The Parley Room is gem hiding in open sight. It overlooks Main Street going down to City Dock, but it's entrace is around the corner on School street, at street level, at the back of a lovely patio with one of Annapolis' best views of the State House dome. The Parley Room's West St. side is a great 2nd floor overview of West St., while its School St. entrance is a first floor view from below of the dome. This somehow makes it hard to find, although when you do, you feel in on a great secret, hiding in open sight, as I say. It's not hard to find it once you do.
But unassuming is what the Parely Room excels at. In a way, there's nothing extraordinary about it. Rather, it does the ordinary with such good taste, good judgment, good execution, that it's surprising how pleasing it is. Everything is good quality in good taste, even the decor. It feels nice. The menu is limited, but well limited, and you can't quite figure out what makes that egg salad so good. And when you decide to go for a bottle of wine, the well curated short-list is all the better for being short, and you're surprised there's a Moulin a Vent and that is such a pleasing one. The staff will chat you up intelligently, if you want it, and knows when to stop, when you want it. I love the intelligent comfort and comfortable intelligence of the Parley Room. It knows how to make such a simple but genuine pleasure out of egg salad on croissant out on the deck on a beautfil day with a glass of rose under the Capital dome, or a lunch at the bar of a winter afternoon indulgent with wine and surprisingly good gnocchi, given I don't like gnocchi. But I do at the Parley Room.
Food: 5
Service: 5
Atmosphere: 5
