Any Good Food in the Salisbury, Maryland Area?

[Chinon00]

This area appears to be strip mall hell. Is there anything good there? I've read about the Old Mill for all you can eat crabs but have never tried it. Again is there anything I'm desperate.

[mezicks]

I practically grew up in Salisbury, the fare has improved tremendously since 15 years ago. Recent trips to Ikebana, Sobo's Wine Bistro and La Roma's are visits I will repeat. Ikebana for affordably priced, good sushi. Sobo's Wine Bistro for upscale American, good food, wine and American beer selection. La Roma's for good italian home cooked food.

[Ike]

Just to keep the updates going: A new Vietnamese place called Megan's Noodles has now opened in Salisbury. Apparently it's very good and is getting a decent amount of business.

And this is NOT the Japanese-Vietnamese place that's supposed to be coming to the Goliath Center strip mall. Megan's is on the other side of Business Rt. 13 from there, near the Blockbuster. Superpages.com gives its address as 215 North Blvd. (at Waverly Dr.).

My father says they have really good pho. I hope to get over there soon. Nice to hear Salisbury now has Vietnamese in addition to Korean (if that rarely-visited restaurant is still open), two Indian-Pakistani places, sushi, etc.

As the Daily Times article noted a few months ago, there is also a Brazilian restaurant in the Goliath Center. Very casual-looking.

[Sara T.]

I live in Salisbury, and yes it is chain crazy, but there are a few spots worth mentioning.

SoBo's is our newest locally owned spot. It is a wine bistro with really tasty food. Haven't had there entrees yet, but I have tried quite a varity of apps and they've been excellent. Even have a 20 wines for $20 list which is cool. (Sobo's is on Eastern Shore Dr.) The owners also run/own Boonie's & the Red Roost.

Fratelli's is the place to go for Italian. They make there own pasta there and the portions are huge - it's good stuff. Try the Veal Oscar! (That's on the highway right next to the college)

Market St.Inn is fun. I use to work there. There have a nice assortment of dishes and tons of fun martini's. It's especially nice in the Summer when you can sit outside and enjoy their "Moscow Mule" cocktail in a copper mug! Their seared ahi with ginger wasabi rocks! (Market St. Inn is located off of Carrol St. near The Downtown Plaza)

And the best sushi by far is Sushi De Kanpai. It opened last Summer by the same folks that own another great sushi spot at the beach (Yokozuno). Out of this world, fresh seafood. The sushi guy there is amazing! (De Kanpai is in the Downtown Plaza)

Cactus Taverna is very nice as well. You have to choose one of their nightly specials. They have great escargo and the rockfish is super yummy! (They are right across from the mall on the highway)

Honorable mention goes to Bon Appetite is Laurel. Laurel is about 20 minutes north of Salisbury and that restaurant is about the only thing exciting in the town. Very cozy spot with fabulous food. They offer a great 5 course package, atleast they had it my last visit.

Good luck and enjoy. Hope you find something that stands out better than our franchise frenzied cluster you know whats!

[JenBoes]

Sara -

I think Bon Appetit is actually in downtown Seaford - not Laurel.

[Ike]

I grew up there and it IS strip mall hell, but it has improved significantly. When going back to visit the 'rents, I've been surprised at the number of new ethnic joints cropping up. Salisbury NEVER used to have anything like that. I recently read a startlingly good article about some new restaurants in the normally-useless local fishwrap:

http://tinyurl.com/ylmbv2

Of course, they're in a strip mall, but what can ya do? 8^
)Mmmmm, another Indian restaurant! I wonder if it's as good as Shalimar. Sounds like it might have some unusual regional specialties. And a "Japanese-Vietnamese" restaurant coming soon!? Guh? I've heard of French-Vietnamese and Korean-style Japanese and Indian-Chinese, and Chinese people running all kinds of restaurants; but never Japanese-Vietnamese.

Also, if you like Korean, there's a great place called Seoul that desperately needs some business. (See links below.)

If you don't like ethnic cuisine, then Boonies is outstanding if you don't mind a 20-minute drive out of town. If you don't want to venture out into the boondocks, I've heard good things about the Market Street Inn.

I've written some other posts about the area, too:

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/310972

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/187538

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/187324

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/186513

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/187305#1001568

And someone else talks about the Red Roost here:
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/187500

[Ike]

To follow up my previous post, here's my review of the new Indian restaurant, Namaste.

For one thing, the service is attentive here. On Tuesday afternoon, I dropped in to Namaste to take a peek and grab a couple of menus, and talked to one of the waiters briefly. At one point, I mentioned that I don't like Xmas music. Today, when I returned for dinner with my folks, the same guy was waiting. He must've remembered me because the Xmas music went off and good authentic Indian music went on. Cool!

The garlic naan (Indian tandoori-fired bread) was some of the best we've had. It wasn't overly chewy like many other naans I've had. It melted in my mouth. We also had a wonderfully different and refreshing appetizer called papri chat, a textured salad that includes bread, yogurt, chickpeas, and chopped potatoes. The lamb shishkabob was excellent and tender, and a vegetable dish with paneer (homemade Indian mild cheese cubes) was really good and fresh. The chicken dish may have been best of all. I don't remember which one it was, but it was excellent. And when we asked for our dishes to be spicy, they actually made them spicy. If you don't have much experience with spicy food, you should probably specify "medium" instead. Among the entrees, the lamb was mildest, but still had a nice flavor.

Namaste is a worthy rival to its competitor Shalimar, further up Business U.S. 13. Gee, two world-class Indian restaurants in my old hometown, the place I used to think of as the middle of friggin' nowhere. Who'd've thunk it? The prices at Namaste could probably be a little lower ($10-$13 for most entrees, $9 for most veggie entrees, and worst, $6 for a tiny glass of wine) but considering the quality and the complex flavors, the food is a relative bargain. This place would blow away most of the Indian places where I've eaten in New York City, especially at that price point.

Namaste is located in the Goliath Center strip mall next to/behind the Giant Supermarket; Giant is on Business U.S. 13 near the center of town. Namaste is at 725 (or maybe it's 727) Roland Street, but it may be easier just to find Giant first (800 South Salisbury Boulevard (a.k.a. Business U.S. 13)), and drive in past/to the left of Giant.

Meanwhile, Seoul, the Korean joint, is apparently still hanging on somehow... I've gotta try to get over there while I still can....