The Chesapeake

Had a wonderful time and great dining experience even sitting at the bar table. Lovely service by our waiter Brian and the service staff that helped him throughout the night, definitely returning for the excellent food and beautiful view.

The Chesapeake has closed. The new restaurant that opened in its place is called The Quill & Pen.

We have been here a couple of time. I keep wanting to give it a chance to help support the local neighborhood. The food on our first visit took a while and was undercooked. The staff remedied the situation. The management has always been very friendly. Food and service has been getting better, but is a bit pricey.

Grand Opening, Grand Closing…
Seems like I was just getting use to having a place that served raw oysters in Mt. Vernon (no shade to Dylan’s but, you can’t beat a weekly buck a shuck)
The Chesapeake boasted an awesome happy hr menu complete with 2 buck Natty Boh’s.
While there I had the roasted Asparagus, Natty BoH Mussels and the Shooting Point Oysters. They went good, better and best!
I went back the Tuesday after my happy hr excursion from a previous Friday and was met with a sign that said they were closed for construction. Hunh? Didn’t they just like complete construction a few months ago. I was confused to say the least. And then several days later, a news article came out saying the Chessie would be closing and reopening as a new venue with a different name and menu.
Dah well… Parting is such sweet sorrow.

I love the look of this place but not the prices. It’s pretty pricey. Stopped in on Saturday afternoon for cocktails. After 3 apps and 4 drinks (2 people) our bill with topped $ 100 BUCKS!
The food I thought was average for the price. I may stop back in for a cocktail but I will start somewhere else for dinner.

Went here with a friend for drinks on a week-​night. Let’s start with the service. We were led to a high top table near the bar. When I asked if we could take the corner table next to it, the server made a big deal about how that table hadn’t been cleaned yet. We said we didn’t mind, and would wait for it to be cleaned. We sat down… a few minutes later the server brought us silverware and glasses and asked for our order. So I guess the table was clean after all. The server stopped by our table 3 times to tell us that our «bread was on the way,» which finally came after 15 minutes. Very strange. He seemed nervous and distracted the whole time we were there.
The drinks were overpriced, with a limited selection of cocktails. My wine was just ok and my friend’s cocktail was so strong she could barely finish it (not enjoyable). We ordered a couple things to snack on. I got the caesar salad with grilled shrimp… the grilled shrimp add-​on cost more than the actual salad. It was basically some chopped romaine with a couple of parmesan crisps on top, and the dressing on the side was thick and goopy with a strange taste. That’s $ 7 for a pile of lettuce and $ 8 for 3 shrimps on top. My friend got a plate of grilled vegetables that we could have cooked ourselves at home… nothing special. Granted, we didn’t order any entrees… but judging by these 2 items, I don’t think we would have been impressed (or excited about shelling out $ 30 more).
So if you’re looking an overpriced restaurant with uncomfortable service, The Chesapeake is your place. With all the other great options for dining out in this city, I won’t feel the need to go back here.

Love the atmosphere here but not the price.
Went the first time with friends and had the Maryland chicken. It was fabulous. I couldn’t say enough about it and the cured meat tray. If you go I would recommend this dish.
Went back a second time and had the duck. Also fantastic but much less food than I expected for the $ 30 price tag. This time the restaurant was fairly full but it took much longer than it should to get the little amount of food that came out. I felt the portions were smaller than in my previous visit and smaller than the price warrants.

I am also glad we ignored some of the poor reviews. I still wish Unilocal had half stars, because I suppose this would get a 3.5, but it was more positive than not.
We went here on a Saturday night and it was surprisingly not crowded at all. It was a bit loud, sure, but I don’t know what could be done to avoid that other than make the layout more like an Outback Steakhouse or something. I think they could add more nautical themed wall-​hangings to make it look less industrial inside.
Our server was very friendly. A few times (mainly getting the check) he was backed up, and what should have taken less than 5 minutes took about 15. Good thing I was with good company ;)
We split one of the small plate specials which was delicious! Squash blossoms stuffed with crab. And boy were they stuffed. Mmmm.
My scallops were very good alongside a unique fall apple butter. My boyfriend’s Monkfish was good but he said the chorizo in the dish threw it off. Looking at the menu I definitely didn’t «get» a lot of the pairings but I also do not eat beef or pork so I look at the addition of bacon to everything as a negative, not a plus like most of America, I guess.
He also got hushpuppies but they were not what he was expecting/​not what was described on the menu. That was the only thing we could have done without.
We didn’t try any cocktails and opted for Union which they have on tap. Split a snowball for dessert and it was a nice, fairly priced way to end the meal.
I definitely can see how the Chesapeake is still trying things out but once they get it down I hope I see this place more bumping than it was the night we dined.

