Phoebe's Restaurant & Coffee Lounge — Restaurant in City of Syracuse

This restaurant is a really nice place to dine with a group of friends. I met up with a business partner here, and she made a reservation, which was amazing considering I was new in the area, and it seemed the place was jam-packed when I arrived. But I have to say when I arrived the host WAS AMAZING VERY FRIENDLY and it seemed that she was waiting for me, because when I arrived she knew exactly what to do and showed me the young lady.

But this is where everything went left somewhat. We asked for a virgin mojito, and she told me they didn't have any mint. We asked her if they had any virgin drinks, and she said yes, soda, water, or juice. Mind you, they have a bar in this establishment, but they had no mocktails. So I went with an orange juice, considering this was brunch/ lunch. When she came back with our drinks she told us the soup special and the meal specials. After she told us that we said thank you. And then she turned around to say "we do not have any fried chicken" I looked at my friend and she looked at me and I chuckled and said to the young waitress "That's fine because I don't believe we asked you for fried chicken." I continued to laugh. She walked away from the table after I said that. My friend stated she might have said that because we are the only people in this establishment that are black. I said ohh ok, that's fine, we have money just like them." But this is what happened next, SMH..

We ordered our food and when my food arrived my fish sandwich was disgusting. It was not seasoned at all they just deep-fried it and put it on bread with lettuce tomatoes and onions. I sent my food back because there was no way I could eat it it just didn't taste right. So I ordered a cheeseburger medium, well 🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️another lady, not our waitress, brought my burger, and the cheeseburger was well down slightly burnt, meaning one side was more burnt than the other side. But considering I was hungry, I tried to scrap off the brunt parts so I could eat it. My fries were good. But everything else was not.

Before we left, consider I am a TA, and I do Google reviews as well. I checked out the rest of the restaurant, and I have to say they had some really nice areas as you entered the restaurant. Good places to take pictures and share your experience. I will share it under this review. So the best part was the wonderful greeting that I received, my orange juice being good, the character of the restaurant.

But I wouldn't recommend this place for BLACK PEOPLE TO EAT HERE. I guess they believe we only eat FRIED CHICKEN. BECAUSE OF THAT PER THE WAITRESS AND THE COOK, I GUESS MY FOOD WASN'T SUPPOSE TO BE GOOD So I would not recommend this place. I don't live in Syracuse. I was here for business. This location came up to be a good place to eat at so we decided to dine here. But I WONT BE COMING BACK AND I WILL NOT...

Update, went with a large group of 11 people and had a very nice time. Food continues to be wonderful, the staff is kind, helpful and attentive and it's really nice inside. I'm going to add a short commentary at the very bottom if you're interested in the large group payment process, otherwise you can just read about the awesome stuff from previous visits as well...

My wife and I have always enjoyed Phoebe's. Every time we have gone it's been such a pleasurable experience. Smooth, pleasant and quick service with really good to great food. Our most recent visit we had poutine, pork, duck, and berry tart. The holy cow that was fantastic awards goes to the poutine and tart, absolute must try options. The duck was cooked to perfection and my wife was thinking it may be one of the best she's ever had. The pork was very good, it had some wonderful juicy bites and also some dry ones though. Pork is my go to order and I've had better for sure, but that's not to be mistaken for how delicious it still was. We will continue to come back and enjoy it more in the future, I encourage you to do the same. Enjoy!!

First off, Phoebe's makes it clear what their policy and process is for this. Some responsibility is with us as the patrons.

Groups larger than 8 will get 18% gratuity added, cool I actually think that's great. Taking care of large groups deserves that and as noted our server was wonderful. Unfortunately, they will not split the check. As you may imagine, not splitting the check creates fun for everyone, math ensues, labeling of credit cards and how much on each, adding it up, who did the math wrong and so on, and then we hand our disaster of a system over to our server and I don't know how it works for them but it took awhile and I felt terrible that we weren't prepared with another method to make it easier on them, or they as a policy for whatever reason, can't, or don't split the checks to begin with to save customers and staff alike the headache. An added 18% gratuity on split checks is the same number as one giant check, without the mess, thankfully math is a hero in that regard.

As the patron, cash might be easier but if you're like myself, cash on hand is more of a rarity in my life as time goes on. If someone has a nice credit limit on their card and everyone does Venmo or a money exchange of that nature, you may be better off using those methods and you would save yourself and their staff the...

Phoebe's Restaurant has operated on the corner of East Genesee and Irving Avenue since 1976. It's a favorite of theater goers who attend performances at Syracuse Stage across the street. However, Phoebe's is an excellent restaurant and deserves to be a destination on its own. Recently, I ordered a large Caesar salad with chicken for lunch. The chicken was plentiful, tender, and perfectly cooked. The romaine lettuce was crisp and fresh, and the croutons were airy and crunchy. My only disappointment was that the Caesar dressing could have been more flavorful . UPDATE-1: Returned for lunch and ordered the same salad. The Cesar dressing was improved. UPDATE-2: Returned again for lunch. My wife ordered the grilled chicken sandwich with a delicious onion aioli and a side of kettle chips. I ordered the turkey club on marbled rye with a side of excellent French fries. Included on the plate, was a very tasty slice of pickle. My sandwich had a pesto/parmesan aioli which I felt distracted from the taste of the turkey. Next time, I would request plain mayonnaise. Phoebe's is owned by the same group that owns the Sherwood Inn in Skaneateles. The Inn includes a restaurant which is one of the best places to eat in the Syracuse area for ambiance and food. UPDATE-3: We returned to this restaurant for dinner with friends. I started with a crock of French onion soup. It was delivered hot with melted cheese and a nicely seasoned flavorful broth containing thinly sliced caramelized onions. For my main course, I ordered the shrimp etouffee. It had a very generous amount of shrimp and diagonal slices of andouille sausage over wild rice and sauteed spinach. All of this was covered with a delicious gravy. The levels of Creole seasoning and spicy heat were just right. My wife enjoyed seared scallops with whipped sweet potatoes, root vegetable hash and surprisingly good crispy leeks. Our friends both enjoyed a...