Twist & Turn Tavern

3.5 stars.
Twist and Turn is my bar of choice for trivia on Wednesdays. The crowd is very lively and everyone enjoys themselves.
The food is mostly good and their specials are tempting. Last week they featured chili dogs and I was glad to see they served grilling sausages, not Oscar Meyer wieners, on pretzel buns. However, I would advise against ordering the pizza and the crab dip. Both have been consistently bland and dry.
They tap about a half dozen rotating craft beers and the signature cocktails are creative, if a little too sweet. When I asked one evening for a cup of decaf for an Irish coffee, they happily made me a fresh pot.
The atmosphere is casual but not dive-​y and the single room layout makes the bar feel inviting and communal. It is tastefully decorated in a horse and tack theme that does not feel gimmicky and is always clean. The outdoor patio seating is nice in the warmer months. I must complain about the ladies’ room running out of paper on more than one occasion, though. And the service can get slow when its busy.
Overall a solid watering hole for townies and trivia folks alike, with decent food and a fair selection of drink.

Very good experience… got a turkey club wrap with fresh cut fries. Food came out quickly & was very tasty. Things appear to be improving. Good service from Carlos. Will be back.

First visit today, no crowds at all on a Saturday at lunch time. The salads were generous, wings (old bay-​honey) were fabulous and the burger was awesome! Not many options for vegetarians (at least that are healthy) beyond the 3 salads they offer, but they do the pub menu quite well. Would definitely visit again!

The twist and turn is a decent restaurant that connects everyone from the area for some food, drinks and sports entertainment. Living only 5 minutes away, my family and I frequent here on Tuesdays– that’s half off burger night. Happy hour is from 4 – 7 and I usually try something new during that time.
Service always seems to be slow and if it was better, I’d give this review four or five stars. It’s like pulling teeth to get our waitress to check on us or bring us a side of something that we asked for 10 minutes ago when our meal came.
I like that they have a relaxed dress code for the servers (flannels, etc) because it feels more relaxing and comfortable than local places that try to overdo it.

Crab dip is banging, staff are wonderful! More to come when we visit again very cool and yummy drink specials!

Their burgers are on point! And their homemade peanut butter pie is to die for!!! So good!

This place is probably my favorite bar. The food hits the spot. It’s always a good time. The people are cool and fun to talk to.
It is a relaxed place to bring the kids. The waitresses bring them little chalkboards to draw — always friendly. When I get a chance, it is always fun to hang out at the bar!

I like TNT for so many reasons. Those reasons generally surround the people who run, own, and frequent the establishment; not in any particular order. I genuinely like the food, but admit I do not go there for that primary reason. I go because if you show up once or 355 times, Dauphene, Sam, Erin, Marsha, Loren, Scott and others will remember who you are and what you need – a beer, a burger, or whatever it is. My suggestion when coming to TNT is to follow the 3 rules of «restaurant love»:
1. If you have really, really high expectations, lower them! This ain’t the Highland Inn. Oops, they’re gone, right?
2. Satisfaction is a drink or two away… and a burger too!
After two of Sam’s Sangrias, you will be feeling like the night is young and that you have found Heaven in Highland. Same goes for the exceptional burgers!
3: This rule is a bit too politically incorrect to discuss here, but if you ever run into me at TNT (I sit in the corner next to Hugo), I will gladly elaborate.
Simply, the TNT is a fun place with people inside and out that make it worth the visit.
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I haven’t been there for a couple of years. It used to be our go to place. New management let it go downhill. Today I was hoping they had their act together, nope. Even though it was pretty much empty, my food came out cold and the fries tasted like they were left over from last night. Disappointed. They could use restaurant impossible. Just saying.

Twist and Turn is getting better all the time. Give it a try. Great appetizers and great burgers!

Went here with co-​workers and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I got the Black n Bleue burger and the burger was homemade and delicious! Their spicy ranch like saw has just the right amount of kick and their black and tan beer battered onion rings were the perfect accompaniment to the meal. Will have to come back again!

Ew what a nasty place. My shoes got stuck to floor. We got seated and waited for service. No one came. Another couple walked in, got seared and served. We walked out.

