Porters of Federal Hill

Food was subpar. Bison burger seemed frozen not fresh, flatbreads were nothing special. There was a persistent smell in the bar area the whole time we were there. The interior looks dingy, booth seats were torn up.
The only reason for two stars was because of the good service. The owner seems like a genuinely nice guy and I may give it another shot just based on that.

Bought a groupon and have tried to go on 3 occasions this week and they are closed! The sign on the door says they are open and when I called they state normal hours. And the website says nothing abt them being closed. No sign on the door abt being closed! So tacky! Such a waste of time to go to a business who can’t even respect their customers enough to have a sign or message or notice on their website about why and how long they are inexplicably going to be closed! Don’t waste your time. They won’t be open.

Wow, the reviews of this place are really all over the place. I have to admit that the smell there was a little off, but otherwise, our visit there yesterday was great.
For a rowhouse bar, the menu is pretty interesting. They also had a good beer selection (I enjoy IPA and they have a few good ones). We got a salad (the house salad has goat cheese and mixed greens, tomatoes, cucumber), which was really quite good. We also got the sliders and they were served with fries and fixings to complete the 4 sliders with tomato, pickle, and lettuce. I’d say they were pretty good but my wife thought they were very good. We tried the flatbread as well and again, my wife loved those. I thought they were okay, maybe I just don’t really like flatbread. The final piece to the meal was a side of mac n cheese for the little guy. Well, he did not eat it (ya just never know what he’s gonna eat, he’s only 2), but it was HUGE, and darn good. Would have easily been 3 meals for him.
As Dylan G says, it’s quite a pleasant surprise to see this menu at a corner bar. Portions were good and quality was good, too. Our waitress was very nice and she gave the little guy a milk and did not charge us for it. Thanks! We do plan to go back.

Pretty good food for a bar, good beer selection, live music from time to time. Worth going to once in a while but wouldn’t make it a regular spot.

I used to be a ‘once a weeker’ especially enjoying Porter’s House Salad. Until the owner (Kevin) bars e-​cigarettes at the bar, I will not be back. E-​cigs while less harmful than regular cigs still stink and the smoke contains harmful metals.

Since we live just a few blocks away, Porters used to always be our neighborhood go-​to for a solid yummy dinner on a weeknight. They always had decent beer and drinks options and the prices were reasonable. And judging from the solid flow of regulars into the bar, you can tell that many of our neighbors felt the same way about the neighborhood staple. It definitely has a loyal following.
Although the quality of the food has remained pretty constant, the décor and space itself has gone majorly downhill. I’ve noticed for many months now that the upholstery in the booths and other areas is very shabby and otherwise just gross looking. For a bar that seems to be doing decent business, you would think that the owner would consider a little investment in updating the place. For the past year, we’ve also noticed a barf like stench in the place on occasional visits that doesn’t seem to go away.
Probably the worst «atmosphere» issue came from a friend (another loyal follower) who advised that on a recent dinner visit, they saw mice scurrying around the bar/​eating area. With such a loyal regular crowd, maybe the Porters’ management doesn’t feel the need to update and clean up the space, but doing so would definitely be in the bar’s interest.

Looooove this place for brunch or for dinner! For dinner, I’ve ordered the crab cakes and not been disappointed. For being, I ordered the egg and cheese on a cheddar biscuit… and it was amazing. The fries that came with it were those thick wedges but skinnier than most– which I liked. Some were crunchier and some were a little more like regular fries. Loved it! The crab eggs Benedict was also delicious. Def go here for brunch!

Salmon powerhouse is consistently huge and delicious! I always substitute the house salad and bring half the sandwich home.

Wow, what a change. Porter’s used to be one of the best in Balt city let alone fed hill. Sorry to say but those days are gone. Quality is way down. Last night, the triple dip was skimpy but worse, the crab dip was so fishy. We sent back the brisket sliders, gristly, fatty and no taste. They did allow us to replace it with the cheeseburger sliders. Calamari was burnt but ok. Waitress was so sweet and nice and was very receptive. Too many choices to go back.

