The Elkridge Furnace Inn

Elegant and cozy. Staff is very friendly and gracious. Food was well prepared and beautifully presented. I will definitely dine here again.

At night, walking up, what a view — nicely lit (imagine a old colonial/​mansion with candles in windows). Reservation as at 830 — at right down at a nice table in the old tavern section of the house… with nice gas fireplace and music (very comfortable setting).
Started with a glass of Malbec and the house cheese plate (three cheeses with sliced bread, raspberry jelly and cut figs) — very tasty and a good start. Followed by a salad — I good transition to the main entrée — New York strip (cooked to perfection — doesn’t need any toppings, just a knife and fork) with broccoliniVery good.
Excellent service!
This is the perfect place to eat for a night out with your sweetie.

After living near the Inn for many years, we finally dined here for a special occasion recently. We had the fried veal croquettes, french onion soup, veal osso bucco and shrimp and scallops. Everything was awesome, cooked to perfection and well seasoned. I was especially impressed with the quality of the vegetables that accompanied the entrees. The service was also outstanding, what you would expect in a high end restaurant. At the end of the our meal the chef came out and visited which was nice. We’ll be back!
The Inn is pretty awesome to walk though, be sure to explore.

This isn’t really an update, but an addendum. The Elkridge Furnace Inn has aperiodic «Gourmand Dinners» that concentrate on food and wines from a specific country or region. We recently attended the Loire Valley dinner, which was a big hit with us. The four-​course dinner (with wine pairings) covered everything from apps to desserts. The first two courses presented dishes ranging from Terrine de Legumes and fresh cheeses to coq au vin and duck with quince. The third course (the highlight of the dinner) included sautéed mushrooms, pork and apples, guinea fowl with walnuts, and venison with red Sancerre. What a delicious combination! Finally we were treated to various desserts, including peaches in red wine. All of the wine pairings were spot on. And they don’t limit you to one small pouring. There is plenty of wine throughout the service. Chef Dan (Daniel Wecker) and his staff did an outstanding job. Chef was present throughout the dinner lecturing, answering questions, and making sure you had enough wine. All of this for $ 85 per person, inclusive of taxes and tip. I challenge you to find anything comparable to this anywhere in the area.
We’ve been fans of the Elkridge Furnace Inn and Chef Dan for some time. Now we’re adding the Gourmand Dinner as one more reason to visit this fine dining destination.

Outstanding meal. In a manor built in 1744. The grilled watermelon salad was best ever. Snapper was great as was wild trio of elk rabbit and boar. Waiter extremely well trained.

My bridal shower brunch was held here and it was the perfect location for my tea party vintage theme. The food was delicious, we had an omelet station, waffle bar and fruit display. It was a little wait on the omelet station, as the attendant could only prepare two omelettes at a time. The only issue I had was the temperature inside. The inn was VERY hot, but I did have my bridal shower on one of the hottest days in July. When we inquired about turning the air down we were informed that lowering the temperature would freeze the furnace so there wasn’t much that could be done about the hotness. Luckily I didn’t have a super large group. We had about 30 guests and utilized both rooms in an open air format in the dining room. I would definitely return and remember not to go on the hottest day of summer.

Had dinner reservations on a Tuesday night at 6:30. There were 2 other couples in the upstairs room that we ate in. It was very quiet (almost too quiet), but intimate if you are there for a romantic occasion.
My husband and I ordered a drink and also the cheese plate appetizer — delicious! The cheeses and the spread were made on the grounds.
For dinner I had the crab cake, and I can honestly say it was the best crab cake I have ever eaten. It came with asparagus, which was a tiny bit too crisp for my liking (but still good) and roasted potatoes, which were soft and tender.
Our dessert was a lemony sponge cake with blueberries and raspberries, which were grown in their local garden. Amazing.
Overall, a great experience and will definitely go back.

I usually don’t leave comments on Unilocal,normally I just use the app to find good places to eat however I’d be doing myself, Maryland and the Elkridge Furnace inn an injustice by not recommending this place. The food was simple impeccable! More importantly service was genuine and friendly. If you visit for lunch try the seafood crêpe, you’re tastebuds will thank you for hours afterwards!

