Cardinal Tavern

Amazing food, great bartenders, reasonable prices, good drink selections, great interior. One of my new favorite bars in Baltimore. Amazing southern food, both times I’ve gone I’ve had the fried chicken with sides and both times it was amazing. The grits were particularly good. Hopefully Canton fills up with more bars like the Cardinal.

Great food, though the servers can be a little stretched sometimes. Fantastic chicken + waffles, friendly bartenders. One of my top choices for weekend lunch on the weekend.

Best fried chicken in the city. You can’t go just once because the chicken and waffles for brunch and the hit Italian sub is also the best in the city. Can’t leave without getting the Mac n cheese, collard greens and milk and cookies.

Cardinal Tavern is top notch. Their grapefruit crushes are my favorite, hands down. The food is outstanding — I have yet to be disappointed with anything I’ve tried. Parking can be somewhat of a hassle if you don’t live in Canton, but it is worth it!

Everything was perfect and delicious. Can’t wait to return.
The service was warm and willing.
No room for dessert!

I really like the feel and ambience of this wooden bar. Modern rustic. Great beer list. Nice comfort food menu. Sipping the Southern tier pumking on tap, we perused the posters of various cool artists, the favorite of my husband’s is Layne Staley of Alice and Chains. We both got the fried chicken and biscuit. Good and crispy, I personally like my batter seasoned more but that’s preference. Excited to go back and try some more dishes.

This place is seriously amazing. I’ve been wanting to go ever since I saw it on Unilocal a month or so back. I was getting nervous that I was too excited to try it and that I’d be let down, but that definitely wasn’t the case.
We got the 4 piece fried chicken meal, that comes with a biscuit and 2 sides — we got mac n cheese and mashed potatoes. First of all the chicken was extremely juicy, yet still had a nice crunchy and flavorful skin. It came with 2 legs (my favorite) a gigantic breast and a thigh. The mac n cheese was not only a huge portion, but it tasted fantastic — super creamy with a hint of hot sauce. The mashed potatoes were also to die for — they were red skinned potatoes with garlic, yum! Lastly the biscuit, SO good, it was really fluffy and tasted fresh.
This meal was amazing, I literally could not stop smiling it was so good. Not to mention all of that was only 20 $ and we took food home! The food came out super quick, and the resturant as a whole is super cute!

Cardinal Tavern looks like you’re average Baltimore bar, but it doesn’t have your average bar fare! Ok, they still have nachos, burgers and wings… but they are known for their southern style food, especially the fried chicken!
The fried chicken is offered in a variety of sizes that range from two pieces and a biscuit for $ 10 all the way to a family meal deal with 12 pieces of chicken, 4 biscuits and 4 sides (they had a ton of delicious sounding southern style sides BTW) for $ 48.
While we were there we witnessed a «girls night» happening a few tables down, there were 6 of them and they ordered the family meal and it came in a big chicken bucket… it was rather adorable, it looked like they were having a lil family dinner together.
We ordered the fried chicken sandwich… it was one of the best fried chicken sandwiches I had ever had! The piece of chicken was so huge it could have easily been two sandwiches. Seriously great juicy fried chicken, I highly recommend this sandwich. I know I am going to be craving this again and will have to come back for it.
And we also ordered something from the daily specials menu, it was the Autumn Butternut Squash and Beef Stew (or something like that). It was served over cheese grits and came with a biscuit. It was SO delicious but seriously skimpy on the beef which was disappointing because the flavor was so great.
The atmosphere was great! I wanted to have dinner in a «cozy» atmosphere and it definitely delivered with the all brick interior and soft lighting. They don’t have many tables (I didn’t see upstairs, which I assume might have more seating?) and on a Tuesday night every seat in the house was full!
Tuesday is half off wine night! SCORE! With bottles ranging from $ 20-​$ 35 BEFORE the 50% off, they were already super cheap! Win!
Overall for this place being a small neighborhood bar they are doing it RIGHT with the delicious food they served, this is why they are getting 5 stars from me!
It was the perfect casual date night!

