Lebanese Taverna

This week was restaurant week in Baltimore. Unfortunately, we were only able to take advantage of it one night - Saturday - at Lebanese Taverna.

Other than at the Prime Rib, our restaurant week experiences in the past have been positive. Always freshly made, just like you ordered off the menu, often things we wouldn't otherwise try.

Lebanese Taverna was a bit of a dissapointment. As an appetizer, had Shrimp Arak, which tasted to me like thawed shrimp out of a bag, cooked with butter. OK, but not fantastic. J had grape leaves, which had obviously been pre made and pre plated (the plate was ice cold), and just weren't very good. We both chose Sharhat Ghanam (sliced grilled lamb), which was very much like what you would get at a banquet where they make 200 at a time. It was OK, but not great. The house wine (red or white) was OK, but I don't even know what it was.

Dessert was Creme Caramel, which was good.

Service was dissapointing, through little fault of the waiter. He had too many tables, and was struggling to keep up, even when most were ordering off the fixed menu. The building is cool - the bar area is really cool, but the room is way too loud and a bit cramped. It was also not as clean as I like to see.

Given all the raves we've heard, we are going to give them another chance at some point, but based on our experience last night, there are lots of much better places to go, and life is too short.

Overall: Food - 5 out of 10, Service - 6 out of 10, Ambiance - 7 out of 10.