King's Contrivance Restaurant

Dec 2021: I'd go back, but I was a bit disappointed with some of the food for the price we were paying. We had a group of ten and appreciated the first private room inside to the right. We had one of each appetizer. The shrimp scampi smelled a little questionable, but the others were loved. My gumbo (pic) was blah. Flavors all blended, so it all tasted about the same, tho I did appreciate the chopped green onions on top. But that's saying something isn't it? That the most memorable part of the flavor was the green onions. My vegetarian wife's baked ziti (pic) was also a bit bland. She didn't even take the leftovers home. Everyone roundly loved the desserts. I have a pic of the Key Lime Pie and the Chocolate Mousse Tiramisu. There were two strange interactions with the maître d'. First, after making the reservation weeks earlier, he called my wife back and said she was supposed to get back to him. She believed the reservation was set, yet he curtly informed her that "she forgot." Well even if a misunderstanding occurred, that is just RUDE. He also said "the dinner hour in Howard County is 6pm." And I've heard this of him from a friend in the past. Wow, nobody wants to hear pretentious BS like that. Second, when desserts were wrapping up someone remotely upped the music to an extreme volume. It was so loud I had to quickly find the smart speaker myself and turn it down. When I asked the maitre d' about this annoyance, he lied to me and said the device cannot be controlled remotely. Umm, it's a smart speaker. That's how they work. I'm taking a star off simply due to these strange interactions with the maitre d'.

PURE EXCELLENCE! If only I could eat here everyday. The escargot are a garlic buttery perfection and they give you this fresh bread to sop up every bit of garlic butter sauce. The Seafood Bisque is thick and delicious and included shrimp, crab, scallops and even had a bit of rice which was a pleasant surprise. This is one of the best bisques I have ever had. I was too full but because every dish I saw come from the kitchen looked like pure heaven I decided to be greedy and get the Scallop and Shrimp Angel hair pasta. It was pure deliciousness. The seafood and pasta were perfectly prepared and every bite made me want another. I came back during Howard County Restaurant week and ordered the identical meal and it was exactly as delicious as the first visit. Pure heaven in the form of delicious food!

My husband and I went for Father's Day. The staff was great, the atmosphere nice. The food was good, I had the lamb chops which were delicious, the vegetables were good but the portions were very small. My husband had the pork chops. They had a good taste but was just a little too tough for him. He also said that the vegetables were good but portions were small. We thought that they were going to bring bread to the table. We waited awhile and decided to ask the waitress and she said that the bread was and extra charge. We ordered the bread but felt like the bread should have been complimentary.

Excellent fine dining. The steak I had was cooked to perfection and the scallops my wife ate were amazing. I was told this place would be very expensive but I did not find it to be that bad. It's not cheap, but I felt that the food we ordered was worth the price. The service here was also excellent. I felt very attended to and the staff was friendly and helpful.

The staff tried. The food was wedding food, and not oh wow that is great wedding food just eh I can eat some of this to survive. The Maitre D came at the end, when our card had already been taken, and asked about the meal. We were polite but let him know we were not satisfied. We told him we understood staffing trouble and he told us the troubles they were having. He said dessert was on him but then said bill had already been rung so he gave us a note for the next time… he took our plates of dinner which had barely been touched and when asked if we wanted a box and we quickly said no he didn’t once offer a refund or any compensation beyond the dessert. They are dreadfully understaffed so taking 30 minutes for a drink, having empty water glasses for another 30, an hour until apps are all understandable with the staff issue. My dirty martini wasn’t dirty. My husbands mint and cucumber mojito had no mint the second time. The only food that was what we would call in the range of good was escargot and the fried oysters. The Brie tasted as if it had turned. The seafood chowder was bland, the Cesar salad was soggy, the ribeye was COVERED in bland brown gravy, chicken piccata was flavorless and a bit chewy and all the vegetables seemed to be ready for purée they were steamed and no detectable seasoning. We actually asked an hour and a half in to cancel the entrees if not started, we just wanted to leave. The waiter said they were almost ready and being people who hate to waste or inconvenience we said okay we will wait. We shouldn’t of, the meal and tip was $200 and we still had to get another meal that night. It was our 10 year wedding anniversary and our original plan for 18 & 21st was canceled due to a flooded kitchen. This place was recommended as somewhere to dress up for and get great food. It would make for a romantic wedding venue and had we just gone for a drink we may have had a different view but the food, it just was not good if you like flavorful food, or .. fresh food. The picture of the steak is after he tried to scrape off the gravy.