Miss Shirley's

 

63

131

Kathryn E.

Dallas, TX

Wonderful breakfast spot.  Kick-ass grits that must be a days worth of calories all on their lonesome, but worth every bite.  Good biscuits, nice fried green tomatoes, and a really good salmon club sandwich.  The service can be very slow and occasionally neglectful, but overall still good.

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4

45

Caitlin S.

Baltimore, MD

Yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum, yum infinity.  The food at Miss Shirley's is beautifully presented, ultra fresh, and utterly delectable.  True, it is a bit more pricey than most breakfast/brunch restaurants, but the few extra dollars is well worth spending for the quality of your meal.  We shared fried green tomatoes and I had the most awesome french toast of my life, stuffed with cream and mascarpone cheese, with chopped strawberries and coconut flakes.  I skipped the syrup because I'm sure it would have resulted in a sugar induced coma.  

I can't wait to come back when I have friends or family visiting overnight.  It's one of those spots I don't want to over indulge, but want to save for special occasions so that it will always feel like a big treat.

Our server wasn't exceptionally friendly, and the ambiance isn't particularly attractive or interesting (and sitting outside on busy Cold Spring Lane isn't recommended unless you enjoy exhaust fumes with your french toast).  If those two things were to improve, I would be in satisfaction heaven.

*We arrived around 1pm and were seated within 3-5 minutes.  I have heard that it can be very tough to get a seat, so keep that in mind if you are super hungry or in a hurry.

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Elite '08

49

75

Richard C.

Baltimore, MD

Great brunch/breakfast spot (also serves lunch), with a huge menu (aprox 50 main courses, 20 sides) containing all the usual suspects, as well as a few less common items.

I opted for an omelet with mozzarella, basil, tomatoes, mushrooms and turkey sausage - one of the best omelets I've had in quite some time - all of the flavors were very evident, and the omelet had just the right consistency (the 'build-your-own' omelets have over 30 fillings to choose from). The hash browns were perfect, the coffee was good and the bloody mary's were enormous.

I've heard a few comments about having to wait here for a table - the place is enormous, and they are very efficient, and I'd have to say that I'd be quite happy to wait an hour to get a table (we were there on Saturday morning at around 10:30, and there was no wait).  The only detracting comments that I could understand about Miss Shirley's would be the price - it certainly isn't the cheapest place to get breakfast, with the average omelet price coming in around $13, but then if you're getting great food, I'm quite happy to pay the higher prices.

There are many people in Baltimore who don't even know about this place - give it a try, you won't be sorry.

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Elite '08

122

128

John R.

Alexandria, VA

Miss Shirley's is one of the two best breakfast places I know (the other being Golden West), and they are amazingly different.

MS is BUSY, they only serve breakfast and lunch and there is always a line.  The good thing is they have a lot of seating, they're very organized with buzzers and lots of seating space for people who are waiting, they even have free coffee while you wait!

Miss Shirley's is owned by one of Baltimore's most successful restaurateurs, and as I read in an article about MS, he started MS for his wife, who's a chef, and its sort of a love letter to her.  You can see him working as host on weekends, I imagine her cooking away out back somewhere.  The place radiates care and attention to detail, the second you enter you know you're going to love this place.

How can I describe the menu?  Far from average fare, think upscale comfort food.  Fried green tomatoes, Savory grits with mascarpone cheese, sweet potato fries with mango ketchup, biscuits with gravy (andouille sausage gravy and white cheddar cheese), pumpkin cheesecake french toast.  

What justice is there that the two best breakfast places I know are in Baltimore and I live South of DC??  I keep going out to different breakfast places in DC and I haven't come close to finding a spot that rivals Miss Shirley's and Golden West.

Yes, these are the kind of places worth making a trek up to Baltimore for.

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3

33

Natasha R.

