White Dog Cafe

Recommends

litedesign

Joined 5 years ago

Great locally-grown organic food in a unique atmosphere. Was visiting from New York, and this place was great for lunch! Outstanding service all around. Host was very nice and attentive to the note on my reservation about being seated in a quiet area. We opted to sit outside by Sansom street. One mistake was made on our bill and it was rectified quickly and with a smile. Food was a bit expensive, but reasonably priced for local organic ingredients. Loved the Turkey Salad Sandwich with cherries and heirloom apples. Would definitely go back!

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Shultz

Joined 3 years ago

There is no reason for a bad review. Great food... nice staff... awsome little place... anyone who writes a book on here about how bad everything is knows nothing about food and is super CHEAP! ... 4 STARS for the white dog cafe!!!

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Tara Nurin

Joined 5 years ago

Citysearch Editorial Review. 25 years after helping launch the nation’s sustainable food movement here at White Dog, founder Judy Wickes sold her landmark restaurant to entrepreneur Marty Grims, who has replaced the chef and general manager while leaving the menu and the buy-local philosophy relatively intact. Although the menu no longer lists adventurous meats like antelope or the names of the farmers who provided the ingredients for each dish, Grims continues to serve premium contemporary American seafood, meats and pastas cultivated by growers in the tri-state area. The ambiance has been left untouched, so long-standing patrons who loved the warmly carpeted, dimly lit and traditionally decorated maze of sectioned rooms can find peace knowing that their surroundings in the old brownstone rowhouse will still feel familiar.

Doesn't Recommend

Mxyzza

Joined 4 years ago

AWFUL. AWFUL. AWFUL. And BEYOND rude. This "lovely Victorian under new Management" B.S. that some other reviewer writes about here.....WHO is this person? The new owner? Ha! This place is hands down the WOST place in Philly-- and that's saying a lot! You can coast for a long time on a cute name, a very convenient location, and bogus claims about "political correctness." The idiot bald manager with the attitude and arrogant stares was probably THE rudest jerk who ever set foot in a restaurant. Waitresses are absolutely AWFUL and need to take a class at Penn in Etiquetts. Food is generally burnt or undercooked, and getting served takes up to an hour. really, this place needs to be shut down. charging what they charge for lousy service and lousy food should be illegal.

Doesn't Recommend

cheezWit

Joined 4 years ago

KAreid is a schill!!!. KAreid is an obvious schill. The only other review is for the Moshulu which is the group that bought the White Dog. They fired the kitchen and bar staff and dinners take FOREVER to get to your table. Enjoy the "Phille Blunt" seriously that is what is on the menu.

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KAReid

Joined 4 years ago

New Management, New Style!. With the new year, new management, new menu...wonderful experience! Walking by this beautiful Victorian building, I always wanted to try this cute cafe! I heard a few negative remarks, though with hearing that it now has new owners, I gave it a try. Great decision! Fresh organic salads and sandwiches in a clean, cozy atmosphere...I certainly found my new warm spot to relax with a scrumptious meal!

Doesn't Recommend

MermaJJFox

Joined 4 years ago

STAY AWAY!! PAY ATTENTION TO ALL THE BAD REVIEWS HERE!. I wish I had read the bad reviews here before setting foot in this place (which I will never do again, nor will the people I went with). What is wrong with this place? First, they act as if they are doing you a favor by letting you sit down. Here's a rundown at this place that pretends to be oh so politically correct and into supporting all the right causes (by the way, remember when they squashed the workers request to unionize? and their 'grass-fed cow' burgers is a claim that is apparently bogus): Snotty waitress sits us next to door on a day when temperature is 20 degress. We ask to move. She says "your new table is being cleaned. It will be another five minutes." This five minutes went on for one hour. We also wait 45 minutes for food to arrives Then she gets the order wrong. She delivers a raw hamburger and two other wrong orders. She rolls eyes when asked for correct order. By the time it arrives, another 20 minutes later (yes, this is over an hour wait), she has gotten order wrong AGAIN and is annoyed that WE are not happy with this. "Want me to get the manager?" she sniffs, and some little wimpy guy with a bald head and big glasses comes over holding the hamburger. This is how the "manager" handles the problem: "Do you want the hamburger or not." When we said we couldn't stay longer , he responds with brilliant managerial skills: "Thanks for answering my question," and walks away,with the hamburger, then charges us for it! The other reviews attest to this ongoing problem-- and you'd think they would at least have someone smart enough managing the place to smooth over a problem, instead of rubbing salt into it. I was disgusted by this place and especially the idiocy of the management and staff. STAY AWAY.

