Love this restaurant!! Great oysters and seafood. Try the half and half crush- orange and grapefruit mixed! Also the seafood club is a go to. read more

My Go-To seafood place in Baltimore! When I have out of town guests come and request seafood, this is the spot I take them. From the fresh seafood to the delicious orange crushes, this is a spot I can always count on for a delicious meal. Not to mention the atmosphere inside is amazing! read more

really busy and service can be slow but great food, they have so many great options and a really good price. we'll be back for sure!

Fantastic food and service! Visited MOHS a few weeks ago (based on other yelpers) and I can definitely say it was a home run! Food was amazing and service to compliment. A little trouble with finding parking but we managed. Will visit again for sure - brunch served :-). read more

Came here on Saturday evening at 8PM, we ordered some beer and appetizers. Some of our food did not come out as of 9PM. We asked for paycheck and as soon as we did, "some" of the food came out which we didnt eat. Waitress told us kitchen messed up, but that shouldn't waste our Saturday evening. No one except waitress apologized to us saying its not her fault and we did not get any compensation. The paycheck even included gratuity. Would not come on busy evenings. read more

I've come to Baltimore for the first time and fallen in love! Started with the beer mussels --AMAZING! Great portion of mussels with onions, chorizo sausage and shrimp, with bread alongside for the amazing broth everything is served in. For lunch I went with the Combo steamer-- more mussels, shrimp, oysters and clams ... with potatoes and corn of course! Portions were great! Ask for Katie! She was awesome! read more

I really wish I could give this place a "3 & half Star" rating..... Reason being, the place wasn't BAD but it also wasn't AMAZING either. I'll experience was slighted tainted because we went on the Saturday night before Mother's Day and it was me and my family's first time being here. We did not know what expect. The neighborhood that the restaurants is located in is very cultured, and hippie (I actually LOVED that about the place). But what made the experience off a little was we did not know how small the place was. We had our elderly grandfather who could barely walk, climb one long flight of stairs and being as those we were the only ones that had an elderly person with us, NONE of the staff or managers were considerate enough to offer us a table on the 1st floor. So we had to inconvenience several staff and customer by helping our grandfather up the stairs to his sit and then back down the stair because .....wait for it.... the bathroom is on the 1st floor!!! So NOTE: This is restaurant is NOT for seniors or disable individuals. Fast forward to the food. After the going back and forth to the bathroom and finally being able sit and order our food, our food came out in a decent time, but the food itself was subpar to say the least!! It definitely was not something that you would leave bragging about. Hence the reason I spent most the my review talking about the restaurant itself because the food was just OK.... not nasty but simply just OK!!! However, if you do decide to come here and you're NOT satisfied, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE walk across the street to "Dangerously Delicious Pie" and I promise you that place will make your trip ALL THE WORTH WHILE!! Trust me, we went there that night and you will see my post on that spot on their respective page!!!! read more

Delicious crab cake (although a bit on the small side compared to some famous Baltimore institutions) and attentive staff. I'll definitely be coming back to try more dishes. read more

Where did Mama's go??? This has long been our go to, consistent, recommended, neighborhood fav. Recently gave it another shot after a disappointing visit few months back. Always liked the atmosphere, eclectic decor, but have to say it's now in need of some sprucing up. Had not sat upstairs in sometime and it definitely needs attending! To say it was more disappointing, is to say the least starting w/the "new" menu! Can you say "short order"! Gone are staples like french onion soup, tuna steak sandwich, shrimp cocktail, filet medallions... Did still have the Cesar salad w/tapenade crouton, but the salad was half the size as was the crouton, barely dressed and no fresh parm, crab cake was fair at best! Have never written a review on Mamas, just raved about it! Now I write because I'm dishearten by this long time favorite that has clearly fallen. read more

Hot damn, this place has amazing crab cakes and raw oysters!! I never knew a restaurant would have choices of oysters!! I got the shooting point and couldn't enjoy them anymore. Awesome neighborhood, definitely recommend tourists to visit here. The atmosphere definitely makes it, old school east coast pub feeling, makes you think a founding father ate here. read more

id drive 3 hours just for this place. Food was amazing and the atmosphere is even better. Welcoming and electric

