Alchemy Elements

I was excited to see a non-​chain restaurant open in the area. Unfortunately I was extremely disappointed with my experience there. I’m not one to complain and I actually gave it three tries before giving up.
Each time I went the wait staff was very rude and often condescending. All three times they either forgot one of our orders or brought us items we didn’t order. An innocent mistake really, but for it to happen all three times I’ve been is a little concerning.
The last time I went, I went for brunch and ordered the farmers omelet, an omelet with spinach, peppers, and onions, pretty simple right? After waiting a while for the orders to come out the waiter delivered everyone’s food (one order was actually wrong but my friend accepted it because she was so hungry) and saying he forgot to put mine in. I completely understood and thanked him when he said it would be out soon (I was thinking an omelet can take at the most 10 minutes to throw together). 45 minutes later my omelet finally arrived. The waiter never apologized.
Also, as a note, the décor did not match the «hipster» aesthetic you might pick up from the outside. The dining area actually looked pretty tacky and dated. But honestly that just my personal opinion and didn’t really effect my rating.
Glad to see more independent restaurants opening up in the area. Unfortunately I won’t be attending this one any time soon.

In Harford County, this will now become my favorite place to eat/​drink. Not only was the service fantastic, the food was absolutely decadent! I had the red snapper with tomatoes and mashed potatoes. To drink I had the cucumber basil martini. My friend had the same thing, but she ordered a chocolate martini (which was her first & she loved it).
The place itself is really gorgeous & would be great for date night, girls night out, or even a birthday dinner. The booths are very quaint & the atmosphere feels very sexy. It is definitely a trendy bar to visit if you want to get away from the traditional bar/​restaurant atmosphere or scene.
I’m so glad I chose this place as my very late (extremely late, actually) birthday dinner my friend has been trying to do for me. The waiter even brought me a glass of champagne with a candle in it to commemorate my 40^th bday dinner! How awesomely kind is that!
I hope you take the time to stop in for a drink and a meal! I will certainly be back!

Been here three times and its never dissapointed. Drinks are always on point. Bar tenders know their spirits and drinks. Very friendly staff. Food is. delish my face is the Red Snapper… yum. A great tasty portion of good food.

I came out for lunch one day and everything was great, I came again for a dinner date and everything was great. I enjoyed the food, the service, the atmosphere. I was seated quickly because I made a reservation. Everything seems pretty great, clean tables, attentive service, I hope to go back again soon for another meal.

I visited here on Friday for lunch with a coworker. The ambiance was great. We were seated quickly. The food was delicious and well worth the price! I highly recommend this place!

I was traveling for work and wanted to find something besides a chain restaurant. I went in because the atmosphere look really hip and inviting. Walked up and say at an empty bar and waited about a minute before anyone acknowledged I was there. No smile or welcome, just handed me the menu and asked what they could get me to drink. He recommended a few beers and things were looking up. He got my beer and I was looking at the EXTREMELY LIMITED menu and saw things that sounded really good and full of flavor. I asked about the beef cheeks and the bartender recommended saying it was delicious so I went with that.
The bread came out with oil and vinegar. THAT was delicious. Very flavorful and unique. Then came my entrée. Nice presentation with color and style. I was expecting the beef to be of a salty flavor and pair with the sauces (2) that surrounded it, with a sweet compliment or at least something… it was awful. When I say awful I mean the meat tastes like my moms old pot roast and the sauces only added to it with a sort of floral taste like soap. I was starving because I didn’t eat all day but I couldn’t eat but half. Not even a big portion but I couldn’t take it, it was too nasty. I pushed the plate away and ordered my liquid dinner. Bartender looked at my plate and asked if I wanted a box… not if I liked it… I just laughed and said no thanks.
Drank my beer, paid my tab, and as I was leaving not a bartender or anyone acknowledged me and said thanks for coming. No worries. Won’t be back.
It’s a cool looking place. I hope they can get the menu and service up to par with the cost of that design.

The décor and menu and top notch and lead to high expectations, but the follow through was extremely disappointing. All the food was very bland and of the wrong consistency. For example, I ordered the lobster mac and cheese and it was basically noodles in milk (albeit the topping was yummy).

