Sunday, August 19, 2007

Miss Shirley's

Miss Shirley's
410 W. Cold Spring Lane
Roland Park, Baltimore
410-889-5272
Brunch
www.missshirleys.com
Cost: $$
Reservations: weekend wait
Date of meal: several
National Price-Quality Frontier: Inside It
Baltimore Price-Quality Frontier: On It

Miss Shirley's is the quintessential generic, yuppie brunch place. Service is good and unobtrusive. The decor is bright, clean, upscale but unpretentious. Food is well-prepared with quality ingredients, with a diverse but fairly standard set of breakfast, brunch, and lunch fare options. (I believe they are open for dinner too but haven't been for that.) I would feel comfortable taking my parents there, having a social or business lunch, whatever.

My main complaint about Miss Shirley's is cost. At $13-$17 for omelettes and $3 for coffee, Miss Shirley's costs more than it should. I'm not sure there is any competition at or near this price point, but an entrant serving a similar product at 20% lower prices should be able to cover costs. I don't think there would be much point in trying to improve quality, as Miss Shirley's already provides everything most of us want in a brunch venue. Still, given the lack of other options, I will happily return to Miss Shirley's when I want a nice brunch.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

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.

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.

Anonymous said...

We brunched at Miss Shirley's numerous times. Both in the old location across the street and in the current one. And every time, after we ate too much of their delicious fare, we are just thinking when we'll go back.
For sure they are not your average diner (both when it comes to price and service), but then again I do not think they are trying to be average.
Rather exceptional.

Sara said...

Miss Shirley's is one of my fav places to have brunch. Great food, great service. Sometimes the wait is long, but the quality of the food is well worth it.

We had Valentine's Day Dinner this year. Yummy....

They are opening one downtown in the Constellation Energy building. Can't wait!

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