Based on the positive Unilocal reviews, I picked this as a romantic date night spot for me and my husband. It’s historic and family run, plus a special night for me and hubby, so I went there prepared to love it.
Unfortunately, it had that weird over intimate B&B feel, sitting at a small table with a few other tables in an upstairs bedroom. Uncomfortable (to us), but I think have a drink, focus on our own table, and get ready for great food.
We opted for soups and entrees. The Spanish Paprika Seafood soup, admittedly advertises paprika in its title, but was quite literally a purée of paprika absent of seafood or seafood flavor. Inedible to me, my husband (who will eat anything) ate it. My French onion soup was fine, a C rating. Broth was bland and it was mixed with shredded cheese. Made me think of Panera’s (which has a better broth).
We picked two standard entrees, the Wild Game Trio and the Vegetable Ravioli. The ravioli was fine, mostly veggies in marinara sauce. It had some odd seasoning (usually I can tell exactly what spices were used) that covered natural flavor and made every bite taste the same to me, it was somewhat unappealing. My Trio of elk, boar and rabbit was poorly prepared. Completely lacked sauce or seasoning to balance the gaminess. The elk was tender, boar was gristly (even my husband turned it down after trying it), and the rabbit was very rare. I’m not familiar with rare preparation (which it turns out isn’t how you should cook it), so I was uncomfortable eating it. I loved the fresh picked green beans, but only got about eight of them.
I was so embarrassed by the food after I had suggested this place, that I insisted I get the check. This is my first Unilocal review ever, but as I think the overall rating is really misleading, I wanted to share a different viewpoint.

This place is excellent for a celebration or anniversary! However, we just came because we found it on open table. The service is phenomenal as well as the quality, taste, and wine selection! The filet was delicious and tasty as well as the lobster stuffed chicken! My favorite was the kahula crème brûlée! Highly recommend!

Had dinner reservations for 6pm on a mid-​week day and it was pretty quiet. The host was engaging and chatty — even coming over to my table during dinner to converse, which I could’ve done without — and the service was prompt and unobtrusive.
The atmosphere is upscale without being pretentious, my steak was well prepared (including a wine suggestion from the server) and the pound cake dessert was delicious.
Apparently there are also gardens on the grounds if one is inclined to wander after dinner, but alas I wasn’t able to indulge in that particular offering.
Overall it was an enjoyable experience, but I’m not overly inclined to return on my next visit to the area.

I went here with a coworker for dinner on a Thursday night. The Elkridge Furnace Inn sits down in a valley away from the highways and bustle. It’s a beautiful house and walking in you get a feel of classic dining in the house. A great quiet atmosphere for a romantic night (not that my coworker and I are romantic…)
The staff was very friendly and cordial. Shortly after we were seated I had my first experience with an amuse-​bouches. We were pleasantly surprised to hear that most of the salad ingredients were grown on the grounds themselves! I had the beat salad and my coworker had the garden salad, both fantastic! I ordered the veal which was a very different from any veal I have ever had. It had a rich flavor and was quite filling so I had half of it to go.
For dessert my coworker had the key lime crème brûlée and I had the cheesecakes. I’m not a huge fan of desserts that aren’t chocolate, but the cheesecakes were really fantastic and was a great way to top off the meal!
Overall, great dining experience and if you are looking for somewhere quiet and romantic to take someone, this is a perfect place for it. Just a really beautiful atmosphere.

