By Degrees Cafe

I came out here to celebrate my girlfriend’s birthday with her family. I wanted to find a fun place (its a birthday after all) with healthy food (her dad has gone on a health kick) that was reasonably priced (we were also going out to dinner) had parking (for those coming out of town) was in the city (one party member was walking) and had that renovated factory look (her mom loves that). This place is exactly what they advertise. A hip, farm to table, non-​pretentious place that is all about the food. The food is well presented, fresh and simple enough to enjoy the ingredients but original enough recipes to keep in interesting. From vegetarians to carnivores, I can’t imagine anyone having difficulty finding an item to keep them happy.
My suggestion, and the most outstanding menu item we got, is to the brussel sprouts salad. I’ve heard they run out of this item a lot, so be prepared with a back up plan. Its shaved brussel sprouts topped with raisin, almonds apples (or pears?) and a wonderful dressing (buttermilk I think).
Everything else we got was pretty good — and I will be back… tomorrow. since they’re apparently closing on December 8^th.

First off they have their own parking lot! Huge benefit at night. Then to the actual food and service – good and good. I went with a small group. Is there more seating in another room? I’m not sure we sat in the front by the bar. It seemed small. Maybe I missed another are. But I was very pleased with the food. I had pumpkin empanadas (a special that night) and a cup of the potato and leek soup. Both were excellent! I had the chocolate mouse for dessert. It was a big portion and could have easy been shared. But we had all ordered desserts so I «forced» myself to eat it all. There was one server. She did a great job and was helpful. I would definitely go again.

I am very impressed with By Degrees Café, I wish I started coming here a long time ago. The environment is great — a cool converted warehouse space with lots of windows, good decorations, and good background music that isn’t too loud or quiet.
The coffee was quite good. There has been a hole in my heart ever since LA Mill at the four seasons closed — it seemed like there was nowhere to get a good cup of coffee. While it wasn’t quite single-​estate-​pour-​over gourmet, the coffee at By Degrees was very good compared to the other local options (starbucks — bleck, Daily Grind — meh).
I will definitely be coming back, the service was fantastic and food wasn’t overpriced, a surprise since it is an interesting and good menu

This is one of the best coffee-​restaurant I have seen in Baltimore!
I was there to have a morning coffee with my husband, meanwhile we were planing our visit to the city.
Unfortunately we were there just for a coffe (and it was very good) and we didn’t get to try any food on the menu… but I wish I did because the menu and the plates other people were ordering were out of this world.
Two things I mostly liked:
— The cordiality od the barista, which gave us great directions and tips about where to go in Baltimore and which districts were worth to visit. I’d like to personally thank him and tell him we followed them all and we had a great visit!
— Plus I looooooooved the furniture and the style, extremely minimal-​artistic-​urban and cool.
I’m definitively going back at the next visit to the city!

I had lunch while visiting Baltimore last week. Thanks to fellow Unilocalers, i found this spot that was about a 15 minute walk from my hotel. I started with a Saranac Brewing pale ale. It was good but not great-​it had a tangy taste that was a bit much. For lunch, I chose a small brussel sprout salad. It was good but a little over dressed for me. Nice combo of nuts and blue cheese, though. I also had a roasted turkey sando. Yummy! It had HUGE chunks of freshly roasted turkey with a lemon dressing. The bread was toasted just right. It had a side of homemade chips that were addicting. Service was good-​I sat at the bar. I would definitely come back to this place if I was in Baltimore again.

I like this place.
Located on the northeast corner of Central and Eastern, By Degrees Café serves up a variety of café-​style foods as well as other unique entrees. It’s a relatively small establishment and has limited hours, but the décor and service are excellent.
I really enjoyed the chicken pesto flat bread as it was tastier than at neighboring pizza joints. The brisket sandwich was also a winner — kudos to the horseradish mayo. The Cuban style roasted pork was super tender and much better than I had anticipated.
Overall, I was impressed and want to try more things on its menu.

This is a really cool place to eat in the little Italy area downtown. the Décor is very modern and they have a lot of interesting art on the walls. the food itself is very good and they have many creative options. this is also a good space to possibly host events. they do a lot of DJ and music events in the area. There is also adequate parking in the area. I would highly recommend checking this place out!

