208 Talbot - St. Michaels

Top spot (in my opinion) in this beautiful city. Reservations are a must so that you arrive on time and enjoy your meal. The menu a small yet very complex a multitude of different spices and meats and vegetables are fresh make any of the serve entrées stellar. We ate a variety of menu items and I have to say without identifying each one, they all were superb worthy of my opinion the restaurant being the best in he city. It's not often you find a high-quality restaurant in a large city nonetheless find it in a small resort town off the beaten path. The wait staff was superb they had a small customer to waitress ratio which meant that you were always attended to before needing to ask for anything. Again the food superb, came out piping hot beautifully presented, flavorful, and most of all filling. I would recommend this to anyone in the area or if you're within 50 miles.

- Caesar Salad (with a delicious homemade dressing) - Talbot Salad - French Onion Soup (the best I've ever had) - Seared Scallops - The small yet incredibly tasty Lobster - Filet Mignon (very tender, although slightly overcooked) - Peach Bread Pudding (light and flavorful) - Lemon Curd (good, but nothing extraordinary) Overall, the service was excellent.

I tried the Pomegranate Margarita, which was perfectly balanced with a delightful pomegranate flavor. The St. Mike's Mule, featuring citrus fruits and gin, paired beautifully. For food, I enjoyed the duck confit ravioli, which showcased outstanding homemade pasta and a rich duck flavor; it was slightly heavy on the balsamic, which made it a tad sweet. The sea scallops were simply exceptional, seared to perfection. The risotto was well-cooked and generously cheesy. Lastly, the local rockfish was again cooked flawlessly, and the accompanying tomatoes, spinach, and fingerling potatoes complemented the dish wonderfully.

My husband and I had dinner here to celebrate our 1st anniversary, and it was the perfect spot! We were greeted at the front and led immediately to a more intimate room with a few 2 tops in it. Quite a romantic vibe, though juuust quiet enough to hear other people's conversations. The hostess offered us water options, which was a nice touch as she was able to provide this while our server greeted us and went over the specials. The wine menu was lovely, and I chose a couple of old world wines by the glass for us to commemorate the fact that we honeymooned in France and Italy. While Talbot's, like all the area restaurants, has an extensive seafood menu we'd had a bunch of seafood already so limited it to our appetizer of crab spring rolls. Absolutely perfect, lightly fried with plenty of crab and a delicate orangey dipping sauce. For entrees we both chose beef I ordered the short rib special (over jalepeno cheddar grits, yum! and my husband chose a more traditional steak. Both entrees were cooked perfectly. We were stuffed but HAD to get to dessert, and trust us, we finished the apple cobbler!! We only mentioned to our server as we got our dessert that it was our anniversary, and she was so sweet that she brought our complementary champagne to top off our meal. We felt truly special and Talbot's was the perfect way for us to celebrate our first year of marriage!

I'm a tad torn on my review. We started with a bottle of pinor noir, and really enjoyed the bottle. It also paired nicely with the Shrimp Orleans appetizer. This appetizer was delicious and I kept wishing I hadn't told them to take away the bread so early! I would have loved to dip more of it into the creole sauce. It was really a great dish that we would highly recommend. For entrees we got the Fried Soft Shell Crab special and the Beef Short rib. Unfortunately, neither dish was as great as we had hoped. The short rib was moist, but the sauce with it was so overwhelming that it took away some of the flavor from the rib and definitely from the risotto. The crab special was just okay according to my husband. Nothing spectacular. Our waitress was great very friendly and attentive. We also really enjoyed the restaurant as it was very interesting with the different rooms and there weren't too many tables right on top of each other. It's a casual atmosphere some people in pants, while some were in shorts. I would recommend Talbot 208, but definitely trying different entrees.