Bar Ferdinand Llc

Doesn't Recommend

lipmystockings

Joined 5 years ago

i use to work here.... I use to work at Bar Ferdinand. I loved it! I loved the food, the energy, the neighborhood, and even the people I worked with, though I do agree with most people that they are rude and snobbish. This was a second, part time job for me, I am a teacher full time. I worked my butt off. As a server there you had to work triple as hard b/c in addition to taking orders and normal server duties, most of the time you had to run your own food (except for weekends), run your drinks, bus your tables, and water tables. Now normally I could manage this. I think most people can. You just have to figure out how to divide your time accordingly. BUT it is a tapas restaurant. There are LOTS of small dishes. NO ONE could keep up with what needed to be done. By the time you ran a drink, you had to take someones order, and another of your tables food came up, but they can't get it until you clear their table of 10 tiny plates and get them new silver. All at the same time, and you just got sat and there are 20 more tiny plates that need to go out to 3 of your tables... Get the idea? The management is horrible, and did not and probably from what it seems, still does not staff the restaurant accordingly. You can't get good service when management is bad and morale is low. I tried my best to do everything as efficiently as possible there. And I was always cheerful and nice to my customers. The restaurant is run inefficiently, and will continue to unless morale there rises, and management realizes the needs of the customers and the staff. The management ultimately was my demise with the restaurant. They do not know how to treat people. I am not an idiot. I work hard all day as a teacher, and I worked that extra job so I can make ends meet. I would not do that job if I were going to be rude to customers, because I needed my customers to love me so I could get a good tips. Why work if you are going to make 10% tips all night?? I now prefer Amada.

Doesn't Recommend

cindy81

Joined 5 years ago

Bad service. The food is OK and the service is awful. I have been there twice and would not go back. The waitress was rude. There are other way better tapas restaurants in Philadelphia.

Doesn't Recommend

NL78

Joined 5 years ago

A nightmare to work with. While the food at Bar Ferdinand is quite good, the service is awful. We used them for our holiday party last year and they were a total nightmare. We were afraid that the food wouldn't even arrive. This year, my boss decided we should try them again (who knows why). After leaving multiple messages, I've given up. When I called today, the woman who answered said "he's not in, can I take a message." I explained that I'd left messages all week and I was done. We'd take our business elsewhere. Her response: "um whatever." I have no energy for a place that employs people who don't understand customer service.

Recommends

phillyphoodman

Joined 5 years ago

I don't know what the person below me is talking about. I don't know what the person below me is talking about, this is one of the BEST restaurants in the city. My girlfriend and I eat at least one meal here a week and have NEVER been disappointed or unsatisfied with the quality of the food, presentation, or service. I'm glad that the person in the previous post "won't be coming back," it means less of a wait for me and everyone else who loves this place :). Let the haters eat boring overpriced food at a pretentious Stephen Starr joint. Come here for great food, drinks, service and atmosphere, straight up. The brunch is awesome too...

Doesn't Recommend

phillymelissa

Joined 5 years ago

Dirty. I ate at Bar Ferdinand for the first time 2 weekends ago for a going away celebration for a friend of mine. The sangria was good, but there were fruit flies in it!!! We tried the white and the red, and I counted 4 fruit flies in the pitchers. Disgusting. I wonder what the kitchen looks like if the flies are that prolific in the drinks. Also, I had a desert that looked like chocolate cat poopies with sticks stuck into them...upon chewing, I crunched something so hard that it chipped a lil bit of my front tooth. DEFINITELY will never go there again.

Oh, and the waitress apparently thought I was lying. She was rude and unconcerned, and didn't even offer to comp the bill. Just awful customer service. Save your money and go to one of the other 200 GREAT restaurants in Philly.

Recommends

KatyDaly

Joined 5 years ago

Anniversay celebration. We went here for an anniversary dinner (11th) and were very pleased with both the service and the meal. We went on a Saturday night, very early (6 p.m.) and found parking right in front. Probably because we were so early, the service was perfect...no worries about the earlier reviews and the scruffy waiters. Our waiter was very knowledgable about the wine choices and the menu.

The place filled up before we left (almost 8 p.m.) but our waiter was right on the mark, and our table was cleared after every entree.

Our faves were the duck confit, the crispy quail salad, and the baked goat cheese (queso de cabra).

Had a glass of rose and a glass of black Spanish beer to start, a bottle of Ole red with dinner, and the special sangria sorbet for dessert.

Recommends

amriliano

Joined 5 years ago

Great value, EXTREMELY loud. We enjoyed 5 tapas this summer all of which were well prepared and in adequate sizes. They were very good values. Our service was good, very friendly, although our second set of tapas was "forgotten" for 25 minutes. We began by sitting inside which, while being a beautiful interior, consists of only hard surfaces. This made for a very loud atmosphere in which you had to shout to have a conversation. We moved outside where it was much more pleasant.

Recommends

mahoneeg

Joined 5 years ago

Great food, great prices. I went here for my birthday and was not at all disappointed with one dish. My friends and I split about ten different dishes and were very impressed. The best was the date, bacon and cream cheese empanadas, with the duck confit being a close second. The service was great and accomodating, even though we had a late reservation we did not feel forced out (a true rarity). On par with Amada, yet half the price, which makes it twice as nice.

Doesn't Recommend

societyhillthrill

Joined 5 years ago

RUDE SERVICE, not worth it!. I have been to this restaurant three times, and the last two times the service was beyond poor. Last night my friend explicitly told the staff, and chef that she had a severe dairy allergy. Then immediately after biting into her mussels, she had a strong allergic reaction, and had to be taken to the hospital. (Apparently, to maintain freshness, sometimes seafood is soaked in milk, gross!) The manager never came over to apologize, comp the meal, or offer dessert or drinks. The rest of our order was equally bad--they brought out the wrong food, and forgot other items. At the end, they refused to split the check on several credit cards. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY, THE STAFF IS RUDE, SNOBBY, AND CARELESS. Go to Amada or Tinto for tapas, where the food is infinitely better and they know how to treat their customers. I was so upset after last night's experience, that I created an account on citysearch just to warn other people about this restaurant.

Doesn't Recommend

prettyhappy

Joined 5 years ago

not a great place for tapas. This is not the place for real tapas experts. The cod fishballs were smelly and somewhat freezer burned. The bread for dipping was pretty paltry and the portions were really small even for small plates. As a few other reviewers mentioned, the service wasn't stellar. The value all in all for what you get is low.