This place was not good as the food was below average and there really was nothing of note that would make this any better than a local three star restaurant… Look elsewhere

I have been coming here off and on since the place opened since I have lived in Highland for the last 10 years. This place has a good atmosphere and decent food for the most part. The décor is nice for a neighborhood place and they recently opened an outdoor patio.
As most of the reviews indicate the service is hit or miss. The ownership of the bar seems to rotate partners pretty often. You can tell it isn’t professionally managed. Nonetheless, it is a fine place to grab a beer and some bar food. Had the crab soup and chili on most recent visit and both were very good. The wings were fatty, slightly undercooked and the sauce pooled on the bottom of the plate. Certainly not the best effort on wings.
I’ll keep coming every other month but prefer the Ten Oaks Tavern a few miles away for better food consistency and the best crab soup in Maryland.

Twist & Turn, you’ve lost a loyal customer.
I have always had mixed experiences with Twist & Turn for the 5+ YEARS I have been eating there. I always give the benefit of the doubt, especially since I know management has been switching over time, etc. Yesterday was the last straw.
First of all, it was father’s day. Second of all, it was my birthday (not that this mattered to the staff, or really should, but I wanted to go somewhere for birthday brunch in good faith that I’d have a happy experience).
I showed up around 12:30 to the place being mostly empty, which I have gotten used to, and to be honest, something that kept me coming back. My friend and I sat ourselves outside, since although there were about 3 waitresses floating around, no one spoke to us — something I am also used to.
After sitting outside on the «new patio» at a high top, a disheveled hostess brought us one menu because she «couldn’t find anymore»??? In addition, half of the tables on the patio hadn’t been cleared from previous diners, and stayed dirty for over 30 minutes. I found this amusing because a group of 6 showed up for father’s day brunch, wanted to sit outside, and were told by the same hostess that they «needed to wait 20 — 30 minutes» because there was «so much going on». There were MAYBE 2 tables full inside, and like I said, half of the tables outside were just sitting under dirty dishes with no one at them.
The table of 6 that showed up also were told they had to «wait in the parking lot» because there «wasn’t enough room» for them to stand inside. What a joke.
Back to my meal… we got some mediocre iced tea, which came out in a timely fashion. I wanted to order an appetizer off the main menu, and was told I could wait until 1pm to do so, but they only make «brunch items» until 1pm to avoid «cross contaminating» the kitchen appliances. What? We started laughing because her «cross contamination» excuse would have been better left unsaid, she could have just said «we don’t serve off the brunch menu until 1pm» or «our chefs are too incompetent to handle multiple things at once»… oh wait, she told us that later (just wait for it).
I ordered the:
BURRITO OMELET
Three eggs scrambled with grilled peppers & onions, wrapped in a soft tortilla & topped with cheddar jack cheese & salsa
$ 9.99
with wheat toast and a side of bacon.
and my friend ordered the
TEXAS POACHED EGGS
Two poached eggs atop a pile of pulled pork and onion rings with home made salsa
$ 11.99
with an English Muffin
Fail… fail… fail. First of all, considering the place was like ²⁄₃ EMPTY, our food took OVER 45 minutes to NOT show up. Really? I finally went and spoke to the manager, who is usually hiding at his computer in the back and has a considerable lack of people skills. As soon as I walked in looking irritated, he goes «I know, I know» and runs to the kitchen.
He then brings out our «food». Stone. Cold. Not even «oh we forgot about your meal but don’t worry it’s been sitting on hot plates, so we at least attempted to keep it lukewarm for you». Just… cold.
Wrong toast for my friend, no toast for me, no bacon. His «Texas Poached Eggs» were horribly overdone (hard boiled status) and cold to boot. Pulled pork looked greasy and gross, «onion rings» soggy. Oh, and he didn’t get salsa either.
I got salsa though! I got half a dixie cup filled with pink water and two little chunks of tomato. My «burrito» was there too, in all of its frozen glory. The peppers and onions were clearly NOT grilled, and the «cheddar jack cheese» on top was… crusted? It didn’t even look like cheese. Not sure what was going on with that.
Needless to say, we didn’t eat. We waited 45 minutes to not eat crappy food. Frankly, it was disgusting. The waitress came over to ask «how everything turned out», and I was halfway through reading her my riot act when she goes «I know, I know, brunch isn’t really our…‘thing;… I’m so sorry. Let me talk to the manager.»
Two employees who both say «I know, I know, when approached about something being wrong? Doesn’t bode well. The manager didn’t even have the cahones to come out and apologize, or do the whole «customer service» thing that managers are SUPPOSED to be so great at. He sent our meek waitress back who said «You can go. I’ll clean all this up.» No permission needed! We were out of there ASAP — thankfully Ledo’s is right down the street.
Seriously Twist & Turn, get it together. This was the final straw in a long series of mishaps that I have experienced at your restaurant. Your non-​extensive brunch menu is NOT complicated, your waitstaff are highly incompetent and lack timeliness and customer service, your kitchen is not going to be «cross-​contaminated» from preparing multiple dishes at the same time. When your OWN STAFF admit «brunch isn’t our thing» — either fix it ASAP or stop serving it. Oh, and maybe your manager should stop hiding behind his computer and face all of the pissed off customers.