I’ve been here a few times but while I try to like it it’s definitly not somewhere I’d take the in-​laws or anyone else «important» to impress. The food usally comes out cold. There are typically no customers in the «dining area» so you must sit at the bar. which is fine by me but I know not OK with many people. The manager is friendly and tries to compensate for his typically unfriendly bartenders and waitresses.

Been here a few times with my girlfriend. The food is okay, service was slow, very very slow, and the drink selection is okay. The food is overpriced for what it is. There always seems to be a decent crowd, so you will probably have to wait to get a table. We wont be going back.

The last time I wen there, the smell had finally subsided. I believe that it is now safe to return to Porters. Looking forward to frequenting the place again

I have never seen such mixed reviews about a place, seriously. only been once, but Porter’s crab benedict on fried tomato and/​or English muffin for brunch was killer — it has to be jumbo, jumbo lump. They sure don’t brag about it on the menu but I’m talking generous super chunks of fresh, white crab meat. We were all blow away.
Bfriend got the meatloaf sandwich which he loved, although he felt the potato bread was overkill with the already rich (but lean) meatloaf. The other person got an omelet which was a bit dry but I personally find all omelettes to be too dry for my taste.
Get the benedict!

I would give Porter’s 3 – 3.5 stars except for the fact that the atmosphere and cleanliness leave much to be desired.
The AC seemed to be broken because the dining room was incredibly hot and there were crumbs all over the booth. This made it fairly unpleasant from the start.
I got the crab and lobster fried ravioli which was good but very rich. Eating the ravioli alone would be tough since it was so heavy. My husband got the sliders which were just ok, the meat portion was very small on all of them. He got the spicy chicken and burger sliders and found the chicken to be better. The kitchen initially forgot the burger portion of his burger sliders.
Overall the food was OK, the price was fair but the atmosphere makes Porter’s not really worth going back to. It’s more of a bar than a restaurant in my opinion so I would stick to the bar side.

We ventured down the block to investigate and see if the smell was gone… We are happy to report that we found no Sewage smell in the bar!!! We’re happy bc it’s a great local place for us! Drinks yummy, haven’t had the food in a while…

Well what can I say. … We just moved in across the street and have been told several times that this place is awesome and the food is delicious. So we decided to try it out. To say that I was disappointed with the food would not be saying enough.
We started with the Maryland Crab Soup. It came out cold and the crab chunks in the soup were still frozen. The soup resembled chili and was salted so much it was barely edible. We let our server know and she apologized but still made sure we were charged at the end for two cold salty ass soups.
We also ordered the Bison burger which I thought would be seasoned well since they seem to over salt EVERYTHING (The fries were terribly salty) but no cigar. The burger was dry and bland. The pitiful amount of shredded lettuce served with the burger was laughable.
The only thing which tasted ok was the salad but I made sure to order mine sans dressing thankfully. My partner’s salad was swimming in dressing even though she also ordered it plain.
If I wasn’t so hungry I would have just left but not many establishments are still serving food at this time of hour in Fed Hill to my knowledge.
I always wanted to have my own corner bar. It seems like I will yet to have one as I will not be eating here again.

I have been to Porters many times during brunch and dinner. The brunch is very good. If you don’t care about calories definitely go for the cheddar biscuits and sausage gravy; they are ridiculously good. One time I just went for the chicken wings for brunch and they were AWESOME. The mango habanero BBQ and honey-​old bay are really good. The size of the wings are huge too!
For dinner one time I tried the Korean Style BBQ Ribs and they were okay, not my favorite. Also, tried the tomato mozzarella flatbread and it was nothing special. On a positive note the Maryland crab soup, chesapeake friers and turkey gyro were all really good.

The house salad is delicious and the grilled salmon powerhouse is not only nutritious but the best I’ve ever had!

You know what’s pretty good? Cheese fries.
Know what’s even better? Cheese fries with boatload of crab and bacon and jalapenos and various and sundry other tasty things. Point to Porters on that one.
Solid beer list. Tasty food stuff. Friendly service.
And they were very accommodating of my gluten-​free companion. That’s super double bonus awesome.

