xs baltimore

good, but..... service has always been a negative point for xs. sometimes good, most of the time mediocre to lousy. but i always enjoyed the food and atmosphere enough to tolerate the less than stellar wait staff. after moving away and not being here for a couple of years, it was disappointing to see that the service had not improved. i was also less than thrilled with the "baltimore omelet" (with crab meat and asparagus). it was okay, but needed a bit more seasoning. i will probably go back again when i'm in town ....well, maybe i will. i guess the bottom line is that i want to likexsmore than i actually do

i was heading out for a night with a friend and our first stop was to have dinner. driving up charles st. we decided to stop atxsbaltimore for dinner. i loved the atmosphere as soon as we walked in.

great food, subpar service. i lovexsand eat there frequently. lots of vegetarian options and the staff is usually respectful of vegetarian and vegan requests. they also have great coffee and espresso drinks. however, the service is spotty, there are some nice employees, but when a certain manager is working (at night usually) expect to be treated poorly and wait longer for your meal. the most annoying part of xs, besides the occasional rude service, is that checks will not be split. if you dare even ask for a check to be split, you will feel as if you've caused a crisis situation.

previously, i’ve reviewed the brunch atxsand had an amazing experience. since then i decided to go back and try some of the other things they offer. their menu has a little bit of everything like sushi, asian food and american food. on this visit, my friends and i were interested in trying a few different items to really get a feel of their menu.

veggie mondays!. i've been toxsa couple times before moved to the mt. vernon area with mixed feelings. one time when it was packed and our food took about a year to come out (caused us to be late for a play we were seeing), and one time when it was almost empty and i really enjoyed myself. both times the food was good (not great) and the service was ok (not quite good). since i've moved to the area it's become a routine for me to eat there on mondays. all veggie items are 1/2 off. i usually get the spring rolls (excellent), the veggie sushi roll (pretty good) and a noodle dish (very good) and share it with my gf. add two kirin's and it's a perfect meal on a monday for about $20 plus tip. we've actually got desserts a couple times, but it's not a must, as i don't think they were stellar. overall, it's one of my favorite spots to hit up (on mondays).

horrible customer service. i purchased a google offer forxswith every intention to use it for breakfast. i live in white marsh which is not remotely close to the area, but i've heard great things about it. i get there, pay $2 for parking only to get inside and be told there are no seats! doh! what do you mean? i was annoyed and just left. i mean, how do you tell a potential customer you don't have any seats. they refused to open the upstairs to customers at that time. i will not be back. when an establishment doesn't even have a seat to offer me and my family, 3 of us in total, i want nothing to do with it.

nice location, but that's about it... having been toxsmany times because friends are baristas and waiters there - i still don't like the place.

i've been for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and desert all of which usually leave me feeling let down and happy i wasn't the one who was paying.

the atmosphere is weird. the whole restaurant is spread between 3 floors and there are next to about zero windows in the place so it's really really dark. it's also usually pretty freezing and there are these strange mid-level bars on some of the levels that have flatscreen tv's constantly playing lady gaga and beyonce music videos.

as far as the food goes, its overpriced for what you get. especially the sushi. i went this past summer because it is close to bolton hill where i live, and ordered few different tasters of their eel, salmon, and tuna. all were pretty bland and completely ridiculously priced for about 3 pieces of sushi.

the staff is generally rude, or thats at least been my experience. the 2 waitresses i have had have been unattentive and rude, waiting for about 30 minutes for one to come pick up our credit card & check while she sat chatting it up at the bar with a coworker.

about the only good thing i have to say about it is its close, their turtle cheesecake is actually pretty good - but for the prices... i'd rather just walk down the street and get a coke and a slice of pizza from ninos for $3.

nice place-weird atmosphere. we went there last night after seeing a movie at the senator. we sat all the way up top and were alone, which was nice. we had the calamari, spicy salmon rolls, and tuna rolls. all of it was great stuff. loved the calamari. we also order a bottle of trivento malbec, which felt like it came directly out of the sun. seriously, it was so hot we had to add ice to it! we ended the night with cupcakes and sadly they missed the mark. due to the heat, they had to refrigerate them and the cake just tasted blah. the icing however, was spot on and i ate all mine off.

the other reason we sat on the top floor was due to excessively annoying music. i don't understand why a restaurant needs to have very loud annoying dance music blasting through the speakers. they don't even have a dance floor and its not likexsis that trendy of a place.

so all and all, even though the wine was hot as bath water and the music was annoying, i like the place and loved the food. i'd love for us to go back and try out some other foods and maybe their breakfast menu.

excessively ambitious.xsis yet another offshoot of jay's restaurant group, the catering and restaurant company that has a stranglehold on the charles street corridor just south of mount royal.xsoffers a strange fusion of asian noodle dishes, sushi, sandwiches and paninis, while also doing double duty as a coffee shop serving pastries and breakfast.

xs is housed in a gutted and reno'd three-story brownstone. the remolding was minimal, which works well with the way the space is divided. on ambiance alone,xspasses all expectations.

as i mentioned, the menu is ambitious to say the least. and this proves to be the main problem here. like all the other of jay's restaurants, the menu choices are seemingly pedestrian and seem to try to compensate through sheer volume. however, everything ends up being very marginal, even bad.

on a recent outing i had a gummy noodle dish with rubberized steak, and mealy dumplings, along with pad thai that had been way over-spiced and sweet enough to induce diabetes.

the sandwiches are just ok. but why come here to get a sandwich? the only standouts seem to be the vegetable spring rolls, a few of the panini's, the cocktails, which are well mixed and well priced, and the deserts-the chocolate lasagna a favorite in particular.

over all,xsis more of the same type of food served on that block, albeit repackaged in a much nicer setting with an attentive staff. if you must eat there, stick with the simple dishes and stay away from the asian fare.