Presence

The salad was not complimentary on thursday night. The food was good (london broil) but the portion was not large. They also give a lot of squash and zucchinni. I would prefer that they offer a choice of that or another side dish for those of us that don't like squash or zucchinni (i.e fries, potato, other vegetable, etc.) Overall not a cheap night. three people soup and main (two london broil one 12oz steak) just over $100 before tip. We had Travis (for those of you that know him) so I gave a generous tip.

#1 There was definitely no complimentary house salad.
#2 I selected 3 diff dishes that were all "unavailable"- I ended up getting the rib roast (which btw was fantastic)
#3 NO ALCOHOL!!??

#4 I had a gift certificate from the Brasserrie which they did not honor. That was bad business.

I believe that Amanda's salad policy begins this week.

$100 for three people is actually very affordable for three beef dishes with soups at a waited restaurant.

I agree - $33 a piece (sans tips) is about what I'd expect to spend in an upper-to-high-end restaurant. I suppose that's high for Baltimore, but down here in DC, that's nothing too crazy.

Went last night- nice comp. salad. mixed greens. hubby got rib roast- highly recomended. sushi as usual great including amazing hand rolls. my hubby paid for us (3)not sure how much- was not cheap though- but tottally resonable- comparable to LA it is Balt. bit seems the "yuppie" end of the spectrum here is growing. Very much willing to go again- esp with salad. IF they read this i would like them to revist their sides and how they in reality work. highly recomend resturant!! nothing bad to say.

Overpriced-

While some in town may thing of 3 dinners for $100 to be pricey, that's certainly not out of line if you are getting nice atmosphere, good food, and decent size portions (which some have commented on may not be up to par). A community like Baltimore should have at least one upscale place for "business", personal "special occasions", and for those with disposable income who enjoy eating out.

As for them not taking a gift cert. from the Brasserie as being "bad business", I would disagree. While some level of flexibility and customer service goes a long way to bring customers back, accepting "funny money" from a defunct enterprise (that just happened to be in the same location) goes beyond that and should not be taken as a knock against an establishment. This is not about honoring a competitor's 5 or 10% off coupon, but asking for $X to be chopped off of one's bill. If I was holding onto a gift certificate when it was well-known that the Brasserie was on its way out, I would have made sure to use it. [When I tried to use a $25 gift certificate from Shapiro's at 7 Mile last week, they just told me to ring the buzzer at the meat counter and ask them :-) ]

Local Rita's all year round? Niiice!

It's unbelievable that people continue to complain about prices. That's Baltimore. And that's why the Brasserie closed. And that's why otherwise your best option is David Chu's, a below average place on the niceness scale in LA, NY, Miami or Chicago.

I think it was a mistake for Amanda's not to honor a Brasserie gift certificate.

Full disclosure, I moved away from Baltimore 2 1/2 years ago and there were rumors even then of the Brasserie closing. But, how much actual notice was there? Rumors are plentiful in the Baltimore kosher world so one puts credence in them at one's own risk.

Is Amanda a different restaurant in the same space or the same restaurant with different owners and a new name? Legally it probably makes a difference. For example here in New England Tim Hortons bought out all the Bess Eaton's and converted them to Tim Hortons. I think in that circumstance it's reasonable for people to expect that Tim Hortons would honor Bess Eaton's gift certificates.

Moreover, reputation and word of mouth is worth something. I still tell people about a restaurant that not only comped my entree but also gave me a gift certificate because my entree arrived five minutes later than the other entrees because of a kitchen error. The positive word of mouth is worth more than the $25 the restaurant is out because of their comping me.

But kosher restaurants tend to think they have a captive audience and don't, as a rule, strive to please the customer like non-kosher restaurants do. Which is one of the reasons a lot of them fail.

So while Amanda's may or may not have been legally obligated to honor the certificate, they were foolish not to do so.

We ate at Amanda's and noted that they seemed incapable of cooking the meat the right length of time. I ordered the prime rib to be medium done, but it came rare. The man at the next table ordered his steak as medium done, but it came so well-done that he sent it back. I should have done the same with my almost inedible raw prime rib....

Salads: One of our meals came with a house salad and the other didn't. The waiter saw that we had salad on our minds and gave us an extra house salad so that we would each have one. Smart move!

Summary: We won't go back until we get (another) gift certificate. Food should have been better for the price.

Greg,

Have you heard anything new on the kosher Subway opening. I have heard nothing in months?

Thanks

From what I understand, Amanda's purchased The Brasserie's assets along with its debt. A gift certificate is a debt instrument,and as such, should be obligated to honor its holder.

I invite all hebe accountants & lawyers to weigh in.

The Brasserie closed it's doors and there was no purchase of assets or debt, so you are mistaken. The space was taken over just as it had never been a restaurant there before. There is no obligation to to take a gift certificare, it is like Nordstroms taking a gift certificate from the old Hecht Co. I too invite every lawyer and accountant in town to respond.