The price of food is going up - and so is the price of eating out. Understandably, restaurants are passing their costs onto customers. The $40 entree is no longer so surprising. And consumers are increasingly willing to spend money to save time - even for food that ends up to be less than spectacular.

But the 40 restaurants we've reviewed in this guide still offer good value for our precious dining dollars. Some are casual joints where you can get mountains of delicious ethnic food for a song. Some are creperies or coffeehouses with food or wine-focused lounges with great weekly specials. And some are far from cheap - but they offer such distinctive food, ambience and service that you'd gladly pay more for the experience.

We weren't able to review every restaurant that's a good deal in and around Baltimore, but we have tried to come up with a core list to guide you for every dining occasion, whether it's a spontaneous, quick-bite dinner with the family or a special date, in the city or the suburbs.

Along with our reviews, in this Dining Guide you'll find alphabetical listings of about 500 restaurants throughout the region. The reviewers are Sun restaurant critic Elizabeth Large (EL), Live! restaurant critic Karen Nitkin (KN), Sun food columnist Rob Kasper (RK), former Takeout columnist Sam Sessa (SS), former Sun food editor Liz Atwood (LA) and Sun food editor Kate Shatzkin (KS).