John Steven

This gem reopened July 2015. On a trip from CT back home, I stopped in a month ago as this was an old theatre stomp decades ago. Met a talented daytime bartender, ex-​cop from Detroit. He knows his stuff and made me a terrific pre-​prohibition old-​fashion. The crab cake was one of the best I ever had. Returned last weekend with my fiancée. We were blown away by the food. Crab cake was just as yummy. The scallops in ratatouille was crazy. The fried kale was exceptional. Learned there is a five-​star chef hanging out in the back. You need to rediscover this place. Note to owner: The daytime bartender should be the nighttime bartender.

This location is now known as The Penny Black.

I’m sorry to say that this place closed a few weeks ago. I know that there have been some rough reviews lately, but as a business owner myself, I’m never happy to see a business that people have worked so hard for close down.
I live in the neighborhood, but was only there once this summer. The service and the crab nachos were good. Best of luck to the owners and staff.

This place changed management again and no more Tony. We brought out of town guests here and the food is mediocre at best. I was very disappointed. Scallops were swimming in butter. They gave us an appetizer we didn’t order and insisted we did order it — charged us for it. It’s a shame because we once frequented this place. Maybe they’ll change management once again and win us back.

After a quick Unilocal search, I stopped into another place that was too busy to accommodate me (and suffered through about 20 minutes of a drunk girl telling me where to get the best burger — not what I wanted lady!) and, almost giving up, I decided to move on down the path for one more chance. I spotted a somewhat older, ritzy looking group of people and asked where I could get some good steamed shrimp. Looking me over they said, whats your budget? Once they decided so and so was too expensive they sent me to John Steven’s Tavern. It’s just enough down the street (and very near to where I parked, bonus!) that the crowd is a little more subdued. I was able to score a nice spot outside, overlooking the water and the sunset. Given the name I NEVER would have stopped in here. Who the hell is John Steven’s? But I’m very glad I did. This establishment is known for having wonderful steamed shrimp, so of course, I added that to my bill, and a side of crab mac-​n-​cheese. Looking at their online menu, I’m not sure this is a regular item. It was on special that evening. And it was the BEST. It was very good, very creamy, piping hot, the crispy top was a nice touch, the crab big sweet pieces. This dish is VERY rich and though the portion small, it’s not something I would pair with a heavy meal. Even a side of steamed shrimp was a bit much. I cleaned up that little ramekin, even scraping off the little burned on trails of cheese. It was THAT good.
The steamed shrimp was good. I learned from my stop at L.P. Steamers that steamed shrimp is best served with Old Bay and you have to ask for it with onions and butter. I actually find myself wiping off the Old Bay. I don’t know if you can ask for a light dusting, but I was ok with my method. Just a tiny taste of it is good for me. Mmm, and the butter is so bad but makes it oh so tasty! As far as taste, the shrimp was not as soft as I prefer. Maybe that’s a good thing? Maybe that’s a sign of it’s freshness? I have no clue. But I do know the shrimp here did not compare to the ½ lb. (or more :/​) I put away at L.P. Steamers.
My one turn off: It was some sort of a derby weekend so the place was packed! Fell’s Point period was packed. It seemed like a lot of the female help were more interested in flirting and dancing around in cute little hats, than taking my order and watching my water glass. My waiter, male, did an ok job. It was busy so I can excuse some of it but really would have liked a little more attention.

Great place to drink. Took our friends from
Dallas here. The food really sucked. Don’t bother to eat here. Better off enjoying a beer here. Boy have things changed in 20 years.

Stopped in for a lunch at a great Fells Point location on Thames Street, hoping for a wonderful experience. Took the server’s suggestion and got the 5 Point Club sandwich («Best lunch menu item» according to server). This featured a crab cake, shrimp, and bacon combination. Terrible! The crab cake was the size of a quarter. The shrimp consisted of 4 pieces of shrimp (not even 4 whole shrimp). The white bread was over toasted. The side of french fries was cold refried hard as a rock pieces of potato. The ice tea was delicious. The sandwich at $ 13.95 would have been overpriced at $ 3.95. This is a tourist area and apparently this restaurant can succeed at having a high volume of one time customers outside the door visiting historic Fells Point.
Avoid, there are much better restaurants on the block.