Doesn't Recommend

bigtroubleinlittlechina

Joined 5 years ago

What?. We sat at the bar and ordered 3 burgers, 2 medium, 1 medium rare and nachos as an appetizer. My friend ordered a Sprite which tasted like water, so he ordered a water to replace it. It wasn't busy and the food took forever to come out. The nachos were lame and had jarred salsa on them. The burgers were overdone and tasted like charred meatballs. They were supposed to be grass fed beef burgers, for $9.50 a piece they should have tasted awesome. They messed up the side order as well. Overpriced, terrible meal, still burping up the garlic 5 hours later from whatever it was in. Place should focus more on it's food than its causes.

Doesn't Recommend

traubi

Joined 5 years ago

Neglected all night, served cold, mediocre, but expensive food. On our quest of mapping Philadelphia's restaurant scene, the well known White Dog was the next item on our list. I looked forward to the evening, having heard many good things about the place - it seems, they were pretty much all without foundation. I am a proponent of locally produced "slow food", but the meaning of slow reached new levels last evening. It was a bit difficult to catch anyone's attention already in the beginning, in order to get a table, but on a Friday evening, that happens in the best of places. After being seated, it took a good 20 minutes for anyone to show up to take our orders. With our wine, we got a basket of tasty bread that we devoured all in the next 25 minutes, while our starters arrived. The craw fish and crab cake was nice, no complaint there, however, the ruins stayed with us for another 20 minutes, until someone realized that it might be time to clear our table for the main course. Which arrived after a long wait again - cold. The waitress apologized, and poured a good amount of sauce on the tablecloth from my plate without noticing it. After yet again another long wait, we got the same, reheated food , which was considerably drier than the original. The lamb was uninteresting and over-roasted, the duck was dry and flavorless. We were not inclined to try dessert or coffee after this experience... Considering the price range of the restaurant, we expected a much higher quality of service and food. The waitress kindly removed the price of our wine from the bill as an apology, but unfortunately, this was not enough to save the evening. Let alone the nausea and stomach problems that attacked us both later that night. We are definitely never setting foot in the White Dog again, and I definitely cannot recommend it to anyone. If you are looking for locally and sustainably produced food in a cozy restaurant, go to the Cresheim Cottage instead, where the level of service and food is much more superior.

Doesn't Recommend

eeyorebunny

Joined 6 years ago

Overrated and overstated. It's hip to like this place. But the bottom line is that the food isn't all that impressive (I get a stomach ache every time I eat there), the tables are tiny and uncomfortable, and the general manager is downright unpleasant to talk to. Oh, and he proudly told me that he has enjoyed dog meat and horse meat! I complained that rabbit (a pet dear to my heart) was being offered on the menu. The response I got was condescending and rude, and the general manager insisted that I was overlooking all of the good that the restaurant does. And yes, as I said above, he informed me that he has eaten dog meat and horse meat. At the end of the day, it appears that the White Dog is happy to serve flesh of animals of all types (apparently if it were legal in the U.S., dogs and horses would be candidates for the menu too). They seem to think that serving "free range" animals makes up for it. Do a little research and you'll learn that free range is not a meaningful standard, and so this insistence that the White Dog is a socially responsible restaurant is why I think that the White Dog is "overstated" in its contributions to the community.

If you want to dine at a restaurant with true ethical standards, please patronize one of the vegetarian restaurants our lovely city has to offer (Horizons, Govindas, Singapore, etc.). You will get better food, better customer service, and a truly socially responsible menu.