The Tasting Room

I have to say the food is very good but extremely expensive. I ordered the salmon and enjoyed it, but considering not being a big eater, I was not completely full. The portions are small and I had to eat the bread to fill myself up.
There were five of us and we all ordered drinks but no appetizers and enters and with tip, it came up to $ 300.00!!!
Service was excellent but considering the price, I will not go back, sorry.

We chose Tasting Room to celebrate our anniversary this year because it never disappoints. This time was no exception! If you are fortunate enough to have Justin take care of you — Listen. To. Him. He recommended some amazing food and wine pairings that blew us away! We followed his recommendations and went with the Beef Carpaccio appetizer, followed by the Tuna and Monkfish entrees and Roasted S’Mores for dessert — all paired with the perfect wines. Definitely a meal to remember — we’ll be back for sure!

we have had dinner numerous times at The Tasting Room and everything has always been perfect! The steaks are the best I have ever had. The service has always been outstanding. Their cocktail specials are great especially the lavender blueberry lemonade. This is one of our favorite places for dinner or a quick drink at the bar.

More overrated, overpriced pretentious nonsense. If you aren’t decorative enough to grace their windows, prepare to be ignored. Come to my house, the food is way better, you won’t leave starving and we’ll treat you like friends, not like a nuisance.

Disappointing food. Obnoxious, pretentious staff. A pretender. Take your restaurant dollars elsewhere. You can do much better.

We visited twice while in town on recommendation from the hotel. The first time was a 5. Everything was excellent. Food and service could not have been better.

Delicious, delicious, delicious! Did I say delicious! Just had lunch. Salmon cakes we crispy and full of salmon! hubby had the chicken sandwich! Huge piece of chicken. He had an empty plate when done! We sat at the bar, server was friendly and attentive! Love downtown Frederick!

Just went yesterday and It’s still just as good as it has always been. The drinks are amazing I had some sort of Gin, cucumber and mint drink that was amazing and my steak is one of the best in the entire DC metro area I would compare with BLT. I’m a huge fan of this place and I will be returning.

We would give more than five stars if that was an option. My husband had the scallops and I had the monkfish. The food was more than delicious while you could taste the good quality products the Chef used. The cocktails were excellent too and the service was really awesome. We became fans!

Best sandwich I have ever had
Went on New Years Day for lunch. I had the lamb burger w fries and the apples to apples cocktail. My wife had the crispy swordfish sandwich and an off menu grapefruit and prosecco mimosa. My sandwich was the best sandwich I’ve ever had — great lamb flavor, a little saltiness, crispness from the cucumber, and some great flavor from just the right amount of cheese (provolone?). The drinks were flavorful with a good balance of sweet and «bite». My wife’s sandwich was excellent too, but not as great as mine. Finally, our server Justin helped us figure out what we wanted in a friendly and helpful manner, and kept up with drinks, bread, food and water without distraction from our lunch — perfect service. All in all an absolutely wonderful 30^th anniversary lunch.

The food was excellent, and not as expensive as I was expecting for the quality of the food. I’ll definitely be back.

I’m a fan. I have never had a bad meal here. Service is always good. There is a extensive wine list with several good wines by the glass.
As for the food there not much I wouldn’t recommend. My goto items are the Crab Cakes which are something I normally avoid when out of Baltimore. The strip steak. The scallops.
Warning it’s pretty cramped seating and loud when busy. So if your looking for quiet candle light prolly not ur spot. It’s all glass and on the corner so it’s good for people watching.
It’s a good spot for business dinners cause the menu appeals to most but is a cut above your Steak and Seafood restaurant.
There’s more public parking garages in Frederick than any city in the universe. So parking should be easy.
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You will not have a better meal ANYWHERE. We don’t really care for the greeters at the door, just not warm enough IMHO, but worth it to sit. You really need dinner reservations — especially for the weekends. Always busy at lunch, too. Great bar drinks, they don’t get stingy with liquor for their mixed drinks, but the pour is not too heavy either. You will walk out with a hefty bill, but definitely a memorable meal.

My ultimate goal is to eat at every single restaurant in DTF, so accordingly The Tasting Room was in that rotation.
I decided that a restaurant of this caliber deserved an according date which happened to be my lovely mother. We came in on a Saturday night, 9:30PM with reservations. We were seated immediately, the restaurant is cozy and the ambience is very warm; ideal for date night.
We start with waters, their cute bread & monogram butter (which I lamely thought was cheese, bless my inexperienced heart) lol and a Summer Sangria (I vaguely remember) the sangria was TASTYYYY (prompting me to come back the next day just for drinks!)
The service was distastefully slow. Attentive when we were acknowledge but slow nonetheless. My mom orders the Lobster Chowder & I order the Mussels for appetizers. For entrees I got the Pork Chop served with a fried polenta cake and my mom went with the seared scallops. Everything was tasty. Presentation for the pork chop was sloppy but The taste made up for that.
All in all a great Restro. Service could use some polishing but it’s not terrible bad that I’d not come back.
UPDATE: I’ve been here plenty of times since my first visit. Every visit has gotten better and the food has been consistently delicious. Everything from the crab dip, cheese board, mussels, filet mignon and salmon are great.
In the summer months you MUST order the Blueberry Lavender Lemonade = OMG. Just do yourself a favor and get it.

