There is outside dining available in fine weather, but our evening had both the cold rain and wind of late fall in Baltimore. We dined comfortably inside, served by a waiter whose 'Bawl-mer' accent was a sure clue we weren't in Texas anymore.

We both had salads, fresh and crisp. I ordered pasta for my main course, and my husband had a very large plate of steamed crab with a little shrimp on the side. In a holiday mood, we finished off with large desserts. The restaurant offers a full bar, which is very appropriate in the party atmosphere of the Inner Harbor of Baltimore. It seems to be a fairly consistent practice in Baltimore to offer only one cup of coffee or tea or one glass of iced tea or soda with a meal. If you want more, you need to ask for it and may be charged for the second serving. We had about 15 meals in Baltimore and never had a waiter offer us a refill.

Check out www.citylightseafood.com for more information, including details on specially priced dinners and holiday events.

The food was good, but not great. I have definitely had much better seafood from the Chesapeake Bay. Their microbrew beers were very good. I don't know if I would recommend this spot, because the quality of the food and service were not equal to the price you're paying. There are too many other good places around the Harbor to eat.

This restaurant, slightly hidden in the jumble of shops at Harborplace, specializes in seafood and has become a favorite of mine over the years. Maryland Crab Cakes it has --- and it presents them well. But it also has flounder stuffed with crabmeat and other east-coast delicacies.

Try to arrive early enough at its second-floor location to be sure of a window table overlooking the water. Its especially important to be early if you’re a single. Unlike some restaurants, City Lights will offer a window seat to a solo diner if they’re not busy.

City Lights has steaks and chops on the menu, but I can’t recall ever having any there. It’s too hard for a Midwesterner like me to get seafood as good as theirs at prices as reasonable as theirs. It’s not inexpensive, mind you, but very good value given their culinary and service standards. I seem to recall one erratically-paced dinner, probably due to overworked or undertrained server, but that’s the only lapse I recall. I’ve had at least five or six dinners at City Lights since the 1980’s. On my most recent visit, in May of 1999, the meal was served professionally and paced exactly the way I enjoy.

I sure hope City Lights hasn’t changed since then, because I plan on going back the next time I’m in Baltimore. An added bonus: As of June 2001, it’s a member of all three major dining-for-miles airline programs: American, Delta and United.

Another possibility ...

During my 1998 stay in Baltimore, I had a superb, albeit expensive, dinner at the restaurant in the Brookshire Inner Harbor Suite Hotel, 120 E. Lombard, a beautifully-appointed room with linen naperery, real tablecloths and one of those African-American servers who oozes professionalism and who probably comes from a long family history of people who made their livings making others feel at home.