Enotria Resturant & Grill

I really want to like this place. I moved to this area in 2014 and thought that a restaurant so close was sure to become a local favorite.
Our first visit was met with ok service — friendly but a little slow. The problem was the food. Overly sweet sauce and too much garlic.
Despite our first visit my wife and I decided to try it again. Again met with slow servers and lack luster food. I will give them that their fresh pasta is great.
So we waited a year and decided to try it again. We were one table of 5. We waited 15 minutes after being seated for anyone to come to our table. It wasn’t like no one came by. There were four waiters working the other tables. Needless to say when you have a table with a toddler you shouldn’t ignore them as it just makes the experience worse for everyone in the restaurant. When our drinks came they brought my two year old an adult sized glass of water instead of a kid cup — more waiting. When we ordered we asked if my sons pizza could come out as soon as it was ready. 45 minutes later it came out with the rest of our food. So let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and it took the kitchen that long to make a pizza the food was the same as before — overly sweet, greasy and loaded in garlic.
Like I said I really wanted to like this place. It’s a cozy place, the staff is friendly (although slow) and it’s so close. I just don’t think I can get past the food and thousand tiny mistakes especially for the price as the food is not cheap.

So I’m noticing a trend. Since my last post 6mos back I’ve been there two more times. The service is weaker, portions aren’t as large and the renovations to the restaurant continue. Now the food tastes great although my pasta during this last dinner visit appeared to have been cooked earlier that morning. It got sent back and when it returned it was yet smaller. Maybe the renovations are relative to recent shortcomings. I’ll still frequent this old favorite but maybe just for pizza next time. Sorry for negative press.

Never had a bad dining experience here. Always eat in the bar and food is above average. Wait and bar staff has changed a couple of times, but again, always a pleasant experience.

Fantastic food. My favs: roasted meatballs (appet), cream of crab soup… pizza is good also. See photos.

Was just recently in to treat my mom to dinner prior to Mother’s Day. We were seated right away and had an attentive server all the way through. Our pasta dishes were fabulous, as was the bread.
The only thing I will say is that the live music from the bar area was a bit obnoxious– the woman singing was obviously very into belting. While I enjoy live music myself, it was intrusive while I was trying to have a nice, quiet dinner with my mother.
Overall, I was very pleased with my visit.

Met a few family members here for dinner last night. Everyone was pleased with their food choices, the Mediterranean Salad with grilled shrimp was excellent. I would definitely come back again to try other dishes. The service was very prompt and curtious.
A suggestion though, my husband ordered the mussels appetizer as his main dish and it came out on a plate. The waitress was dripping juice from the mussels everywhere, it would be much easier and cleaner if they were served in a large bowl.

Kind of surprised by the number of bad reviews for this place. I’ve had many meals here and the food and service have always been excellent.
Try the red sangria, you won’t be disappointed. Also a big fan of the Veal Oscar and Tortellini Bolognese.

I had my son baptizen reception there and they where great they where organized and the food was on point definitely would recommend this place for any occasion

