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.

Blue Agave

At some point we were going to have to review a Mexican restaurant. We'd been avoiding it because of my newly diagnosed stomach issues which included such orders from the doctors as "no spicy foods" and "for the love of GOD no spicy foods" and "You should probably stay away from spicy foods" and then there was "Oh yeah, and no tomato, lime, lemon or orange. Also, no spicy foods"

So it had sorta ruled out a lot of my favorite Mexican dishes like...anything Mexican. We had a Groupon for Blue Agave Restaurante and Tequileria which is next to Dangerously Delicious Pies so we thought we'd have dinner there, carefully, and then hit up DDP for dessert.

I scoured the menu to locate all of the dishes that I knew wouldn't be good for me and immediately avoided them. This narrowed my selection to pretty much any vegetarian dish, the dos Burros and the enchiladas. I opted for the enchiladas and Dave got dos Burros. We also got a sampler of salsa and some homemade tortilla chips (which the first round is free, any additional you pay for).

The enchiladas came on a platter with three, stuffed with cheese, shredded chicken and covered in the red enchilada sauce topped with cheese, a side of rice and black beans. It was fantastic. These were probably the best enchiladas I've ever had. I ate one whole one and then Dave at my last two (they were probably just a notch above the spice level I'm allowed to have so to avoid a stomach ache, I gave him my final two in exchange for the rest of his chicken burrito). The rice was perfect the beans were perfect, it was great. There was a slight hint of something sweet like cinnamon or something in the tortillas that really added an excellent flavor to the whole dish.

Dave's entree was two burritos, one steak and the other chicken, stuff with beans, rice, tomatoes. They were huge. Absolutely gigantic and unbelievably good. The meat wasn't dry or overcooked, the tortilla soft and warm. Best burrito I've ever had.

The chips and salsa was also incredible. Everything was so fresh and tasted like it was just prepared. I only wish they had told us what kinds of salsa we were eating (one was all green, one clearly regular salsa and one a dark red/brown color and almost completely liquid)

4 Noms.

This place was great. They have an excellent happy hour on Tuesdays where you get 2 apps for $20. This seems like it would be a great place to meet friends or go to after work.