Alizee American Bistro

We had a reservation for restaurant week here tonight. We waited 15 minutes and never saw a host or hostess, even though a waiter and waitress as well as the bartender clearly saw us. We finally approached the bartender and mentioned we had a reservation, but she snapped at us that she would give us a menu, but it was an hour wait. We left and I can’t see us ever returning. It’s really disappointing since the menu made everything sound delicious!

We stayed at the hotel. Super friendly the food was great. The restaurant is located in the double tree hotel. Will definitely eat there again.

One of the best places to go for a wonderful experience. The food and staff are the best. Atmosphere is fine. Everything we ordered was to our liking.

Come here for the happy hour drinks. Excellent deal in a pretty nice setting at the bar. Otherwise the positive aspects end right there. Avoid the food regardless of time of day. If you’re stuck at the hotel, walk 10 minutes down the street. This place is an overpriced ripoff.

I would give this place 4 – 5 stars but the food was extremely slow in coming out. We arrived at 11am and waited for 40 minutes to get our food. Good thing we had time to spare. I liked the ambience, lots of mahogany wood, darker colors. I wish they served warm bread/​butter to start, especially considering the long wait. I ordered the grilled romaine salad with crab cake. I was not sure about grilled romaine but it was delicious with the chimichurri sauce on top. I enjoyed it. The crabcake was just right with chunks of lump meat still intact. My colleagues enjoyed their meals as well.

2.5 stars.
I came here for lunch yesterday and the whole experience was just average, bordering on mediocre. I should note that the only reason we came here was that we had a $ 25 gift certificate. Based on the Unilocal ratings, I wouldn’t have chosen it. So I didn’t expect much. The service was very attentive and friendly, but the food was not great. It was mostly edible, but not worth what they charge. We were literally the only ones in the restaurant for most of the time we were there, which was kind of awkward. We had looked at the menu before going and saw that there were some things we were interested in. I planned to order the club sandwich, but when we looked at the menu in the restaurant, it wasn’t listed anymore. We asked about it, and the waitress said the menu had changed and they no longer offered it. She came back a few minutes later to take our order, and said that the chefs had offered to make the club sandwich if I wanted it, which I thought was nice of them. I ended up getting the grilled chicken sandwich because I had already moved on from the idea of getting the club. The sandwich was good — the chicken was cooked nicely and I liked the honey mustard sauce on it. The chips were kind of a joke, though. I’m almost positive they came from a bag. When a restaurant charging the prices this place does, I expect the things on my plate to be house-​made. My friend got the turkey-​portabella burger, which I was expecting to be a turkey burger with a portabella on top. It wasn’t even close to that. There were a few little chunks of diced mushrooms inside the turkey burger, and that was it. And both the burger and the feta cheese on top had off-​putting flavors. The fries that came with it were good, however. We joked that if we put my chicken sandwich and the fries on one plate, we’d at least have one good meal. I think they also use some off-​brand of soda, because the «diet coke» we ordered didn’t taste like diet coke or diet pepsi. They even brought us another one and it still tasted weird. Again, the service was really friendly and they did try to be helpful and accommodating. But neither of us has any desire to go back to Alizee.

So I actually don’t normally post reviews on Unilocal.This is only my second review ever, actually, but I felt compelled based on my experience here from last night.
The first few mistakes were forgivable. First of all, our waiter did not come over to our table for probably about 15 minutes after we sat down. Thankfully the hostess brought us bread and water to snack on but we were certainly ready to order once the waiter arrived. We ordered two appetizers and two salads. We only got one appetizer but no big deal. Like I said, forgivable.
Then it got interesting. We had purchased a TravelZoo deal for Alizee for $ 50 worth of food and drink. When we pulled it out, the manager of the restaurant came over to our table and told us that he had nothing to do with the voucher and that they didn’t even know they had a voucher until the first person came in with it. Apparently, it was set up by a third party and we weren’t able to use the voucher until verifying it with the third party. The best he could tell us was «you can try to call him». Then he walked away and did not come back. Of course, we ended up not using the deal and paying normally. To add insult to injury, it took the waiter at least 20 more minutes to come back to get the check. I have never, ever thought about walking out of a restaurant without paying. But I seriously thought about it last night.
There are so many places to go in Baltimore and in Hampden alone. I would go somewhere else instead.

realized that I left the following review for another restaurant by mistake. trying again …
just wrote the following email to a colleague
«Re: dinner. Can we please avoid Alizee? I really do not like the place, and my preferences are strong enough to bother you with this email:)»
and having written this email, I feel I should leave a review as well.
horrible service: each time I go – not by choice obviously – they mix up something. once it was a broken record that got stuck during lunch that we had to listen to at least 5 minutes. another time it was mixed up food order of somebody in the table. another time we were 4 hosts and a guest, and the guest’s food arrived 10 minutes later than everybody else’s food. they never cease to amaze me.
food is just ok. nothing extraordinary to compensate for the lack of service.

