Le Castagne Ristorante

06/18/2008 Posted by collegevillegal

I must say this restaurant was really good. We went for a very special reason to celebrate my aunt being breast cancer free for 5 years. We asked prior to making our reservation if we could have a pink table cloth on the table where we would all be sitting. The manager had no problem changing it from white to pink in honor of my aunt. It was a surprise dinner for her! Plus, the food and drinks were very good and everyone there was soooo nice! I've been there once a few years ago and I would definitely go back again and recommend it to everyone!

Pros: Staff so nice, great food and drinks!

Cons: None!

05/11/2008 Posted by cletts

I ate here after getting a $50 gift certificate for the place. We had to have a $100 food tab to use it. So we ordered a ton of food- we got tomato and mozzarella salad, bruschetta, gnocchi, pork tenderloin, filet, and chocolate cake for dessert. This added up to about $110. But then we had to have wine, and we were talked into a $60 bottle- we only planned on having a $30 one. So anyway, the food was really good, both the steak and the tenderloin were amazing. The only downside is that the price is kind of high, and the cheapest bottle of wine is $30. Service was great.

Pros: Food good, Service

Cons: Price, expensive wine list

02/24/2008 Posted by mjd88

My girlfriend and I dined at Le Castagne on friday night.We had an excellent time.with the extensive wine list to choose from we were paired a great bottle of wine to go with our dinner.We both started off with salad and smoked buffalo mozzarella that is out of this world.For main course i had the quail stuffed with truffle risotto and my parter had filet mignon.The filet was cooked a beautiful med-rare and the quail was unbeleivable with its rich barolo sauce and truffle flavor went so well together.We finished with desert which as tirmisu which was outstanding and the homemade gelato and sorbet which was difficult to choose a flavor.I highly recommend Le Castagne for your next dining experience.

Pros: food and wine list

Cons: coffee

02/23/2008 Posted by cindyupenn

After reading the previous reviews, I went to Le Castagne with somewhat low expectations. I figured I could order the gnocchi as others had said, which is exactly what I did. We split the gnocchi w/prosciutto and broccoli rabe, which was okay, not great. Unfortunately, I also ordered the quail as my main entree and it was horrible. It actually tasted like the refrigerator and barely touched the food. We told the waiter, who proceeded to do nothing, there was no offer to bring something else and no apology. He only asked if we wanted dessert and after telling us what the options were, he told us himself how one of the desserts was terrible. Clearly even the wait staff has little faith in the cooking. For a total of two glasses of wine, one split appetizer, and two entrees was $120. I would have much rather spent an additional $20 to go to Amada or Tinto (which is right down the street). If you really want Italian, go to La Viola, but definitely don't waste your money here. The interior design of the restaurant is great, but the food is certainly not worth it.

Pros: Nice interior design

Cons: Food and service are not worth it

02/21/2008 Posted by np1982

The food was fine. The service and management were beyond atrocious. As a party of one I was seated at the bar, which was fine. A short time later another woman was seated two seats down. She was disheveled and visibly intoxicated. She ordered a glass of red on the rocks and capellini with garlic and olive oil. Not having capellini on the menu the bartender tried to suggest other options and handed her a menu. The woman proceeded to yell, "capellini with garlic and olive oil." She eventually points to something on the menu and orders. Not having finished her red wine, she orders a martini and falls asleep on the bar once it is served. The bartender and the maitre 'd are now on the phone loudly discussing this woman. The manager comes by and wakes her, then leaves. The woman falls asleep again, is snoring and almost falls off of the bar stool. The bartender takes her martini away. After two phone calls to the manager, he finally comes back and presents her with the bill, which she can't pay because she doesn't have money. The manager begins to argue with her. My meal is served; I have it wrapped and pay my bill while waiting. I ask to speak to the manager. I was livid; I had just spent $75 on dinner for myself and was taking it home in a styrofoam box. His explanation and apology: "She never should have been let in, I was busy when she got here." Had he offered me a free glass of wine for my inconvenience there might be a chance that I'd recommend this restaurant. Instead I spent $75 to listen to staff members argue, to have my meal disrupted by an unruly patron and experience the most horrendous customer service I can imagine. She shouldn't been seated, she NEVER should have been served alcohol, the staff should have proper support in handling situations, and they should have, at the very least, apologized to any guest in the near vicinity. It was a grand display of poor management. While the food was good, it wasn't that good.