I am glad that I ignored the poor reviews and tried this place. We were able to try items from the new fall menu. The brussels sprouts were great, but the scallops with apple butter were AMAZING. The service was OK– some work is still needed there, but it was OK. Its great to have something other than Tapas Teatro to choose from in this neighborhood.

I really really really want to love this place… so much so that I’ve come here on multiple occasions. The restaurant has a beautiful retro-​modern look with an even more gorgeous bar and is located within walking distance of my house. I know it’s a fairly new restaurant… but they still have some major wrinkles to iron out.
The food was pretty good. I’ve had the hush puppies, oyster po boy, and a scallop gazpacho here. The hush puppies were a little more dense than I was used to… but was still pretty good.
The po boy was good too. I feel like many restaurants outside of New Orleans try to «gentrify» the humble po boy sandwich by changing breads or fillings. Unfortunately, doing so kills the character of the sandwich. To it’s credit, The Chesapeake keeps their po boy fairly simple and true to its roots. They instead try to differentiate their po boy by using meaty and flavorful oysters. It’s good and for the price (~$ 10ish if I remember correctly), it’s a solid choice for someone coming here on a tighter budget. My only complaint was that the bread was toasted, making the bread texture a little more harder than what a typical po boy should be.
The gazpacho was very robust and flavorful. I’m not normally a fan of gazpacho but I did like this one. I did feel that the scallops were a little too delicate in flavor and unable to stand up to the bold flavors of the soup. But other than that, it was a solid dish.
My biggest issue however is the bar. It’s just not up to par yet. On one visit, I ordered the Walker-​Haslinger cocktail. It sounded interesting on paper… and lighting up the rosemary sprig on fire just heightened the drama behind the cocktail. Unfortunately, the end result wasn’t anywhere near as satisfying. The entire drink was too watered down. Not only did I not taste the alcohol… I barely tasted anything. For the price they are charging, I’d expect the drink to be closer to perfection. Sadly this was not the case.
I also came here for beers several times. To be honest, there’s a lot of inconsistency here too. One visit was particularly noteworthy:
Me: «We’d like to order a pitcher of the Union Brewing seasonal beer.»
Bartender: «We don’t have it…»
Me: «Hmmm… could we have the barleywine instead?»
B: «No… I mean we don’t have ANY pitchers.»
Me: «It says on the menu you do?»
B: «Yeah… but for some reason we don’t serve pitchers. I think the management might take it off»
Me: «hmm… okay. Well my friend will have a pint of the barleywine. As for me… I’ll try the Stoudt Scarlet Lady.»
We watched (in horror) as the bartender poured my friend his beer from the tap incorrectly (the beer was poured directly into the bottom of the glass instead of the side). My friend ended up with a glass of beer with like 2 inches of head. Since it was from tap, he essentially paid for a lot more beer foam than he had expected… all because the beer was poured incorrectly.
B (after rummaging around for several minutes): «Oh… we’re out of your Stoudt beer too.»
Me: «Fine… could I have the Gunpowder Falls pilsner?»
B: «Do you want just the bottle or a glass too?»
Me: «I’ll have a glass too… but i can pour it mys…»
Before I could finish, the bartender started pouring the beer from the bottle straight to the bottom of the glass again.
Call me a beersnob or whatever, but if I’m ordering beer at a bar – especially a bar in a fairly fancy restaurant – I expect the beer to be poured correctly at the very least. And with the cocktail problem and the beer issue, I’ve found that I am less keen on going here than I had been before. I wanted for this to become my go-​to neighborhood bar… but unfortunately, it may be a while since I go back; I think I’ll wait for them to iron out their problems before I spend more money on subpar drinks.
So while the food was solid (I’d probably give 4 stars), the drinks were just horrendous (2 stars)… which averages out to a 3 star rating.

My husband and I recently went to Chesapeake for their 7 course/​7 wine pairings dinner; we had an excellent time. The event was small (I don’t know why more of you didn’t show up!!) but I appreciated the intimacy of the environment and will likely go to the next one.
The chef, sous chef, and sommelier came out with each dish to talk to the diners. They were extremely responsive to questions and seemed happy enough to talk to all of us.
Overall the food was very good and the pairings were fun (not to mention the pours were more than generous!). The gruyère gougere stuffed with mortadella were fun and full of flavor. I loved the strawberry tomato salad as well; the dish was light and produce was perfectly fresh. The scallops with preserved lemon and parm were my second favorite dish of the night, surpassed only by the raviolo (which was the clear winner for me).
Unfortunately the ribeye, which should have been a real star, was WAY overpowered by the camembert on the plate. The desert was fine but not memorable (though this may be due to the amount of wine we consumed throughout the evening).
One member of our party was not a drinker and the staff was kind enough to make her a really lovely mocktail (one of the best I’ve tasted recently).
The price versus performance was great… c’mon, this 7 course meal with pairings was only $ 50 per person which is a steal! The main reason I can’t give my experience five stars is that none of the food truly blew me away. The service was awesome and the Chesapeake clearly has some great people working in the kitchen but I’d love to see them up their creative game for next time.