I have heard that this place has a good crab cake. Plus with as much time as I spend at The Point, it has been beckoning to be highlighted. We sat on the bar side, and had mediocre service. I don’t expect the best service from a busy bartender, but I don’t want to wait 10 minutes after ordering a beer — only for you to bring it with the check.
I was ravenous. I am mostly sure I said «I’m hungry» about 18 times walking the half block to the restaurant and probably another 14 times while waiting for our waiter. I probably told the him I was hungry another 5 times while I ordered a large glass of water. Luckily, we quickly agreed on the fried calamari and ordered it when we placed our drink order. The calamari was cooked fine and was not chewy, but the breading was bland and fell off as soon as you picked it up with a fork (or your fingers). They consider this traditional, but the dipping sauces were equally boring — cocktail sauce and a sweet and sour sauce. Thank goodness for the lemon to give a little flavor.
My friend an I also split the rib and crab cake special, adding on and extra crab cake — which came with rice and an old bay ear of corn. The ribs were fine; the meat was fall off the bone tender and the sauce was mellow. I was hoping for some tangy or acidic bbq flavor in the sauce or some smokiness deep in the meat. Instead, it tasted more like the meat was cooked separated and then slathered in the sauce as an after thought. I must confess — they tasted great to me, but then again, I can’t remember the last time I had ribs to compare them too.
The crab cakes were small. I like the robust crab and old bay flavor. They are Baltimore style with the jumbo lump crab and little filler giving it a decent texture, but on this Thursday, the binding ingredients left the crab cake a little more liquified than I like. I still ate every single bite.
I didn’t try the rice; it looked like something I would get in a lean cuisine. The corn was dry. The butter an old bay helped. Not the raven’s fault. It is May and not quite the right time for that flavorful local corn.
How could I have forgotten to tell you about the oysters? Oh. Right. They were not very memorable. We had three from the Deleware Bay — they were on the sweet side. It’s not particularly oyster season, but I have had better oysters than these this week.
Overall, I was not impressed and the place was pricey — we had a few beers, split an app and an entrée and it was almost $ 80.

The fish tacos were undwhelming and the service was terrible. We were told we couldn’t order crab cakes because it would take a half hour for new crab cake batter to be made. So instead I ordered something else… except it took 45 minutes for the food to come anyway. Awful.
The burger was well instead of medium.
This place was basic at best.

We wanted shrimp salad sandwiches, but they were out of shrimp. We overheard our waitress telling another table that they actually had shrimp but had determined that they weren’t up to par earlier in the day. Kudos for that.
No kudos for the fact that our wings (Plan B) were undercooked, bloody and possibly even still breathing. We pointed this out to the waitress and she apologized and said she’d «take care of them» for us… which meant that we weren’t charged for them.
Fish and chips, wedge salad and calamari seemed fine.

I stopped in for brunch on a weekend and took a seat at the bar. It took a while before anyone even acknowledged that I was there, and then it was just to lay a menu down in front of me… no water, no offer of a drink, nothing. When I finally did get some attention, I ordered the eggs benedict, which earned me a look as if I had just grown a second head. I guess they expected me to order a huge plate of crabs or something?
When the food FINALLY came out, it was good but not great. The fresh fruit was good, as were the potatoes, but the hollandaise sauce was bland, which left me feeling disappointed. I hope their dinner food is better than their brunch, but I’m not sure I’ll stop back in to find out, based on the lack of good service.

Food lacked flavor, it was overpriced, they messed up our reservations, and service was spotty.
We got the crab dib and it came out cold. They reheated it for us which was nice, but the crab dib itself wasn’t very outstanding. Even though it had crab chunks you couldn’t taste it over the salt and horse radish.
I got the swordfish and it wasn’t flavorful at all and slightly burnt. The rice was truly awful though. It was worse than the stuff that comes in boxes and it had some hard bits in it. Our waitress wasn’t very friendly or attentive.
Overall I had nothing positive to say about the restaurant. Very forgettable, I won’t be coming back here.

Stumbled upon there following waits at the Waterfront and the Point. Pleasantly surprised to sit down immediately.
Bloodys, mimosa and breakfast burrito were all exceptional at a reasonable price.
Will be back for brunch.