I would argue that it's one of the best seafood places in all Baltimore! Great atmosphere, food and drink! This place is still red hot, so expect long waits during core dinner/brunch hours. Make sure you have your whole party with you or you will not be seated! (only 5 of 6 here...sorry, keep waiting). No Reservations, but if you can grab a seat at the bar, you won't mind the wait! Definitely worth going to! read more

Mama's on the Half Shell - Bars Near Me - Baltimore, Maryland

If you have an aquired taste for everything seafood this is the place to try out. Great restaurant and bar for locals known to the Baltimore City area. They have a great menu including appetizers that could fill you up as a meal with Q-10 scallops the size of your fist and a killer crab dip. Don't let the two story narrow restaurant fool you. This place gets packed, especially during the weekends and at night. Best weekend activity is to bar hop the Canton Square area. Most restaurants have outdoor seating. read more

Hands down Mama's is my favorite place to eat in Baltimore. The decor (especially upstairs) is perfect. I love it. As for food: All of the soups are great and the scallops are some of the best I've had. The portions are large and worth the price. I've never ordered anything I didn't like. One of my favorite memories of Mama's was sitting outside asking the waitress if we should order the seafood club. Her response: "depends, do you have plans today?" That's Mama's - big, hearty portions that render you not only satisfied The only downside is that it's small and the bar is packed 9 times out of 10, making it very annoying walk through. read more

A group of our girlfriends went to lunch a few weeks ago and truly enjoyed ourselves. What a fun atmosphere and the food is incredible. We shared lots of appetizers and thoroughly enjoyed all of them. The clams casino was my personal favorite---we also enjoyed the scallops, steamed mussels as well as steamed shrimp and crab dip. The pizza was very good too! Our waitress, Michele, was just wonderful! She was full of wonderful recommendations and she was extremely attentive. Our table was always cleared and our drinks were never empty. Hat's off to her for doing a job VERY WELL DONE! Highly recommend and don't forget to ask for Michele--she was terrific. read more

Very good food! heard about place thru third party and was pleasantly surprised. Seafood chowder, crab imperial, hamburger great Oh someone found out that they don't take discover so don't get played like they did. read more

This is our favourite restaurant! We are from Ontario and always ensure we eat at Mama's on every trip to Baltimore. Crab cakes are divine. We've had half the menu and everything has been so good! Atmosphere is great but expect a wait. It's a popular place. We are headed back again this weekend...can't wait! read more

Food was great service was decent. BE WARNED: The added a 18% gratuity to a party of 3 in the restaurant. This is NOT acceptable without them saying something. read more

The worst service I have ever had in my life. My friend ordered a margarita and it was too salty/tasted too much like mix and requested a new drink. The waitress told him she'd could get him a shot of tequila but that she wouldn't refund the drink because it was "standard" and that it's not in ther policy to take back drinks. So my friend let it go, but I'm sorry lady, did you taste the drink? It was disgusting and should have been taken back without hesitation. When we were finished eating the waitress refused to split our check but said if we wrote our card numbers next to what we got she would give us individual checks that way, which we thought was reasonable. She comes back complains that we didn't add up our totals, which we assumed, like at any other restaurant, the waitress could easily do. Finally we add up our individual totals, but a friend an I had gone to the bathroom and forgot to leave our cards. She had already run everyone else's and when we gave our cards to her, she returned and had charged my card $55 for a beer and a sandwich!! She then proceeded to tell us that because we didn't include tax in the total amounts we had previously added up that she had to put all of it on my card. Absolutely ridiculous. She also included gratuity of 18% because we were a party of 6 into my bill. Additionally, she ended up charging my friend $119 when his bill should have been $19. Could have been a simple mistake, but when he approached her about it, it became a whole ordeal. We spoke with the manager about our issues and he was no help at all. No empathy whatsoever, zero customer service skills. I had to call my bank because they refused to reverse the charge. Needless to say I will not be dining there again. Hope others have better experiences read more

