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Showing results for tags 'Calvert County'.
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I spent two nights here last weekend, and can say - comfortably - that if you're staying in the eastern peninsula (the "Route 4 side," as opposed to the western peninsula - the "Route 5 side"), you have two solid choices for lodging, both being polar opposites of each other - you'll remember the B&B ten-years later; you won't remember the hotel ten-years later: 1) If you're there for charm, romance, solitude, and a classic B&B: There's Solomon's Victorian Inn, and nothing else that even comes close. The location is perfect - smack dab in the middle of charming, bucolic, quiet, residential Solomon's at the southern tip near Sandy Point (that link will show you the relative locations of the two hotels vis-a-vis Sandy Point), one of the nicest places I've seen recently for a pleasant stroll (you'll see what I mean when you get there) - it's ultra-charming, and it's most likely worth paying the highest charge to get a top-floor room for a memorable stay (top-floor suites were booking for $250 when I went, and they looked like they were worth the money). 2) If you're there with children, want to be left alone, or just don't want to stay at a B&B for whatever reason, the Holiday Inn Solomon's Conference Center & Business Hotel is your answer. In particular, the upcharge to stay in one of the nicest suites in the hotel - room 527 on the top floor - which is one of very few suites having a balcony (I couldn't really tell if the ones on the ends did or not) - room 527 is worth the upcharge, in our case, it was $155 a night compared to $110 for a normal king room, and was the best $45 per night I've spent in a good, long while. The nice thing about staying for longer than one day is that days 2-x are full, 24-hour days, and you get full enjoyment of your surroundings; a one night stay has a 3 PM check-in and an 11 AM check-out. The hotel has lousy Holiday Inn linens and towels that need to be replaced, the furnishings are clean but pedestrian, the bathrooms are completely ordinary; but the view over the creek is splendid, you're on the top floor, the suite is quite large and irregularly shaped, and it really feels like you're staying in a substantial room. The swimming pool is the focal point of the hotel, and is a very large rectangle, is often guarded, and has an outdoors bar - it's packed full of people during the summertime, enjoying family time together and the outdoor bar. There isn't much more you can realistically expect for $155 a night, and it's solely because of the linens, towels, furnishings, middling bathrooms, and the fact that we had one of the nicest rooms in the hotel (it was close to being a four-star room), that I can only bring myself to rate the hotel-as-a-whole three stars - but it's a solid three stars with no hidden expenses (there's plenty of free parking, free continental breakfast and happy-hour drink, and free WiFi (which isn't the strongest signal I've ever had, but it's acceptable)). Customers get one coupon, per day, per person, for a free continental breakfast, and a second coupon for a free happy-hour drink Mon-Thu. If you can get hold of a schematic (I have one as the last picture below), there are suites on either end of the hallways (ours was in the middle) that appear slightly bigger, and are perhaps slightly more expensive - according to the picture, those look to be exactly triple the normal room size; the ones in the middle are about 2.5-times normal room size). I couldn't tell if the corner suites had balconies, but the center suites do, and although it was a little grubby, it was still a beautiful view - one you could admire through the window if you didn't wish to go outside. Oh, and by the way, the coffee at this hotel is simply *abysmal* - not just the "bathroom coffee" in the rooms, but even the coffee in the lobby - it's atrocious - as bad as any hotel coffee I can remember - and enough to make you pine away for Starbucks, I'm sorry to say. There's a kitchenette, but if you want a burner (instead of just a microwave), they have to bring you up a hot-plate, which they'll do on request - cooking your own meals here isn't a bad idea, as Southern Maryland isn't a restaurant haven. A warning for people driving to Saint Mary's City, then coming back to this hotel during afternoon rush hour: It took me nearly 90 minutes to get from Saint Mary's City, across the two-lane Thomas Johnson Bridge, and back to the hotel - which is about how long it took me to drive there from Arlington - make sure to time your trips well, and think about seeing the western peninsula either "on the way to the beach" or "on the way home" because summertime weekday rush hour is Traffic Hell getting over that bridge. Learn from my terrible commute, and do not ignore this warning. Here are some pictures of the room (bear in mind, this was one of the nicest in the hotel): \ Note in the final picture, we had the suite with the red dot, in the middle - the ones on the end appear larger, and may also have balconies - you should ask when you call. It shouldn't take much to see that the patios themselves are no great shakes, but they do have beautiful views. Note also that the outdoor pictures confirm that there are no balconies in regular rooms - the very first outdoor picture is why you pay the upcharge to get the suite - whether or not that's worth it is entirely up to you.
