What You'll Get
Although 94% of the ref’s calls are incorrect, hostilely confronting him at his son's birthday party is illegal. Give sportpinions their proper venue with today's Groupon: for $15, you get $30 worth of traditional bar fare and drinks at The Diamondback Tavern. Located in Ellicott City, the unpretentious Maryland-style tavern is so Maryland-style that the only thing that could make patrons feel like it was more Maryland-style would be injecting a crab cake directly into a vein.
The Diamondback is the brainchild of a group of local guys who wanted a place to eat, drink, and watch TV without the constant chirping of one of their mothers' parakeets. Chef Tom Williams prepares traditional bar foods and game-changing edible items using local meats, fish, produce, and pastries, making the menu so Maryland that if it were a crayon, it would be “Dark Maryland.”
The Diamondback's clean, simplistic dining room lets the food speak loudly with an unclassifiable accent. For appetizers, Diamondback cooks up crab and corn fritters, with lump crab meat and Old Bay–roasted corn, sided with homemade sweet hot mustard sauce ($9), and a tender, full-pound order of Diamondback wings ($9.50). Heartier food heapings include The Diamondback's house salad, with mixed greens, roma tomatoes, sliced red onion, carrots, garlic croutons, and a basil vinaigrette ($6.50); signature sandwiches such as the Maryland corn-and-crab dog that piles fried lump crab meat and Old Bay–roasted corn onto a lobster-roll bun with lettuce, tomato, and homemade sweet hot mustard ($10.50); and the pub classic shepherd's pie, with fresh ground beef and veggies topped with garlic mashed potatoes and melted cheddar ($15.25). The Diamondback also offers a Sunday brunch that serves up $2 Bloody Marys, mimosas, and draft beers.
Reviews
The Baltimore Examiner and Howard magazine featured The Diamondback Tavern. Citysearchers give The Diamondback an average of 4.5 stars, OpenTable users give it an average of 3.7 stars, and 84% of Urbanspooners like it:
- ...you’ll immediately taste what a difference homemade makes. Homemade bar food doesn’t have that overly salty and weirdly greasy taste. Diamondback Tavern has all your favorites – fried oysters, fries with gravy, wings. But if you’re in the mood for something different, you MUST try the Scotch eggs! – Tamar Alexia Fleishman, Baltimore Examiner
- In general, the food was freshly prepared and coordination between the kitchen and our table seemed well paced. Service was friendly and efficient. – Donna Ellis, Howard.
The Fine Print
Promotional value expires Oct 19, 2011. Amount paid never expires. Limit 3 per person. Limit 1 per table. No cash back. Tax and gratuity not included. Not valid with other offers. Merchant is solely responsible to purchasers for the care and quality of the advertised goods and services.
About Diamondback Tavern
Built by a group of friends interested in camaraderie, cold drinks, and good food, Diamondback Tavern aims to put a contemporary spin on a traditional Maryland tavern, and its pub menu has earned accolades from the Baltimore Sun and Howard Magazine. Wrangling local meats, seafood, produce, and bread, the staff builds fresh sandwiches filled with garlic-braised pulled pork and caramelized bananas, crab-cake platters loaded with two 5-ounce jumbo lump crab cakes, and veggie risotto topped with grilled portobello.
Behind the bar, chilled local and domestic brews and sangria blended from a family recipe cleanse palates and put out fires after fire-eating competitions gone wrong. Diners enter under a traditional hanging tavern sign emblazoned with a brown diamondback-turtle shell before nestling into a spacious sports bar or dining room. Diamondback Tavern also hosts open-mic nights and screening events around NFL games to keep ears and eyes entertained as mouths gnaw on the minimalist, modern decor.