Gertrude's

Before heading into the museum on a late rainy afternoon, we decided to grab some coffee first. Sat at the bar which is set to the side and nicely set away from the rest of the restaurant.
Service was great - coffee was good.
Atmosphere was really nice.
Since it was near closing time, not a lot of activity around us but enough people coming & going that made the place feel great.

I want to love this place with the local charm and fares. But unfortunately it's hard to give it too much credit as everything was just .. ok.

The crab cake was pretty good but nothing too exciting.

We also had the tenderloin which gave me food poisoning.

But the highlight of the meal was actually the bread pudding.

Gertrude's is the upscale restaurant in the Baltimore Museum of Art.

* * *

The Baltimore Museum of Art gets about 38 stars.

For a small museum playing catch-up with the big city majors,

It is amazing.

The contemporary exhibits are incredibly well chosen with fantastic selections of artists and works.

The older galleries have to live with what was not picked up first by places like the Met in New York.

For some hard to understand reason, Baltimore scored a massive number of Matisses.

But, Matisse aside, the average older gallery has about two amazing pieces among a ho hum rest.

But those two amazing pieces ...

* * *

That said, Yelp is not about porcelain boddhisattvas.

Yelp is about the food.

Gertrude's is good eating.

It is a nice room.

The menu is small, and heavy on seafood and sandwiches.

Make that elegant seafood and upscale sandwiches.

They do not inflate the prices because you are in a museum.

The pricing is much appreciated by Samuel C.

Add the charm of the setting, and this is a great place to be.

I was with amazing company discussing deep philosophical issues.

So my attention to the food was probably less than I would have liked for a Yelp review.

But I loved everything I had ...

Double that for dessert.

* * *

And how can you not like your salmon,

When back in the gallery, you have just seen the contemporary mandala of your dreams?

We are regular customers to this restaurant and always recommend friends there. I provided 5 stars in previous reviews.

This trip was a total disappointment with inattentive waiter. Food and ambiance are perfect. We waited for a long time before he showed up to take orders. Then he disappeared and waited for a long time to get refill of ice tea. I ended up requested another waiter attending other nearby tables who provided refill. We had to go to concierge to get check. It is a shame as we were there to celebrate my birthday. I was feeling jealous that the next table even had a dessert with lighted candle while we never have an opportunity to request for anything due to the subpar service. It would be a while before we would return.

We were looking for a good place to celebrate and the reviews said Gertrude's was nice and they were right. good ambiance in the art museum and excellent food.

we started with the mediterranean platter and then ordered the gertie's crab cake with fries, the powerhouse sandwich with fruit, lamb meatballs and hushpuppies. standouts were the crab cakes, the fruit and the lamb meatballs. each dish was good in terms of flavor, quantity and quality,

overall great experience in terms of food and atmosphere

I really used to love this place but unfortunately it has gone downhill. Their menu has expanded but the service is really lacking. Not only was the service extremely slow, but I had to get up and ask for someone to come to our table and was made to feel like a huge inconvenience for even doing so. Our server was also not apologetic at all, spilled a drink on one of our entrees and didn't even acknowledge it, and continued to show poor service throughout the evening. The food was just OK as others have already said. There are much better places in the area so please do not waste your money here unless you want to pay for horrendous, rude service. I won't be coming back here anymore.

When Gertrude's was suggested as a lunch location when we were visiting Baltimore, my first guess was that the restaurant at the BMA would be a nice spot where well-off museum visitors could enjoy a meal with their friends. Yup. It was all that and more.
The menu turned out to be the Chesapeake Bay sampler that I was hoping to find - multiple types of crab cakes, zucchini based non-crab cakes, oysters, salmon, classic sandwiches, all kinds of upscale comfort food. The housemade sodas were both refreshing and added to the visual appeal of everything on the table.
Service was quick and attentive - undecided diners were offered much more information than the menu provided about the different ways to experience crab cakes, and a dropped fork had a replacement in place before it could be picked up off the floor. Multiple runners made sure everyone at our table received our meals while they were hot.
The museum is a must-see for a visit to Baltimore, and general museum admission is free, so you don't really need to be rich to enjoy world class art and the white tablecloth experience at Gertrude's.

We were excited to see the announcement that John Shields and Gertrude's would be celebrating their 25th Anniversary with a Community Night to remember. They would be donating 25% of each dining check to support his nonprofit, Our Common Table. We were so honored to have attended their 20th Anniversary, so we immediately signed up for this October 25 event. We had friends that flew in from Portsmouth, New Hampshire for the 20th and flew in again for the 25th Anniversary dinner. We requested our favorite table, and we were pleased that it was ready and waiting for when we arrived.

The restaurant provided live music, special cocktails, appetizers, dinner, and dessert selections. Eric, our server, took excellent care of us. My husband and I started by splitting a large Spinach salad. It had crisp spinach leaves, applewood smoked bacon, mushrooms, red onion, and goat cheese dressed with a warm, aged sherry vinaigrette. For our entrees, we chose the Back Creek Inn Crab Quiche, which was loaded with lump crabmeat, eggs, Swiss cheese, red onion, and fresh herbs served with a garden salad; and "I Can't Believe It's Not Crab" Cakes, which were 2 nice-sized zucchini cakes with crab cake spices, orange-chipotle sauce, tangy Udon noodles, and garlic spinach. We both were thrilled with our choice. Our friends, not being local to Baltimore, had to have the Senator Barb's Crab Cake with large asparagus and sliced grilled potatoes with tartar sauce. John Shields, being the gracious host, came over to chat with us - we were as delighted to see him as he was to see us. We look forward to many more years dining at Gertrude's. What a fun and delicious evening we had!

Incredible atmosphere. Amazing art. And the food was terrific!!
Even post COVID this place has the staff to seat you quickly and make sure you are taken care of.
When recruiting people to Baltimore this has become
my go to place.

A stop here is the perfect way to end a trip to the Baltimore Museum of Art. After an afternoon at the museum, we had a reservation to come here for an early dinner and had a lovely time. The ambiance is warm and inviting while being beautifully elegant. The staff members were friendly and helpful. Service was fast but we didn't feel rushed.

The menu offered a variety of Chesapeake classics with a contemporary touch. We were delighted to start off with our own plates of bread. The cornbread had the perfect balance in texture. The lamb meatballs with yogurt sauce paired with caramelized onions and fig into the perfect bite. The dishes we tried were overall good with quality ingredients. We wished the fries had been crispy and for an extra sprinkle of salt over each dish but otherwise were satisfied. We will be back for another pleasant experience, especially when the weather permits outdoor seating and events!