#Philly food

[phillyrestaurantreviews]

Emei Restaurant - Lunch

915 Arch St, Philadelphia, PA 19107 Phone: (215) 627-2500

In the heart of Philadelphia's vibrant Asian culinary scene, nestled amidst the bustling streets of Chinatown, lay EMei, a culinary sanctuary that had captivated taste buds since its inception in 2011. At its helm stood Master Chef Zhao, a culinary virtuoso with over five decades of dedication to the mastery of Sichuan cuisine.

As the sun peeked through the bustling streets on a Saturday afternoon, My group and I ventured into EMei for a culinary pilgrimage. By 1:00 pm, the restaurant had transformed into a standing-room-only oasis for discerning diners. It was a testament to EMei's reputation as a local treasure, as most of the patrons were of Asian descent, their animated conversations filling the air with a symphony of laughter and culinary enthusiasm.

I settled into my seat, eager to embark on a culinary journey. The menu, a veritable encyclopedia of Sichuan delights, presented an array of tantalizing options. After much deliberation, I succumbed to the allure of the Sichuan Spicy Wontons, a signature appetizer.

As the wontons arrived at my table, I was greeted by a vibrant symphony of colors and textures. The translucent wonton skins, delicately pinched into intricate shapes, cradled a generous filling of fragrant pork and succulent shrimp. The wontons were submerged in a fiery red sauce that shimmered with the tantalizing promise of Sichuan heat.

Click Here to check out their MENU

With trepidation and anticipation, I lifted a wonton to my lips. The first bite sent a surge of flavor through my taste buds, a harmonious blend of savory, spicy, and slightly numbing. The tender filling melted in my mouth, releasing a burst of umami that left me craving more.

For my main course, I opted for the Chengdu-style Spicy Beef, a dish that had garnered legendary status among EMei's devotees. As the beef arrived at my table, it was a feast for the eyes. Thinly sliced beef, stir-fried to perfection, was smothered in a vibrant sauce that glistened with the fiery glow of Sichuan peppers.

The beef was fork-tender, each bite a symphony of flavors that danced upon my palate. The heat, while intense, was balanced by a subtle sweetness and a hint of smokiness. The sauce clung to the beef like a silken embrace, enhancing its flavor with every morsel.

As I savored each bite, I couldn't help but marvel at Master Chef Zhao's culinary prowess. His mastery of Sichuan cuisine was evident in every dish, a testament to his unwavering dedication to his craft.

As I finished my meal, a sense of contentment washed over me. I had experienced a culinary journey that transcended mere sustenance. EMei had transported me to the heart of Sichuan, where the flavors danced upon my palate and the culinary artistry of Master Chef Zhao left an enduring impression.

In the vibrant tapestry of Philadelphia's culinary scene, EMei stands as a beacon of authenticity, a sanctuary where the flavors of Sichuan cuisine are celebrated with unwavering passion and culinary excellence. It is a destination not to be missed by any true culinary adventurer, a place where taste buds are awakened and culinary dreams are realized.

Chef Zhao's unwavering passion for his craft was evident in every dish that emerged from EMei's kitchen. With deft hands, he transformed fiery chili oils, fragrant peppercorns, and the finest cuts of fish, meat, and produce into a symphony of flavors that tantalized the senses.

EMei earned a 4.6-star rating on Google from over 1,400 reviews. EMei sources fresh ingredients daily, solidifying its reputation as the premier destination for Asians and Americans seeking authentic and flavorful Asian cuisine.

The service was haphazard with menu items not coming out at the same time, but our waiter was most accommodating which more than made up for the haphazard service.

Overall Emei Restaurant's authentic and flavorful Asian cuisine, large portions and reasonable prices makes Emei Restaurant a great choice for your next afternoon adventure.

[paulpingminho]

[toomunchphotos]

Chicken katsu platter with all the sauces from Cucina Zapata, a food cart in Philly 😋

[worstrestaurantsinphilly]

Dante & Luigi's 762 S 10th St, Philadelphia, PA 19147

According to the restaurant’s website it boasts as being the oldest Italian restaurant in Philadelphia being established 1899. While this may be true; oldest does not mean being the best or even good for that manner.

Oh, I am sure in the beginning the restaurant must have been excellent, but as time went on, Dante & Luigi's became more of a tourist trap living on its past reputation.

Dante & Luigi's claim to specialize in all homemade traditional Italian dishes is highly suspect: First their dishes are mostly Italian – American not real traditional Italian dishes, Second, the menu items taste like boxed pasta and poorly made sauces. For Example:

Rigatoni Carbonara is made with just six ingredients pasta, egg yolks, black pepper, Guanciale (Italian style bacon) Pecorino Romano and pasta water.

