James
Philadelphia, PA 19147
Phone: (215) 629-4980
10/29/2007 Posted by vinnier
My wife and I had a reservation here for our tenth anniversary, and we almost cancelled because of all the bad reviews on Citysearch -- but a friend with a very experienced palate thought it was great, and we decided to take the chance. It was EXCELLENT. First, let me preface by saying that we live in NYC, so we have a lot to choose from, and we eat out a lot and have been exposed to enough good stuff to have some basis for comparison. The ambience was great -- the music was loud enough to enjoy and to drown out some other people's conversations, but not so loud that it encroached upon our own conversation. Everyone was friendly, and everyone -- from the co-owner hostess to the bartender to the waitress to the sommelier -- wished us a happy anniversary. Obviously they pay attention to details. I've seen some comments in the other reviews about over-attentiveness and pompousness, but I didn't feel smothered or intimidated. Maybe I'm just not nervous and insecure about eating in a place where they know more about food preparation and service than I do -- in fact, I kind of like being doted on instead of having to do the dishes like every other night. The food was the best part. The portions are small in the sense that a normal person can eat an appetizer, entree, and dessert, without needing a doggie bag. My wife's halibut entree was the best fish dish she can recall having, and she thought the risotto appetizer and homemade ice cream dessert were unusually good. My pear-gorgonzola semifreddo was the best dessert I can recall ever having, and my raviolo appetizer and sirloin entree were delicious. Everything was cooked and presented well. I'm not really sure where all the bad reviews came from, and I would almost suspect a campaign by competing restaurants upset at losing some of their customers, but it could just be bad taste. I'm glad I found out for myself, I thought it was just great, and I'll be back.
Pros: Taste, attention to detail
Cons: Not close enough to our home in NY ;o)
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