Appetizers

When a reader complains about the stars I've assigned to a restaurant, I always say it's an imperfect system at best. And please read the whole review to see what I really think. How, for instance, would you rate the service we had at the Granite Bar & Grille, an appealing place that recently opened in the spot where Rick's Cafe Americain used to be? First of all, the staff could not be nicer. When we asked if we could sit at a table that a waitress said was reserved for someone else, the manager made it happen.

Of all the theme restaurants that have opened in the area, surely the most spectacular is the new Rainforest Cafe in Towson Town Center. A large chunk of the mall's second level has been transformed into a jungle, with vegetation that almost grows while you watch; live fish and trained parrots; animated gorillas, alligators and butterflies; shooting stars and rainbows; waterfalls and threatening weather every 15 minutes or so.On my first foray into the...

Waterstone Bar and Grille has been serving Mediterranean fare for more than a year and a half in the spot that formerly housed Coconuts Cafe. That has, you'd think, given the management plenty of time to work out the kinks. But on two recent visits, a combination of mixed service, up-and-down food and odd decoration choices all prove that Waterstone has a ways to go. After we were seated in the middle of the handsome dining room, the noise was the first thing we noticed. It was louder than we expected, given that the restaurant was barely half-full.

The manager of Friends in Fells Point claims the place has the best food that you've never heard of anywhere in town. He's right. Although dinner specials were listed on the chalkboard propped up outside the entrance, Friends does not look like a place where you'd find much beyond pretzels or peanuts. It looks and sounds like a bar, in the dark-brown, scruffy vein of the better ones found in New York City's Greenwich Village or Washington's Adams-Morgan community. From the speakers blares something for rockers of all ages, from the Stones to the Pixies to Radiohead.

It's not often, especially on the casual-dining beat, that you get to review a venerable institution such as Alonso's. Known for its massive burgers, pizza with a million toppings and a varied, plentiful and interesting beer selection (offered long before beer menus were fashionable), this Roland Park eatery has had a reputation as a mainstay of laid-back Baltimore dining for a long, long time. In the past few years, Alonso's has undergone a number of changes -- all for the worse, we were assured by the restaurant's devotees.

Over on the Dining@Large blog, we talk often about the relative importance we put on atmosphere, food, and service. In a typical exchange, one commenter will insist that he'd sacrifice a little food quality for great ambience and service; another will swear the opposite. There's a wide range of opinion, and I suspect that happy marriages happen when there's a meeting of the minds on this issue. Geckos, I think, is Exhibit A for the defenders of great atmosphere/good enough food.

Regi's, 1002 Light St., (410) 539-7344. Open every day for lunch and dinner. AE, MC, V. No-smoking area: yes. Prices: appetizers, $5.95-$7.95; entrees, $6.50-$9.50. (Specials are more.) **1/2Along the lines of if it ain't broke, don't fix it, the new Regi's isn't radically different from the old Regi's. After former owner Regi Elion sold her popular Federal Hill bar last winter, it was renovated and some new dishes were added to the menu. But nothing was done that would upset the regulars.

Ask your friends how this economic mess is affecting them, and I bet the first thing they say is that they are eating out less often - or maybe not at all. At a time when you can't cut back on your mortgage payment or your car payment or just about any other payment, dining out is one expense you can reduce. That, and shopping for clothes. While it makes me feel sensible and thrifty and virtuous to give up clothes shopping, putting an end to dinner out with my husband or my daughter or my friend Betsy just makes me feel sad. It isn't the food and wine I am giving up. It's the people.

A friend who eats with me regularly has a conspiracy theory about restaurants that keep opening and closing in one location. He thinks the way to succeed in the business would be to get a long-term lease and every two or three years close down and reopen with a new name, new concept and new staff. That's about the length of time it takes for a hot new restaurant to become yesterday's news. If things aren't going well, you can close down and reopen after six months, like a Broadway show.