Great Americana atmosphere. Sports and music stars adorn the walls. Brick and wood décor. Casual and inviting. I ordered the fried chicken and mac and cheese. It is delicious. The portions are large and filling. Mid tier prices. Its just a comfortable corner tavern with good food and friendly people.

Let’s see if I can update this in the future with a better experience:
I came in once to pick up a to-​go order I read online their fried chicken was good. I ordered the two pieces with a side of Mac n cheese with also came with biscuits. The bartender had quoted me 15 minutes so I showed up after about 10 and it wasn’t ready… No problem 25 more minutes went by before the food came out. While I was waiting a waitress explained to me that each batch of chicken took 17 – 18 minutes alone to cook… You have to wonder why the bartender quoted 15 minutes on the phone.
Chicken was pretty good, Mac and cheese wasn’t bad and the biscuits were solid as well.

OMG… this place is a hidden gem in the middle of Baltimore! My husband and I had dinner at Cardinal Tavern for my husband’s birthday. We fell in love with the place! Everything about Cardinal Tavern was on point — the ambiance, the food, the people. We both got fried chicken and biscuits. The food was absolutely divine! This will be our new go-​to spot for good, southern soul food.

I have really enjoyed Cardinal Tavern each time I’ve been. It’s a little off of the beaten path which is nice because it’s not overcrowded and the people who frequent know that its a great place to be. Their prices are reasonably, food is delicious but typical bar food and they always have plenty of seating since the upstairs is filled with tables. I really recommend grabbing a group of friends and heading over for some brews!

I was taken aback by the «throw back» Cardinal Tavern sign that swings out front of the establishment. However, after stepping inside the doors I realized the sign was once a «dive» throw back and the facelift inside the place was actually warm and inviting.
I throughly enjoyed my meal of the Blackened Catfish. The «blackened» flavor can sometimes be a bit salty and overbearing but the catfish was seasoned just right. The mac and cheese was off the chains… its creamy delicousness has me craving some right now. I did feel that the collard greens were a bit too wilted and salty though. Other than that, I enjoyed the food, the vibe, and the good company.

Best fried chicken EVER. And the iced coffee is one of the best coffee cocktails in canton!

Awesome place. Great atmosphere, exposed timber supports with all wood bar shelves with liquor bottles on display. Dinner was delicious. The fried chicken is amazing crispy outside and juicy center. The Mac and cheese is white cheddar with spiral noodles, it’s very cheesy. The biscuits are crispy with a fluffy center served with sweet butter. French fries are like boardwalk fries but way better. Ask for a side of honey mustard it’s homemade and very good.

Aha, anytime i see fried chicken on a menu it is my duty and responsibility to get it. A great disservice to my stomach if i dont. Another restaurant that i had bookmarked for ages, but just got around to it. I heard they have good fried chicken so i set forth to go get. Good it was, and by far the best i have had in the city thus far, sorry i dont do Royal Farms or any mass produced chicken. They also had some delicious dark and stormys, cant complain. So good was this chicken, i will be placing an order for the Superbowl.

Great neighborhood bar and restaurant. Looks like a dive on the outside, but really nicely renovated inside. Good food highlighted by their fried chicken. Fairly priced drinks and lots of room to spread out (2 stories). If you are in Canton, worth a stop.

