Restaurant Review: Bill Bateman's Bistro

It's a Saturday afternoon, and Bill Bateman’s Bistro (8810 Waltham Woods Rd, 410-668-1080) is busy, so we have a seat at the bar. The bartender introduces herself and her coworker right away, and continues to give us fast, efficient service throughout our time there.

We have been to several other Bateman’s locations, but this is the first time we have been to the Parkville location. It's similar to the other locations, with a large bar area, lots of TVs showing sports, and a separate dining area. The bar area offers Keno, Racetrax and Lotto, and the atmosphere is lively and energetic.

The menu is extensive, full of American casual favorites, including burgers, wings, sandwiches, salads, kids' meals and bar snacks.

Some of the choices include sweet potato fries, southwest eggrolls, coconut onion rings, Hawaiian volcano burger, fish and chips, meatloaf, ribs, quesadillas and lobster cakes. There are daily beer and food specials, as well as a $5 bar menu that includes sliders, pizzas and fries. But Bateman’s is known for wings! You can choose from 15 different flavors, including New York style, Old Bay, and a variety of degrees of heat from original to from hell, and of course, nude wings.

We order a small Caesar salad, wings with atomic sauce, boneless Buffalo wings with original sauce, bacon cheeseburger sliders, and a stuffed baked potato, with a Miller Lite bottle ($3.07) and a Loose Cannon IPA draft ($4.24).

The small Caesar salad ($3.99) arrives first, and it is not small at all! The dressing is extremely thick, and it seems glopped on, but my dining companion says the amount of dressing is perfect. He does note that the croutons are homemade, because they seem to be over-toasted.  His two bacon cheeseburger sliders ($5) are extremely hot, on fresh, soft buns served in a basket with fries.

Since my salad is so huge, I am not finished with it when my boneless buffalo wings ($7.99) arrive. They are medium-sized nuggets, breaded and fried and tossed in original wing sauce, served with celery, carrots and blue cheese dressing in a basket. The chicken is not completely coated in the sauce and the breading is somewhat thick, so I ask for more sauce to remedy that situation. The original sauce has the perfect amount of heat for me.

The atomic flavor wings ($8.49), on the other hand, are so hot that my companion’s face begins to sweat; he chugs his beer and turns to my salad for relief. The bartender warned us about this, letting us know that the atomic sauce recipe had changed a little and is now so hot that some people can’t eat it. But my dining companion just saw that as a challenge, and he ate all 10!

My loaded baked potato is perfect, piping hot and coated with coarse sea salt on the outside and loaded with plenty of bacon and cheese, with whipped butter served on the side.

Bateman’s is a casual sports-themed restaurant with great, fast service and good prices.