Lark — Restaurant in Lower Merion Township

Disappointing Experience at The Lark

Last night, I visited The Lark to celebrate a friend's birthday with a group of over 50 professional African American individuals. We had communicated this large gathering well in advance to the venue to ensure they were prepared for our arrival. Unfortunately, our experience was far from satisfactory.

The main issue was the severe understaffing and overwhelming workload of the wait staff assigned to our room. Despite knowing the size of our group and our expectations, the service was chaotic and inefficient. To make matters worse, the bar service, particularly from Vita the barmaid, was outright biased. I tested this by asking Vita four times for a glass of chardonnay, only to be ignored. Interestingly, when a white woman next to me ordered the same, she was served promptly. Vita's attitude was not only unprofessional but also demeaning.

As a result of this evident bias and poor service, our group unanimously agreed that our patronage and money were neither valued nor welcomed. Therefore, I caution potential patrons to spend wisely at The Lark. If you do decide to visit, I sincerely hope your experience is better than ours. It's disappointing to pay over $17 for a tiny pour of wine (and they add a credit card fee to the bill) only to be met with such inadequate service. As for eating...since we could not order drinks, we opted to eat somewhere else.

Response to Management’s Message

Let me be clear: I was a GUEST, not the birthday organizer. I had no part in making reservations, coordinating the headcount, or arranging logistics with your team. So your response—angry, defensive, and misdirected—has absolutely nothing to do with me or my experience, which is what my review reflected.

I came to your establishment expecting good service, especially since this gathering was communicated to your venue in advance. Instead, I spent the majority of my evening at the bar, where I received no service. After requesting a glass of wine multiple times from your bartender, only to be ignored, I witnessed others—who did not look like the majority of our crowd—being served promptly. The bartender’s demeanor was dismissive and unwelcoming, and your message here carries the same tone.

So let me ask you: what’s your excuse for the service—or lack thereof—at the bar? You don’t need a private event agreement to pour wine. You don’t need a headcount to deliver basic courtesy. The bias was clear, and the lack of accountability in your message only reinforces the issue.

And as for the footage and documentation you referenced—great. Please review it. You’ll see many patrons waiting patiently, being ignored, and and dismissed. Your attempt to shift blame, insult my character, and conflate me with the organizer is unprofessional and only further reflects poorly on your management.

I repeat: I was a guest, not the planner. Honestly, your issue with her should not be apart of this review but I am glad you aired your contempt. This will allow readers to see just who you are. I shared my honest experience as a paying customer. Instead of listening or taking the opportunity to acknowledge a valid concern, you chose to attack and deflect. That tells me everything I need to...

We had another "phenomenal" dining experience at our favorite waterfront restaurant, the Lark. When we entered, Jessica gave us a really warm reception. Since we were early for our dinner reservation we told her we'd like to enjoy some cocktails out on your fabulous terrace before we eat dinner and she said no problem. We got a gorgeous table outside with an absolutely stunning view. Tom came over, took our cocktail order and did an awesome job in making our cocktails "exactly" the way we wanted them (my dinner guests were extremely particular about the way they liked their cocktails prepared), so thank you Tom.

After a half an hour we entered into the dining room which looked as beautiful as ever. All of us commented on the fresh flowers everywhere which added to the beauty of the restaurant. I was so happy because Jessica gave us my favorite table in the corner of the restaurant overlooking the terrace and we got even luckier when Peter our favorite server came over. Lily was in training so she accompanied Peter at all of the visits to our table. She was so sweet and so charming. Seeing Peter again was like being with old friends. After some time catching up, he went over some of the specials for the evening and my God, the chef really got extremely creative with these dishes, one better than the next. After much deliberation so to speak, the three of us ordered the Orcchiette for our appetizer because the preparation was so unique. It tasted absolutely delicious, all three of us were raving over it. The chef used an awesome combination of flavors to make this dish so tasty. It was so good that it took a lot of restraint on our part to eat only half & save half of this wonderful appetizer to take home so we could enjoy it again at another time. We ordered the swordfish and the potato crusted halibut for our entrées. Again the chef got so creative with these preparations, kudos to the chef for making these extremely creative/unique new entrées. For our dessert we ordered the buckwheat tart and the cherry soft serve which were so yummy and a perfect ending to this awesome evening.

I must say that what really enhanced our dining experience was Peter and Lily with them being super attentive, catering to all of our requests and combining that with their awesome sense of humor that kept us entertained all evening long. Our dinner guests wanted me to make a special note telling you that every single person that came to our table to either deliver the food or take it away was so personable & they always had a smile on their face and couldn't seem to do enough to please us. Even Mike the manager came over to check on us and we had nothing but praise for Peter, Lily and all the other folks that were making this another amazing evening to remember.

Thanks again to "everyone" for pulling out all the stops and making this a "top notch" dining experience. None of this actually comes as a surprise to us because every time we've dined at the Lark, this has been our experience which is why we keep coming back...

Finally hit Lark in Bala Cynwyd last night. Fortunately, they seated us outside, as I had inadvertently made reservations for Lark in San Francisco on Open Table (in which the BC restaurant does not participate.)

Also, fortunately, it was a GORGEOUS evening with low humidity, 75F, and a very mild breeze. The inside was ridiculously loud... the kind of loud one expects from an Olde City 20-something club. Beautiful design, but we were happy gazing across the placid Schuylkill at Manayunk's verdant hills. There was definitely a big-city feel that belies the tranquil Main Line location.

Service was impeccable. Wait staff knew the menu intimately, and a trip to the rest room meant your napkin got re-folded and placed on the table. Water glasses were instantly refilled, and servers appropriately inquired that our experience was as expected. Staff is on par with any 5-star.

We were expecting "Mediterranean" - a broad category but certain to include fresh seafood, homemade pastas and unique seasonings. We didn't really expect some of the flavors that Chef Nick Elmi combined.

Using local ingredients and fresh proteins (where possible) pretty much everything had an unexpected twist. The only dish that wasn't thrilling was the Gnocco Frito, which was likely authentic, was kind of like a hollow egg roll - puffed up to look huge on the plate, but kind of difficult to cut once inflated, and flavored mostly by a creamy, lemon graced ricotta (and the saltiness of the prosciutto.)

Small plates are really the star here, but the scallops were perfectly done and just managed to ALMOST fill us up, leaving room for desserts. I guess a full baguette to sop up the various sauces would have helped, but alas, we were served two slices each with the escargot.

The desserts were not sweet, as one would expect (except for the sugar in the strawberries.,) Chocolate was of the bittersweet variety and the marmalade added a sour tang. Pecorino cake tasted (as one might expect) like cheese. Pleasant, but again, unexpected,

The food at Lark is not the kind that lets the subtleties of the ingredients speak for themselves, Certainly, a lot of thought went into the combinations and preparations that made each dish one that you could never say tasted "familiar." But I guess that's part of the appeal.

Gnocco Fritto, Ricotta, Prosciutto di Parma, Preserved Lemon Little Gem Salad, Lemon Cream, Toasted Almond, Radish, Ricotta Salata Escargot Braised in Vichyssoise Butter, Potato Confit, Preserved Lemon Pan Seared Sea Scallops, Bouillabaisse Reduction, Spring Vegetables, Basil Pesto Crudo - Bass, Cucumbers, Radishes and Greens

Pecorino Cake - Blueberry Compote, Lemon Chocolate Croquant - Vanilla Cream, Rhubarb,...