This review is going to be quick and to the point. A fellow bougee friend and I wanted to experience the Sunday brunch at the Four Seasons Baltimore located at 200 International Drive, Baltimore, MD 21202 in Harbor East.  Harbor East is more of a upscale area of the Baltimore Harbor that houses some sophisticated restaurants and offers beautiful views of the harbor and the inner harbor.  I fell in love with the Four Seasons Baltimore location after visiting the spa and having incredible service.  The hotel and spa are absolutely stunning and it is one of the best spas that I have ever been to. And I’ve been to quite a few. What I also appreciate about the spa is the complimentary valet parking.  I was under the impression that if you visited the hotel for the spa or the restaurant, parking was included.  After paying $12 for valet parking after my Wit and Wisdom experience, I was wrong.

I am all for trying out the fanciest places and paying what is fair but at some point, prices can get ridiculous. To start, the brunch buffet cost $54 a person. I think children are half off which is fair but still a bit high considering. The buffet includes the food, juices, and coffee but does not include cocktails. For unlimited mimosas, that is an additional $19 that would now take your brunch cost to $73. Say what now?

Now on the one hand, the brunch was not overwhelming packed so the price is a deterrent to most people and keeps the crowd low. You can enjoy the buffet without the hassle of lines and can relax in relative peace. But on the other hand, the quality of food options and selections have to compliment the price. To start, the buffet includes the usual brunch items like bacon, eggs, an omelet station, sausage, potatoes, an assortment of breakfast breads and pastries, fruit, and yogurt. Then it has cool fancier items like French pastries and desserts, an array of smoked fish, shrimp cocktail and a raw oysters, cheeses and charcuterie, and a craving station of grilled Ribeye and roasted halibut. Then the restaurant takes it to another level and has a Sweet or Savory Crepe Station, an S’mores station for both children and adults to enjoy, and a little kids table filled with kid friendly foods such as French fries, crust-less grilled cheese sandwiches, and chicken tenders. The buffet includes much more thing like pancakes, French toast, grits, pulled pork, baked fish, and many other things to account for the price. It may all seem amazing and something to experience, but take my word for it, it is not.

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Be clear, I enjoyed myself and some of the items were good, but you can enjoy the same general selection of foods of similar quality at multiple different places for much less. The one that comes to mind is a restaurant across the Harbor called Rusty Scupper’s Live Jazz Sunday brunch for $44 that includes food and drinks. I have not been in ages but I have always enjoyed the meal. But what frustrated me at the Wit and Wisdom brunch was the quality of food provided.  For example, the most of the bacon was cooked pretty hard but it was extremely salty.  The omelet station did not have much of a protein selection.  It included smoked salmon, ham, and bacon.  However, most places have shrimp and crab meat additions.  For $54, they need to have every meat imaginable.  But what was worse, the customer service was lacking.  The omelet guy was not at his place and there was confusion about what items were on the menu. It was just weird. There was no traditional breakfast potatoes but they had roasted baby potatoes but the chefs make a rookie mistake and did not consider that larger potatoes need more time to cook than the smaller.  So I picked up a serving of potatoes and more than half of them were undercooked. No joke.

The crepes bar was pretty awesome! I ordered the sweet crepe with strawberries, bananas, cinnamon sugar, chocolate chips, and Nutella. And that was amazing. I wanted a s’more but decided to try other things. My favorite item was the French Croissant that was buttery, flakey, and just amazing! The smoked fish selection was nice and my friend and I really enjoyed the smoked halibut. And finally, the juices were fresh squeezed which I can also appreciate considering the price.

The savory side of the crepe bar

Sweet Crepe with Nutella and whipped cream

Overall, it was a great brunch but extremely overpriced.  I ended up spending $69.24 after tax and another $14 to park my car after tip. While I enjoyed the experience, I will probably never do that again.  However, I am game for Rusty Scupper! The following is my Seven Mac Score for the restaurant:

Please look of my next post as I share more dining experiences in and around Baltimore and DC, and my trip to Los Angeles.  Also, you can find me on Instagram @finediningdiva and twitter @moderndaybeauty. Also, if you would like to follow my blog to receive notification when a new blog is posted, please send your email to finediningdiva@gmail.com.

And remember: It’s a BIG world and we are going to eat our way through it!