130 Best Restaurants in Maryland, USA

On the mainland side of Kent Narrows, this family-friendly institution serves fresh catch directly from local watermen, some of whom are Harris family members. Nautical decor prevails in the large dining room, including an intriguing collection of oyster cans from an adjacent abandoned oyster house. Views over the shallow, twisting northern end of the Narrows toward the Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge can be stunning. Cream-of-crab soup and back-fin crab cakes are among the best around—the cakes are spicy enough to promote plenty of beer drinking.

In the shadow of the state house, this understated establishment has long held a reputation for quality food and attentive service that ensures bustle year-round, especially during the busy days of the legislative session (early January into early April) and special weekend events at the Naval Academy. The menu clearly reflects the city's maritime culture, but also has seasonal specialties. The sidewalk café is open, weather permitting, April through October.

Owned by Hamid Kharzai's brother, Qayum Karzai, The Helmand serves outstanding Afghan fare in a casual yet elegant space. Beautiful woven textiles and traditional dresses adorn the walls, adding color to the simple white table settings. Stop by for dinner Tuesday through Sunday.

Perched near the eastern end of the Bay Bridge, the upper-level indoor dining area and the broad veranda of this restaurant provide panoramic views westward across the Bay and of the city of Annapolis beyond. Sunsets can rival those off Key West, home of the restaurant's namesake. Entrées include Atlantic salmon and coconut sesame shrimp. In summer an informal bar and grill, Lola's, opens at 5 pm Thursday through Sunday on the lower level, with tables on the lawn adjacent to its private dock. Live music on weekends enhances its simple soup-and-sandwich menu.

This family-style restaurant is reason enough to stop in Grasonville. Watch for its sign off Route 50. Holly's specializes in all the Eastern Shore favorites, including a spectacular crab soup and crab cakes, but the fried chicken is the real attraction. Down-home and unpretentious, this is the real thing.

This turn-of-the-20th-century inn used to be a biker bar and a brothel. Now it's a cozy, popular destination with a pub and a restaurant, each serving excellent Irish comfort food. Try the bangers and mash, shepherd's pie, or the mustard-encrusted rack of lamb. The pub, which has an attractive selection of Irish whiskey and a relatively affordable menu, stays open until midnight, with live music on Sunday and Monday evenings. Closed Monday lunch.

A touch of Andalusia in historic Frederick, Isabella's draws lively crowds with a dazzling selection of both hot and cold tapas—small plates intended to be shared. They incorporate the farm to table concept with local produce. Dishes include saffron-infused buttered artichokes stuffed with lumps of crab, delicately flavored chicken mousse alongside rich roasted quail, and goat cheese and almond fritters. Savory paellas, steaks, and seafood cooked with Mediterranean spices satisfy heartier appetites.

Locals come here as much to be seen as to eat. The Largo location is one of four in the state. On the American menu, lobster bisque, baked stuffed shrimp, and the grilled-chicken Caesar salad are among the favorites; all desserts, including the peanut butter pie are made in-house. Food is served well into the night, as late as 1 am on Friday and Saturday nights. A giant television screen plays Redskins games throughout the football season.

Above the county fairgrounds, this homey diner serves affordably priced breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. Try the sweet-potato pancakes or sausage gravy and biscuits for breakfast. Homemade potato chips, cut thick and still hot from the fryer, are a mouth-watering treat. Desserts, made in-house, are a hit, particularly the choco-fabulous Sinful Seven Cake. Free Wi-Fi is available throughout the restaurant.

With its glow-in-the-dark green and yellow exterior colors, the Jetty strives for an aura of the tropics among its very laid-back crowd. Popular with area residents and visitors alike, its large, partially covered outdoor seating area juts out over the waters of Kent Narrows—hence its name. It's a prime spot to watch boat traffic, both commercial and leisure, traversing under a drawbridge between the Chester River and the Eastern Bay. Drinks are strong and most of the food is bad for your health, but it's fun and (relatively) family-friendly. There are periodic karaoke nights and occasional live music on weekends.

is the richest ice cream around. It is made from Kilby's herd of Holstein cows on a dairy located in nearby Rising Sun, which is why the motto is "from cow to cone in two days." Flavors include Holstein Cream, Cow Dough, and Chocotopia. Located in the historic district on the canal, it is open daily from 11:30 am to 9 pm.