This review is for a visit a couple months back — the service may have improved since then. The food was mostly good and the décor is nice, but the prices, the service, and the noise level all needed some work.
The shrimp and grits were really great — very smoky — and the pasta with fava beans was really delicious. My two dining companions said the raw oysters were awesome and the beer selection was great, but alas I’m pregnant and not partaking in either.
The biggest downfall to the Chesapeake was definitely the noise level — I sound like my grandmother here, but I promise I’m under 30! The restaurant was only about half full, and it was difficult to have a civil conversation between the three of us. The renovations they did on the space look lovely, but they have got to do something about the acoustics.
The housemade soda I ordered (can’t speak to the cocktails — which other Unilocalers seemed disappointed with) was delicious, but when I got a second one early in the meal it didn’t arrive until after all our plates had been cleared and our server was nowhere to be found.
Overall, the food was tasty but for those prices there are other places I would rather go. I would definitely go back for buck a shuck night and some beer though…

I visited early one Saturday evening (around 5) and sat at the bar. Most of the décor is upscale tavern with lots of high bar stools with no backs. Service was prompt and excellent. I was the only one there, but still…
What I ordered, and how I liked it:
Smoked rockfish salad– very good, salty, smokey and sweet, two slices of grilled zucchini under lightly dressed field greens, topped with pickled red onions and a poached egg. Very filling.
Hush puppies– a little dense for hush puppies. The inclusion of corn was a nice surprise though the corn itself was dry and hard. Not a fan of the pimento cheese sauce. It was very heavy and thick. Meh!
Meyer lemon bread pudding– the real reason for my visit. Described on the menu as smooth lemon bread pudding, blueberry compote, fresh lemon curd, blueberry mint granita, this is not at all a traditional bread pudding as expected. It’s deconstructed– three slivers of lemon-​flavored shortbread with three dollops of lemon curd and blueberry compote. I chose the homemade corn ice cream instead of the granita. In retrospect, I should have gone with the granita.
I’d return for happy hour… and most definitely to sample the brunch and lunch menus, and café fare (salads, panini, and pastries) when that gets going in the Fall.

After forty years we returned to the New Chesapeake. It was absolutely worth the wait.
Not only is the renovation clean bright, airy, and provides intimacy within modern space, but the ambience calls out and makes a comfortable environment.
The cuisine is great. No other word, just great.
Go and taste you will not be disappointed.

I went to my senior prom dinner at The Chesapeake, which of course was a white table cloth, tuxedo dressed waiter type fare, but today it is the Chesapeake 2013 and I like the change. It has a classy but casual look, but the food is amazingly good and the staff are at the top of their game.
I had a roasted chicken with carrots and the spices and juices left me wanting more, even thought the portion was perfect. My friend had the tuna appetizer which she did not rave about, but does not really like tuna — go figure, and she had the vegetarian pasta dish which we both thought was wonderful.
The bread is the best bread I have had… wonderful butter… And the night we were there, they were serving a watermelon drink with rum. Loved it.
I will be back. Thanks to the server who was just so accommodating and pleasant.

The SALTY Chesapeake. A friend and I went here to celebrate our birthdays. The bar had a gaggle of hipster artist types, otherwise the table patrons were sparse. It was NOISY considering the low number of people. The open bar/​dining room with hard surfaces made it difficult to hold a conversation without raising your voice.
The meal: The house cabernet (no such thing as house) had a teaspoon of sediment in the bottom of the glass. The manager explained that it was common in the special low volume wines they serve and he’d tell them to strain the last pour of the bottle from now on. The cheapest red wine in Italy was far far better.
The SALTY meat plate, um, I mean Charcuterie plate — 10 – 12 Soppresata nickel-​sized slices, 4 tiny slices of SALTY duck proscuitto — must have come from a tiny duckling, some SALTY shaved «Benton» ham, a few small dollops of mustard seeds, pickled onion, a strange ginger sauce, and a chutney I couldn’t figure out — peach mango maybe — and a few crostini.
The cooked to perfection pork chop was unfortunately SALT injected, soaked, and saturated with a side of SALTY farro and a single, sliced in half, grilled baby zucchini. The only thing not salted was the zucchini. And I’m not entirely sure about that either.
Dessert was a Meyer lemon bread pudding with a dark red granita mix and a lemon and raspberry sauce (think 2 stripes on plate) The bread pudding reminded me of polenta but did have a mild/​light lemon flavor. The lemon flavor was really enhanced and brought out by the excellent granita.
My friend had the Caesar salad, chicken breast, and coconut snowball cake. I tasted the chicken — you got it — SALT infused.
The really good thing — Lisa, our server, was fantastic.

