Forsythiaphilly reviews

1612125916

Derry Brereton

google

1

One of the strangest dining experiences I've ever had. Pros: The Owner / Chef, the busser and most of the staff were extremely friendly. Some of the food (Tasso Ham & Black Truffle Beignets & Roasted Monkfish) was absolutely fantastic. The cocktail composure / wine was great. Cons: The food was wildly inconsistent (Philly Style Clam Chowder had more sand in the clams than the AC Boardwalk, Parisian Gnocchi was mostly salt, Crab Imperial Stuffed Trout was cooked well but the crab meat was dry (sitting under the heat lamp?). Meal pacing was non-existent. We arrived 5 minutes before our reservation and ordered our drinks / full meal during our first server interaction. The drinks took 5 minutes to appear and the appetizers 35ish minutes (no one came by during this period we just sat with empty glasses) this somehow lead to the server trying to speed up the meal (Which given the current restrictions make sense BUT it was the kitchen's slow delivery of the food throughout the meal that extended the dining time.) The bad: Things fell apart while we were finishing the main course, everything up until this point was fine and honestly I would usually chalk it up to a place that's not for me. The server kept coming to the table. I assumed this was an attempt to make up for the choppiness at the beginning of the meal....how wrong I was. We ordered desert (Caramelized Plum Upside Down Cake...so bad) and two drinks. Our server inexplicably took the order and came right back with our drinks, no desert and the bill (which included the desert). When they came back we showed them on the bill that we were charged for the dessert. She didn't apologize just shrugged and said "you did order dessert" walking away while leaving the check on table. She came back with the dessert quickly but she could have said "Let me grab that" or literally anything so we weren't as confused. We paid the bill while eating desert and the total bill came out to $186 and we tipped $40. We ordered an Uber to head out (~6 minutes wait time) and the same server came to the table and began picking up dishes / cleaning. Out of normal decency we said we ordered the Uber and will be out of her way in a minute. She responded with "There's heat lamps outside for you to wait at, there's other people waiting for the table........" I'm fine with time limits on tables, I'm fine with mistakes on entering food or bringing them to to the table. It's unacceptable for every course to come out late, forget items but still charge for them and end it with "get out" when 99% of the mistakes were on the restaurant.

1696693998

Amy K

google

3

The food pictures from reviews are misleading. We came at 11am and were offered a brunch menu with limited selections. The French omelette was very salty. The foie gras soup was salty as well but at least tolerable. The crepe was the only decent one. We came because of the high rating on Resy. Disappointed.

1677962260

Jason Zimmerman

google

4

My boyfriend and I had a good experience at Forsythia. The food was tasty, especially the foie gras. I would like to come back to try some other dishes.

1652045937

Mary Urbanovich

google

5

My son took me to Forsythia for Mother’s Day. The food was absolutely delicious. Every course on the Brunch menu was amazing. The staff was courteous, knowledgeable, efficient and friendly. The music was great. The cocktails delicious. Our table 41 was perfect. I wish I could give it more than 5 stars because it definitely deserves it. I absolutely had a wonderful time and highly recommend this restaurant.

1705888240

Paul

google

3

This is my first time trying out this place and decided to so for restaurant week. Being French and missing some of my country's recipes reading this special menu got me very intriguing. Between my wife and I we tried both cocktails, good. Appetizers: salmon crudo, nothing special. The escargot were delicious ! Main dish: the duck breast: perfectly cooked, very well paired. The mushroom vol au vent was stupidly good. I personally always cook mine with veal sweet bread, kidneys and meat so I wasn't sure what to expect but this, this was quite something. My compliments to the chef. Desert: the chocolate desert was overpowered by the cherry, the lemon tart was sublime. Overall, a really good meal, delicious even. For me it would have been a 5 star slam dunk. The issue ? We both left the restaurant hungry, we are not big eaters, hell, I am used to European servings but in this case I unfortunately felt like I was in a movie parodying a gastronomic good experience, high price for small servings. I will come back for the regular menu which I am sure will be plenty delicious and filling. But this restaurant week menu while very good I cannot recommend it due to the size of portions (the vol au vent, escargot and deserts were portioned OK, the crudo and duck were way too small).