Jump to content

Mo's Seafood - Five Restaurants In and Around The Baltimore Area


Recommended Posts

I guess I should have learned by now to beware of places with "Fisherman's Wharf" in the name. Mo's is apparently a favorite of hotel staffers, probably because they offer a free shuttle. But whatever the reason, it's probably not worth the trip. As you'd expect, seafood is their specialty, and they do serve fresh crab, oysters and some other fish. I don't know where the crabs and oysters come from, but the only fish that was local to Baltimore was the rockfish. I ordered it grilled, and while it was cooked well enough, and even though there were grill marks on the fish, it had no grilled flavor whatever. In fact, it had little flavor of any kind beyond the butter it was drenched in. The fish is served on a bed of flabby sliced potatoes ostensibly with herbs (you can't taste them) and butter - lots of it. You have one choice of sides, which is steamed vegetables.

The restaurant offers a crabcake as their signature dish, but at 38 dollars, I passed on that opportunity. I don't know whether it's local crab. I do know that the restaurant sells a lot of non-local crab.

My wife had their catfish, which had a slightly off flavor and was overcooked.

The wine list is short and fairly ordinary, but not unusually expensive. The food was more expensive than it should be, especially given the quality. 20 bucks for the catfish, 22 for the rockfish. A glass of house wine is 8 bucks.

Service was OK, although the waiter was unable to answer even basic questions about the menu items. In one move that I found annoying, the restaurant adds a 15% gratuity automatically. I can understand this for large parties, but for a table of two? I voiced my annoyance to the manager, but got little response.

If you're really looking for seafood, there are certainly better choices in Baltimore. Next week when I'm back I'll look a little harder for something better.

Wayne Rash

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Soft shells were big and tasty, at market price of $23. The veggies were perfectly al dente, which was a surprise to me as I would have expected over-steamed mush. Our waitress was charming and quite helpful. Expectations for a place like this should not be too high, but we were pleasantly surprised. Very "Bal-mer." Mr. S. had "steak fish" which was something like cod, but thicker and meatier, priced in the teens. 'Twas a nice early dinner after strolling around the Inner Harbour. There aren't a whole lot of non-chain options for a pre-Ram's Head show. We then walked over to the venue early and thoroughly enjoyed the Fordham's seasonal Scotch Ale while waiting for the doors to open.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My mom used to like to go to Mo's Fisherman's Exchange on Joppa Road in Parkville. The prices are probably better than the ones downtown and the portions are always generous. Honestly, I've never had a bad meal there.

My MIL loved Mo's Fisherman's Exchange, and took us there for lunch frequently when we visted her. I thought the food was fine, but now that I follow a strict gluten-free diet I don't think there's much there that is safe for me to eat. My MIL made the best crabcakes on the planet, but I thought Mo's compared favorably when she wasn't able to make hers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is an exact parallel to the Ray's group, in terms of website moderation: If one of these companies gets a separate thread for each restaurant, the other will, too.

Currently, there are the following five restaurants, all under the jurisdiction of this website:

Mo's Fisherman's Wharf (Inner Harbor)

Mo's Crab and Pasta Factory (Little Italy)

Mo's (Towson)

Mo's Seafood Factory (Glen Burnie)

Mo's Neighborhood Bar and Grill (Eastern Avenue)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...