Avely Foods

This place is absolutely awful. The food is gross and service is horrible. Don’t eat here!

I have given this place two chances and both have left me disappointed. The first time we ordered the fried chicken, which is very tasty but they need to up grade the chicken. We love dessert, so we decided to order the cheesecake and the parfait. The cheesecake was NOT EATEN… it looked that terrible. The parfait was delicious and I decided to order it again the second time… this time IT WAS NOT EATEN. The yogurt was so discolored and had a weird smell. The turkey club sandwich was good. The fries are normal and the cookies are hard. I can make this all by myself under the price I paid. I will pass on Avely foods for now on.

I ordered carry out after finding them online and checking out the website. I was happy to read that they use some local and organic ingredients, donate to the homeless shelter, recycle and make a lot of their sauces/​pastas completely in house. Since it was my first time, I ordered simple. a hamburger, a turkey burger, french fries and steamed vegetables. The food tasted fresh, not greasy. It was very good! The steamed vegetables were exactly that and tasted homemade unlike some restaurants that advertise steamed but are clearly soaked in butter and seasonings. I was very pleased by the food and even more pleased with the way they presented their company online. I will definitely order from them again! I am right in the neighborhood and have never seen this place either. I am skeptical to dine in house given the other reviews but, like I said, the food was good and fresh for delivery so I will definitely be ordering again and trying some new things!

I’ll just re-​post my complain to BmoreBargains over a coupon I bought to this place, enjoy.
To whom it may concern,
«What the ****». These were my first three words upon entering, and being seated, at Avely Foods. This particular restaurant was your deal of the day several weeks ago. Located at 301 E. Fort Ave, in the heart of Federal Hill, this new restaurant looked promising from the reviews listed on sites such as Unilocal and UrbanSpoon. I don’t normally buy coupons for places I’ve never been to, but I decided that $ 15 for $ 30 was the best way to experience a new joint. I couldn’t have been more wrong, and I really don’t know where to begin. Firstly, the people who wrote positive reviews for this place either only had the carryout, or are close family members to the owners. A list is probably the best format for listing my grievances.
1. Even before we arrived, I called ahead, per the directions listed on the coupon. I was greeted with «Hello this is Treena». Devoid of normal restaurant ambiance, I immediately thought I dialed the wrong number. I wish I had. The woman affirmed that I had indeed called Avely Foods, and I needed to make a reservation. I said what time we would like to eat, and was thanked. She must have been psychic because I never gave my name.
2. We showed up at 7:00 on a Sunday, and became immediately suspicious. There were two banners posted outside of what looked like an abandoned mental hospital guiding our way. When we got to the front door, we saw what appeared to be a child’s school project (the menu) and homemade poster board leading us down a flight of stairs to two cafeteria doors.
3. We were greeted by bright fluorescent lights, completely white walls, and a dozen empty tables. No hostess, no coat rack, no semblance of anything that would elude to a validated restaurant. At least the high school music stage was slightly covered with see through curtains.
4. No menus, no proper waitstaff, no professionalism. Seriously, the «waitress» sat us, asked us «what are you guys in the mood for, our dinner menu is not quite ready yet». Really??? I don’t know why we didn’t leave at that particular moment.
5. Salad from a bag, pasta from Chef Boyardee, and a burger I could’ve made better on my George Foreman grill constituted our «dinner».
I really can’t explain the décor inside without laughing. It was a cafeteria in an insane asylum. Music blaring from a cheap Walmart stereo was eventually drowned out by the sound effects of a movie the chef was watching in the kitchen, which, by the way, was only separated from our table by those cheap Japanese folding room dividers.
Wanting to get the hell outta there as quick as possible, we asked for our check, which couldn’t have been more than $ 20 for what we ordered (spaghetti, a hamburger, salad, and two drinks).
$ 35.64 later, the women hovered over me asking if I would like to leave a tip and for how much. She took my card backstage for ten minutes, and asked me what my zip code was. Should’ve probably canceled my card on the spot.
All in all, I’m out $ 15 for the coupon, plus the extra $ 5 for the remainder of the bill, plus an overly gracious $ 5 tip. $ 25 I spent to feel like I was on one of those caught on camera reality shows. I was half expecting Carson Daly to come out and say I was on a new pilot on MTV. Needless to say, it was a joke. After talking to my friends about this place, the only solution we came up with was that it’s probably a reclamation project to get homeless people back into working society.
I believe this part falls on the behalf of BmoreBargains. You guys obviously did ZERO research when it came to this place. There is no doubt in my mind that one second inside that cold cement fortress would change your marketing minds. I feel especially duped by the fact that you promoted this place as:
Fresh and healthy selections!
Made from scratch
Daily specials
none of which apply, at all. I’m sure I am not the first to write such an email, as about 100 other purchases were made to validate the coupon. I’m going to come right out and say that I would like a full refund to try and erase this terrible dining experience from my mind. My burgeoning faith in your company was tested and failed.