I travel a lot for business and get to try new and interesting places for dinner or drinks after a long day. When in the Baltimore area recently, had the great fortune to come across Twist and Turn Tavern. My colleagues and I found the bar and atmosphere to be very welcoming, the menu has great selections for bites or a meal. We thought we’d have a quick drink and head out and ended up staying the entire evening! Great food — sliders and mussel frites are terrific openers. I had a Bison burger perfectly prepared and wonderful sweet potato fries. Our bartender Dauphene was fantastic, kept us content with fresh and perfectly prepared cocktails and quick food service. If you get a chance, make sure you stop by, you won’t be disappointed!

First off, management is terrible. The lady manager working tonight of average build with a tight brunette bun was a complete «b.» The menu printed the crab cake prices at half off. The sever was probably new to serving and didn’t know how to handle anything, including forgetting to give us straws and giving us a mostly empty bottle of ketchup. But back to the manager, she argued with me that the menu printed incorrectly. I said well it’s here so you should honor it and she said she had to check, but boy did she have attitude, and who was she checking with anyway? I was blown away how inappropriate rude and argumentative she was. She finally hastily came over and said fine she’ll honor the price, but she charged me at the reduced cost and my dad got the same meal and they didn’t discount him. He said it wasn’t worth the fight.
Then back to the server, she brought out my dad the wrong side (he ordered a salad and she gave him broccoli) and didn’t know what the actual sides were on the menu. So, she just was completely clueless and every time I saw her at another table she was escorted by a more experienced waitress. So, I guess she just needed help in general.
Now that we’ve established the service is abysmal, there’s the food. The crab cake was mostly bread but didn’t taste horrible except it was cold. The broccoli was fine. The fries were «sitting around forever» taste and consisted of tiny overcooked pieces so probably at the bottom of the crisper. Just not great food at all.
Then the check. My dad had a points reward card and they said they didn’t honor it anymore even though they did less than a few weeks ago. They changed management again so no discount rewards, no more 75 cent wings, no more chicken quesadillas, and a misprinted menu full of lies. The server seemed to have no idea how to run the check either so it took a while.
So come here if you want crappy service and a headache for sub-​par food.

We went their Tuesday night for ½ price burger night. The restaurant was clean, the service was awesome and we had a great time. I heard the place was under new management and you certainly could tell.
We will be back soon, I think Thursday is ½ price Prime Rib night.

Terrible restaurant, terrible bar, terrible service. I have been to this place several times because they have great deals for burgers on a certain day of the week. But any time I have ordered food there I have to constantly ask for sauces or any sort of condiments. Food is ok, but not at all worth dealing with the place. Most of the time they don’t even know what’s on their own menu. Bar tenders don’t even know how to make typical cocktails or special shots. They only know how to poor beers.
If you are thinking of calling in an order to go, DONT BOTHER! Every time I have done this I have to retell them my order when I get there to pick it up. Then I have to wait for my food another half an hour.
This place is the smallest bar around town and the loudest. If you want to be at a bar for the night go to Loonies. This place is louder and far more cramped.

I have had mixed experiences the few times I have been here. The food isn’t bad, if it comes that is. Maybe a bit pricey. Last time I was here with my family and we had such terrible service that we swore we would never come back.
Our food took forever to come out, and when it finally did many of us didn’t get what we ordered. Our waitress was pretty unhelpful. I give two stars because the food isn’t awful, just the service.