Tamberino's

Tamberino's has been family-owned and serving Harford County for over two decades. While they are a pizza shop at first glance, there are two things they pride themselves on: Italian favorites and crab cakes. Given the crowd that is usually at the restaurant, we can clearly see that they are popular. Located next to The Lodge, Tamberino's does look like a classic Italian sub shop. But what you don't expect is the very generous serving sizes! We do know that pizza joints can kick out some serious crab cakes. Was Tamberino's one of them? Let's find out!

Crab cakes are available in a few forms: as a single or double platter, with your choice of two sides; as a sandwich; and as a sub. All prices for crab cakes are market price. This review is for the single entree.

As you can see by the picture, these crab cakes are HUGE! Not just huge, but ridiculously huge. We reckon it's a half pounder. And that's just for the entree; the sandwich/sub sizes may differ, but you'll just have to order one and find out. Our crab cake came with sides of tartar sauce, cocktail sauce, and crackers. The only thing missing is lemon, but we're not sure if they are available by request or not.

This monstrosity consists of a ton of crab meat, barely held together with what appears to be a binder of mayonnaise, bread, and spices. You aren't asked about cooking method, as broiling is the only way you're going to be able to cook this beast. The crab meat has a meaty texture but a sweet flavor. Lots of lumps amongst the broken pieces, which are kept to a respectable ratio. While there isn't much sauce in the cake, it is still nice and moist. The spicing accentuates the crab flavor well, but can be a little bit on the salty side at times.

Needless to say, we were pretty impressed with the crab cake that we received. The crab had some decent flavor, and the spices made the profile interesting. We did see some lumps of blue swimmer crab in there, which imparted a slight fishiness to the cake, but not so obnoxious that it takes away from the cake as a whole. While we understand balancing the blue swimmer with the other crab meat to keep the portions big and the prices low, when it comes to crab cakes in this area, we'd rather settle for quality over quantity. But the blue swimmer crab lumps have a bit of a dryness to them that resembles frozen crab, and that detracts from the rest of the crab that is good. That aside, we felt this was a pretty good offering, and the inclusion of the cheaper crab meat was kept to a respectable level. Next time you're in town and feeling super hungry, give them a try!

Additional Info

Restaurant Name: Tamberino's
Address: 2111 Conowingo Rd Bel Air, MD 21014
Neighborhood: Hickory
Restaurant Type: Local
Website: https://www.facebook.com/Tamberinos
Review Date: 04/09/2014 6:59pm
Atmosphere: Busy with a wait
Item(s) Ordered: Crab Cake Platter
Cooking Style: Broiled
Other Styles Available: Yes
Available by mail order?: No
Price: 18.50
Order Type: Single Platter
Crab Content: Jumbo Lump
Filler: Average
Spice: Average
Overall Impression: Very Good
Rating (out of 5 crabs):

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