I was there during the restaurant week. I ordered a cheese plate which had the worse possible cheese quality you can imagine (look at the picture), Trout which was just OK, and chocolate cake which was definitely from Costco or somewhere similar. I will never ever go there again.

Although the service wasn’t absolutely stellar, I still had a great night out here with one of my girlfriends.
Note: You HAVE to sit at the bar to get the happy hour specials! Happy hour has some GREAT drink specials (ex. $ 7 martinis… hehehehe) but the food seemed just okay. I think they were $ 5 dishes but stuff like calamari, mozzarella sticks, buffalo wings and food like that.
If I’m splurging on drink calories, I’ll try to go easy on the food.
BUT we had some quite tasty salads there. I tried the portobello mushroom salad which had sundried tomatoes, goat cheese, pine nuts, and a balsamic vinaigrette… YUMMYY!!! You can also order chicken or some other extras for extra $$$
If you don’t see a drink you want on the menu but want to get the happy hour price, see if they’ll make it for you at the same price. For example, I just wanted a regular dry dirty vodka martini instead of one of their fancy options (like their raspberry lemon drop martini), and I got it for the same $ 7 even though it wasn’t an option on the menu.
VERY GENEROUS drink portions! Definitely sipped slowly and responsibly: o)

DO NOT COME HERE!!! There are mice in the dining area! Food is not good and staff are CLEARLY not interested in keeping a clean restaurant!!!

The veneer on this place is that you are walking into a classic fancy restaurant. But once you peel that back, it’s like eating at a conference (not a surprise given that it’s located inside a Doubletree).
During Restaurant Week, had the fixed price menu:
First Course: Over dressed balsamic salad
Second Course: Bland rosemary chicken with soggy fingerlings
Dessert: Chocolate cake… definitely from Costco/Sam’s Club/BJ’s
At least I only paid $ 20.

Just got back from having dinner at Alizee. There’s good and bad.
The Good: The atmosphere and staff were great. A=Our server was very attentive. Our food came as we ordered, and come out in a very reasonable amount of time.
The Bad: The food, in my opinion, was mediocre at best. I had the Rib Eye Steak. The steak was ok. Didn’t have much flavor, even though it supposedly came with a garlic butter. The mashed potatoes tasted like they came from Applebees. And the vegetables were over cooked. The New England Crab Chowder had only 2 small pieces of crab meat in mine, and it tasted like canned soup where they added some frozen vegetables to it.
My wife had the Chicken Chesapeake. I tasted it, and I do admit. It was cooked very well, and the sauce was good. She certainly enjoyed it.
I guess, for a restaurant with the great service and beautiful décor it has, it’s kind of a shame that the food doesn’t live up.

Only tried Alizee for Happy Hour, so I can’t comment on the full dining experience, though I’ve heard that it is a great spot for a first date.
I highly suggest the HH. While it’s not a rip-​roaring time (it’s fairly quiet, probably always unless there’s a bunch of conferences in the hotel, wild tourists who didn’t want to pay downtown prices, or daring underage JHU kids in the house), which gives credibility to the first date thing. The entire restaurant is covered in rich colors and textures. You feel a bit rich hanging out there.
The bar, while not huge, was spacious and comfortable. Ms. Bartender was friendly and talkative. I had Alizee’s tasty spin on and sidecar ($ 9), she had the lemon drop ($ 6 for HH). We both were pleased… and a little buzzed (Ms. Bartender was heavy handed). For grub, we munched on the BBQ wings, Chesapeake wings, and chicken quesadillas, and fish tacos. All were good, especially at the $ 7 each HH price.
I only give it 4 stars because I didn’t have the full dining experience and the food and drink were just above ok. Good even. But the best part was the carefree banter between us and the staff. Everyone was so friendly. Though the place looked a little fancy, and we had our work suits on, we casually chatted about everything from football to the difference between bourbon and whiskey and rye to things people say that unintentionally draws awkward attention — She’s never had a fish taco and I tried to force her to take a bite. All the staff heard her say in response «You’re always trying to shove things in my mouth!» She meant that I’m constantly getting her to try «weird» food when she doesn’t want to, but it still got a good laugh from the us all, including her.

On a scale of 1 – 10, 1 being shitty and 10 being awesome, I give this place a –4. Wow, what a disappointment! I used to have brunch here all the time when it was the Polo Grill and was expecting some fancy like in the good old days. Total let down.
$ 20 fixed price menu for brunch got me stale cinnamon donuts, and over done eggs benedict. My friend got an embarrassing cheese plate and the crab omelet. Pretty sure I could have given her a better presentation by slapping a piece of American cheese, fresh grapes, and Ritz crackers on the plate.
Don’t bother going.
The only good thing I can say about this place is they validate your parking ticket so you can park for free in the parking garage.