It is difficult to rate this place, because it isn’t clear what they are trying to be. Are they a sit down restaurant, with an all you can eat brunch? If so, they get 2 stars if only for the dismal atmosphere at the bottom of a church building. Are they a take-​out food place, with high end meals for busy professionals? If so, they get four stars due to good homemade food, or at least the food I tried (just breakfast, but well cooked with fresh cut herbs, which made a big difference). I think this place needs to resolve its identity crisis if they want to stay in business. Focus solely on high-​end take-​out or delivery for busy professionals and don’t even bother setting the tables in the dining area, or at least don’t advertise as eat-​in food or all-​you-​can-​eat brunch. Just my thoughts…

What a find! I never knew this place was here and it’s do close to my house. They offer dine in, delivery and carry out. The people are very friendly and attentive. It’s like sitting down at your Mom’s kitchen table. Glancing over the menu will really make you think your at home! With choices like sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, spaghetti and pork chops how can you go wrong. Not in the mood for Southern food? They also have sandwiches, stir fry, pasta and serve breakfast all day.
The place is a little hard to find. It’s inside another big grey building and down a flight of stairs. The set up is in what looks like an old school cafeteria. It’s really more of a place you’d want to get delivery or to go food. We didn’t know this and ate there. There was one lady working. She seated us, took our order and also cooked our food. They do make everything fresh when you order it so it’s probably a good idea to call in your order if you’re picking up. It took over 45 minutes to get blueberry pancakes, a chicken salad sandwich and mashed potatoes. Everything was very good. The potatoes were homemade right while we were there. The chicken salad sandwich was seasoned perfectly and even had bacon on it! I ordered strawberry lemonade that had to have been made fresh in the kitchen!
Now here’s the best part … our server brought us a free bowl of fresh fruit because we had to wait so long. Then she REFUSED TO ACCEPT A TIP because of the wait. AND she brought me out a fresh strawberry lemonade in a to go cup! Seriously? This type of service exists in Baltimore? Amazing!
If you live near here this is the perfect place to order dinner from to pick up on your way home. She has meals to feed families of 4 for $ 40. You can ever order online from their website. I’m definitely going back to get take out. I’m happy to support such a sweet woman who cooks seriously good food!

Do NOT let the «in progress» setting distract you from trying this place! This is a new restaurant that opened up in the Federal Hill area that is pretty solid. They are still in the process of decorating it so it does not quite look like a finished restaurant yet.
However the food is good and seems to have a Southern-​influence: almost everything is homemade (i.e., the bread) and tastes like it too!
Do get the grits: a savory blend of parmesan and romano cheese that is rich and creamy.
Freshly squeeze OJ? Need I say more?!
The lemonade and strawberry blended juice hit the spot on the muggy day when we tried this spot.
The handmade angus beef patty was tasty — however I had it without cheese and bacon so I will try that combo later.
Lastly, the service was AMAZING – the best I have had since living on the East Coast for the past three years! The owner personally took our order and was super nice, warm and accommodating.