Thanks, Enotria, for the most awful hospitality experience ever.
I’ve been here before for casual social events. In my recollection, the food was good (not as good as Olive Tree in Aberdeen, but better than the Main Street Tower and Bellisimo in Bel Air) and the service was attentive. On a rare date night for my spouse and me (away from the kids), I insisted we come to Enotria for dinner.
What a MASSIVE mistake.
We came into the bar area and found seats at the bar. A lady behind the bar graciously offered us wine menus, checked our IDs, and took our drink order. To my spouse’s chagrin, Enotria was completely out of IPAs, but we made do, nonetheless. The lady who took our drink orders filled our drink orders, gave us food menus and then vanished. Completely gone. Never to be seen again. Vaporized. Vanished.
She must have been a ghost.
Instead, we had to not deal with another bartender. We had to not deal with him because he completely ignored us for over 30 minutes, until we asked for our check. He was too busy BS-​ing with the couple to our left to ever ask if we wanted to order any food.
Another couple came in and sat to our right. The bartender greeted them in a timely manner (he knew them by name, so they must be regulars) AND took their food order within 10 minutes of them sitting down.
Meanwhile, we’ve been sitting there for nearly 30 minutes with food menus up, food menus down, fingers pointed at different items on the menu, and we can’t even be acknowledged. ARE WE INVISIBLE?! The guy would not give us the time of day.
There were about 4 waitresses hanging out at the end of the bar asking him questions, asking when their drinks would be ready, etc. and the guy would talk to anyone but us!
Needless to say, once he was taking food orders from the people who came in AFTER US, but not us, that was enough. We politely asked for our check (at which point he asked «what, no food?» UMMM SERIOUSLY?!).
He had no idea what drinks we had ordered, as the ghost lady who took our order didn’t start a tab for us. He had to ask us what we had ordered! SERIOUSLY?! To make matters worse, he rang our order in as someone else (unless he has a lady’s name, which I find highly unlikely) so that was dishonest. We were going to stop at the hostess stand and say something on the way out to complain, but everyone at the front of the house was on the phone.
We had such high hopes for a lovely dinner and date night out of the house, away from work, away from everyday life! We would have easily spent $ 100 between appetizers, food, desserts and adult beverages if we could’ve had any ounce of competent service! But the service we had was easily the worst ever. It was as if we didn’t live and breathe.
We felt that the staff at Enotria treated us like the scum of the earth for no reason whatsoever.

I’m surprised by the low reviews. I’ve always had good food and fantastic service even when the place is packed. The servers always go out of their way. Since they started making their own pasta the quality food has gone up. Fantastic Italian food. Sometimes I find they add a bit much sauce but that’s just me. I like very light sauce and I either ask for it that way or ask for it on the side.

Like hitting my thumb with a hammer and not having enough sense to not do it again. Our last visit was not good so we thought maybe we had a bad waitress or just a bad day. We reached for the hammer again. The oil and garlic dip must have come from the bottom of a container. It was LOADED with garlic. To the point the table next to us noticed the abundant smell. Finally asked the waitress for some more oil so we could dilute the garlic. Our salads came. Not to bad but a little weak on the house dressing. Our waitress said our food was ready would we like to have her hold it until we finished our salads? We said yes and again asked for the oil. No more than two minutes passed and a waiter or guy from the kitchen followed by our waitress showed up with hot food plates in hand. We said we had asked for the food to be held as the Italian speaking waiter was putting the food on the table. He did say he could take them back to the warmer but at this point the food was delivered and in front of us. Obviously the waitress and kitchen are not communicating. THEN the oil finally came. Enotrios so badly wants to be a top end restaurant by its décor and menu selection but the service is only a pizza shop quality.

Love this place! Come here as often as I can to dine in and have also gotten carry out many many times. Atmosphere is great, staff is friendly, and very accommodating! Food has NEVER been a disappointment. Try the antipasto as an appetizer which is a wonderful combination of cheeses, Italian meats, olives, tomato and mozzarella and even bruschetta. Best of all worlds! Their Red Sangria is the bomb! I’ve also had the white which is very good too and refreshing. For your house salad that comes with the entrée’s, try the creamy Romano Dressing to die for! I have never seen this any where else. As for the entrée’s, again, never disappointed. It’s obvious all the pasta is mAde fresh right on the premise. I’ve had the Quattro Stagioni for Pizza with mushrooms, artichokes, roasted peppers, mozzarella and sauce. One of my favorite pizzas. Couple of my other favorite dishes: Penne Capricciosa, Penne Puttanesca, Fettuccine Alfredo, and the Linguine with White Clam Sauce. My Dad the other had tried their Penne alla Polpa Di Granchio which was lump crab meat, roasted peppers, green onions, and garlic sautéed in a pink sauce, tossed with Penne. After my taste of this dish, it will the next entrée I order! Great taste! And for a gentleman that salt and peppers everything, he did not reach for the shakers once! Last thing I’ll say is they even let me still order one of my very favorite Italian standby’s that hasn’t been on the menu for a long time and that’s the spaghetti aglio olio! Love this dish and still order it from time to time. Especially with the freshly made Spaghetti! Yes, this place is with out a doubt one of my favorites!

