Hibachi & Sushi Supreme Buffet

I was unaware we were reviewing this place. Hm. Ok. I thought we were just being fatties after we dropped our foster kittens off at their adoption event. From the outside this place looks like your typical strip mall Asian Buffet. On the inside, it was a wonderland of tasty delights. Yes, tasty delights.

This restaurant is huge. Several buffet stands full of food (everything from your expected sesame chicken to RIBS and mashed potatoes with gravy, oh yeah, and sushi). We were a little overwhelmed at first.

I asked Dave what our criteria would be for rating this place, and this is what we decided on.

• 
  
  Quality of food (like did the chicken wings have chicken hair on them)
• 
  
  Taste of food
• 
  
  Age of food
• 
  
  Americana buffet (do they have it just to have or does someone back there know how to make ribs)

In the end, everything was so delicious that our rating system was pretty much moot (by the way, someone back there DOES know how to make ribs and they are fall off the bone goooooood). The only thing that I tasted and did not like was the crabcake. Sesame chicken: good. Stuffed Scallops on a half shell: delicious. Lo Mein: soooo good and so on and so on.

It was all pretty fresh. Nothing had been sitting out for too long. It was all flavored wonderfully and was just great. The staff was friendly and quick. We had a great time. In fact, this will probably be a Drop Off The Foster Cats and Eat at the Buffet ritual.

5 noms

Dave's 2Cents:

As my wife had mentioned, this place looked like every other buffet around the country. A big sign promising greatness, in a strip mall with a at least a dry cleaner and possibly a nail salon.

Walking out of the pet store, I pointed the buffet out to Jenn. She looked at me in question as I said, "...but the sign says Supreme Buffet. We've never been to one of those before."

So she agreed and we went in.

This place is very nice inside. I am unsure if it used to be a steakhouse, but it had that feel. Lots of wood, lots of light. (I didn't see any burnt out bulbs either).

The 1st food item i saw was the seafood section. Crawfish, Clams on the shell, full sized crab... GOOD LORD SUPREME GOODNESS!

I then looked for the sushi. In the back was a 20+foot bar of about 15-18 different styles of sushi and shashimi. Next to the sushi bar was the hibachi grill. Definitely a lot smaller than Columbia's Mongolian buffet, they still had a lot of the basics there. I would also like to note that the raw meat was beautiful. The Beef was steak, still in steak shape, as were the chicken breasts. The scallops were huge as well. I enjoy seeing what my food looks like before chopped up into little bits.

Walking to the salad bar i noted on the back wall jugs of soup. On further inspection, it was a soup buffet! NOM!

For the non Asian loving eaters in the family, there is also an American buffet. Beef roast, pork ribs, mac'n'cheese, mash taters, etc...

Someone in the back knows how to do ribs. They were fall off the bone, luscious.

I defiantly give this place 5 noms. If I had to say something negative about 1 thing, it would be the seating. It looks like someone came in and slashed almost all the booth bench seat. Weird.

Bagby Pizza Co.

"Best Pizza in Harbor East"!

Bagby Pizza opened earlier this year to the delight of all my coworkers. Everyone had been dying for a quick lunch pizza joint near work for so long that it seemed Bagby answered the call, just for us.

I will admit right off that the reason it took me months and months to set foot in that place was because a couple of coworkers complained that they were too expensive and "wtf is up with no pizza by the slice?". However, we got wind that pizza by the slice was now being offered, and then Dave bought a Groupon, so one day we found ourselves there for lunch.

My first impression of the place is that it's absolutely wonderful inside. It definitely reflects the area on the inside with the exposed brick and duct work as well as the old timey Baltimore photos lining the walls. They have ample outdoor seating which is a great option when it's not a thousand degrees outside and isn't raining (it was raining). Their outdoor seating looks on at a gorgeous flower/garden shop so the view is truly lovely.

We looked over an ample menu (everything from pizza to salads to sandwiches) and decided on a large pepperoni and bacon. We got our sodas and sat down to wait for the pie to show up.

It came out pretty quickly. They were incredibly busy but it only took about 10 minutes or so for the pizza to arrive. I dug in immediately having not had breakfast that day and practically starving.

It was delicious. The sauce is just a little sweet and so good and you can tell the crust is homemade. The pepperoni and bacon was plentiful (both were chopped and under the cheese so you couldn't really see it, but you could definitely taste it). We tore through that pizza in no time. I was eyeballing some various pies at tables around me and I did not see a single unappetizing one. I'm thinking we need to keep going back to try different ones.

The crust is New York style so it's thin, but not cracker-crisp. The slices are big and fold-able, the cheese fresh and stringy. Basically, it's exactly what you want with a pizza. They have some fabulous combinations on their menu or you can create your own.

Now, as for the price of this place I guess you could say it is a tad pricey for lunch, but if you go with a friend, get a larger pizza and split the cost, you're going to spend about $10-12 on lunch, which isn't that bad at all. Especially not for Baltimore. We loved this place.

