Retro nuances abound at Snyder’s of Willow Grove Snyder’s Willow Grove Restaurant
Restaurant moved to Glen Burnie in 2014, continues to offer dependable dining
There’s nary a willow tree in sight, much less a grove. But Snyder’s Willow Grove Restaurant has settled comfortably into an Anne Arundel County shopping center on higher ground.
After its eighth flood, the 80-year-old family-owned restaurant moved to Glen Burnie in 2014, about a mile and a half from the old place on Hammonds Ferry Road in Linthicum Heights. Today, the down-toearth menu continues to offer solid fare like crab cakes, steaks, veal and even sour beef and dumplings.
We liked our meal’s retro nuances, starting with a wine-cheese spread that included an assortment of packaged crackers and a hot loaf of bread. It felt right in a classic dining room with carpet, crisp beige tablecloths, and upholstered floralprint booths and chairs.
There is a separate, cozy bar area with craft and standard cocktails, wine and beer as well as tables if you want to eat there. We stayed in the bright dining room.
We marveled at the portion sizes of our food. The delicious barbecue shrimp featured eight curled crustaceans, each snuggled in a crisp bacon wrap and generously painted with a tangy sauce.
We also welcomed the three giant mushroom caps that were lush with flavorful crab imperial. The fungi cradling the creamy mix were soft and tender.
The entrees include a mixed green salad (an unassuming plate of mixed lettuces, cherry tomatoes and croutons) and two sides.
We really appreciated our wisecracking, whip-smart waitress, who knew her kitchen well enough to place our orders at various times, so that we didn’t end up with all the dishes arriving in quick succession.
The broiled seafood platter was a fine display of the sea’s bounty. The plate included a sumptuous lump crab cake, two spiraled shrimp, a hunk of thick flounder, a couple of sea scallops and a lonely but wonderful clam casino. Only the shrimp were a bit overcooked. We chose wellprepared green beans and coleslaw as side dishes.
But the surprise, and probably best, dish of the night was the juicy, rosy-pink prime rib au jus embellished with fresh horseradish. We decided on the queen cut, which was smaller and less expensive than the regular slab. The bulky slice still filled the plate, and we had more than enough to take home as leftovers.
The accompanying whipped potatoes Open: Food: Noise/TVs: Parking: Special diets: Reservation policy: [Key: were lackluster in comparison, with gravy that congealed into a tan paste after a while.
Desserts are traditional offerings. The lemon-meringue pie was tart and appealing, but its cloudlike tower of sweet meringue kept trying to slide off the bright-yellow filling. The delectable peanut-butter cheesecake was an airy concoction studded with peanut butter and finished with stripes of chocolate and whipped cream.
The Snyder family may never have envisioned its restaurant in a storefrontand-asphalt setting when it opened in 1937. But the modern-day transition to a less weather-adverse environment will keep the stalwart positioned safely for the coming decades.
And once you step inside Willow Grove, you’ll forget all about the traffic outside. Dependable dining from another era lives on.