Address: | 33 W North Ave, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA |
Phone: | +1 410-545-0444 |
Site: | joesquared.com |
Rating: | 4.2 |
Working: | 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–11PM 11AM–12AM 11AM–1AM 11AM–1AM 11AM–10PM |
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Lovepreet Aujla
I went to Joe Squared with family after hearing tons about it from friends and seeing it on TV. I went in with high expectations and feel that they were a bit too high. Heres what you need to know: The restaurant has a great atmosphere; its buzzing with music, a nice atmosphere, and plenty of background conversations. Theres a bar and a seating area, which is admittedly pretty small. The restaurant itself seems pretty clean and is kept in good shape. The service is just adequate, I had to reach out to several different waiters after mine failed to refill my drinks or stop by my table. The food is where I felt let-down by the hype around the restaurant. Its famed for its many pizzas and thats exactly what I ordered. Our table got 3 pizzas: barbecue chicken, margarita, and chicken and avocado. Both the chicken pizzas tasted great and the chicken/avocado was an interesting combination that I really liked. The margarita pizza was pretty subpar, the buffalo mozzarella cheese being far too flavorless and the minimal sauce not doing the pizza any favors either. Given the high prices though, none of the pizzas were spectacular and you can definitely do better from other local joints in the city while paying much less. We also had the fried mozzarella appetizer which was very good but the cheese wasnt as gooey as Id hope. Overall, Joe Squared is a great restaurant with a fun, entertaining vibe but the lackluster service and inconsistent food ultimately let it down.
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Alys Denney
I wanted to like this place because I had heard good things about it. However, I cant say that I plan to go back. First of all, there was nowhere to park. Once I finally found a spot, I thought that maybe their food would redeem the inconvenience. While I could tell that they used high quality ingredients in an attempt to make a stellar pizza, it just wasnt cooked enough. The entire pizza was tepid and floppy, which was a little alarming. Then I thought dessert might redeem the cold pizza - maybe it would have if they had actually had the items on their menu. I ordered ice cream and the waitress came back to tell me they were out of the ones I wanted to try. Then I asked for the cheesecake, which they were also out of. I inquired about the chocolate mousse cake, but the waitress said she wasnt nuts about the consistency. At that point, I was fed up with the entire place. Bottom line for Joe Squared: no parking, cold pizza, and desserts that are out of stock or not appealing to the waitress. If you dont like your own menu items, why are they on the menu? This was a swing and a miss.
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Laura Dulany
First visit: we walk in the door (North Ave location), very dark, not clear if you seat yourself or what? Stood there 5 min. Finally passing waiter says to seat yourself. I ask inside or out? He says either. We seat ourselves outside. Easily 10 min passes. Finally waitress comes over and asks me if we went inside. Wha? She tells me if we had gotten the table "following protocol" (her exact words), we would have been given water and menus right away. Um, is this my fault or my problem? Why is she lecturing me on proper service that we did not receive. She points to a sign that apparently we should have read and insinuates we sat down without permission. So, I find myself justifying to her how I was instructed by her staff to sit down there. NOT a good intro folks. NOT very welcomining to make the customer feel foolish. I should have actually left right then, because the mood was ruined. Hard to believe a new business would act incredulous when you take a seat to eat. WTF?
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Josh Poland
I liked a lot of things about this place. Its a great Baltimore spot. The pizza was great. I really loved it. If you decide to go here, I would recommend trying a couple of smaller pizzas that you arent familiar with rather than getting something big, because the flavors are very unique. Its thin-crust Italian style pizza with loads of toppings in unusual combinations as far as pizza goes. I was extremely happy with the food (except for the meat-lovers). And the price was more than fair. The atmosphere feels very Baltimore with brick walls, dim lighting, and lots of artwork on the walls. The guy playing live music was way too loud, but otherwise it was pretty nice. The service was pretty good. Nothing bad to say, but nothing really good to say either. Its definitely not a high class dining experience, but its a great place to go with friends and get some great food.
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Brandi Mebane
I visited the Joe Squared restaurant at Power Plant Live. I was seated at the bar and noticed a roach crawling across. I calmly brought it to one of the waiters attention. The waiter picked up the roach with a napkin and continued as if this was normal practice. I was waiting for an apology or at least some indication that the waiter recognized this as disgusting, inconvenient, and bad representation of the restaurant. Not once did he apologize or say, "maam Im sorry for the inconvenience". He proceeded outside to smoke his cigarette as if I didnt deserve better service. I paid and left. Ill never go back. I was more upset that the waiter didnt even think I deserved an apology. I wasnt looking for anything more.
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Mickey Pietrzak
Dropped in on a recommendation. First impression is that it was hard to find parking (across the street). After that though all was good. Our waitress was very friendly and informative. The food arrived in a timely manner. And the atmosphere was clean and fun. The pizza selection was eclectic in a good way. A warning, they only serve thin crust. We enjoyed our Chicken Avocado pizza overall. Though, Im sure its a personal preference thing. My daughter raved over her garlic bread turned pizza. Note that there is no kids menu and thus the odd selection for her. Thus, if it werent for the odd parking arrangement and more importantly a kids menu, it would be five stars from me.
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Lanice Holmes
Poor. I will be totally honest, I love how it looks in there...But the treatment I got was not good at all. I did not very welcomed at all. I came in and I spoke first. Second, I told the gentleman I was ready to order and he ignored me, I told him again and he didnt even acknowledge me (so much so that I thought he couldnt hear me). Then, he finally says "what is your order...." I proceeded to tell him and my food was fine...but I wont be coming back here. The crazy thing is I drove one of the Co Owners to the shop one day and she told me I would love it....but....she was wrong. No matter how good the food is, no one wants to eat good dinner at a table where they feel unwelcomed.
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Mister R
For years I have heard about this place and for years I have probably wanted to go but every since they have moved I walk past this place five nights a week and its always crowded with people in the front on the sidewalk in the way and its always smell like cigarette smoke or ashes or cigar smoke. I do understand that people can smoke outside ALMOST wherever they want but this place seems like they do not have any order for their customers or rules and furthermore all that smoke for non-smokers is such a turn-off to think about entering in a place with food when you have all of these ashes and cigarette smoke in your face before you go in