08/14/09

Best Spaghetti and Meatballs!

by musicnutz

Ralph's has everything going for it. A quiet dining room with exceptional food. My husband and I went for the first time last night and are still talking about how delicious the food was! We went traditional- spaghetti and meatballs and my husband got chicken parm. It was FANTASTIC!!! Had a real "old world" style to it.. really nice to have this since all Italian restaurants are trying to be so damn contemporary these days. We will definitely be back! Oh yeah and the wine was delicious too!

08/13/09

Horrible

by gstnj

Went to Ralph's last night. with 6 of us. I had the worst Veal Malsala ever. It was in a thick beige butter sauce, looked like turkey gravy instead of a deep rich sauce as it should have been. Escarole was mushy and overcooked. Waited forever for our meals. Red sauce in other dishes was watery. Bread was stale, no olive oil or cheese on table. Never asked if we wanted appetizers. No one said good night to us or thanked us - we spent over $200. We will never go back.

05/26/09

Worst Italian Food I've Ever Had!

by nunnayerbizness

I feel like the victim of a sick joke. I was told by a co-worker how great Ralph's is. So, I went there this past Saturday with a lady friend, and hands down it was one of the worst dining experiences of my life.

Let's start with the food. We ordered the antipasto as an appetizer. There was very little meat and cheese on the plate. The olives and beets were from a can. And the lettuce was friggin' iceburg lettuce!

I had the lasagna, and it was awful. My date got the chicken cattiatore, which she wasn't all that pleased with. Her entree came with a side of spaghetti and marinara sauce. She took one bite of it and it was overcooked. We also got a side order of broccoli rabe. This was the most offensive part of the meal--they actually BOILED the broccoli rabe, not sauteed it! I had to send it back it was inedible! Last, the bread they served was like Wonder bread...and no olive oil on the table?!?! Gimme a break!

The service was reprehensible. Our waiter had a nervous tick thing going on, and it was disturbing to place our order and watch him violently move his head back and forth. The bottle of wine we ordered costed $40; afterward, we went to a liquor store and saw it on the shelf for $16.99!

I have no idea how Ralph's got a good reputation, but it's my opinion that anyone who eats there and likes it has never had a good Italian meal in their life! One thing I will say is that Ralph's lives up to its name--IF YOU EAT THERE, YOU WILL *RALPH* UP YOUR MEAL AFTERWARDS! AVOID THIS PLACE LIKE THE PLAGUE!

• Pros: Nothing
• Cons: Terrible food, terrible service, terribe decor

04/19/09

Very Dissapointing

by fredrickcb

ThisThis may be the oldest family owned Italian restaurant in the U.S. However, the younger generation seems to have missed their lessons in Italian cooking and presentation.

Iceberg lettuce? No olives? Very un-Italian gravy! Bread with seeds served with butter? Lasagna served piled in a bowl. For someone who has lived in Italy I found nothing Italian about this restaurant other than the photos on the walls.

The capochino was like American luke warm coffee mixed with milk and the expensive desert with the fancy name - something like "over the moon something or other" was nothing but a small slice of chocolate cake, nothing special at all.

Service was so, so. Nothing to complain about but nothing to recommend it either.

This was my first and last visit to Ralph’s.

• Pros: Can't think of any
• Cons: everything

04/04/09

WORST FOOD EVER!

by nicole_dido

I had dinner here tonight with my husband. This has been the worst meal I had in a long time. We ordered the salad special (which has tons of salt on it), the buschetta (which had absolutely no flavor), the soup (which tasted like it was straight out of a can), the lasagna (no flavor and horrible). They have the nerve to charge per soda. The bill with no alchol drinks was $65.00 and CASH ONLY. Good way to for your restaurant to "doctor" their tax returns at the end of the year. No transactions to show with cash.

• Pros: Nothing
• Cons: Parking, The food, cash only

01/03/09

Walk on by....

by sunnyafternoon11

After a so so meal a few months ago following a Phillies game, I figured we would give Ralph's another shot. It was a cold night and we found parking right out front,so I thought "why not". Ralph's has a "Vito Corleon" sort of vibe with the tile walls and intiment atmosphere, that you don't mind the rude greeter who always looks like he has more important things going on. This is strictly a "red gravy" place which is fine, but Olive Garden does a much better job at half the cost. The wine servings are an insult (maybe 3 onces). The non-pasta dishes are unimaginative, and desultry. Only conventioneers from Indianapolis would find this gruel acceptable. Serving sizes were ample though, and the side pasta were homemade, and perfectly "aldente". Stick with the basics (Spaghetti, Ravioli, maybe Veal Parm) and at least you'll leave full. I would have provided another star if the restaurant at least "acted" like they were glad to host you. I don't expect royalty treatment, but the dis-interest is evident. Too bad, as the location has charm, but I would recommend you look at Kristian's or Ansill in South Philly for decent Italian, and Ostera downtown for great.......

