider asking for a different side.) The omelet was stuffed with cheese, spinach and good quality vegetarian sausage, just the way an omelet should be. We also noted they had super cheap mimosa pitchers, although we didn’t order one.
While not a place I’d take my parents for a nice Sunday brunch, this is a great «around the corner» place that offers large portions of hearty food for very reasonable prices and I’m sure I’ll be back.

Got a groupon for brunch.
Should not have come here for brunch. The service was adequate but not terribly friendly. The mimosas were weak, but tasty… We got the Brittany Spears appetizer (It’s spelled differently, but their website is down). It was tasty. I got the eggs benedict. They were way too light on the sauce, the eggs were overcooked, and the english muffin wasn’t toasted at all, just kinda soggy (which is hard to do with no sauce on it). The hash browns were flavorful, but I got forkfuls that were really salty and forkfuls that were really bland. I’d like to blame all of this on a busy kitchen but we were there on Father’s day for brunch (they should have been expecting a crowd) and it wasn’t very busy. My roommate got the mexican omeltte with a fruit salad cup. Again. Tasty.
The presentation on the Benedict and the Brittany Spears was atrocious. I feel like I shouldn’t get hung up on that, but I was looking forward to brunch, and not only was my food… not up to my expectations, it didn’t even look nice on my plate.
I am disappointed.

Distinct menu, friendly atmosphere. A nice local place to get great food. Mac n cheese with crab had huge chunks of crab in it. Blu steak sandwich had a great taste and a favorite of mine!

Nice neighborhood place. They have good drink specials and cheap ($ 5) martinis. Most of the food is American comfort, steaks, pork chops, burgers and salads. The ribeye is under $ 20 which is a deal. The stuffed pork chop is also a nice option. They also have mac and cheese and friend calamari. Bottom line is the restaurant is reasonably priced for a good, but not spectacular meal.

Interesting and diverse menu, great service, clean atmosphere and AMAZING STEAK. My fiancée is not originally from this country and is fairly skeptical of many restaurants but she loved the stuffed porkchop here. I got the surf and turf steak and shrimp and I wish I was eating it right now.
So…Good.

I ate here for brunch recently with a living social coupon I had. It was a football day so the place filled up QUICK after our party sat down at an open table (It’s self seating).
The waiter was friendly and prompt in the beginning. I ordered the Tuna salad and it was DELICIOUS! The mimosas pitcher was mixed very well too. As our meal progressed and the people filled up the place, our waiter, who was also the bartender, was not seen for the rest of our meal. They ended up calling in another person to help out with the demand. I’m not sure if they just underestimated the crowd for a Sunday or if its like this all the time.
Overall, I would go here again, if I had a coupon and if it is not crowded/​too busy.

Stoped in for a late breakfast after sleeping in on Sunday. The meal was delicious! I had the western omelet and my girlfriend had the eggs Benedict. Both were cooked well and tasted great. The omelet was a hearty 3-​egger and was completely cooked (a huge turn off for me is an under-​cooked omelet). The eggs Benedict was cooked well also. The food took a slightly longer than average time to arrive so the server gave us out orange juices and our side of fruit for free… Great service! I really didn’t even notice it taking longer than normal. Overall our meal was delicious and reasonably priced!
The setting is definitely a bar, but in the daytime (around 2pm) it is very well lit, open to the outside and quite nice!