I want to love this place because it’s one of the few non-​chain restaurants in the area… and they have a nice bar where you can eat decent food and watch the O’s game… but time and again (eaten here at least a dozen times in the past 4 – 6 months) it’s just «so-​so».
Tonight, I had the soft shell crab special: while the sauce was relatively spicy, the cornmeal-​breaded soft shell crabs were incredibly tasteless. When was the last time you had soft shell crabs that you didn’t finish the dish or take the rest home with you??? I crave soft shell crabs all the time. These were just positively boring… and served on a bed of pasta no less. This place spends so much time trying to be «eclectic» that their food is all too often just weird or bland.
Beyond this, I’m over the «hipster factor» at this restaurant. Having eaten here many times, you just get the distinct impression that they think they’re doing the suburbs a huge favor by merely existing with their tattoos and their eclectic (read: weird) flavor combinations… yet the food is «okay» and the wine list is pitifully cheap. Cut the crap and serve better food… I’m tired of your bartenders telling me about their personal lives and what they’d rather be doing.
On a more positive note, their lunch dishes are pretty darned good. The grilled cheese and Chorizo burger are both excellent. It just seems like dinner is the problem: dishes are either bland or just odd flavor combinations.
I’m not going to write this place off… it has some things going for it and will hopefully continue to improve. But for the moment do yourself a favor when in the Bel Air area… head to Pairings Bistro for about 5x better food, wine, and drink…

Absolutely amazing! The service was stellar, as was the food. Every detail was executed perfectly and my hubby and I are so glad Bel Air has a restaurant like this. I was sick of the same old chains.

This is one of our new favorite restaurants for brunch. We love the atmosphere, the music they play and the drinks and food are delicious.

This is my third time here and it has been great every time! The Crab Cassole (Crab Dip) is great. But the Burrata is incredible! Each time I have been there, I have tried one of the specials. This last time, I had the Scallops with rhubarb purée. It was fantastic.

My husband and I came here for Valentine’s Day and we were so happy we did. Bel Air and Harford County needed a place like this. Anyone that knows Harford County also knows that it is full of chain restaurants or smaller hole in the wall type restaurants. This place has a modern feel to it, beautiful bar area, and great food! Is it pricey? Sure, for Harford County it is. But if you’re used to living in the city and visiting great restaurants with food AND atmosphere, these prices are quite normal. I had the lamb chops and my husband had a steak. Both were cooked to perfection. Service was friendly, fast and efficient, I’m not sure you could ask for more. I tried their famous cocktail that’s won awards and stuff (or so they told me anyway haha) and it was good — not my favorite but not terrible either. I cant wait to come back in the summertime and hang out in the open door area.

The crab bisque was absolutely divine, not too rich, with tremendously huge lumps of delicious crab. The beet salad was exquisite, artistically sculpted, transforming a traditional beet salad into a work of art. Our waitress was professional, knowledgable, and had a wonderful sense of humor. Excellent selection of craft beers and wine. The scallops with snap pea risotto were fabulous!

One of the better places in the area. 1 of 2 places in Bel Air, worth the $$$. Great drinks, Great food, decent décor, and good staff.
Definitely try out.

Top notch food and the drinks are very well done. I will be bringing some out of town guest here just to show the place off. Very well done. Keep it up!

The food here does have a wow factor because there are not many similar restaurants like this in the Bel Air area.
We came here for a Sunday Brunch and for a Friday evening dinner. Our Brunch was good, the Bloody Mary’s didn’t have much flavor but the meal was great and I love breakfast food, the bartender gave us an «extra» serving of their old bay sausage claiming the kitchen cooked an extra order… and then when we got our bill it was on there. Not thinking much of it, I asked her nicely about it and she removed it. No harm, no foul.
We go back that Friday and we had a reservation for 6 people but had invited around 14 total for happy hour. The service was okay, it’s a small venue and kinda loud and hard to get the attention of others. The apps were lovely, burrata is amazing. The flatbreads were a little bland but the chicken ribbons are perfect, basically large chicken fingers.
Our meal came out and we had some of their specials which tasted great but unfortunately two of our plates were lukewarm.
The reason I give a two star review, is because we got our bill… and I used to be a bartender and wait tables, so I understand adding gratuity to tables of 6 or more… some places add anywhere between 16−20% which is standard.
Well our itemized bill was 300 and we were charged 400 $…so I spoke to the manager and got it changed back to the original 300… only after leaving the restaurant did I realize the waitress had told us the tip was included i.e. 100 $. I understand adding grats but 33.5% is outrageous. I can’t tell you if it was done intentionally but if you go here make sure to keep an eye on your bill.