I met some friends for dinner here on a Thursday night. It wasn’t crowded and I was a little early so I had a seat at the bar. The bartenders were attentive, incredibly knowledgeable about the drinks and the menu, and were talkative and friendly. What I liked the most was that I wan’t being attended to by just one bartender, all three were very attentive and wanted to make sure I was being taken care of. I was very impressed. They also made fantastic drink recommendations and executed the drinks expertly.
When my friends arrived we sat at a high top booth table which I loved. Our waitress was also incredibly friendly and knowledgeable about everything on the menu. She was also very attentive, but not overly so.
The food was fantastic! We started with the summer crostini which were superb. For our entrees we had the rockfish, gnocchi, and scallops to share between the three of us. Everything was presented beautifully, cooked to perfection and complemented well by the rest of the items on the plate. For dessert we finished with the Baltis’more. The flourless brownie was fluffy and rich, and didn’t taste at all like it was flourless. The marshmallows and salted caramel ice cream were perfect complements. The dessert was one of the best I’ve had in the city.
I would definitely recommend this place! It’s a casual fine dining restaurant and the staff are all fantastic. Be prepared to spend a little bit though. Entrees start at $ 21.

We started our with half dozen mixed oysters. They were will prepared and tasted incredibly fresh. We also tried their wings which were crispy, tangy and had a tolerable kick to them. Hunks of cheese in the bleu cheese.
For a drink, I ordered something I knew. A Flydog Hefeweizen. She tried the «Feels Reel». The drink tasted good enough, but it was not fun having to dig pieces of thume out of your teeth. Thyme should have been muddled, well strained and maybe a small sprig on top of ice as a garnish or to help the aroma.
For entrees. I had the «Knuckles» sandwhich and she had the crabcake. Both were underwhelming and overpriced. At $ 18 for a sandwhich, I wanted to be blown away. I wasn’t. I left feeling bloated and unsatisfied. WAY too rich of a meal. Ease off on the mayonaise base. Her crabcake, which I believe was a special and not a regular menu item had too much filling and again, just way to heavy in our opinion.
Honestly, we felt we would have had a better and more well-​priced meal around the corner at Joe Squared with a few slices of pizza.
Our server was also a bit shy or dull. Take your pick. No smiles. Relatively uneducated about the menu and what the MP pricing actually was. However, when we commented on our dislike for the cocktail, she did have it removed from the check. But we were not offered to try something else instead.
The desserts looks rather appetizing, but we were not prepared for another disappointment.
The décor is awesome. You can tell they put quite a bit of money into the place.
Summary: Not worth the trip. Not an attractive area. Overpriced.

I walked by on my way to the Charles theater, so I went in and grabbed a menu. After the movie was over went in with my friend to try the new place out.
It was a very nice place with dimmed lights. The hostess was very friendly and since there were a few tables available she asked for our preference.
The waitress was polite, well informed about the menu and described the specials while answering our questions. I told her I wanted to try the oysters but didn’t know the difference, she proceeded to explain the different oysters and then we settled on a sampler of a dozen: four different oysters. They were fresh and good.
Their menu might not be very extensive, but is well put together and (what I think) reasonably priced.
I had their crab cake and hush poppies. My friend had the shrimp and grits. The food was excellent: the dishes are well put together to balance the flavors and they make them look very good as well.
The dessert we had was the Cherry spice custard… What a killer, that thing is good, I mean really freaking good.
Also the beer and wine selection is very good, the mixed drinks are a little bit pricey to me, but not a deal breaker.
Will definitely come back again for more.

Had dinner @ The Chesapeake last night and loved it! We tried a little bit of everything. Best part was dessert– it was the type of dessert menu that had you thinking about ordering it before dinner. We ended up having a sampler of all the desserts and they were as good as they sounded. I wouldn’t even be able to choose one if I went back. I’d have to get the sampler again! Don’t eat here without having dessert.
My other favorite part was the seating – high top bar booths! Place looked great and I felt like everything went together – the atmosphere, the menu, the cocktails, the dessert.
We will definitely go back!