The worst steak I’ve ever eaten in my life, and not cheap either (24.95). No flavor whatsoever, tough, and burnt to a crisp. My mashed potatoes had no seasoning either.
Service was spotty; our waitress seldom stopped by, and I had an empty glass of water for most of my visit.

We stopped here on the way back home to Philly after a day trip. We came in on recommendation of someone at Blue Moon Café around the corner from here. We were not disappointed at all. I LIVE for seafood. If I could afford to, I would eat it everyday! We ordered the Chesapeake Grilled Cheese and the Crab Dip. The Crab Dip was, eh,…was more like Crab Spread than Crab dip, however the crab was fresh so we made it work. The Chesapeake Grilled Cheese however, was absolute heaven. It was 2 downright stellar crabcakes topped with bacon and cheese and grilled in the typical grilled cheese fashion, but the flavor was anything but typical.
Note: For out-​of-​towners and others generally unfamiliar with the area, parking is near impossible around here, so be prepared for that.

We went here for lunch today and we were not impressed. The view was nice — it’s right on the harbor and the tables outside have nice, big umbrellas over them. The menu looked good when I checked it out online before we went, but the food itself didn’t measure up. For our entrees, we got the grilled chicken sandwich and the San Fran wrap. The chicken on both sandwiches was really dry and flavorless. The wrap definitely needed some kind of sauce. It was supposed to come with chipotle aioli, but I couldn’t taste any on it — I’m pretty sure it wasn’t there. At least the veggies in it were fresh. The fries were ok, but greasy. The grilled chicken sandwich had a generous amount of chicken on it, though. Too bad it was so dry. The service was sub-​par, as well. We barely saw our waitress throughout our meal. And the entrees were definitely overpriced for what they were. We won’t be back.

When the rain came pouring down on our Urban Pirate’s Cruise in the Inner Harbor, this was the closest bar within sprinting distance of the pier.
We needed to get somewhere dry and we needed to get there fast and that’s how we ended up here. On a Friday night, it wasn’t too bad. The beer was good and the food was substantial. We were looking for a place to get a decent meal (and warm up) and this place definitely hit the spot.
The food was excellent! Anything with truffle oil is going to be good in my book. I’m glad we ran into this place and if I am ever out and about in Fells, I will definitely check them out again.

Decent place to have dinner with a cool ambience although struck us as a bit overpriced. We went here with 2 friends from out of town at 9pm on a Friday night and had no problem finding a table, although we had to sit at one in the bar.
They have an above average draft selection and good wine and cocktail list.
The menu isn’t particularly creative but we all found something to order. Other than the fish tacos which were lack luster (very little flavor and tortillas were not warmed), the seafood was quite good. The highlight was the soft shell crab sandwich which came with whole soft shell crab, mini crab cake, bacon, chipotle aioli. Crunchy, chewy, salty, and filling. The rockfish with mango salsa was impressive for how well-​prepared the fish filet was, piping hot tender and moist. We passed on dessert since they only had one option (cheesecake) when only bread pudding would do.
The décor was interesting, truly Baltimorian seafaring, and their was a lively vibe. It got incredibly loud at 10pm when they turned up the jukebox volume, but this was to be expected since we were seated in the bar.
We also intentionally tried avoiding ordering entrees since they cost $ 10 – 15 more than the sandwiches, and the one we got didn’t justify its price. This strategy really limits the menu options. This is a place worth trying that is solid but not overly exciting, and you run a high risk of feeling you overpaid.