We were excited to try this place after reviewing the creative menu. The burrata and oil/​balsamic blend served with the bread were incredible but the overall dining experience was not good. Our waitress lacked knowledge of the menu and seemed disinterested. We attempted to order a cheeseburger but were told it was restaurant policy not to serve the bar menu food in the main dining room. We were accommodated with a «one time exception» from management. This policy and the general attitude of the staff were off-​putting, especially since we had ordered drinks, an appetizer, and an entrée off the dinner menu. When the food arrived, we were disappointed by the quality. The filet was overcooked and the cheeseburger meat didn’t taste or smell right. We decided it wasn’t worth sending the burger back and decided to just pay our check and leave.
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I was just here tonight with a few friends to catch up over dinner and drinks.
When I first arrived, I decided to sit at a table in the bar (self seat) while I waited for friends to arrive. Unfortunately, a few minutes later the hostess let me know that due to there being only one bartender in the bar that evening, that drinks would only be served in the bar area and not food so that was a bummer because I was really looking forward to sitting at a table in the bar just because it’s a little more casual. However, the bar area was really nicely laid out. A bit small, but the two tables they had in there were a good size and there were plenty of seats around the bar itself. After finding out that the bar was only serving drinks, I was sat at a table in the restaurant portion. The restaurant itself is really nice… dark lighting, a good amount of tables, and a very large wine rack for decoration — overall, a nice ambiance.
For drinks, I ordered the mai tai mule and my friends ordered a variety of drinks including the American mule, Dorothy’s revenge, twisted peach mule, and one other drink that I can’t remember. Everyone seemed to like their drinks except one of my friends said that the twisted peach mule wasn’t as peachy as she had hoped it would be. My friend who ordered the drink that I can’t remember the name to said it was a little strong, but otherwise she seemed to like her drink also.
For dinner, we ordered the French onion soup, pulled pork carnitas flatbread, lamb picadillo stuffed sweet potato, crab mac and cheese, crab cassole, and chicken ribbons. Originally, I ordered the pork tenderloin medallions but they were all out so that was disappointing. Everyone seemed to enjoy their food. I ordered the crab cassole and chicken ribbons and enjoyed mine. The chicken ribbons come with three sauces (bleu cheese, hot sauce/​buffalo sauce, and a house ketchup that has a bit of a kick to it). My only complaints are that the celery tempura that came with the chicken ribbons was kind of weird… I think something like fried pickle spears would’ve gone better with the chicken but that’s just me. Also, I mistook the crab cassole for crab CASSEROLE, so I was a bit surprised when my meal came out. It was more like a thick crab dip with bread and tortilla style chips on the side, but still very good! I also tried the pulled pork carnitas flatbread and it was pretty good and a little sweet.
Our server, Abraham, was very nice and patient and had a good sense of humor. He had some good suggestions and very quick about bringing out our food and drinks.
Overall, I think that Alchemy Elements is a really great addition to Bel Air’s food scene and it’s a nice break to the chain restaurants that are there. This place is great just to grab a drink with friends, or even for a nice date or a special dinner such as Valentine’s Day or an anniversary.

Very, very good food. Our service was outstanding as well. The prices are a bit high — especially for the strip mall location, but the ingredients are quality and the attention to detail makes it worthwhile. I hope it does well. Bel Air needs more family-​run businesses like this.

This is what bel air needed. An upscale place that doesn’t feel like a chain that serves legit craft cocktails from good liquor. You won’t find fireball or yellowtail here! Bartenders are very friendly. Drink prices are reasonable for premium spirits. Crab bisque was very tasty with huge chunks of crab meat and the right amount of sherry. I’ll definitely be visiting again and I wish them all the success.
Food and cocktails continue to impress