We ended up there last night when we couldn’t get a table at Love and Regrets. We’re new to the area and are unfamiliar with Canton. Unlike a couple of places we looked up on Unilocal,the staff at Cardinal actually ANSWERS THE PHONE. Very helpful when you want to know if there’s a table available!
We were delighted that we could get a table upstairs away from the throng. (We were looking forward to dinner with a friend rather than a bar scene. If you want bar scene, the downstairs appeared quite lively and typically loud.)
The bar/​restaurant is lovely with exposed brick. It retains some of its corner bar feel with enough of a fresh look to make for a pleasant, casual dining experience. We were also glad to find a place that was reasonably priced!
The service upstairs was terrific. A very polite and efficient waitress and an owner (?) or manager who stopped by to ask if we were enjoying our food.
I had the hot Buffalo wings and they were everything this bar standard should be: well seasoned, served hot. The celery was fresh and the blue cheese dressing was flavorful.
My partner had the double dogs. These weren’t great and are the reason we gave a 3-​star review instead of a 4 or 5. For future reference, the buns should be toasted and the cheese sauce should be hot rather than gummy and cold.
The beer was served cold and tasty.

Great little tavern to stop in, have a few drinks, and watch some football. The tap beer list included some local highlights like Resurrection as well as a nice selection of styles from other breweries. Plenty of TVs showing most of the Sunday NFL games, and the bartender was attentive but not intrusive. Can’t comment on the food menu, as we were purely in day-​drinking mode, but I’ll have to go back and give it a try next time I’m around Canton.

Love everything about this place!
We rode our little bicycle gang of 4 up to this spot on Friday night. The outside was totally unassuming and totally neighborhood-​like.
A table in the back of the bar area provided a perfect spot to see what was going on, chat with the staff over food ideas and enjoy our friends’ company. We came for the food, which just started in June of this year. A new kitchen, spotless and shiny, was built. We grabbed a few drinks, including a pomegranate crush and an orange crush. Prices were at happy hour level until 7 — imagine our delight as it was only 6:15p! Megan made sure we knew the specials and took great care of us. We decided on food — a hodgepodge of items. I had the deviled eggs (the owner’s mom’s recipe), and an order of buffalo wings. My husband ordered the steak sandwich special, and some gumbo. Our friends ordered gumbo, shore wings, clams, and a spinach salad (I know. we were all so random!).
The deviled eggs were delish. not how MY mom made them but the recipe was great. 6 half eggs on a bed of lettuce. we all shared a few. The wings were tasty, well made and the buffalo sauce was a tad spicy even though it wasn’t the HOT version. The steak special was lauded by the staff, and my husband indicated that it didn’t disappoint. The gumbo was well received, as a hearty appetizer.
A great set of touches to a delicious dinner? French Pressed Zeke’s coffee, and berger cookies/​milk! Yes. this is one of the only places we’ve ever seen cookies & milk on the dessert menu. Little did they know, this is my husband’s favorite cookie! He ordered dessert without a second thought — 3 cookies and a short glass of cold milk. It hit the spot! The coffee comes out in its own press with an egg timer that tells you when it’s brewed long enough. If you enjoy a stronger coffee, leave it to brew a little longer! The bright red mugs are large yet still didn’t fit an entire press of coffee. Zeke’s. you can’t go wrong there!
Thank goodness the ride on the bicycles is all downhill to home — we were pleasantly satiated and excited to return! I’ll post about our brunch next!
Update: We stopped in here for Brunch on Sunday morning. Our server/​bartender, Alexa was fantastic. She served us coffee (yeay french press!), water, and even chocolate milk :) We decided on Chicken & waffles, and stuffed french toast. Total yum from start to finish! If you’ve had captain crunch french toast, please stop here and try this — it’s totally delish. deep fried with fruity cream cheese in the middle. it’s worth the stop! We couldn’t resist another round of berger cookies (my husband just can’t get enough!). and our friends even gave a couple of bloody mary’s a whirl. Note: for the bloody mary snobs — they use Zing Zang mix, which tends to be the most flavorful in our opinion (and they give you an old bay rim. My mouth is watering).
Overall, we’ll be back here to try some other food items. Alexa was fantastic at letting us know when our food would arrive, and informing us that since we were the first patrons of the day (ordering fried chicken) that it’d be an extra few minutes to have it made. Totally understandable when you are frying chicken! Who can complain about fresh — we were happy with the zeke’s coffee! See you all soon!