Very disappointing. Mother’s day was a pitiful buffet when we were expecting a prix fixe, plus they charged more. The kitchen was not up to speed for a buffet and the options were quite limited. Breads were cold and cream cheese was served in small plastic containers that you had to wait for. Ridiculous.

This place was amazing. We came here as a group of 6 around 9:30pm to celebrate the visit of a friend’s girlfriend. Since it was so late we were one of only two groups there. Service was very attentive and while the meals did take time coming out, I can only image it was because the food needed that long to cook, and that the delay was not the waitstaff’s fault.
i had the beef oxtail with figs to start and the salmon. Both were soooo delicious! A couple of people refused to try the oxtail because they’d never heard of eating a tail before. It’s basically beef, so don’t let that scare you. The figs paired perfectly with the creamy oxtail wrapped in phyllo dough. The serving size was perfect; the creaminess turns on the palate after a while.
I usually never order fish at restaurants because they tend to mess always cook it too dry. This salmon, however, was perfectly tender and fatty. There was the perfect amount of glaze coupled nicely by vegetables. Others ordered steak and chicken, and not one complaint was heard except for that the steaks had too much gristle.
We finished too late for dessert but I’m sure that would have been delicious as well. It’s a great place for a fancy date!

It was ok. The basic point is that while we had a lovely dinner, it was too expensive for the result and we’re not likely to become regulars. (I had a gift certificate, which made it worth it.)
The atmosphere is nice, and I liked the wine list. The by-​the-​glass list was certainly above average. I loved that I could get a «flight» of wine– 3 wines for $ 15. Good deal, as I got three different lovely wines to accompany my courses.
The food was good, but not amazing. (We didn’t try the seafood, as we weren’t in the mood, so that might be different.) We had a steak and «bistro burger», both of which were good enough to finish but not good enough to order again.
I found it to be fairly expensive for what you got… I probably won’t be back unless the objective is wine first and food second.
The service was fine, and the manager was very helpful with my questions and comments. They were interested in the feedback, and quite receptive, which I find to be quite refreshing.

Located inside The Inn at the Colonade hotel, it’s on the right as you walk in. Once you enter the small iron gates at the entrance of the boutique bistro and wine bar, you’ll feel the «romantic» yet chic atmosphere of the restaurant and I thought the piano and wine bar at the entrance was a nice touch of elegance and sophistication. I came here for the prix fixe brunch because the menu seemed to offer everything that I had wanted and I thought it’d be a nice setting for a Valentine’s Day brunch.
After I sat down, I was reading the menu and it did not match up to the menu offered online. I came in wanting to try the roasted crustacean bisque but had to settle for something else. For my appetizer I ordered cinnamon doughnuts with mixed berries and fresh strawberry compote and my boyfriend ordered the corn chowder bisque. The corn chowder was a little on the salty side but my doughnuts were not edible! They were cold and somewhat hard to chew — I had expected them to be soft and warm!
Onto the main course! We waited a good 15 to 20 minutes after our appetizers for the main course. There was only 1 waiter for the entire restaurant and the hostess was helping bring out entrees as well. I came in wanting the chicken and biscuits (paneed chicken, cream biscuits, white pepper gravy) but had to settle for ordering the steak and eggs — extra $ 5 (medium rare) and my boyfriend had the Maryland omelette. When the food finally came out, the steak wasn’t cooked medium rare but the sauce that came along with it made up for it! The sauce was actually quite tasty but I can’t put my taste buds on what was exactly in it. The homefries were cooked perfectly but the bacon was drenched in grease… there was no such thing as dabbing the grease off of it. My boyfriend’s omelette was a bit on the small side but it wasn’t anything spectacular.
And to end the meal with desserts! The desserts were buffet style and we had the tiramisu and mixed berry tart. The tiramisu was average yet tasty. However, the mixed berry tart wasn’t what I expected. It was cold as if it had just come out of the refrigerator and plated for display and there were no fresh mixed berries in it — they used compote that was chewy since it was in the refrigerator. I don’t think I will come here again and it’s not worth it despite the prix fixe being $ 20 per person. This place might be good for after dinner drinks and casual get-​togethers but not for a special occasion.

Despite the nice décor, this is one of those doomed restaurant locations. Hit and miss food. The chicken was dry, the steak frites were good. The charcuterie was just ok. The service was very slow to greet our table, but fine once they showed up. Not worth a special trip. Go to Petite Louis in the winter or outdoors at Gertrudes in the summer if you are in the negihborhood.