Atmosphere: 3.0
Service: 3.0
Food: 2.5
Beer: 2.0
Overall: 2.6
They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder. It the case of me and Porters it’s more like absence makes me realize that they aren’t as good as I thought they were. My brother-​in-​law and his girlfriend were in last weekend so the wife and I were out and about showing them a good time in the city. We wandered our way over to Federal Hill to do the Cross Street Market thing and on the way decided to stop in to Porters for some noon-​time grub. We walked in and the place was pretty deserted. Our party of four decided to sit at the large table directly to the right of the entrance.
The server politely greeted us and presented us with menus before walking away to give us some time to decide on drinks. She returned in about five minutes with waters and proceeded to take everyone’s order.
Positive Point #1: Our server brought everyone waters unprompted. It’s my opinion that diners should always be served water without having to ask for it.
Now I don’t drink hard liquor. Nothing against it, just never developed a taste for it. Our visitors, however, do and they had a hard time ordering because it seemed like everything they asked for wasn’t available; case in point, Absolute Citron. Anyway, it’s always frustrating to hear your guests get flustered because of situations like this. I won’t really hit on the beer menu because I think I’ve beat that dead horse quite enough. Suffice it to say that it’s limited and rarely changes. I went with a Harpoon IPA.
Negative Point #1: Rattling off the names of breweries doesn’t tell me diddily about what beers you have on tap. This rookie mistake on the part of our server was a bit irritating. Harpoon is not a beer and Sam Adams is not a style. Ugh.
After getting our drinks it was time to order. They were still serving from the brunch menu. Our guests went with the sushi grade tuna and grilled Haloumi cheese small plates. My wife had her usual salmon powerhouse sandwich and I the Napa Valley chicken salad. I can’t comment on the flavors of our guests’ dishes but I can comment on the appearance. The tuna was served seared and the first thing I noticed was how flat and grey it looked. Rather than the bright red/​pink one would expect of a sushi-​grade tuna it was more of a dull red/​brown. It did not look all that appetizing. The grilled Haloumi cheese looked pretty good with tasty grill marks on the cheese.
My wife ordered her salmon sandwich with a small salad instead of fries. The grilled salmon was cooked well and the sandwich featured cucumber, sprouts, avocado, red onion & whole grain mustard aioli on toasted whole grain bread. Every time we’ve had this one in the past it’s been a winner. This one would be different.
Negative Point #2: If you are going to serve a dressed salad on the same plate as a sandwich make sure they’re physically separated somehow. The bread on the bottom of the sandwich was soaked in vinaigrette dressing.
My chicken salad was tasty enough, albeit nothing terribly special. It was basically some grilled herb marinated chicken, red and white grapes, various greens, blue cheese crumbles and a house vinaigrette dressing. It was hot out and I wanted something light. It did the trick but left me less than satisfied.
Negative Point #3: $ 14 for a chicken salad?! I’ve been to some very expensive eateries in my time and I don’t mind paying for an experience if the food, service and atmosphere warrant. In this case, I was completely amazed and not in the good way. There were about 4 slices of chicken on top of a bed of greens. How does this justify charging $ 14? Were the grapes flown by genetically-​revived carrier pigeons that morning from a remote island in the Pacific? Was the chicken raised on a diet of foie gras and black truffles and given daily massages by Geisha wearing Michael Jackson’s beaded gloves? I would have at least expected a whole chicken breast. C’mon Porters, either increase the chicken or cut the price. I don’t know what’s worse, Porters charging $ 14 for it or me paying for it.
When we used to live down the street from Porters we visited often. We liked the food and the service was usually pretty damn good. Our last visit was less than our expectations and made all the more disappointing by the presence of our guests to who we had oversold Porters to begin with. Maybe it was an off day. Maybe their A-​team wasn’t working brunch that day. Whatever the case, it just didn’t measure up and for this, they must relinquish a star.
P.S.
Don’t sit at the U-​shaped tables in the bar area. They’re awkward to get in and out of and since they’re elevated you feel a bit like you’re on display. Do yourself a favor. If you’ve got more than two in your party sit in the back dining area. There are booths there and they are good.