Had lunch here today and it was so delicious! I had the special Prime Rib Sandwich and my friend had the crab cake sandwich. We both started off with their mixed green salad with the maple dressing... It was out of this world. Finally the main reason to come to Mamas are the crushes and they were out of this world. I had the cucumber lemonade crush, and my friend the grapefruit. Service was great as well. Will definitely be back! read more

Mama's on the Half Shell - Prime Rib Sandwich! Delicious! - Bars Near Me - Baltimore, Maryland

This is my absolute favorite restaurant in the world. Located right in the middle of the best bars in Canton Baltimore, this place is bad ass. Cool old school decor, lots of great beers and cocktails on the menu. Raw bar is stellar. Always a great selection of oysters from all over the world. Clams on point. Always fresh. Crabcakes are the best in Baltimore. No filler all lump crab perfectly spiced and broiled. Trt everything. Broiled parmesean garlic oysters werent my first choice but when i tried them they soon became a favorite. I could eat here every day for the rest of my life and die happy. read more

BF and I ventured out for seafood this past Saturday. After reading the reviews, decided to give this classic restaurant a shot. What a mistake. Sure if you like an all fried seafood assortment that is on par with Long John Silvers, you'll love this place. I am still flabbergasted that reviewers find this place to be authentic seafood. Even the Baltimore classic, the crab cake, was bland. The spot is more a tavern with fried or sauced everything. We even avoided a cocktail because if you aren't into rail drinks then it too would have been a disappointment. Mama said always say something nice--our waitress was very friendly and prompt and we appreciate her working Saturday nights during her pregnancy. read more

My brother and I had lunch here in January 2020. It was very good. We were driving through Baltimore on I-95 when he said he is hungry for chowder. So I got on the cell phone computer, looked up chowder locations, and chose this seafood eatery about 5 minutes off I-95. It was great: a lovely, historic, classy place with dark-colored-wood interior. And the restaurant has a very catchy name. Mama's On the Half Shell is situated across from a small park, in an urban neighborhood that has some charm. For lunch I ordered seafood chowder which contained tons of chunky hunks of stuff I could not exactly identify. It was filling and it was interesting, but for my rather plain tastes, the recipe is too complex. My brother ordered oyster stew and he was delighted with it. It contained big whole oysters. We shared a dozen raw clams on the half shell, and they were great: medium sized and high-quality (I have had some bad clams in the past couple months, so I was happy to get the good stuff). We ordered a side of asparagus containing 6 or 7 plump pieces of asparagus, nicely grilled. They were actually too plump, but it's the off-season and I think the asparagus was well-prepared. Unfortunately the side of asparagus is very expensive and the portion is rather small. But our total bill was in the low 40 dollar range including a draft beer, so cost was not a big issue on this day. It was a light lunch at the bar, and we were happy to discover this very attractive restaurant and this nice section of Baltimore city. read more

OK but not great. I ordered a cup of the cream of crab soup for starters. It took about 20 minutes. I almost passed out from hunger. The soup was good but I've definitely had better. I ordered the double crab cake platter. I also opted for one broiled and one fried crab cake. For sides, I ordered the spinach (for an up charge) and fries. The food took about 15-20 minutes. By the way, it wasn't super busy in there, at least not by the looks of it. I sat at the bar. The crab cakes were good, but again not mind blowing. I still would get them if I was in the mood for crab cakes. The fries were AWFUL. It seemed as though they had been sitting for a while cooked and then refried before serving. The fries were brick hard and had no potato filling in the inside. It was weird. It reminded me of the potato stick chips- gross. I asked for another order. The fries never came and so I asked them to forget it before walking out. The spinach was fantastic, very flavorful. The food was OK, but definitely nothing Earth shattering. read more

Crab cake was the best crab cake I've ever had in my life. Got steamed shrimp half a pound they were big and cook perfect. Oyster Rockefeller was good but it had too much cheese and it tasted like a pizza. The drinks were okay. the bartender did try his best to make what I wanted but he put too much juice in it.... service was good as well. read more

