the black olive

great fish and atmosphere. went on a friday night. not overly busy. started with some white wine, delicious hummus andfreshbread - so good we ate 2 baskets. the bronzini was delicious and the crab cakes were meaty without a lot of filler. side of sweet mashed potatoes were really good. great for seafood lovers, not so good for picky, non adventurous eaters. good service.

menu item: black olive special grill. if you've never eaten here before, this is a great way to start out. it has a great selection of their many menu items: lobster, grilled octopus salad, clams, sardines, crab cake, shrimp, mussels, stuffed calamari and scallop. i was insane enough to order this as my entree, what i didn't eat i took home and it lasted me two more meals!


-----08 mar, 2013-----

menu item review: grilled octopus salad. this was incredibly tender, which is impressive. it takes hours of pounding and massaging octopus to get it this good. it's deliciously marinated, withfreshred onions and capers mixed in. the capers are an inspired addition. lovingly drizzled in a high quality olive oil. i am absolutely addicted to this dish.

waste of a meal. far better places to go in baltimore.. fish fresh? ha! perhaps to the lay person.freshfish 101 is seeing a clear eyes. the eyes are the window to a trulyfreshfish, for they fade quickly into gray dullness. dull-eyed fish may be safe to eat, but they are past their prime. their claim forfreshfish here is past its prime. the waitress, jasmine, gave some poor excuse saying that is wasn't iced properly. um, tell me again why i'm spending $40 on fish if it is not asfreshas you claim? jasmine herself was a sub par waitress and should probably look for a new profession she was the least hospitable waitress i have had in a long time and i eat our 4-5 times a week. wine, total snooze. they were "out" of the three bottles i selected and the wine she offered up was way too sweet, but at this point i was done looking for a fish to enjoy or a bottle of wine to consume. what a waste of a meal.

fresh and briny (in the best way).freshseafood prepared well is a rarity. anywhere. even in cities near water. but thousands of years of cooking seafood in your culture (greek) matched with a city that won't tolerate poor seafood (bal'mer) is a high-end delight.

sunday supper so there were only two whole fish selections (which should surprise no one, there aren't sundayfreshfish deliveries, of course they'll be out of things). each was delicious. simply grilled. filleted tableside. my red snapper fillet was buttery. the lamb cubed and cooked with onion and herbs in parchment was so tender.

best treats even still were the apps. grilled octopus with red onion and capers (just a bit too much salt on the octopus but perfectly cooked), the cheese-stuffed grilled calamari was tender and tangy. savory bread pudding with the restaurant's signature olive bread mixed with leeks, portabellas, artichokes and greek cheeses was the surprise hit of the first course.

dessert was sweet and crunchy with the sampler platter of flourless chocolate cake, baklava, loukomades, baklava ice cream, a berry sorbet, andfreshfruit.

service was solid and knowledge of the wine list was excellent.

different. this is a unique restaurant, definitely worth trying. if you like fish, this is the place to go. they walk you over to their display offreshfish and they take the time to describe each option. try to save room for dessert too, they have a better than average dessert menu.