Scrumptious burgers abound at Kooper's—be they made with Angus or Wagyu beef, bison, lamb or even black beans. It's a popular Thames Street watering hole and restaurant.

On summer evenings, locals and tourists crowd onto the elegant brick patio to sip raspberry and pomegranate-flavor margaritas and munch on overstuffed quesadillas and blackened tilapia tacos. Year-round, the cozy dining room evokes a hacienda with rustic wooden beams and brightly colored paintings by Mexican artists. The marinated strip steak, creamy chicken La Paz, and crab cakes served with jalapeño tartar sauce are, as they say in Spanish, delicioso.

Specializing in homemade, inventive pasta dishes, La Tavola is a cut above other Little Italy spaghetti houses. Don't miss the black, squid ink spaghetti, served with crab meat and a garlic sauce. If you're still hungry after one of La Tavola's generous plates of pasta, the fresh fish is a good bet, as is the roasted veal chop. Save room for the chocolate-espresso gelati dessert.

A whimsical red, white, and green color scheme; painted vines climbing the walls; and polished wooden floors distinguish this bistro. Weather permitting, you can eat outdoors at wrought-iron tables in a brick courtyard. The creative and diverse menu changes twice a month, with such dishes offered as veal fettuccine Montrachet topped with goat cheese and a tomato cream sauce, and sauté of seafood including lobster, shrimp, and scallops.

Students, alumni, and locals have made Ledo's pizza popular throughout the state. There are dozens of Ledo's franchises in Maryland, but many insist that the best pizza—with smoked provolone so gooey you need a knife and fork—comes from the original restaurant, which opened in Adelphi in 1955 and moved to College Park in 2010. This location is still family run (the other franchises are under separate management) and serves up homemade lasagna and other dishes made with fresh ingredients.

Lexington Market is in a slightly sketchy area, but a trip there for Faidley's crab cakes is definitely worth it.

Behind the redbrick facade of a bank built in 1928, MacGregor's occupies two dining rooms on two levels, with glass walls on three sides looking onto the Chesapeake Bay. The interior is adorned with carved duck decoys, mounted guns, and antique prints of the town; there's also outdoor dining on a deck with a gazebo. Seafood is the specialty, and the kitchen claims to have the best crab cakes on the bay.

A family-run landmark for more than 30 years, Mason's uses fresh ingredients from its own garden. The chef brings bold flavors like pan-seared crab cakes topped with a corn and soybean succotash, crispy-skin red snapper surrounded by braised artichokes, and gentle rockfish stuffed with lump crab meat, a local delicacy. Sip a classic martini in the swanky lounge while waiting for a table—make sure to ask for one on the porch in warm weather. Next door are a coffee bar and a food store that sells hard-to-find cheeses and meats, wonderful handcrafted chocolates, and all manner of esoteric edibles.

Sit down at the counter or make your way to one of the tables as this small sushi place, a Federal Hill favorite. And it's not just popular among Baltimoreans; the walls are covered with awards from local and national press. You can order by the roll, or opt for one of the bento boxes, udon soups, or tempura dishes like the signature crab and shrimp, wrapped in rice and seaweed and deep fried. The narrow, two-story corner row house is cozy but not cramped, and the servers are quick and accommodating.

One of the few restaurants in the city with a rooftop, this establishment co-owned by Annapolis mayor Gavin Buckley takes full advantage of its lovely perch and features live music most evenings. The menu satisfies global palates in a town otherwise known for Old Bay and crab cakes, bringing in a bit of Australian flair from the mayor's homeland.

