Bowie Restaurant Project: (23) Main Street's Brasserie

Main Street Is Now Closed. 

 For an explanation of the Bowie Restaurant Project, look here.

For a list of all the Bowie Restaurant Project reviews, look here.

Main Street's Brasserie, 14207 Old Annapolis Road
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 10/8/2011
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 2
Pre-Foursquare Visits: No
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

I'm going with "Main Street's Brasserie" as the name for this place, because that's what's on the sign, although their web site refers to it as the "Main Street Brasserie." (The city restaurant guide, which often gets names wrong, refers to it as "Mainstreet Catering.") This lack of attention to detail does not bode well.

The first time Christina and I went there was after seeing a house in the neighborhood. We got sandwiches and soup from the counter and then attempted to feed the kids. Since Main Street doesn't have high chairs, that was a challenge. So much so that I ended up taking my sandwich back to work and eating it there. As I recall, it was a fairly good sandwich.

The second time we ate their food was a result of a question I asked on Bowie Patch, namely, "Which restaurant serves the best burger in Bowie?" We were pretty spoiled living near Hyattsville with Franklin's Restaurant and Hank's Tavern, both of which served great burgers. I have yet to find their equal in Bowie, but someone suggested Main Street. So I placed a takeout order. I knew I had not found the best burger in Bowie when my attempt to order a burger medium-rare was met with, "they cook them all the same way." I'm sorry, but if you won't cook a burger medium-rare, you're not the best burger in town. In the end, the burgers were fairly greasy and neither of us could finish ours.

So it's a mixed bag. The sandwiches were good, but nothing I'd want to make a special trip to West Bowie to enjoy. I might go there if I were already in that part of town (why?), but I'm much more likely to end up at the Chesapeake Grille or the Uptown Cafe. This reticence is compounded by the fact that Main Street is only open Tuesday-Saturday, and only for lunch. The food isn't good enough to cause me to want to keep track of that schedule.