I’d give it 4 stars for the helpful young man who waited on us… but I can’t guarantee he’ll be there when you go. So I’ll just rate the food.
We had just landed in Baltimore, our luggage was on its way to Istanbul and we were tired and hungry. The fella I sat next to on the plane recommended this place for crab cakes.
It was a brief walk from our hotel along the water and we were the only folks in the place at about noon. We thought that odd until we realized they ahd a dining room and we were in the bar area. That was ok. As we liked the old seaside charm of the décor. The wood bar was magnificant.
The lunch menu had lobster rolls and po’ boys and all kinds of sandwiches. There were decent looking soups and starters. Since we wanted crab cakes we both ordered the appetizer at market price — which today was $ 16.99 for 3 decent sized crab cakes. Flaky, good sized chunks of crab and creamy texture. I really liked them. My dining companion said they were almost too sweet for her.
They had 2 kinds of crab soup: creamy and tomato based. The creamy was kinda nasty. Almost like a Velveeta base with fresh crab dumped in the center. But the tomato based I had was delish! A tomato based veggie soup with a lot of nice little crab in the center. I didn’t get one lingering shell in mine.
The beer menu was not extensive but they had a lot of local beers and the waiter was helpful with me choosing one I liked. I was impressed with their selection of Scotches. Most local watering holes like this have some JB and blendes and a couple singles that are common. Looked like their bar was well stocked. Sure I’d go back but I’d like to try something besides their lunch bar menu.

Atmosphere: 2.5
Service: 3.0
Food: 1.5
Beer: 2.5
Overall: 2.5
Since moving to the area back in January of 2009 we’ve had several acquaintances tell us great things about John Steven’s. Even the reviews on here seem to be generally positive, almost glowing in their love for this tiny Fell’s Point establishment. How could we go wrong? We finally decided to stop in on a Friday evening around 6:30 to find out.
Located at the end of the fabled Fells Point drinking strip on Thames, the unassuming façade of John Steven Ltd doesn’t do much to draw you in; there are a few tables, a hostess stand that seems a bit out of place and a sandwich board on which are scrawled in chalk the day’s specials. There’s even an outside patio with several tables, but it was way too hot to entertain such things. We approached and were immediately greeted and shown inside.
The interior, certainly historic, has taken several well-​worn pieces out of the Fells Point bar handbook. Vintage beer signage? Check. Short wooden bar? Check. Wobbly wooden tables and chairs? Check. Digital juke? Check. As we took our seats we both commented to each other about how it felt just like most of the other small bars in the city. Our server, who also happened to be the bartender, came over to take our drink orders. He was pleasant and friendly. The draught list (don’t bother wasting your time or money on their bottle list) featured 20 beers out of which 11 were craft selections. 55%, not a bad showing. They even offer a sampler made up of several local beers. Since I’ve had nearly every beer on the local sampler, I opted for the Oliver Ironman pale ale. My wife had the Sam Adam’s Summer Ale.
To start we ordered the fried calamari. We should have known something was awry when it took them all of about five minutes to bring it out. I’m all for fast service, but damn. The calamari, ironically called «crispy» on the menu, was a soggy, underseasoned mess and the two dipping sauces served along with them, a standard marinara and an orangish buffalo-​sauce-​like thing didn’t do much to help things either. And I don’t know how they managed, but the calamari was actually stringy. We tried to push our way through, but after about a half dozen pieces we couldn’t continue.
Expecting — and hoping that things couldn’t get worse we trudged into the main course. I went with the Five Points tavern burger, ordered medium with cheddar and a side of fries, and my wife had the vegetable pasta in white wine sauce. The burger was cooked well-​done, the Kaiser roll was a tad on the stale side, and the pickle tasted like it had been boiled for about 10 minutes. I think my problem is that I’ve had great burgers in the city (Alewife, Abbey Burger Bistro, Red House to name a few) so when I have something just this side of average it’s hard to sugar coat the faults. I won’t bother discussing the fries. They were typical Baltimore bar fries.
The vegetable pasta, angle hair with slices of green and yellow squash, was served with a sad piece of crisped bread that played well with the overall washed out appearance of the dish. The sauce, more like a soup, was tasty but not enough to overcome the overcooked pasta that looked and tasted more like Ramen noodles than pasta. Ugh.
Most of the reviews on here rave about the seafood, the crab cakes, the shrimp, etc, but since we didn’t get any of those things I guess the magic was lost on us. To us, the John Steven Ltd, for all of its historic kitsch, was just another typically average Fells Point bar that happens to serve average food. Sure. the service was friendly and attentive, but the dining experience was lackluster and forgettable. My recommendation is to come here for a pre-​dinner drink or as part of your Fells pub crawl, just make sure you’ve already eaten. I doubt we’ll be back.