Baltimore, MD

Food was pretty good.  Wait was over an hour, but frankly I wanted to see what all the hype was about.  And was convinced that it is all pretty much hype, as in "this is the cool place to be seen at breakfast".  I don't think the prices are reasonable, even if they use a couple of pieces of lump crab in their omelettes and the service was poor, even though the young lady waiting on us smiled alot.  It was like she was smiling because she knew how you're getting screwed with the high prices, but will not say anything about, well, frankly anything because you are at the "cool" place of the moment.  Another thing I was wondering was if the same owners owned all the other restaurants on the whole block, or if it is a real Miss Shirly who actually owns the place.

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0

1

Number O.

Baltimore, MD

Having eaten at Miss Shirley's many times, I can tell you that everything is made from scratch and from what I can tell are the very best ingredients available.
The gigantic chunks of crab justify (in my humble opinion) the $17 price-tag on their most expensive omelet.

One item I dearly loved but which is no longer on the "winter" menu was the Maryland Po'boy with a whole, fresh Maryland soft-shell crab. I ask the waiter once about it and he confirmed that Miss Shirley's did indeed use fresh (read "live") crabs in the dish.

The entire staff - from the wonderful host to the utility people - are some of the most polite, knowledgeable and friendly folks I've ever met. Many other Baltimore restaurants should send their staff over to observe how service should be performed correctly.

As to dinner: the only time I've ever seen them open past 4:00 p.m. was for a special occasion, so no dinner hours. On the plus side, breakfast and lunch are served all day.

One more thing, Saturday's and Sunday's seem to be getting busier and busier, so I confine my visits to weekdays or if I take out of town family, before 10 am on the weekends.
The wait on the weekend sometimes surpasses 45 minutes even with over 200 seats, but people queue up never the less. Not surprising given the quality of the food..

ONE MAJOR THING 'THOUGH: if you're claustrophobic or don't enjoy sitting close to other people, think carefully or go early. Booths and larger tables are at a premium and the smaller "duces" are pretty close together.

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6

26

JO' G.

Baltimore, MD

What I found most wonderful about Miss Shirley's was that I was able to order not only a delicious egg entree (omelet with generous fillings of asparagus and mushrooms...mmmmm), but a deviled egg appetizer featuring toppings of lump crab meat and salmon. I don't know about you, but two egg dishes in one meal, for me, is very eggs-citing :)

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4

80

Pascal P.

Baltimore, MD

Good omelet, good coffee. That pretty much sums up the one breakfast I had here. A little pricier than some breakfast places, but worth the money in my opinion.

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3

25

Nicole M.

Hillsborough, NC

I'd give Miss Shirley's four stars if it weren't for the out-of-control prices.  $17.99 for an omelet?  I realize it contains crab, but come on!  Fortunately for me, I don't care to nosh on bottom-feeders, but my meal was not much less inexpensive.  My mother and I dined here for lunch and  I had the Greektown Tuna sandwich ($13.99), a side of sweet potato fries ($3.99), and we split the sweet corn cakes ($3.99) for an appetizer.  
My sandwich was good: I was warned that the tuna would come medium rare, as I'd expect, but it was definitely rarer.  Fortunately, it was good quality so I didn't have a problem with eating it that way.  The ciabatta was very fresh and the olive tapenade was yummy but scantly applied.  
The sweet potato fries were plentiful, delicious, and a bargain, comparatively.  
The sweet corn cakes were good, with an unexpected spiciness, but not great.
I had to skip dessert because I couldn't bear to spend more than fifty bucks for two people for lunch.
Overall, everything was tasty, the service was better than average but not stellar, and the wait wasn't insanely long.

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29

202

Eric P.

Baltimore, MD

I ate at Miss Shirley's for the first time today. There was no wait, on a Sunday, but that was only because of the god awful hour we ate (8:30). By the time we left the line was fourty people strong, all waiting in the hot parking lot.

The food was excellent. My German Apple Pancake was a monster, it could (and probably should) have fed three.

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1

6

Erin M.

Baltimore, MD

you will wait for a while on the weekends, and the prices are ridiculous, but the food is amazing and the service is good. worth checking out...and make sure you try the savory grits.

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