Angelina's was a proud part of my family's history. Everything that my family is has in some way come from that restaurant. Angelina's was a fantastic restaurant through the Tadduni's and the Conigliaros to the Reilly's then the Buffano's. It was a family establishment. There has NEVER been a stigma against African Americans in that restaurant, and if you think that there is discrimination you obviously don't understand what it was like for a first generation sicilian family to open a restaurant when there were still prejudice alive in 1952 the day the door first opened, the food always had excellent reviews and people still came. Now, the new owners have run it into the ground. They have lost vendors, turned Carroll's bread bakery into a pool room, and even I wasn't allowed in when I tried one friday night several months ago and I am well over 21. Now that Angelina's is for sale once again, I beg and plead for any potential buyers to understand that it has not been completely destroyed.... and even if the menu has been changed, Angelina is still alive and I've seen her recipe book floating around... (it's a family thing) I'm sure with a little work it could be restored to it's previous state. I am deeply saddened by how things have gone since the last sale and, honestly, am nearly brought to tears everytime I see it. YES the crabcakes are still available by mail... but I will always miss the family dinners in the Shabeen (where my dad meet my mom). So in conclusion, please don't give up on it just yet. It could be, once again, one of those few places to go where you can expect great food that isn't a chain, and isn't that what Baltimore was about... It is a landmark in Baltimore... and like so many of those today.... it just might need a little bit of a face lift... the magic is still in that building it just needs the right person to revive it.
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