Dante & Luigi's makes their Rigatoni Carbonara with Cream, Egg, Bacon and Cheese with Peas & fresh Tomato, which is an abomination. If you made a Carbonara with these ingredients in Rome, the birthplace of Carbonara, you would be hung until dead on one of the umbrella pine trees growing in Rome Italy. Restaurants that add cream cannot cook because it is an art to take egg yolks, Pecorino Romano cheese and pasta water and made a true Carbonara sauce - STAY AWAY!

I cannot be certain but a lot of the menu items tasted like they were steam table food (items made ahead of time placed in a warming tray and then microwaved before service.

For the prices that Dante & Luigi's charges, items should be made “a la minute" that is to say made fresh to order.

For instance, my wife ordered Spaghetti and meatballs. It was horrid, undercooked boxed spaghetti, hard as a rock meatballs with tasteless tomato sauce. No grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese offered at a cost of $22.00.

Okay, first spaghetti and meatballs in not a traditional Italian dish and can only be found in Italy in tourist traps that cater to tourists visiting historic sites like the Colosseum in Rome. Across from the Colosseum is the Gladiator restaurant, a tourist trap designed for Middle America patrons who believe that the Olive Garden is a fine dining experience.

By the way, my wife is not Italian so she gets a pass in ordering what she described as worse than "Franco-American Spaghetti Os” (canned spaghetti with meatballs)

I ordered the Ziti with Broccoli Rabe & Sweet Italian Sausage with Olive Oil & Garlic. This simple dish needs to be made to order. It was not. In my opinion, it looked and tasted like it came out of a steam table. One old looking thinly sliced sausage, less than 2 ounces of cooked boxed ziti, one strand of broccoli Rabe, with hardly any olive oil and garlic. It was a dry, bland poorly made item. No grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese offered at a cost of $22.00.

Bread was store bought imitation Italian that you would buy at your local Wal-Mart store.

The service was acceptable but less that adequate. When it came time for pay the bill, the website says 10 percent discount for cash but we did not receive any discount whatsoever when we paid with cash.

Overall, the ambiance of Dante & Luigi's did have old world charm, but the restaurant provided poor quality food, mediocre service at New York City prices and was a disappointing experience.

I know you may have read positive reviews of Dante & Luigi's but many people also believe that Pizza Hut make the best pizza and Subway makes better Italian Hoagies than Angelo's on South 9th street. If you are from Philly you know the real deal! - Pass on Dante & Luigi's

Let me just say that I am an Italian American with Calabria and Bari parents born in the heart of Italian Harlem in NYC. I am a former chef and restaurateur who has lived the restaurant life for over fifty years and I was embarrassed to bring my friends and my wife to this tourist trap in the city of brotherly love - Sometimes oldest means just that "old and past its prime" – STAY AWAY!

[intersectionalpraxis]

For folks nearby or who may be in town, please check them out! They do catering and tastings as well. Their pizzas, lemonades, and handcut fries look ahmazing -and they have vegan options too for folks. If I ever go to Philly in the near future, I'm gonna go for sure!

[phillynoonelikesuswedontcare]

[oliviaelizabethx]

gimme all the grease

[yummyfoooooood]

Philly Cheesesteaks

[toyastales]

Philly Cheesesteak Sliders 🍔

[fatty-food]

Philly Cheesteak meets Garlic Bread (recipe)

[phillyrestaurantreviews]

Talula's Garden - Dinner

Address: 210 W Washington Square, Philadelphia, PA 19106 Phone: (215) 592-7787

The old Washington Square Restaurant is back, but with a new name and new menu. Talula's Garden, named after the middle name of Stephen Starr's business partner, Aimee Olexy's daughter, is an elegant restaurant inspired by gardens, farms, creativity, and the seasons. The food is simple, beautiful, and delicious according to Olexy.

The outdoor space is simply remarkable. When the Washington Square Restaurant was first around, it was one of the few restaurants in the city with an outdoor area. Unfortunately, it didn't do too well, and Starr rented it out for private events. Now, the space has been revived as Talula's Garden. It's a wonderful spot to enjoy a meal on a warm summer night.

Talula's Garden is open for brunch and for dinner, this review is for dinner only.

Dinner Menu Brunch menu

At Talula's Garden, the menu features an eclectic mix of American, Asian, and new Italian cuisines. However, the menu seems to have a greater emphasis on Italian inspired food, with four of the nine dinner entrees having Italian overtones . Some of these entrees include roasted chicken and gnocchi, pork and sweet corn fazzoletti, and handmade ricotta ravioli. However, there are also some great Asian dishes, like the duck lo mein and the Thai cucumber salad. The charred cabbage is also great.

If you are looking for American cuisine, then Talula's Garden is not the place for you. Their menu is more of an eclectic mix of American, Asian, and Italian inspired cuisine.

The only true American items on the menu were seared salmon and sliced strip steak. And for the sides: Cornbread, whipped potatoes and Baked Cheddar-Chive Biscuits.