Found this gem on yelp as some of the best crab cakes and had to try it. The place itself was located in a small town by lots of little shops and restaurants. The design was like old money- with paintings and plush seats. We ordered the lump crab cakes and grilled oysters with seasoning. The crab cake was good, with only lump crab and some lemon. I just didn't think it was fantastic. It could've used a kick. But the oysters where phenomenal! Better than what I expected. And service was on point. I would definitely suggest trying the crab cakes once, but they didn't blow me away. read more

I was told to make reservations in advance and I'm glad I did, the place was packed but we got right in. We sat in a corner booth for the quiet atmosphere (requested) and had a great time. Lots of oysters to choose from, we had 3 varieties, all good. The main food was delicious as well. Mamas in located in a really cool neighborhood to walk around. read more

Really yummy crab dip, crab cake, and caesar salad. Mac n cheese was good but a bit oily, and salmon BLT tasted good but was a bit overcooked. Service was good and outdoor seating was nice. I would definitely recommend this place! read more

Has gone down hill in recent years. Pains me to say as this place was a go to locale for good seafood. Last 2 visits were for a dinner that gave me food poisoning, and an over cooked crappy breakfast. read more

Went there last Friday for some seafood. Got the PoBoy platter. Oysters were tiny and covered in greasy, bland batter. Came on a hard roll, fries were cold. Basically a wasted meal. I've had the same meal several times before and it was really good. I don't know if they have downsized, changed chefs or what but it was really bad! Very, very disappointed in the quality of this meal considering the price. read more

Shout out to our waitress Danielle, she was pretty good. I got the fried oysters and they were very good. A tad bit overpriced but good. I like the vibe of the space. read more

Now keep in mind this review is coming from a Louisiana native who is used to food being seasoned and spicy. This place was busy, and bustling with life around 5:00 pm on a Saturday evening. I was greeted quickly and with a smile and opted to sit at the bar since I was dining the alone. The guys behind the bar were able to get my drink and food order quickly and efficiently besides the crowd being demanding. I opted for the Maryland crab cake (of course) with a side of mac and a Cesar salad. The mac and cheese was really good, full of cheese and creamy with a crunchy bread crumb top. The crab cake was FULL OF sweet meaty crab, I was very impressed with the quality of the meat, however it seemed as though it could have been seasoned more. Luckily, the bar had Old Bay in reach so that I could spice up my food a bit and that made the crab cake even better. Oysters were on display at the bar and they looked big and fresh. Would defiantly recommend this spot to anyone visiting Baltimore in search of a huge meaty crab cake. read more

Best restaurant in the Canton square! Great service and tasty food! Menu covers surf and turf alike with a kids menu to boot. EAT HERE!

Consistently good food; reliable service. I order the same things - dozen fresh oysters, crab cake entree with two sides. Much as I want dessert, there's no room for more food. Always a satisfying meal. read more

I suggest doing lunch before a dinner date to get a scope of the large menu. Some delicious daily seafood sandwiches and specials offered make a meal worthwhile during this time. One stacked four-cheese crustacean melt was the best lobster sandwich I've had from the Chesapeake to Maine, far different than a lobster roll, I'll no doubt order when offered. Since the name suggests, I'd like to see more oyster varieties on the half shell; hardcore fans might be let down by this. A seafood chowder held mostly potatoes and vegetables, which soup cooks know happens and spot quick, that a nice server immediately took care of/no problem. The interior scores high as beautifully preserved and refinished, particularly upstairs. When I've dined, egos have managed to stay out, lending a great taste of Baltimore in a gorgeous place. read more