We fully, totally without hesitation give this place 5 Noms.

DAVE'S 2cents:

This will be short and sweet.

For the last 2 years, if I wanted great pizza from the harbor east/little Italy area, I went to Isabella's. They are even on our "Best of the Best" page. However, after eating here I think Isabella's now has some REAL COMPETITION.

Bagby's Pizza is just delish. As you can see from this picture, there is barely any oil dripping off a bacon and pepperoni pizza (2 of the most greasy meats you can have on a pizza).

Price wise though, it's just a few more dollars. (Isabella's 2 topping pizza $14ish, Bagby's $20)

The inside of this place is amazing too, if you're into wood, brick, and metal.

Since this place is on the border block of Little Italy and Harbor East, I will award this place "Best Pizza in Harbor East"!

Bill Bateman's Bistro

We were intrigued by the claim that Bill Bateman's Bistro had the "best wings in town". Dave and I both love some really good wings. It reminds us of Trivia Night in Florida when we'd hang out with his friends and eat pile after pile of various flavored wings while playing a ridiculous trivia game.

We tried out the White Marsh location (Gold Ring). We were greeted warmly and seated quickly. We ordered our beverages (I started off with a Cherry Bomb type thing, it was cherry bacardi, pineapple and cranberry juices and man oh man was it delicious), then started deciding on our meals.

We started off with an order of mozzarella sticks. It's definitely a passion of both of ours. I've loved mozzarella sticks ever since one almost killed me as a child. I swallowed a piece and started to choke on the giant string of cheese, frantically attempting to pull it out of my throat but the cheese just kept stretching. My mom, naturally, flipped out and I was banned from mozz sticks until adulthood.

So we ordered the mozz sticks and nearly a half an hour later they showed up. Room temp, cold enough that the cheese wasn't dangerously stretchy. In fact, it was like eating a cheese stick wrapped in breading. The sauce was piping hot, so you could make a case that it evened out.

A little while later our entrees showed up. Dave opted to try these famous wings of theirs so he ordered one plate of 20 wings teriyaki flavor and one plate of 10 wings bourbon flavored. Here, they don't let you mix flavors and they offer their wings in plates of ten. So you can't get a plate of 20 and split the flavors. If you order 20, you need to order them all the same. Which we both hated. When you're a "wing place" you need some flexibility.

Now, I've eaten my fair share of wings. I was really optimistic by the friendly comfortable atmosphere, the claim of "best wings in town" the delicious sounding flavors listed, and the personal message from Bill Bateman on the back of his menu telling us that they use only the best, freshest produce and meat around.

Dave's wings did not reflect any of those claims. It was all crispy tough skin and bland seasoning. There was hardly any meat on them at all. They were tiny and chewy.

I went for the seafood platter that had a lobster cake, fried shrimp, fried fish, coleslaw and fries. This being a seafood area of the country, I'm always curious to taste a new place's take on seafood. When my plate arrived the first thing I noticed was the golf-ball sized burnt lobster cake. The whole top was torched black. I started sampling everything. The fries were lukewarm and rubbery, the lobster cake was burnt and salty, the fish was cold and rubbery, the shrimp was actually pretty good, but not fresh (it was definitely frozen at some point) and the cocktail sauce to go with it was mostly horseradish so I had to "ketchup" it down a bit, and then the coleslaw was warm. Five bites in and I was done.

Our waitress came to check on us and asked if I needed a box. I declined and she asked if it was good and I said no. She asked what wasn't good and I said "Everything". She immediately jumped to help. She offered a conversation with a manager which at first I refused then changed my mind. I read an article recently encouraging people to complain when something is terribly wrong at a restaurant. Most people don't, and then business drops off because most people would just rather not come back than complain about something. So I decided to inform the manager that there was a problem and what the problem was.

She listened with intent, and then offered us some compensation which was wonderful. We didn't mentioned Dave's chicken, just focusing on my dinner. The waitress was incredibly sweet and kept apologizing.

My recommendation is if you decide to patron this establishment, stick to alcohol. Their alcoholic drinks are marvelous. Skip the food.

1 nom.

Dave's 2 Cents:

I almost called Groupon and demanded my money back. How dare they promote themselves as the "best wings in town", what town? where? Baltimore?! hell F%#$ no!

I would have had a better experience if i dipped my leather wallet in BBQ sauce and tried to eat that.

I can't wrap my mind around the fact that they force you to only take 1 flavor per order, wither its 10-20 or 50. 1 sauce only. If you want 20, with 2 sauces, you have to order 2x 10 pieces, which rings up another $4-5.

Bill, If you advertise yourself as the best, #1 your food better live up to the name, and #2 offer some customer service and give us wiggle room.

Unless however your meat comes off a truck in frozen bags that includes the toss sauce, hmmm.

Folks, do not go here for wings. Your better off buying a frozen bag @ Sam's club and microwaving it for 30 mins.