Calvert House Inn

User Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Hands down best place ever. The pianist was amazing. The bartender must've known as much about the menu as the waiting staff & made me a tasty Manhattan. The symphony of seafood had a well sized crab cake, two huge shrimp, three delicate scallops, a small piece of lightly seasoned salmon, and one of the largest Chesapeake bay oysters I've ever seen/had (and it was stuffed with crab meat!!). It was only 21$. The only complaint I had was that I wasn't hungry enough to enjoy it all.

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User Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Tucked away in an unassuming little store front, the Calvert House Inn is the type of place this area needs more of. Nice enough you can take your parents there when they visit you at UMCP, but casual enough you can meet friends at the bar there after work. They do an excellent job with crab cakes and other seafood, but the Middle Eastern options are surprisingly good.

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User Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

A local institution, and the only really upscale restaurant in or around College Park, this gem nestled in Hyattsville just south of 410 (the SoFo district), has the perfect blend of ambiance and excellent food for a couple, a group, or a large party. Even takeout. I've eaten there several times over the last 10 years. In fact, we held our wedding reception there. People are still raving about the food (at least I am!). They did a great job hosting it, too. Our party had about 40 people.

The Calvert House Inn has been around and under the same ownership since the mid-70's. They serve a great number of gourmet dishes, and some exquisite Mediterranean food. My husband's particularly fond of the crab cakes. I enjoy their pastas. I frequently get the calcuminto salad (salads included with entree), the Maryland Crab Soup, and if not a seafood pasta then the lamb or a good steak.

The service is what you'd expect from an elegant restaurant: quiet, and unobtrusive. Our waiters always check on us several times during the meal, and bring our food so as to allow full digestion and conversation between courses, rather than concentrating on turnover and rushing us. On Fridays and weekends, they often have local musicians, though I should point out it's more acoustic guitar than rock.

This excellent eatery has an extensive bar, and very nice wine list. I've enjoyed the reasonably priced daily lunch buffet, and the early bird dinner specials before 5:30 pm. They also have a rather sedate party on New Year's Eve, when they offer a prix fixe, 5-course meal and midnight champagne. We attended in 2006, and I'd go again, only much later -- around 10 pm is early enough. (New Year's Eve by reservation only.)

They've just converted the large bar area and dining room into a club room on weekends, but will still host dinner in their two other dining rooms, one with it's own bar. Private parking (free!) in rear. Sidewalk cafe in good weather. Daily specials. Reservations recommended, especially for weekends or special events. They also do private, off-site catering, which I've never used.

Prices are mid to upper range. You can eat for $12 or $30, depending on whether you order a dinner salad or an entree with soup and dessert. It's the best food near UMCP, or to be found on Route One from the DC line to Baltimore, in my honest and studied opinion. I'm slightly biased because I'm a local -- we've walked there. Still, I'd put their dinners up against any cosmopolitan restaurant in the world (at least those that I've been to).

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