John Steven Ltd - Review

Intro
John Steven Ltd - Recommended
1800 Thames St, Baltimore, Maryland 21231
Phone: 410-327-5561

Since I was in Baltimore this past weekend, I wanted to find out what the big deal about Maryland crab cake was. I've always heard about the wonders of this dish, but never really experienced a great Maryland crab cake. We asked a bunch of people at the rehearsal dinner and everyone brought up the same name - John Stevens. They are 100% correct, maybe the best crab cake I've ever had. Overall, I give the restaurant an 79/100.

My Menu
1) Crab Soup
2) Scallops :(
3) Crab Cake Entree **

:( What the F - in a bad way
* Good
** Great
*** What the F - in a good way

Dish Comments
1) Basically a minestrone with crab. Tomato based soup with corn and peas and a very tiny amount of crab. Soup was OK, but I wouldn't order it again.
2) I love scallops and I would say avoid these at all costs. It's broiled in butter, but there's absolutely no flavor to it. Scallops should be slightly sweet, but these taste like nothing.
3) Great crab cakes here - nice and juicy. The meat is lump so it's in bigger pieces and you really taste great crab flavor in every bite. The crust on the crab cake is light, but because it has a nice sear in butter the flavors are explosive. The sides of fries are good, but the slaw is flavorless though. The carrots are ok, but undercooked in my opine.

Overall Restaurant Experience (83/100)

• Food 7.8/10 – The dishes that we had we're pretty average to subpar, but the crab cakes were spectacular.
• Service 8.5/10 – The waitress was incredibly nice and was eager to help us in ordering the food. Food came out pretty quick. She was looking at me seasoning the scallops and came over right away and asked how things were.
  
• Atmosphere 8.5/10 – I love eating at bars and this was great. Not crowded at all and just a great atmosphere. Crowd consisted of older couples, families, and groups of dudes at the bar. Got there at 1pm on a Saturday and were seated immediately.
• Price 7.5/10 – Price of crab cakes were on the high end ($24) for lunch, but it was 100% worth it. All other dishes were moderately priced.

Closing Comments
This experience reminded me of Tadich Grill in San Francisco - one phenomenal dish (crab cakes), but everything else was OK to sub par. But, like Tadich Grill I will 100% come back anytime I'm in Baltimore to John Steven Ltd just for the crab cakes...