Now Serving: Canton Dockside

Canton Dockside prides itself in being one of the best crab houses in Baltimore. That's great, because Baltimore is known as a place to get steamed crabs and crab cakes while gazing out on the water. You can do that at Canton Dockside. But what if you're the friend in the group with the seafood allergy? The poor Baltimore resident who can't eat our big beautiful Chesapeake Bay treasures for risk of your health. What if you want to hang with friends, and they really want to eat crabs, and you just want a burger. Is Canton Dockside the place for you? I dove headfirst to find this out.

It was an unassuming weekday, on one of those record-breaking cold days we had last week. I'm fine with a table in the dining room, but the hostess almost insisted I sit at the bar. Who am I to disrupt her not working? I respect her lack of hustle.

I settle in. Their burger options are limited. The Dockside Burger (an angus burger with toppings), a Veggie burger (pass), or the Blue Crab burger (topped with homemade crab dip). I like crab dip, but I'm in this adventure for the friend with the seafood allergy, so that's not an option. I ask for a simple Dockside burger, Cheddar, Lettuce, Tomato, Mayo, and Bacon. Nothing fancy. Nothing flashy. Simple. Basic. I want to see what they got.

X marks the spot

For as under occupied as they were, the medium well burger took a solid 18 minutes to arrive. But, the burger looked really good, with a generous serving of fries that I had to dig under to get my leaf lettuce and tomato slice. The giant "X" of bacon across the 2 slices of cheese was impressive, with significant hang on each 1/4th of the burger. Really is a thing of beauty, and serves as a guide for your first 4 bites. And the bacon is the right amount of greasy. Fresh off the grill, with little pools in all the correct places. You could absorb it away with a napkin, but why mess with it?

Respect "The Hang"

I will complain about the bun. Now, this doesn't totally fall on the restaurant, because they aren't making them in house. But it does, because they're getting subpar buns from their supplier. It had a weird sheen or gloss, something I best identify with plastic food, or ceramic tiles. Taste was spongy.

The burger itself was adequate. About as good as I could expect from a crab house. Nothing amazing. The beef had a decent smoky flavor, with the bacon probably being my favorite part of it all. It got the job done, I left satisfied, but honestly, if you're looking for a great burger at a place that specializes in seafood, you're not going to find it.

I'll end with a positive. Typically, I'll complain about getting a single tomato, but when it encompasses the entire bun, I'm quick to shut up. It covers the entire sandwich, and you don't get the tomoto overlap. That one or two bites where the tomato to burger ratio is messed up. Tomato should be a compliment, not the main event. If all I wanted was lettuce and tomato, I'd get a salad.

I kept quiet