I really like this café and have always had very good service here. The food has gotten better over time too.
I went here most recently with a few colleagues for a work lunch. I was surprised that there weren’t many people there at lunch time; it seemed that most weekday lunch customers get orders to go. We had the empanadas to start which were very good! For lunch I had the asian meatball sandwich on a baguette with a side salad. The salad was really exceptional and well dressed. I thought the sandwich had great flavors and the baguette was the right texture too.
I will definitely use them for work lunch catering in the future and look forward to some future in-​café lunches too.

The food here is astoundingly good. I ordered the Vietnamese meatball sandwich and the gazpacho. The gazpacho was the best I ever had in my life. Also, I am not a potato chip kinda guy, but the hand-​cut herbed potato chips that came included with my sandwich were gone in minutes. Oh, and their coffee is excellent too.
The service? Very friendly. We were greeted and seated immediately. The ambiance is cool, artsy, and fun. It’s exactly what I imagine when I think «café.»
There is no reason why this place deserves anything below a 5 star review.

Architecture/​Ambiance: By Degrees is in the old Fallsway Spring building, which I wrote about for BMoreMedia. The space is striking from the moment you walk up. The windows are floor to ceiling and the whole space is concrete and metal. It might have been a little too minimalist for some, but I love the industrial look. There’s a nice, decent-​sized bar and a lofted café area. It’s not large, but it’s big enough to be called a café.
Service: We had two different waiters and both were very nice. There were out of two different dishes that I asked about and the server didn’t offer any suggestions, but I figured they might not know the whole menu since it opened recently.
Food, food, food: We ordered the roasted beets to start. They came with candied almonds, goat cheese, apples, and orange vinaigrette. They were well cooked, but nothing really stood out about them. I then ordered the slow-​roasted pork shoulder sandwich with pickled red onions, frisee and cilantro on a baguette. (I opted for it without the spicy aioli.) Steve had the braised beef brisket with red pepper & horseradish aioli, fried shallots, and frisee on a baguette. We were a little surprised when they came out with paper wrapped on them, as if they were ordered to-​go. It seemed odd that they’d be made fresh and then wrapped, but they tasted good, so we assumed it was just for looks. We had fries on the side, which were fairly standard.
Biggest pro (s): The space is amazing. I could see fantastic parties and a fun bar scene there. Owner Omar Semidey is so kind and really tries to give back in the community. (He has worked with local workforce development groups.) Plus, Baltimore needs more café-​style restaurants, in my opinion.
Biggest con (s): They were out of two dishes that I wanted and, while the food was good, it didn’t stand out in a city of some really above-​par food.
Would I go back? Yes, for lunch. It felt a little too low-​key for a seated dinner. It’s perfect for a work lunch or grabbing something quick to go. The parking makes it easy to pop in, and I really want to try that turkey sandwich.

One of my favorite lunch places recently is By Degrees Café in Harbor East. It is located in what used to be a warehouse. The building looks beautiful now with its high ceilings and large glass windows. According to the restaurant’s website, the café wants to shift the culinary landscape ‘by a few degrees’ and that is apparent when you take a look at their menu. The soups, sandwiches and salads are all a little different than what you would expect to find at a standard American café, and this is a great thing. Everything on the menu is executed very well and is delicious.
When you walk inside, there is a chalkboard listing all of the current menu options and it looks very urban chic. During this particular visit it was around 2pm on a Monday so we were the only patrons.
Our waitress was very attentive and kept refilling our water glasses and helped us with any questions we had about the menu. One of my friends ordered the Curried Chicken Salad for her meal. It was lightly curried chicken salad, golden raisins, roasted almonds, granny smith apples, frisee and cilantro, on honey-​oat bread. She loved it, said it was a fun take on something that is very boring at most restaurants.
My other friend ordered the Grilled Cheese, and I kid you not, this was the cheesiest grilled cheese I have ever seen. Cheddar & fontina cheese, dried apricots, and almonds on honey wheat bread make for a delicious combination. There was cheese everywhere.
The grilled cheese came with a side of their skin on fries. They were very good, not too thin where you were just eating fried bits, and not too thick where you’re choking on a large hunk of potato.
For my sandwich, I ordered the Braised Brisket. It was braised beef brisket, red pepper & horseradish aioli, fried shallots, and frisee on a baguette. The beef was nice and tender and paired nicely with the toppings. Also the baguette was thick enough that it soaked up any of the additional sauce. This was a filling sandwich, but also one of my favorites. It came with a side salad which was good, but nothing really special about it.
Great food, attentive service, what more could you want in a restaurant? Oh right, free parking, which they also offer, by the way. There’s a lot adjacent to the restaurant where patrons can park.
I did find it a little strange that the sandwiches came wrapped in paper, but it didn’t affect the quality of the food.