One absolutely amazing dining experience ! The cutest location at downtown frederick, a great wine menu and amazing food ! What more do you need? The crab cakes is so delicious you keep going back for more ! I also recommend the lobster battered mashed potatoes !

Recently had a chance to visit the Tasting Room for the first time since the renovations.
We have been frequent visitors in the past and were looking forward to seeing and experiencing the «new and improved» Tasting Room. Well, as it turns out, the old place was better in our estimation.
Unfortunately the new, sleek and chic look has created a cold, hard atmosphere with
NOT ONE soft surface to absorb noise. The walls are bare, the floors are hard, the chairs are hard, the tables are uncovered and — wait for it — hard. It was difficult to hear each other; normal conversation is impossible. It’s more like a «pick up» joint now.
Ah, yes, the food. My medium steak was over salted and was more like rare, hubby’s medium was more medium well. Not fond of the Ruth’s Chris sizzling plate style presentation, either.
Oh, yes, it was set on some sort of little hot pad to protect the hard table from melting. ???
Other items were just mediocre sides. The best part of the meal was the «Autumn Salad».
Sad when the best part if the meal is something raw that is merely assembled.
So, if you are looking for a top notch destination restaurant for an intimate celebration skip the Tasting Room. (think declaring your undying love, giving her the ring, anniversary, romantic anything) We will wait for the re-​renovation before traveling to charming downtown Frederick just to «enjoy» a romantic night out at the Tasting Room.

The food is solid and well prepared, the bar makes decent cocktails, but everything is a bit too expensive and a bit unexciting, considering the price. More of a 3.5 than a 3.
At a recent dinner with a friend, the tab was $ 90 a person for a meat entrée each (with upgraded mini salad), shared app, and 2 low-​end drinks each. For that price, in Frederick, I wanted to be impressed, rather than just «that was fine».
There’s none of the polish of a Flemings or similar mainline occasion restaurants, the interior isn’t quirky or fancy or quaint (despite a recent renovation), the service is fine but not exceptional. And the tables are both small and jammed close together.
I’ll venture that Tasting Room is a bit of a throwback to the time when Frederick didn’t have much culinary scene, DC and Baltimore seemed a great distance away to small-​town locals, and folks affectionately poked fun of the place as «Fredneck». This was the old-​style «only occasion restaurant in town», with prices to match.
Fast forward 15 years, and Frederick has a redeveloped downtown, loads of new restaurants, and a worldly population much of which commutes towards DC. And the menu and ambience here are no longer «occasion» and can be had (or exceeded) at any number of upscale-​grill or new-​American restaurants that spring up (and fade out) continuously in the many town centers and developments that dot the 2015 landscape.
I go out in Frederick 6−12x a year (2 – 3 stops each time, for the last decade), and I always have this same reaction about Tasting Room (after ~6 times here): Fine, but expensive, not that special, didn’t excite despite the $ 200. Won’t repeat again for a year or two.
This time was no different. Thanks Tasting Room, I’m good until 2017 or so.

We thoroughly enjoyed the food. I ordered the crab cake sandwich and my boyfriend ordered the pasta special, baked penne with chicken and mushrooms. Everything was delicious and we would come back for the food.
But there were definitely a few things that were very discouraging that took away from our fun experience. We found a hair in my boyfriend’s pasta, a bread crumb or some food item swimming in his water and my spoon had food on it when I ordered coffee. In addition to that, this is not acceptable for any restaurant especially a restaurant at this level. Our waitress also took a very long time to serve us water and it wasn’t even busy.

I went to The Tasting Room with my sister tonight. It was my first visit. My first impressions were positive. The décor is modern, but the tables are kind of close together, so it can get pretty intimate with the people at the next table.
The hostess was very friendly and our waiter was attentive.
We ordered the calamari and it was probably the best I have ever had. It was perfectly cooked and came submerged in a good broth.
My sister had the lobster ravioli and it was delicious. I had veal two ways with porcini polenta. The best I have ever had.
For dessert, I had molten chocolate cake… It was very good but I think the one my daughters made was better. My sis had key lime cheesecake with candied lime zest. It was very good also.
Overall it was a very decent experience and i will return to sample more of the eclectic menu!!!

I’ve been itching to try TR for awhile now and decided to head there for lunch solo. I made it just before the kitchen closed. The bartender was aloof at first but became more pleasant after I placed my order.
I started with the crab dip, which was somewhat disappointing. It was very rich but also kind of greasy. While crab was present, the cream cheese was the prevailing flavor. I did like the perfectly toasted crostini the dip was served with.
Lunch was the TR burger, which the menu says is a brisket, short rib, and chuck. The brisket made the burger very flavorful and interesting. I wouldn’t go as far as calling it amazing but the burger is certainly different and stands out among any other nearby restaurant’s. The accompanying hand cut French fries were great. The meal portion was perfect, as I was full after the meal but not comatose.
Based on overheard conversations and customer/​staff interactions, TR seems to attract a pretentious crowd. I don’t know that it’ll work itself into my regular rotation but I will be back to try other menu items I noticed, like the lobster mashed potatoes and shrimp and grits.