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Taking a couple days to tour Southern Maryland - not looking for restaurants, but rather suggestions on fun things to do (parks, nature walks, museums, bike rentals, historic stuff, lighthouses, Pokéstops, etc.) - does anyone have suggestions? It's been awhile since I've been, so I'm not very current - if anyone wants me to scope out the restaurant scene down there (and I'm thinking Solomon's Island, etc.), I'll be glad to write up a summary. I'm also looking for a nice hotel, so if anyone has any suggestions for a two-night stay, I'll be happy to write up a summary for that, too. On the water with a view would be ideal, cost be damned.
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Neptune's is just over the line from Chesapeake Beach into North Beach. My lunch there yesterday was much better than my previous one in the area. I am tempted to classify it as a dive, at least on the bar side, but, based on one visit, I will go instead with "local color" as a descriptor. Signs at the entrance to the dining room, which I did not visit, ban both biker colors and lobbyists. My order brought a delicately flavored shrimp salad sandwich on a Kaiser roll, with a beefy slice of tomato and a crisp leaf of lettuce. The salad included dill and a tiny dice of cucumber in a not too mayonnaise-y dressing with a hint of lemon. I made a bit of a mess eating it and polished off every last morsel. It came with maybe a dozen waffle fries, which were quite crisp and impossible to stop eating. I'm glad there weren't more. My friend who got the crab cakes said they were probably the best crab cakes she's ever had. That came with two sides. (She got escabeche and slaw.) I was too full even to eat a bite of those or the mussels that another friend ordered. They are apparently quite well-known for their mussels, which can be ordered with a variety of sauces. The crab cakes appeared very soft and crabby. The same friend who ordered the crab cakes also ordered steamed shrimp, which I declined to try because I had shrimp salad coming, but they were also devoured. If I were looking for a place to eat in the area again, I wouldn't hesitate to come back.-
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- Calvert County
- North Beach
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Had lunch here today with a friend who lives in Chesapeake Beach and several friends. The food was wildly uneven, but what was good was very good - Menu Both the Maryland crab soup and the cream of crab were loaded with great crab but described as very salty. The regular crab soup was also disturbingly sour. The person who ordered plowed on and did not return it to the kitchen but probably should have. The people who got the flounder sandwiches loved them, and these were enormous pieces of fried fresh flounder. The person who got a salad (with additional grilled chicken) basically liked the salad, but some of the greens were elderly and past their serving prime. I got the turkey BLT on raisin pecan bread with cranberry aioli. This was kind of a high concept plate that mostly worked. I thought the bread had a slight off taste but not enough to wreck the sandwich. I ate nearly all of it. The iced tea, which most of us ordered, was brewed way too strong. They were generous with refills, but the tea really needed to be diluted to be drinkable. Both the potato chips (clearly made in house) and fries (probably ditto) were excellent. For the price it should have been more consistent, but it's a resort area. Service was pretty good. Go with the fish and homemade fried potato products. Avoid the soups.
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- Calvert County
- Chesapeake Beach
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My sister just moved from Alexandria VA to Lusby (she jokes that she's a Lusbian now) MD way down near Solomon's. I'll need to visit of course, so I must find some decent places to eat nearby. I've tried a BBQ joint or two on the way down towards that area, but haven't found much else. Is there anything to recommend? -
Wasn't sure exactly where this should go, technically Deale is a suburb of Annapolis, kind of, but we have Annapolis as a suburb of Baltimore in the dining guide (also questionable, but I am going with the flow here). Anyway have had two really good meals at Skipper's Pier, there is a new owner Dave (as opposed to Dave the old owner) and his wife is a pastry chef. Nice deck and outside bar, the inside is a little loud, but nice. We had: crab balls (of these are good, so little filler and so much really good crab), crabs (they only had Mediums left, but they picked us out some decent size mediums) which were also very good, corn on the cob- by the time we got to it not warm anymore so just ok, was better when hot I am sure. I had their asian cole slaw which I really liked, Mom and Roy had their mayo based. Hushpuppies that were perfect in texture and taste, not too big, warm and a little sweet, really good. Just some really good food that reminded me how much I miss living on the other side of the Potomac sometimes. For desert we had chocolate Smith Island Cake which was good, it had a mousse filling between each layer instead of frosting, was really good, I didn't think it tasted like Smith Island Cake, just a really good chocolate layer cake. On Tuesday the Happy Hour special is $2 crabs and beer, not bad. http://www.skipperspier.com/index.php