The design of this café in Harbor East is modern, casual and comfortable. My coworker and I stopped in for lunch and were greeted by one of the owners/​chefs. Since it was our first visit he even treated us to free flavored sparkling water. He was very attentive and made us feel welcomed. We decided on the lunch special for $ 10.50 which included ½ sandwich and ½ soup. I selected the brisket chili and chicken under a brick sandwich. The chili was delicious, flavorful and filling. I could really taste the chocolate and my only request would be for a bit more heat and/​or smokey flavor. The jalapeño cornbread was moist and not too sweet. I was full after just the ½ portion of chili, but my sandwich arrived along with a side order of chips. My coworker and I both noted that the sandwiches have too much bread to balance out the filling, but were otherwise delicious. The chips had great seasoning, but a few were a bit soggy. Overall the experience was wonderful and an excellent value for lunch in Harbor East. I love the choice of bread, but either the flavor of the contents of the sandwich will need to be bigger to match the tasty container. A great selection of comfort foods, standard American fare combined with interesting and exciting spice combinations. Our waitress was attentive and quick to bring our check and we were in and out for lunch in about a ½ hour without feeling rushed to get back to the office. If the service and food continue to be on this level we will be regulars.

I was really excited to try this place for the first time with two other girlfriends that have never been either! However, it kind of disappointed all if us and I am not rushing to come back…
Right off the bat we found out that they were out of the brussel sprout salad, which was what my friend and I were going to split with our sandwiches. They said they got hit hard with the 4^th of July weekend and didn’t have enough in stock… ok, thats fine I guess, I was just excited to try it after reading the rave reviews! I guess next time.
I got the pork sandwich with the side salad instead of chips, I do not recommend either, the pork was okay, but the sandwich was just a little too much bread and not a lot of flavor, the pork was nice and tender though. The salad was so incredibly disappointing, it was just greens and dressing… nothing else… so neither were very tasty and definitely not exciting. I was so disappointed that I had to ask for the chips on the side… they seemed like fresh house made chips, but they were kinda soggy, not crisp enough, and I was charged $ 1.50 extra for the small side… definitely not worth it! Totally bummed.
My friend ordered the Asian Meatball sandwich, she too said it was too bready, and didn’t have much else to say about it.
My other friend ordered the Tuna sandwich, after ordering and waiting a few minutes the server came back to say they were out (I guess that was another casualty of the holiday weekend). So she ordered the fish sandwich which of course came out way after our stuff because of the delay in the order… however, I do appreciate that they did not charge her for her meal because of the mistake… so that is one plus about the customer service with this place.
I understand that we must have gone on an off day, but even with what they did have in stock I just wasn’t very happy, I am really disappointed because it is a cool snazzy place, I wish it was better food.

This place is a recent hidden gem and a great lunch spot. We’ve eaten in there, done take out for a picnic in Patterson Park and also had delivery to work downtown. Fantastic food, great spot. I just hope they last until all those apartments/​condos open up to support their business. Baltimore needs a casual, quality food spot for lunch and dinner, outside the normal fells area.
The spicy asian meatball sub is one of the best lunch sandwich/​sub I’ve ever had in Baltimore. They have great beers on tap as well. Great place to do a picnic lunch or stop by on a whim.

What is Baltimore missing? Good lunch options — salads, sandwiches, soups that are not terrible or from Whole Foods. By Degrees answers that need, but with even more offerings.
I am completely obsessed with the brussel sprout salad, the po boy, and the salted caramel bread pudding. Do yourself a favor and get to By Degrees (in person or by delivery).
Also, the management and staff are wonderful and kind and willing to work with you on allergies or special requests.