As a person who has been to Italy, I would consider myself an Italian foodie. I enjoy all things Italian. Pasta should be made fresh (and it was) sauce should be made fresh (and it was) this is delightful!
Enotria, was not only had amazing staff, the food was spectacular, made only more amazing by the wine suggestions our waitress made.
She knew the food, she knew the wine, WHAT MORE COULD YOU AS FOR?
Thank you again for a great night.

Good luck trying to get this place to answer the phone… Kept trying and trying during open hours yet no answer.

I was super excited to try this place but it was a bit of a letdown for me. My husband liked it but he is like a human disposal who can eat anything.
So we got there at lunch time and ordered the all you can eat soup, salad, noodles and chicken dish. I was hoping for something like Olive Garden but what we got was more like free crappy bar food at happy hour. The noodles were kind of mushy and the chicken alfredo was really bland. My husband ate some meatballs and he said they were ok but again, he will eat anything. The salad was old and wilted and the house dressing was just ok. The soup was better than it looked. My daughter had mac n cheese which she seemed to like. I tasted it and it was a little bland also.
Service was really bad as well. Our waitress only came to take our orders and bring the mac n cheese and the check. She also left an olive oil dip on the table and told us fresh bread would be coming but I had to ask for it when she finally came back at the end of our meal. The other waitress there was a little more on top of her tables.
Crappy food and crappy service. Won’t be going back.
Also, the other reviewer mentioned crab dip but I didn’t see that on the menu anymore. They had a crab pretzel with crab soup on it but I forgot to order it.

Enotria Restaurant was about as near as perfect dining experience I have ever had. Came here with my family on a busy Sat. night to celebrate my sister’s graduation from law school. The service was awesome, our servers were always doing something to make sure our party was happy from start to finish. From refilling our drinks, giving us tons of complimentary bread, and wrapping our leftovers up we never had to worry about anything! From the time we ordered our entrees, we were eating within 20 minutes. The food was heavenly and my hats off to the kitchen for an amazing dining experience!!!

I was really looking forward to trying this place, as it looked nice and it was going to be a lovely evening out with my husband. I had the lasagna, can’t go wrong with that, right? Hmmm, well, you wouldn’t think so anyway.
First, the service: the young man was very nice, but slow as molasses in January! He never refilled my iced tea, although he did finally ask my husband if he wanted another soft drink. Bread was requested for refill, took him a solid 10 minutes, and no, on a Sunday evening, they were not all that busy. It took over 20 minutes to be served our salad even. Ridiculous!
The ‘we make our own’ salad dressing was so sad — I ordered the peppercorn Romano ranch dressing, and you might as well have dribbled 2 Tbls of milk on my salad. I had to add salt and pepper and parmesan cheese just to add some flavor, something I’ve never ever done!
My lasagna was no better than a frozen lasagna, and was heavily over salted, as was my husband’s penne pasta with sausage & peppers.
I’d seriously recommend you go to Olive Garden, for way less money and much better food. At least the salad there is good and plentiful. neither of which was true at Enotria.

The Crab dip is soooo good! The service was amazing! We came with a very large group of people, all paying separately, and the staff remembered the names of who was who without confusing orders or auctioning off our food.

I’m glad my wife had a gift card. I wouldn’t have paid for the food we got. We ordered the crab dip. It was very cheesy and greasy and where was the crab?! There wasn’t any crab! I got the lasagna and it was all mush, hardly any meat and it was a soggy mess. The calamari wasn’t bad. A little salty but OK, but the marinara sauce was bland. The only thing we liked was the salad. The new wine/​cheese/​deli shop was attractive but very pricey.

This was our first venture into Maryland Italian food.
Ambiance is nice and the service is good. The food… where it wasn’t bland it was downright gross. And then to get a large bill on top of that bad food… Well, we won’t be going back there ever.
Their gravy (or tomato sauce depending on how you were raised) was so sweet it was cloying. It actually left a nasty aftertaste on the back of my throat. Blegh!