As far as the food goes, all of the items on Talula's Garden's menu not only tasted great but had excellent plate presentation.

Great food, excellent service and fabulous ambiance makes Talula's Garden a great choice for your next dinner adventure.

[paulpingminho]

[daily-deliciousness]

Cheesesteak stuffed peppers

[worstrestaurantsinphilly]

RED OWL TAVERN

433 Chestnut Street, Philadlphia. Pa 19105

Located in the Kimpton Hotel Monaco in Philadelphia, this so-called Rustic-chic tavern claims to revive the classic tavern experience, with a distinctly modern touch. If anything can be farther from the truth. Their upscale American comfort fare is not upscale at all, the only thing upscale about this restaurant is the price

Okay, you say to yourself, hey I read the reviews on yelp they are mostly good. Well maybe, but here is the real down and dirty about this place.

First off being located in the Hotel Monaco it has a captive customer base so the restaurant is mostly always crowded, but not with regulars, but with tourists who come to Philadelphia to see the historic sites.

Second, most of the regulars go to the red Owl Tavern for drinks and conversation, and not necessarily the food.

Third, In my opinion,this restaurant is not handicap friendly and does not meet the Federal handicap standards in most states. For example, the restaurant has a small dining area and a large bar on the first floor with a large dining area on the second floor. In order to get to the second floor you have to walk up a steep winding staircase. Oh you could take the elevator located in the hotel if you want to walk out of the restaurant and down the corridor. Unfortunately the elevator was out of service at the time.

The restaurant does not have a rest room and you need to go out of the restaurant and into the hotel and take the elevator to the basemet level in order to and use the hotel’s rest room facilities.

This is supossed to be an upscale restaurant, not a shopping mall, so you would expect that they would have rest room facilities in the restaurant.

Okay, so now to the food and service of the Red Owl Tavern.

I had a reservation for brunch for 10 people. Downstairs seating was not equiped to handle 10 people so we were seated upstairs.

Our waiter was named Matthew amd he was a rude irritating person who gave us the impression that he was doing us a favor by waiting on us.

When I made the reservation I requested separate checks, but Matthew said no way but he would separate the check into 4 parts. This never happened and we got one bill which we had to figure out for ourselves. (I will discuss this later in the review)

The Food

The food presentation was exceptional. I mean each entree looked like it was part of a food and wine photo shoot. Each entrée looked so fantastic, unfortunately that's where it ended.

Chicken and Waffle $23.00 - This item was cold and served with 2 chicken thighs with the skin on which was soggy and dripping grease so you were eating fat along with a cold waffle that tasted like it had cayenne pepper infused into the batter -GROSS

Avocado Toast $17.00 - This item came on top of a piece of toast that was so hard we needed a steak knife to cut it, which is what was requested. It was bland and hard to eat.

Brisket Taco $22.00 - 3 small tacos with very fatty meat and no taste.

Smoked Salmon $17.00 - Here is an item that is hard to screw up, but the Red Owl Tavern did just that. This item came on a piece of bread not a bagel, and like the Avocado toast was so hard that a steak knife was needed to cut it. Traditional smoked salmon calls for red onion, but this red onion was dipped in red wine vinegar, which dripped onto the smoked salmon destroying the taste of the salmon, which was bland to start with.

Fried Chicken Sandwich $18.00 - A fried chicked thigh, soggy and greasy on a bun with fries. The Chicken sandwich was GROSS but the fries were good.

Sausage and Gravy $16.00 each - This item was good but it was cold when it came to the table.

Two eggs entree $22.00 - This was was the best of of the lot. It was tasty and served hot.

Service

Our bill was $205.00 to which a Service charge of $3.66 was added to the bill as a tip to the kitchen staff and another $41.00 was added as a gratituty for our the waiter.

I have been in th restaurant business for many years and I usually leave a twenty percent tip when i dine out if the service was good. If the food was poor but the service was good i stil leave a twenty percent tip, but it is my choice and not an add on to the check like many restaurants in Philadelphia are doing.

If you are not aware, the word “tip” comes from the phrase “To Insure Promptness.” This phrase was found on the sides of bowls in coffee houses, where patrons could leave some money to ask for prompt service. Through the years, this became the practice we know today of tipping after the meal. Generally, you could say tipping is done as a a way to say thanks for being prompt and otherwise excellent service.

However, if the service is poor I should not be forced to give a twenty percent tip for poor, slow and incompetent service.

Also, keep in mind that if a waiter is going to get a twenty percent tip regardless of the quality of service rendened; what is the incentive to give good service ?

All in all the RED OWL TAVERN in my opinion provides poor quality food and service at high prices and automaticly adds on a twenty percent tip to customers whether the service is good or bad and ads insult to injury by forcing their customers to do the work of figuring out their own checks.

NOT WORTH THE EFFORT!

[catfindr]

[shoshiwrites]

ROBERT

NEVER TOLD MOTHER

I-