DiNardo's Famous Seafood

Review
My husband and i went to Dinardos for Restaurant Week January 2013. Seeing the menu i was impressed and excited. I had passed the place on race street for years and had always wanted to go...... sadly what a waste of a babysitter that night! I had a feeling we might be in trouble when we walked in and the place was empty... the staff (was lovely!) and seated us right away. This is a sort of place you might see down the shore, carpeted floors, (which they were vaccumming as we were seated)dark wood panelling and artwork all over made of fishing lures...Our waitress was lovely and the best part of our experience. We ordered crab bisque and calm chowder.. both were FAIR at best. The bread that arrived was hard and felt as though it had been microwaved, butter came in little packets that you might see at a dinner. I ordered the Crab cake and the filet.... The crab cake was fried and full of filler, no lump crabmeat, it was vile! As a Marylander I was appalled. I had expected a small lump crabcake broiled. The filet was tasteless. (sadly that was the best part of dinner) When i spoke to the owner she said that the crabcake on the special was never going to be a lumpcrab cake.. i told her the crab didnt even taste fresh...it tasted like it was from a can.. she shrugged but finallly credited us $20 off our check and said that non one has ever complained. I am sorry but if you have a crab on the door... the crab should be the thing you do best.... She tried to explain that the crabs they served were from Louisana not Maryland... (yeah no kidding) they are not in season in January! No matter where they are from fresh is fresh.. My husband got this triple seafood souffle, that looked like a puffed pastry omelette with seafoody goo inside. On the way home he said he was feeling ill, like he had eaten bad seafood. It is a miracle that this place stays in business with so much competition locally. Sadly we will never .... and i mean never... go back and if I am looking for crabs perhaps Phillips is a better bet.... Way overpriced and not worth it with so many amazing places in town!
Posted by laura: Jan. January 23rd, 2013 at 2:20 PM

Review
Like it did me. I asked a group of friends to go here to celebrate my birthday with the hopes of getting some succulent crab legs.. We all decided we would never dine here again. First of all the place is as big as a city row house. The tables are all jam packed together. Its just a little too close. The lighting is very dim and the light over our table flickered the whole time. There is no background noise, no elevator music.. nothing. That in addition to the dim lights gave the restaurant an eerie feeling. Our waitress spilled drinks on us as she was setting them down. She did not know from which side to serve. The crab soup was nothing but canned veg soup with crab meat and added salt. Our entrees were tasty but 2 people ordered the crab cake and they both had shells in them. The food is overpriced (I ordered the king crab legs for $35 and received 2 {two} crab legs and a baked potato. One slice of boxed pumpkin cheesecake was $6.75) and the quality is extremely lacking. NOT fine dining in the least. I would never recommend this hole in the wall.
Posted by Ayishah: Nov. November 5th, 2008 at 10:07 PM

Review
this place should not have been in restaurant week, i had shells in what i believe to be canned crab... i had the crab and penne which tasted so bland that i didn't finish it... our waitress kept fulling our water glasses with ice instead of water, it took her forever to bring our food and our check. Our light was flickering and it went out, we had a horrible night and i was on an anniversary date with my girlfriend and well we both think we wasted the 45 dollars we spent on dinner and tip.. NEVER WOULD GO BACK!!!! even if they paid me
Posted by mke: Feb. February 1st, 2008 at 2:56 AM

Review
took the gf to dinner but everything was below average... the food, i could have cooked better for her it was ehhhhh. the service was slow it took 20 mins for the waitress to take the check and to top it all of part of the lights went out right above our table after they were flickering all night.... it was a horrible night i would never go back and would not recommend it to anyone!!!!
Posted by mike: Feb. February 1st, 2008 at 2:47 AM

Review
Grab some friends and go on "all you can eat" crab night. They are the best..and the crab sauce for dipp'n..yum! Endless basket of steaming hot fries (no spice for me) outstanding. You can get much better seafood elsewhere. But no where else will you get better crab! See ya Monday!
Posted by L: Jan. January 17th, 2008 at 2:44 PM