(07/​02/​2011) Quaint little neighborhood place in Federal Hill, and that’s sometimes hard to come by in this particular neighborhood. Went to celebrate a friend’s birthday (party of 9), had the place almost to ourselves, except for a two top with 2 elderly gentlemen having a casual meal with jovial conversation.
Most of the food was very good and some of the dishes verged on creative. The hit of the table was the mac ‘n’ cheese, with bacon, and the optional crab; excessivley creamy, sticky with cheese, salty, smokey, and with the crab, touch of sea sweetness. Other interesting dish, which worked suprisingly well, the «Brittani Spears» («spear» of filet mignon tossed in olive oil, garlic, pineapple, fresh rosemary & tomatoes then baked with goat cheese); it’s a veritable mix of ingredients thrown into a gratin dish, but the creamy/​tangy goat cheese, sweet/​smokey grilled pineapple and red onions, and tender filet (cooked to medium rare, as ordered), if you get it all in one bite, works pretty well.
Red curry buffalo wings were tasty, but not much of red curry to it, mostly just the Tabasco flavor of a classic buffalo sauce. Loser of the table was the Caribbean Seafood Stew (sautéed shrimp, scallops, mussels and tuna, cooked in coconut milk served around rice); plenty coconut creamy, but all of the seafood was overdone (the other 2 tuna dishes at the table, Tuna Bites and a garden salad with tuna steak had a nice sear with rosy rare centers, though); there was a hint of allspice in the broth that seemed out of place with the plainess of the seafood and rice floating in it.
They do suffer from a small description problem: for example, my Gourmet Grilled Cheese (described as «grilled focaccia with goat cheese, cheddar, bacon, tomato and avocado»), had the requisite ingredients but was not grilled at all; and the Herb Encrusted Pork Tenderloin (described as «Pork tenderloin rolled in fresh herbs and spices served with rice and collard greens then drizzled with a balsamic glaze») did not come with collards as promise, but with a fresh spinach salad (not a bad thing, but the orderer really enjoys collards, and that’s what she wanted). The pork itself was tender, the predominant herb was rosemary (and lots of it), and the «spices» had something very hot (also not expected, possibly crushed red pepper flakes).
Our server brought a piece of yellow cake (a little dry, not too sweet, dense crumb) with chocolate frosting (from Sugar Bakers in Catonsville) with a candle in it for our birthday celebration. Nice touch. The other cakes we had had a homey goodness — a red velvet (light, fine crumb) and German chocolate (tooth-​achingly sweet coconut filling and sticky). If it’s your neighborhood, or you don’t mind trolling for a while for a parking space, it’s a great place to call yours.

Wait, wait WAIT! Before I say anything else about this place, I MUST tell you this, so lean in close: Macaroni and cheese. With bacon. AND crab!
I know, that’s worth 10 Hail Marys and an hour on the treadmill with the highest incline carrying a 5 year old child on your back. That’s ok. I’ll do it.
That mac and cheese is HEAVEN! I made a meal out of it.
Ok, so from the beginning, boyfriend and I walked in. Cute little place. Apparently, you seat yourself. So we did.
We had a Groupon, so that was cool. We needed to make sure we ordered enough to use it though. I ordered a salad that was pretty forgettable. Eh. Boyfriend got something called the Britney Spears. He really wasn’t terribly impressed with the cut of meat they used. He said it was tough.
Because we didn’t spend enough, we got him a dessert. Chocolate something or the other. He had it the next day. Said it was good.
Service was a little lacking. We waited forever for the dessert. Also, the Sprite tasted really funny.
I’d come back here though. If nothing else, for the mac and cheese.

This restaurant is a neighborhood gem and I wish I had something like it closer to my house.
We had the black bean chili as a starter. Beware it is ALL beans (and a couple pieces of sausage) it tasted okay. I had the Brittney Spears and my husband had the Crab Cake entrée. I was very happy with my food, the filet Mignon was cooked perfectly, and the combination of flavors created a party in my mouth. My husband said the first crab cake was delish but the second was different and he did not eat it.
Overall, it was a good experience. The food was very good. BEWARE– finding parking is a nightmare. Our server was the owners son who did not know much about the menu but another waitress happily answered all of our questions and made recommendations.

The Hill is trying to be a gastropub but doesn’t really succeed. We went with a coupon that required us to order full entrees instead of sandwiches. I had a chicken and sausage pasta dish that was disappointing and expensive. My girlfriend had a meatloaf platter that was quite good and well priced. Everyone else in the place was ordering more typical pub food like burgers and sandwiches. That’s probably your best bet here.
The service was pretty bad. We walked in hungry and asked for some bread when we ordered. We were told, «sure,» then waited and waited. After asking about it twice we were finally brought a plate of toasted bread pieces and nothing else — no butter, no bread plates. At this point we found out they don’t usually serve bread and were going to charge us for this pitiful plate. When we asked up front, the waiter responded like bread is standard.
Maybe they were understaffed this night. The restaurant was mostly full with only two servers. But the layout was really hard on the wait staff with narrow walkways and poor visibility of the tables. The space is dominated by a giant horseshoe bar and I’d suggest viewing this place as a bar that serves some munchies in a pinch, not as a dining destination.

What’s not to love about a place that always has $ 5 martinis!
Not many people were in The Hill when I stopped by on a random weeknight. (SO glad I made the trek from my hotel in the Inner Harbor to non-​tourist land) Service was a little slow, but I wasn’t in a hurry. I had a flavorful ravioli dish and my friend had an «amazing» stuffed chicken breast. I thought she was going to lick the plate!
Hope this little gem gets some more traffic and is able to survive…