I stopped by here this past Thursday evening with my coworker for dinner. We had researched The Elkridge Furnace Inn before we went and knew it was located on some large grounds in an old mansion. I don’t know that I was ready for what we got whenever we arrived though. The house and grounds were absolutely beautiful and it all reminded me of what you would get from a charming little B & B. As soon as we entered the restaurant we checked in with the host and were led back to our table. Since this used to be a house, the setup is a lot of smaller rooms containing the correct number of tables to fill them up which made it feel cozy. There were white table cloths on all of the tables and the servers and helpers all seemed to be dressed to the nines.
After we first sat down we were greeted, given our menus and then given the option of sparkling, spring or tap water. Both my coworker and I ended up choosing tap. While we were looking over the menus I noticed that I didn’t see the pre-​fixe menu that I had researched online. So whenever the waiter came back I questioned him about it and was rewarded with a different and much more cost effective menu. I eventually decided on four courses (three courses was the other option) and chose the crawfish fritters for my appetizer, spring salad for my salad, a shrimp entrée and then the key lime crème brûlée for dessert. After only a short wait my crawfish fritters came out. It wasn’t what I was expecting and was almost like 3 pancakes on top of collard greens, bacon and onions with a cajun aioli sauce and garnished with a full sized crawfish. While I didn’t get as much crawfish meat or flavor as I would have liked from the fritters, everything else on the dish was tasty and helped to make up for that, especially the cajun aioli and bacon. Once I had finished with that I was given new silverware and my spring salad came out. This wasn’t going to be my initial choice of salads whenever I first looked at the menu, however, the server mentioned to us that all of the ingredients in the salad were grown on the grounds and so none of the vegetables had traveled more than 100 yards to make it into the restaurant. I thought that was pretty cool and so it sold me on it. The spring salad ended up being pretty flavorful with the lemon/​basil vinaigrette and contained a number of random vegetables and some lettuces that I do not think that I have seen before. My shrimp entrée was up next and came out in a large bowl. There were a couple of shrimp surrounding a fried vegetable & whipped potato cake all on a bed of arugula pesto, roasted romanesco cauliflower and bacon & onion jam. All of it tasted fantastic! The shrimp were cooked perfectly and were already de-​tailed for me. Their inherent sweetness with the salty and sweet combo of the bacon & onion jam left me wishing that I could eat that every night. The potato cake was also really nice and it was fried perfectly having a nice crispy exterior with a soft and warm interior. Last but not least was the desserts. Whenever we had to choose what dessert we were having I had a hard time choosing between the key lime crème brûlée and the almond and lemon trifle. Ultimately the key lime crème brûlée won out and that was the right choice for me. The custard of this brulee ended up being rather tart from the lime (I love tartness so this wasn’t a problem for me but I could see how it would be for some) and was really nice when cut with the sweetness of the large dollop of whipped cream added to it.
The bottom line for me is that I would head back here again in the future. I really enjoyed pretty much ever aspect of The Elkridge Furnace Inn from the ambiance to the service and especially the food! If I am ever back in the area and looking for a date night place for my wife and I, this would be my choice.

We went here last night for a wedding and the location is beautiful. The outdoor wedding was great with it being such a nice day. The tent where the reception was held was very pretty and the location was very picturesque. It’s definitely not a place for a large wedding and the dance floor was not very big but I’m not sure if there are other setup options available for the dance floor. The food was decent with two stations and it seemed that the star of the show was the scalloped potatoes. I heard numerous guests rave about them.

This place is really off the beaten path… we really liked it. It was very cozy and romantic… the food is very meat based, so it’s hard for a vegetarian, although there is 1 vegetarian meal on the menu. I enjoyed the goat cheese immensely! And the bread pudding… 2 things I wouldn’t normally order for myself. Give this place a try if you are looking for an upscale casual date night.

Hidden behind the back streets of Elkridge but not that hard to find. I saw it was listed as one of the restaurants for the restaurant week in Howard county so decided to try it out. Definitely a historic mansion, inside is nice and cozy and feels a bit romantic. Again, like the restaurants we’ve been to, they don’t give you the restaurant week menu unless you ask for it. Makes me wonder why they even bother participating –_–
So we ordered the fried calamari and baby octopus for the appetizer. The portion was very small and I wouldn’t say the taste was great but it was just ok. Both ordered the winter salad which was pretty good. Love salads with blue cheese crumbles! Then I ordered the veal francaise which is breaded veal which was really good. My husband ordered the pork tenderloin medallions and that was pretty tasty as well. Very tender and flavorful. Lastly I ordered the crème brûlée for dessert. Again, it was good but not great but it might be because I was way too full by this point to really enjoy it. Came with gingerbread cookie on top with piece of strawberry, raspberry and blackberry.
It’s a nice restaurant to visit for special occasions like Valentine’s day, anniversaries, etc.