In one of the last tollhouses in Montgomery County, Mrs. K's has welcomed diners since 1930 and continues to please both those in search of comfort food and those with adventurous palates. Designed to resemble a country inn, the restaurant is filled with antique furniture, "Historic Old Blue" Staffordshire plates, and Nicholas Lutz glass. Try the New Zealand lamb chops, marinated in juniper berries, garlic, and rosemary. Both the menu and the decorations change seasonally. The restaurant serves a popular brunch on Sunday.

The once gritty area in central Baltimore called Midtown has buoyed in recent years by development efforts led by the University of Baltimore as well as several restaurants and stores catering to the city's burgeoning Korean community. Nam Kang is the oldest and best of the eateries in this area, increasingly called Little Korea (Nak Won, around the corner on 20th Street, is also excellent). Ornate, clean decor greets you, along with a series of complimentary, shared appetizers, including pickled veggies, edamame (soy beans), and kimchi. From there, all of the traditional Korean specialties are on offer, bibimbap, bulgogi, and barbecue—and all are excellent. The noodle soups, like the very spicy seafood-filled samsung jampong, are a sinus-clearing delight. Open late.

Modest Neptune's claims of preparing "the world's best mussels" rings true with many, making the trip to this tiny town just north of Chesapeake Beach worthwhile. Attached to the small bar, a glass-enclosed dining room with a brick floor is a friendly, informal spot to dig in to its signature dish—it's also a great place for nice views. Also on the menu are seafood pastas, burgers, and cuts of Angus beef. Don't let the "divey" atmosphere dissuade you; order the mussels (sold by the pound) and enjoy. This is the best restaurant (and there are few choices) in town.

Built on top of a half-finished country club that was foreclosed on during the Great Depression, Normandie Farm maintains the French-American provincial cuisine and romantic, rustic surroundings that the original 1930s owners (sisters) grew to love during their time at cooking school in Normandy, France. The classic menu has likewise remained nearly unchanged; the most popular dishes are beef Wellington, poached salmon, and lamb chops accompanied by fabulous popovers. Although French flavor imbues the farm, famous locals—like Maryland crab—also have a starring role.

Once a boarding house for the brewmasters of National Bohemian Brewery, which was located across the street, Of Love & Regret is Stillwater Artisanal Ales’ new tasting room and restaurant. Its award-winning craft brews are a far cry from Natty Boh’s rather industrial taste. "Gypsy Brewer" Brian Strumke travels the world to create his saison (pale ale), and the restaurant’s seasonally aware menu complements his whereabouts. Think Bavarian hot pretzels with cheese, enormous broiled crab cakes, ancho-chili rubbed burgers, and Carolina BBQ pork belly. The décor is unpretentious, from the hand-built draft tower with custom, plain taps, to the poured concrete floor and tables sourced from a 120 year-old barn.

The inn, where Civil War soldiers from the North and South found respite and Teddy Roosevelt stopped after hunting and fishing, was restored in 1957 when it began its foray into fine dining. It was then updated in 2008. Diners like the cozy fireplace and menu favorites like the Maryland crab cake appetizer with sesame seaweed salad. Everything is made fresh seasonally—the inn even makes its own ice cream and sorbet. For a more laid-back vibe, head to the beer garden for hot dogs and shrimp kabobs with live music (in good weather).

Since 1732, this sturdy bluish gray stone home has welcomed travelers along a road called by turns the National Trail, the National Road, the Old National Pike, and (least romantically) Route 40. Historic figures Daniel Webster and Henry Clay stopped here, and during the Civil War, John Brown's followers seized control of the building for a day. Just prior to the Battle of Antietam, it served as the headquarters for a Confederate general. The menu is as elegant as the setting: highlights include fillet Mona Lisa, a seared filet mignon with a cabernet sauvignon demi-glace, served over crispy fried leeks. The extensive dessert list includes peanut butter, fresh apple, and bourbon pecan pies; Godiva chocolate cake; and ice cream sundaes.