Have you made reservations yet? If it’s in the budget, the restaurant week price just can’t be beat. Considering that it’s not cheap to go out for a couple of plates of microwaved slop at (insert name of big box restaurant here) I think it’s worth it to shell out an extra 20 for a really nice meal. There are a ton of fabulous restaurants participating this year but I had to think practically knowing that we’d be a party of three. I decided around 3 on Saturday that we should go out to dinner. We all got shined up for our 6 o’clock reservation at Pisces at the Hyatt in the Inner Harbor. Early reservations are a good idea if little ones are tagging along, the place wasn’t packed until we were on our way out the door.
I’m more of a neighborhood restaurant type of a gal myself but a hotel restaurant seemed like a good choice in this case. A hotel restaurant works well for fine dining with a baby because they a) see tourists in all manner of disarray and are used to serving families, if even only on occasion, traveling together; b) you’re less likely to play second fiddle to regulars, in my opinion everyone is more likely to be on equal footing at a hotel restaurant; c) this particular choice was on the top floor of the hotel meaning that we had a view of the whole harbor including boats, helicopters and trucks driving by below. The trip included not one but two awesome rides in a glass elevator as well as a walk around the inner harbor complete with bridges and waterfalls just to get there.
All of that and we still weren’t convinced that Chase would sit still through the whole meal. It wasn’t easy but we managed. The staff was really accommodating. When Chase really liked the dried cherries on Ben’s salad, the waiter brought a little dish out just for her. The food was really good. I had a delicious cream of crap soup to start and glazed chilean sea bass as my entree. I like ordering fish when we eat out because it always tastes way better than when I make it at home. I think Ben shies away from ordering fish out because he thinks it WILL taste like I made it at home and then always realizes he’s made the wrong choice. All in all it was a lot of fun. It would be fun to do a date night soon but in the meantime I’ll take my gourmet where I can get it and you should too. Just don’t forget to call ahead for restaurant week reservations. I heard people complaining that you had to call ahead to get the restaurant week prices. Oh, and I caught a look at the regular menu on the way out the door… ouch, good deal is an understatement.
