Phillips Seafood Restaurant @ Baltimore, MD

I had earlier wanted to bring my family to Obrycki’s Crab House, which supposedly famous for theri Crab Cakes (me thinks!) though not sure how good it was. I insisted that we have to eat crab cakes while in Maryland..after all you the crab cake is named after the state! =)

Obrycki’s was quite a walk for us from our hotel, and we so happen stumbled upon Phillips Seafood while walking around the Inner Harbor area in Baltimore. It was a wonderful find!! Food was mostly pretty good, except for your trying-to hard waiter who was slowly getting on my nerves! And the warm rolls he promised us took forever to come. I had to remind Eric our waiter about our warm bread in which when we were brought 3 pieces of dinner roll for 4 people… Like Hello??? 1-2-3-4… 4 guests = 4 bread/rolls? =pLets move on to the happy thoughts…FOOD! Dad & Mom ordered Cream Of Crab @ $6.99/bowl to share. It was simply DELICIOUS!!. The crab flavors came true very well! =)Thumbs up. Soup was a little on the cold side, which made me wonder how long our dear Eric waiter left it at the counter before serving the soups to us!

My brother ordered King Crab Bisque (left) @ $6.99/bowl. Another yummilicious bowl of soup!!! It was slightly different from the Cream of Crab, the crab flavor is not as strong. Nonetheless, it’s got some yummy flavors to it… I really miss this soup!! And because everyone in the family already chose the soups I wanted to order, I decided to try their Chipotle Crab & Shrimp (right) @ $5.99/bowl. This was just ok, spicy and a little sour which reminds me of the Thai Tom Yam soup. There were some tiny shrimp in the soup, crab was I think no where to be seen. I am guessing the crab might just in the soup base. Not really my kind of soup and will not order this again! These 2 soups were also a little on the cold side.

Dad ordered one of their signature dish as an appetizer; Phillips Crab & Spinach Dip (Lump Crab, Cheddar Cheese in a Crusty Bowl) @ $9.99. This was AWEFUL!!!! The dip was cold and the crust bread was so tough to cut into…. It would have made our lives easier if they cut up the bread and serve the dip on the side. Dip tasted horrible……All of us had a hard time eating this dish. I could hardly swallow this! We all tried very hard to finish this dish that I’m not sure if we ever noticed the lump crab meat…if any! I hate returning food to the kitchen...you never know what they will do it it!! Mom and Dad ordered what we thought was the BEST dish/entree; King Crab Macaroni & Cheese @ $19.99. It was so worth eating this delicious pasta. The 3 cheeses used in this dish were not overly cheesy…..Shell pasta cooked perfectly; al-dente. The best part…….CHUNKS OF KING CRAB LEGS in the pasta! A whole generous lot if them!! The pasta also came with some grilled asparagus and 2 slices of crusty bread. This was the best Mac & Cheese I’ve ever had, probably the priciest too! I’m left craving for the King Crab Mac & Cheese the next day and wishing I could get them in Boston! They should make this their signature/specialty dish instead of that dip!Brother ordered their “Phillips Famous Crab Cake Sandwich” @ $14.99 which came on a regular bun, fries and coleslaw. I thought this was very good. It was truly “Crab Cake”…lump crab to be exact…you see and taste large pieces of delicious lump crab….. YUMS!!! And to my delight, I found Phillips’ Crab Cakes in Costo!!! Yup…never realized we have actually sampled them in Costco and over the weekend..hubby got a pack coz he wanted some Crab cakes. Delicious box of crab cakes @ $13.95 ( I think, box of 6 pieces). All I did was pan fried them in some oil..and we got ourselves Crab cakes!I ordered Baked Crab Stuffed Shrimp @ $24.99, which came with some coleslaw. I don’t think this was worth it. The size of the shrimp was just ok, the stuffed crab meat was ok too.. It was nothing compared to my brother’s crab cakes. The crab meat here are more second grade, and probably mixed in with more ingredients. I had thought this entree was on a Wednesday special which was supposed to be $19.99 and that was why I ordered it. Looking back at the check, I was charged the $24.99 which I felt not quite worth it. $19.99 for it was more acceptable! =P. At least, drinks were on the house……our waiter must have forgotten to charge us for the coke and ice teas we ordered.=pBefore we left for our hotel, our waiter shook our hands and thanked us for coming. I was a little puzzled with his actions……. Don’t you agree that he’s trying… a little too hard?

Check out Phillips’ website HERE and their menu HERE. Locations are mainly in the Maryland and DC area. Shop online HERE. Ahhh how I wish I can get their Mac & Cheese from the local grocer!

PS: Oh yeah, I think there was live music too…. or not… good music either way!