While my first experience here wasn’t the best (wouldn’t even open the door for us even though it was 20 minutes until their closing time and we only wanted a to-​go order), I decided to try again. Why? I don’t know. Normally, if I have rude service right off the bat, that’s it, but the food posted here on Unilocal did look good and I was dying for something sweet. I thought I could just pick up something quickly and eat it on the go like a cookie or a muffin or something, but this is not that type of café. They only have REAL desserts here, so I opted for a small, yet rich dollop of chocolate mousse, which, as it turns out, wound up being simply outstanding! That bite alone was enough to convince me to give it yet another chance and try out lunch. I’ll keep you posted on how that goes, but for now, A-​OK in my book for sure.

A bare-​bones, open modern restaurant with a simple menu. I got their brussel sprouts salad (tossed with apples, cheese and almonds) and a side of their mac and cheese, and my hubs got their pulled pork sandwich.
The sandwich was pretty good– moist meat on crusty bread. The potato salad was really good, chunks of potatoes in this good mustard-​like sauce. My mac and cheese side was not very good, after a few minutes that it got cold, it gelatinized into a yellow goo– I couldn’t finish it. My brussel sprout salad was good and refreshing though.

We had been wanting to try this place as it is so close to where we live and had an interesting menu. So we went early on a Saturday evening and there were two other couples besides us in the the whole place. This makes it a perfect place to go with a 11 month old.
To our surprise, all alcohol was 50% off for St Patty’s day weekend and that meant that I got a glass of wine even when I didn’t want to drink that night! My husband liked the beer selection and maybe took too much of an advantage of the 50% off :).
For food we got the beef empanadas which were just ok, not so great. The Brussels Sprouts salad though was quite delicious. For dinner, my husband got an oyster po-​boy which was nice and spicy but barely had any oysters in it. I got a goat cheese, fried mushroom and pea flatbread which was on their bar menu. It was quite good. But what we most remembered the night by was the absolutely delicious caramel bread pudding — salty, gooey and warm. The chocolate mousse wasn’t so bad either with the little pretzel balls, almonds and olive oil.
The service was prompt and friendly.
Overall, it was a great experience and we would recommend people go here so that this place can last!

This is one of those places where I look at the menu and literally everything appeals to me. My husband and I tried it a few weeks ago when it first opened for lunch. We had the chicken under a brick sandwich, lentil soup, and shaved brussel sprouts salad. The salad was awesome and the sandwich had a roasted jalapeño aioli that was unique and perfect.
Tonight we decided to come back at dinner time, and we were happy to see that many people were there as well. This time we each got a soup: Caramelized Onion & Apple (creamy and warmed me up on a cold night), and the Chicken & rice, which was so much more; it had peas, carrots, dill, etc. They were both excellent.
We also had the turkey sandwich and the new kale salad with chicken, nuts and golden raisins. The kale was perfect. Not too chewy, but still crisp with the right amount of dressing. The turkey sandwich was outstanding. We even saved room for dessert and got the caramel bread pudding with salted caramel ice cream. OMG. This dessert was a dream. Moist, salty, perfect. One of the best desserts that I have ever had.
These guys really know what they are doing. You can tell that a lot of thought went into the menu, and I like that even though they have only been open a few weeks they have already added some new menu items and specials.
To top it all off, the service is great and everything is reasonably priced, especially for the area. We left stuffed and excited to come back next time!
My one area for improvement would be the décor. I know they are going for an industrial feel, which they accomplished, and while the building is beautiful, it does feel somewhat cold and sterile. I love the exposed brick, but they may want to consider making it feel more warm in there: put some art on the walls, make the menu on the wall larger and perhaps add something in the entryway, like a table or couch or even a small fireplace.
keep up the great work!

Typically i may wait a day or two before reviewing a place that i have been, but wow. I knew i liked this place when i placed my to go order when they were playing Miss Fat B… y by Mos Def if you dont know now you know. Even without tasting the food, i knew i had found a gem, and yes i was right i ordered the Pork sandwich and that came with a side of potato salad, you have a choice between that and a salad. I also ordered the bread pudding yet to taste it as i type this review but who am i kidding that thing looks gorgeous. The sandwich rocked, and usually i dont heap too much praise on sandwiches, but this was the real deal. Run, yes, run to this place its real as it gets.