I really want to like EFI because the place is charming, historic, and conscious. Local sourced ingredients, etc. However, after three tries, the food seems consistently under-​seasoned for my taste. The steaks have felt less tender than at other places and I feel that a place like this, for prices like this, should have a dry aged steak on the menu, which would also combat my issue with the seasoning.
I don’t think I can rate higher when I re-​sautee leftovers with some mushrooms* and the girlfriend prefers that result to the fresh served version.
*though they were some really nice mushrooms …

If I could describe this hidden gem in one word that word would be «charming.» Elkridge furnace inn (EFI) has been in business for a long time. Yet it feels unique and oddly new amongst today’s jungle of chain restaurants and pretentious «hot spots.» For a conservative like me it’s like stepping back in time… A time when things seemed simpler. Where dining out was an experience and not just a chance to stuff your face. Everything feels warm and cozy… Like your a welcome guest in someone’s home rather than just another customer. We came here on Saturday night at 9pm. Lisa was our waitress. She seemed very genuine and honest. You could tell she took pride in her job and the food she was serving us. We both started with french onion soup which was divine. My wife ordered a crab cake and the scallop appetizer. I had the seafood pasta. Everything looked beautiful and came out at the perfect temperature — hot but not scolding. My pasta had huge shrimp and a nice chunk of lobster. The pesto was freshly made but lacked salt. But the dish was not oily at all which is common with pesto. The portion was good too. My wife loved her scallops even though there could probably have been one or two more. The crab cake was definitely a creative twist on your traditional cake. It was topped with fried leeks which added a perfect crunch factor. The Dijon mustard only worked to compliment be cake. Props to the chef for having a great pallet. Finally we get to dessert– the true highlight of the evening. We had a trip of homemade ice cream
Bars dipped in chocolate with real deal whipped cream. Flavors included orange cranberry, walnut and caramel apple This was probably in the top five desserts I’ve ever consumed.
I really like the fact that this is an owner/​chef restaurant. You can tell in the presentation that someone really cares about the food coming out of the kitchen here. It’s apparent. I love the atmosphere too. My only fault lies in the somewhat steep prices for the amount of food given. I’ve also been here before and had an inferior meal. However based off this last experience I can’t wait to come back

Mushroom bruschetta appetizer
Butternut squash ravioli with pecans
Chicken Cou qu Von
Hot chocolate flavored ice cream with home made marshmallows
Oatmeal stout
Dress is smart casual.
Environment is quiet and cozy… Maybe a little too quite. Normal talking level sounded like screaming

(8÷14÷2014) Had dinner at Elkridge Furnace Inn during extended Restaurant Weeks. Service seemed a little cool at first after we asked for RW menu (they said they don’t down sell themselves right off the bat, gives you an indication of how they feel about RW diners) and asked for tap water, but then relaxed a bit after we ordered a few cocktails (delicious). Oddly, every bit of service from the front of the house to the back (even the chef) had a weird composite Bawlmer Hon cum snooty-​French waiter vibe. In the end, only one of us ordered off the RW menu, it was pretty boring and not really a good representation of things off the regular and seasonal menus.
There were several menu description mismatches or inaccuracies or substitutions on a whim, whatever you want to call them. Because ’tis the season, got the soft shell crab special; was two jumbos floured and pan-​fried, sauced with what was described as a hazelnut brown butter, but subbed with commercially-​packaged slivered almonds. Sauce was mild, separated, weighed down my plump crabs, didn’t help the coating much, crabs were full of meat and mustard and juice. Fingerlings were roasted until soft, creamy and tender; asparagus was crisp. Others seemed to enjoy their meals very much, the steak and potato dish off the RW menu was adequate, every component executed well (meat medium-​rare as ordered), Bordelaise was a classic example.
Dessert tray was beautiful. Many of the desserts satisfied a sweet tooth, but compositions were very disconnected. A prime example was the cheesecake (flavor and texture were fine) with candied orange (delicious, but chewy and difficult to eat) on top next to a small ramekin of blueberry crisp. All parts tasty, probably would’ve exceeded the sum of it’s parts if put together whole in some way. Mango Crème Brulee had great mango flavor, nice pudding, a little dense in the crème, if compared to the classic.
Everyone had a lovely time, food was good, but we weren’t exactly wowed by anything. I think the historic setting and grounds are really the draw here. Last time I was here it was for a wedding, and it was very successful (even if the marriage wasn’t). I think this grand dame is best seen in the daylight, would be perfect for brunch or high tea.