Avalon Bistro & Wine Bar — Restaurant in Lower Merion Township

(Edit: for reference this is from our experience in 2023 so hopefully they’ve made staffing changes since our visit) My husband and I chose to eat here, and the service was egregious. They gave us a weird vibe when we walked in and even though we are residents of the main line I think there was some classism going on. Everyone who was already eating in the restaurant, looks like they walked out of a Brooks Brothers catalog. We waited so long in between getting drinks or our food, they brought out our silverware and brought my husband a knife for his steak but then when the steak came out like 30 minutes later, it was already cut into pieces. also, we had a view of the kitchen from where we were eating and saw that they had grabbed our food out of a hotbox. I don’t understand why they just didn’t bring it to us when it was ready. We regularly eat at multiple restaurants throughout the mainline area and King of Prussia and we have never felt so uncomfortable from the customer service we received. By the way, we still tipped well, because how we were treated, gave us the appearance that they didn’t think that we would. I do not recommend, unless you look...

Parking in the rear, cute decor and lighting with a nice bar. Right next to the Bryn Mawr movie house. We came in at 5pm on a Sunday and were quickly greeted and seated by the hostess. Service was prompt and friendly. We ordered the Avalon burger, Short rib pasta entree and the burrata and beets as an entree as well as the meatballs for appetizers. The meatballs were hot and covered in melted mozzarella and tomato sauce, flavor was not too meaty maybe even bland but the cheese and sauce helped dress them up. Nice size to share two meatballs with 3 people. The burger for the value was just okay, big partty cooked medium rare, with ketchup and flaky crunch french fries. The burrata and beets entree came over a bed of green beans and sprinkled almonds and a balsamic glaze to top off the beets, very delicious and flavorful just the right size portion. The short rib pasta dinner was flavorful and a generous portion the sauce was creamy. Overall food was above average and on the expensive side....

We came here on Thursday evening in August before seeing a show at Ardmore Music Hall which is a couple miles down the road. We have been to the West Chester location a couple times and enjoyed it and tried to come here once before but ended up a the restaurant next door by accident. We paid attention to the signage this time.

We sat a the bar and were greeted immediately by the bartender. She got a couple drinks and then we orders happy hour mussels to share. We both got side salads and shared the chicken milanese. The food was very good as we expected.

The bartender was personable and attentive. We enjoyed being the interaction.

The atmosphere is casual and had an easy easy going vibe. It wasn’t too crowded so it was pretty quiet. This can easily be a place for drinks after work or a date night or like us, grabbing dinner before a show.

I wish they would open a restaurant closer to us we don’t mind making the drive every...