Ok, let's just start this by saying..wow!! The crab cake is wonderful! Not much filler and huge chunks of crab!! Plus it was bigger than I expected to be. The platter came with 2 sides, which I ordered the mac and cheese...very good and the cole slaw...good but a tad too much mayo for mt taste, but my brother loved it. We also ordered rhe crab dip, after seeing another table get theirs, and boy were we glad we did! The small was big enough for all 3 of us to have plenty. My brother had their scallop appetizer (unfortunately my mother and I are allergic) and the jumbo shrimp platter, both of which be really enjoyed. My mother had the crab imperial, she loved the crab but didn't realize it had a sauce over it but she said the sauce was good. We must of arrived around a shift change, so our waitress changed while we were there but both were excellent. Though our 2nd waitress had a table of very rude customers, she remained very polite and courteous. Drinks were surprisingly inexpensive and super tasty!! So, if you couldn't tell by now...we loved mama's! Definitely a place I would go back to! read more

Date night! We came cause everyone raves about mama's!! Sat outside, wine for us both, shared the calamari which was hot but eh on flavor. For dinner we both choose the almond breaded salmon with mash, spinach and a yummy balsamic reduction. I like it - a lot. My gf didn't- the breading was too sweet for her. She picked it off and still enjoyed it. Service by ( judy) was on point. Nice way to end the weekend, girls night out and sitting outside. read more

This review is more about an event than an overall impression. Mama's is a staple in the neighborhood. Ask any local what their favorite joint is and Mama's is bound to be a popular answer. The reason, a consistently fabulous seafood experience. However, recently I was embarrassed by the management, saw the culture of shame perpetrated on the waitstaff and received lousy food and service. So, this is a review against the reaction of a combative staff defending subpar cooking. The story starts like so many, when you are inadvertently checking for cracks in the hospitality veneer. My fish was overcooked. At a lesser place, I would have eaten my dry and tasteless salmon (the bearnaise had been forgotten in their haste as well) and just never returned. But, since I had received several perfectly seared pieces of fish at this quaint spot, I asked the waiter for a refire. I could tell it had been sitting under the heat lamps and, whoever had let it turn to catfood...catfood it was. The waitress was casual and apologetic. I thought it would be a civil and perfunctory interaction. This is the price of doing high volume business, right? Then the manager, Matt, sidled up to me. In an accusatory and smug tone he asked, "And what was wrong with this fish?" He picked at the dry fillet with his finger. "It was too dry," I chirped, "overcooked." Then I added, "I come hear often and have never had a bad piece of fish from you. This was a first." My tone was understanding and pleasant. Matt poked at the fish again. "This is cooked perfectly." He was a bit more directive. "What do you want me to do about it?" I wasn't ready for that question. I thought it was self-evident. He is in the making fish for people business. I am in the paying for fish seat. I thought the transaction was a common one. "I would like another one, cooked properly," I returned his slow pitch. "I can't just be sending out free food like that." He was getting persnickety. "I can just put it in a box and send it home with you." 'And, it would be less dry if I reheat it in the microwave at home?' I thought to myself. "Well, I don't think that would solve the problem." We blinked at each other. A game of Go Fish over my salmon. "So, I guess you will want it rare? I can have them make it rare!" He was getting snotty. "That would be fine. If that is medium, then...yes, I would like less cooked than that." I was still smiling. He stomped away. In a few minutes, not enough time to fire and cook another filet properly, I was presented with a large slab of raw fish. The manager was nowhere to be found. I picked at it, checking to see if any part was done. Nothing edible. What a shame. A place that usually is a pillar of O'Donnell Square is a place that I will avoid. I don't need to pay to be condescended to or barked at, I can find people to do that for free. So, Mama's, I will steer clear for a while until I let the edge of our last encounter dull with time. And, next time, I hope for a pleasant, less fishy, dinner. read more

Place is great.The Maryland Crab soup was underwhelming, but the Oysters were on point. Great happy hour options. We got the combination steamer as our entree and it was great. It's steamed so don't expect it to be juicy. Service was a bit slow, but good. Nice to check out, good vibes. read more

The happy hour menu has some great deals. The half pound of shrimp for $9 were delicious. Its loaded with old Bay and they're steamed with onions. I'd skip their flavored vodka cocktails and crab soup. The soup doesn't taste all that fresh and they just dump a small amount of cold crab on top. read more