1518 Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Philadelphia

I'm reading a lot of positive reviews here, but I'm sorry to say I can't add to them. A few days ago, while driving along Sansom St., I noticed the 1518 Bar & Grill's outdoor sign announcing a dinner "special" of scallops, flounder, and shrimp. Sounded good, so I parked and went in. My waitress was as sweet, helpful, and organized as could be, but the "special" was so salty it made my lips pucker. I hadn't eaten all day, so I did eat quite a bit of the seafood, which came with undercooked, chewy spinach (which I'd requested because I dislike the offered vegetables of zucchini and squash, the cheapest vegetables a restaurant can provide) and brown rice with sweet red pepper strips from a jar or can. As a result of swallowing so much salt (probably a combination of regular salt and the Old Bay seasoning that had been over-added to the seafood), I had to drink tons of water, both at dinner and throughout my evening. Later, I had a splitting headache, something I never have, so I feel pretty sure it was from the excessive salt. Also...when you think of a "special", don't you think (as I did) that it might mean a special, lower-than-usual price? The price wasn't listed anywhere, including the outdoor sign, and when I asked my waitress, I was surprised that this "special" in a bar was $30! That's too high, especially since it included no soup or salad. It came only with some heated, white, sliced Italian bread -- nothing special. I'd hoped for a couple of whole-grain rolls. I ate a few slices and took home the rest of the bread for the squirrels, birds, and raccoons in my yard. I packed up the rest of the food so I could de-salt it at home. I did that the next day by cooking a full pot of quinoa with NO salt and adding the leftovers to it. That diluted the salt that the chef had over-added. I won't be able to eat here again, as I'll never forget that awful headache afterwards. I also found the "special" too expensive. I shouldn't have gone for it, but I was running late...

Incident report The Resturant on 3/21/2021 around 12-1am in the morning was not following indoor dining social distancing for Covid-19 or practicing CDC guidelines; they are not checking customers temperatures for indoor or outdoor dining, they don’t sanitizer the customers hands while being seated, they don’t require customers to wear face masks, and the staff aren’t wearing mask 24/7 as directed. Tables were not equip with proper safety measures or preventative equipment and staff was not enforcing social distancing as well. Customer tables where customers were currently sitting at were too close together while dining indoors and staff members were fully aware of the high risk situation. The Resturant was also open past 11pm last night and the capacity of customers inside the Resturant was between 10-20 customers or more. I was unsure of the exact number but is was definitely between those numbers or more which I’m sure is way too many customers to be inside of a Resturant with the square footage of space within the establishment. The time frame of the capacity of customers that there was a lot of was between the time frames of 11pm-2am 3/20/21 going into the morning of 3/21/2021. Myself and my friend both dined at the Resturant and experience this disturbing event and incident. This bar and Resturant is NOT LBGT FRIENDLY and should be disgusted at the horrible customer service experience they delivered. The security guard was using derogatory language in profanity and also verbally assaulted me because the manager/owner of this Resturant does not like gay people who express themselves wearing fem clothing and is homophobic, prejudice, and discriminates against the LGBT community. This establishment should not exist and should not be operating under unsafe and unhealthy conditions . Do no go to this Resturant they are horrible and only care about your money and do not know how to respectful, courtesy, polite, or know how to have...

Customer Equality For All

After a long day’s work, my co-worker and I decided to go to a nearby restaurant in Center City, 1518. We ordered lunch from here on a few occasions because their shrimp tempura is amaze-balls and they have good portion sizes.

Once inside, we placed our order for food and drinks. While we waited, we began socializing with another party of 2 who seemed to match our general vibe. We were all happy the mask mandate in Philly had been lifted; that we survived the pandemic and that things were finally getting back to normal. After about a 1/2 hour or so, we noticed the manager at 1518, Willie, who walked past the other party of 2 and looked myself and co-worker in the eyes and asked us to “tone it down”. Until this point, we did not realize that we were the only Black patrons. We immediately pointed out to him that he walked past the 2 loudest people in the room in order to check our behavior. The party of 2 who matched our vibe were equally offended that he found it necessary to check us.

I wanted the world to know that Willie would benefit from taking some Diversity, Equity and Inclusion training. The food is great , but the customer service for People of Color was horrible and I would NOT recommend this establishment to any of my family, friends or coworkers who are marginalized. I would never want anyone to feel like they are being policed while eating and socializing because of the color of their skin. More importantly, as a Black woman, I will never mute myself from the negative experience I...