This Is Maryland's Most Popular Restaurant, New Survey Says

ANNAPOLIS, MD — It's long been written up in travel guides and restaurant reviews for its quality seafood, so the restaurant that was selected as the best in Maryland makes sense. Indeed, its most popular entree is a Maryland staple: blue crab.

Cantler's Riverside Inn in Annapolis was selected as the best restaurant in Maryland in a new survey from People magazine and Zagat. People teamed up with the "dining experts" at Zagat, a consumer group that rates eating places, to create a list of the most popular restaurants in the U.S. The magazine said the choices range from "local staples to renowned destinations."

"Marylanders say the sweet, Old Bay-crusted Chesapeake blue crabs are the best around — and Cantler’s is the most authentic place to enjoy them as you sit on the deck overlooking lovely Mill Creek," according to the survey. (For more events and local news, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Annapolis Patch, and click here to find your local Maryland Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

To determine the list of restaurant winners, People Food editors considered Zagat's on-the-ground expert reviews, as well as its diner ratings and Google scores. The editors said they paid special attention to spots sourcing local ingredients and serving "iconic or regionally inspired food."

Cantler's Riverside Inn, 458 Forest Beach Road in Annapolis, is a waterfront restaurant and crab house that for four decades has been serving fresh seafood to watermen, boaters, and land lovers, its website says. Located along Mill Creek and minutes from Annapolis City Dock, it offers Maryland blue crab, crab cakes, clams, oysters and more seafood.

Read more: Two Annapolis Restaurants Name Best Seafood Dives

The venue also was named No. 2 on the list of Best Seafood Dives in Maryland last year by Coastal Living Magazine.

The magazine authors gushed of the inn: “Blue crabs in all their glorious manifestations form the heart of the menu. Try the stuffed rockfish bursting with Lump Crab Imperial. For purists: go for the fresh and hot steamers.

Read the whole People-Zagat survey here.

Patch file photo