XS

XS
1307 N Charles St. (at Preston)
Mt. Vernon (technically in Mid-Town Belvedere), Baltimore
410-468-0002
Japanese
www.xsbaltimore.com
Cost: $$$
Date of meal: Thursday, August 16, 2007 (9pm)
National Price-Quality Frontier: Inside It
Baltimore Price-Quality Frontier: Inside It

XS is in a skinny building and has four floors. The first one is a coffee shop. The third one is a sushi bar, with additional seating for meals on the second and fourth (half) floors. There is a DJ booth floating at the level of the 4th floor looking down on the 3rd floor.

The sushi is somewhere between so-so and mediocre but is reasonably priced ($15-$20 for sushi dinner combinations). It's clear that food is a loss leader for alcohol sales (e.g., $9 mohitos). Given this, it was disappointing but not surprised to find that drinks were weak (literally as in low alcohol content and metaphorically as in of poor quality). After all, how can one be convinced to buy more alcohol if you feel tipsy after the first drink.

The menu is noteworthy though not in a good way for a foodie. They don't really have serve cooked entrees. They have a few Pan Asian noodle options (e.g., Pad Thai), some appetizers, and sushi. There was a cooked fish (Cod) dish on offer as a special. I suspect this lack of a cooked food menu reflects a dearth of kitchen space.

While I'm glad I went so that I could say I'd been there, this is not a good place for a foodie. They aren't shooting for that so this isn't really something to fault the restaurant owners. I suspect it is a good place to impress a 20 year-old club-goer. Even then, the scenester ambiance is too contrived and nakedly commercial to be convincing.