Pros: The pasta is lovely

Cons: The staff

01/07/2008 Posted by oxjinixo

There are only 2 Philly restaurants on my list that are deemed as "never going here again," and Le Castagne, unfortunately, is the worse of the two evils (the other being Paradigm). Simply the worst food ever. I understand that pasta is to be cooked al dente, but not to the point where my teeth would break (not that it did, but it was very, very underdone). Maybe it was because it was during restaurant week, I'm not sure. The restaurant itself is beautiful and so was the maitre'd, but I am not going back here again.

Pros: Beautiful ambience

Cons: Not particularly memorable service, horrible food, terrible value overall

11/29/2007 Posted by stoner50

the room is beautiful, the acoustics wonderful, the settings lovely. but service is brusque, often thoughtless, verging on rude, and the food is outrageously expensive and utterly dreadful. four of us went on a saturday night. we were seated promptly. wine was ordered. then the food came. the salads were fine, but unexciting. the ravioli special was outstanding - a game-meat stuffed ravioli with egg yolk inside, with pomegranate sauce. boar ragu cavetelli tasted like chef boyardee, the ragu virtually non-existent, the plate hot, as if it had just been removed from a microwave. then the entrees. the salmon was the size of a large sardine. lamb ($30+) was tough and tasteless, its only resemblance to lamb purely coincidental. when advised of this concern, our waitress shrugged and walked away. my stuffed pork chop was fine. my friend's veal chop ($38) was tough and tasteless. the vegetables were soggy and overcooked. then dessert - the crowning insult. our server highly recommended the chocolate filled cheesecake. the others ordered carrot cake and the gelato sampling.the gelato was, well, gelato. the carrot cake reminded us of sawdust - completely without taste or flavor. and the cheesecake tasted like moist cardboard. our waitress, a big fan of this item, inquired as to my thoughts. when i told her, she uttered the most incredible response that i have ever heard at any eating establishment: "ME: It tastes like moist cardboard." "WAITRESS: Oh, that happens sometimes when they leave it too long in the microwave." She then turned and walked away to prepare our check, on which the cheesecake charge remained. i have eaten many enjoyable meals at Panorama and expected an equivalent experience here. but this was a travesty, at over $75 per person, including 2 reasonably priced bottles of wine. the Senas have lost a customer, and hopefully will read this review and look into the incompetent oafs operating their western outpost.

Pros: ambience

Cons: everything else

08/06/2007 Posted by enjoyrestaurants

I can't believe that my husband and I dined at the same restaurant that is being reviewed. My husband and I had reservations but were told when we arrived that the only place we could sit was in the bar area. Since that is near the windows, we didn't complain. It took about 20 minutes before our drink order was taken. The appetizer was good but the rolls were hard and cold. We ordered a good bottle of wine and two different pastas for our main course. The pasta came about 20 minutes before our wine. The pasta was hard, brown on the ends and you could tell it had been plated previously and just microwaved since it came out within 5 minutes of our order. The sauce would have been better had it been out of a can. We didn't even see a server for 20 minutes to complain. For $180 for 2 people, this was not a good experience. We will never go back there or recomend it to anyone, even though it is very close to where we live. There is a small no frills Italian restaurant right down the street at 21st and Chestnut called Palumbos which has far superior food at a fraction of the cost, and you can take your own wine.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful

02/06/2007 Posted by gmarocks

It's obvious that Le Castagne is high priced-but the quality and taste of the food is worth every penny-especially if you go during restaurant week, which is when I most recently visited. The menu was incredible-varied selection of salads, appetizers, pastas and meat-and of course a delicious desser sampler. Everything my partner and I had was delicious-from the assagi vari appetizer to the veal scallopini-everything was cooking perfectly. The veal was extremely tender, and the service was amazing (even during very busy restaurant week). So, if you can afford it-go. If not, wait for the next restaurant week and make reservations early!

Pros: Incredible food, fast and friendly service, easy parking

Cons: None!

11/22/2006 Posted by goodwch

I went to Le Castagne for Restaurant Week. Nice ambiance, but had to wait at least a half hour to be seated, even with a reservation. They seated another couple that came in after us because they had asked for a table near the window when placing their reservation - that was very frustrating. But all of the food was very good. We had the platter of italian meats and cheeses. Delicious! We also had bruscetta and a pasta dish for dinner. The pasta was good, but overpriced for what it is. I was disappointed when I got my cream puffs. They didn't even taste as good as frozen store bought ones...they only had a dab (and I mean I a dab) of cream inside.

Pros: Great Italian Dishes

Cons: a little pricey