• Pros: Decent red gravy, location..(Near the stadiums). Usually street parking available..
• Cons: service, value, non-pasta based dishes...

09/22/08

Sorry we took out of town guess there.

by dermanville

We met out-of-towners at Ralph's on Sept 20th, and while the place itself is quite lovely and old-fashioned, the waitstaff is rather uncaring, and the food, at best, is mediocre. One entree was sent out in error, and

the specials were really anything but that. There are many other spots in Philly to have a great dinner. Try

Tre Scalini over on Passyunk - we wil not be recommending Ralph's to anyone.

09/01/08

The best veal parmigiana in Philly - business traveller from San Francisco

by dahlias19

I've been to Philadelphia three times for business and each time I have eaten at Ralph's. I love their veal parmigiana with the spagetti. I look forward to going to Philly and part of the excitement of going is to eat at Ralphs. I haven't tried anything else, I've always ordered the Veal and cannoli for dessert. You get two large pieces of veal (breaded) and smothered with their red sauce. You will be full leaving the restaurant and have leftover. I watch my carb in take but when I'm in Philly, I treat myself and indulge on the carb at Ralph's. I was introduced to Ralph's by a local initially and now has become one of my favorite places to eat. Traveling frequently for business and knowing that you have a restaurant to look forward to, makes the destination much more disireable. Love the atmosphere, not pretentious at all, quite intimate and make sure you bring cash. The last time I was there, I've actually called and placed an order to go, so the conscierge from my hotel drove me to the restaurant to pick up my order. I was a bit tired that evening and wanted to eat in my hotel room. I just could not leave Philly without eating the Veal parm at Ralph's.

08/01/08

Classic Italian

by demiro

Ralph's is not the place for you if you want your butt kissed by the wait staff, or if you want any sort of foam on your food. It is probably not the place for you if your next stop is a George Michael concert. If you want veal, pasta, chicken etc. done "right" then you should check it out. Yeah, parking is not easy, and it's noisy and cramped inside. This ain't suburbia with carefully pre-planned shopping plazas with just the right amount of parking for the Maca-freaking-roni Grill. If you can't park in the city take a cab. Easy.

As far as service goes, I've seen the staff at Ralph's take orders "off the menu" on numerous occasions. They try to accomodate everyone, as far as I can tell, but they are not obsequious about it.

07/28/08

Been there, done it, won't go back

by greenandgold

Prior to the George Michael concert, my partner and our two best friends went to Ralph's to what we expected was going to be a culinary treat in South Philadelphia. Very wrong. Approaching the restaurant we saw a middle aged man standing near the front door eying us suspiciously. As we opened the door he said from behind "Can I help you fellas?" Yes, you can help - we're here to rob the joint, isn't that obvious? But in keeping my cool I said that we had a reservation. If you've been here before you know that the downstairs is small - and there were three tables of equal size that had a "reserve" plaque on each. After looking over his reservation list he said that we were to sit "over there" and gesture to a general spot on the floor not to any particular table. I asked him which one and he said again "over there" (walking away from his small podium would not have made him waste any breath and the gesture of escorting us to the table "over there" would have won him some major Scout badges).

In short - three of us ordered the escargot which were tough and tasteless sitting in a cold pond of butter with bitter minced burnt garlic with some taste of additional bitter I can only describe as anise. It was so awful that you couldn't sop it up with bread as one usuasally does with this type of sauce with joy. My partner and I both had the veal marsala which were tough junks of veal floating in at least two sticks of butter. His glass of white house wine was no larger than a thimble. Bill was $185.00 before tip which we thought was completely outrageous. Sean our server was very good though and we wish him well. As we were leaving the same man who "greeted" us initially saw us leave and did not even had the decency to bid us a nice evening, for dumping $185, just kinda looked away. I would have settled for,"Hey, 'fellas', thanks for patronizing our mediocre restaurant in these lean economical times, especially when there are far better ones in South Philly."