Assembly Rooftop Lounge — Restaurant in Philadelphia

So, my very wealthy sister who lives here in PA highly recommends Assembly Rooftop Lounge to all her visitors. I was visiting from CA, and my sister from VT joined me. The 2 of us went to Assembly on Sunday, April 21. This is my 3rd or 4th time at Assembly. We arrived at 5:10-ish. They were many empty tables, but every table had a RESERVED sign on it. I let the Host know that we didn’t have a reservation but would like a table for 2 if one was available. He gave us the once over (we are 2 older women, walking with canes, not their normal “hip” demographic, but our wallets still work - wink!), took a deep breath and let out a long, impatient sigh, and said “I’ll try to find you a table”. I said “thank you very much.” He grabbed two menus and started to walk away from us. He then looked back over his shoulder as if to say “are you coming?” If he had said something like “please follow me” we would’ve known that we should follow him. He seated us inside, in a hidden corner on two very low-to the-ground couches, with no view of the city! This is NOT why you come to Assembly! You don’t come to hide in a closet! The whole point in going to a ROOFTOP lounge is to enjoy the view! I asked if he could seat us outside so that we could enjoy the view, and he told me that he didn’t have any tables available, it was cold and there was no heat. So I told my sister we would wait for the server to arrive and ask for a different table. Our server arrived momentarily, I asked if we could be seated outside so that we can enjoy the view. Despite every single table having a RESERVED sign on it, he was able to quickly find us table outside, with a perfect view, and within feet of a heat lamp. It was perfect. We ordered drinks and a flatbread, Both were delicious and hit the spot. We paid our bill and left. We stayed for perhaps 1 hour and took some great pictures of the view.

I tipped our server 20% for his excellent service and polite demeanor. Great job PHIL!

The host - not so much! We had visited the Rodin Museum and Philadelphia Museum of Art . While we looked like two windblown ladies using canes we still have...

My goodness. I had been looking forward to visiting this place for so long...never meet your heroes they say. Okay look. The view is absolutely exceptional, yes. Go there just for that. 9th floor on the elevator of the Logan. Ample seating even if they insist on "strongly recommending" reservations (eye roll). The cocktails are enough for an entree and the food? Tinyyyyy. I ordered the octopus, flatbread, and rum baba. The octopus was dressed really well which saved it bc it was slightly on the chewy side and huddled in the middle of a giant bowl like it was afraid. The flatbread is garbage. Take a piece of Naan, put some cheese in the very middle of it with 5 pieces of bacon and some chives sprinkled on top. That's like $18. Mostly naked warm flatbread. Fine. What about dessert? This rum baba looks pretty good when it comes out, portion is even similar to the octopus! Whoa maybe now I'll fill up a little. Nope. It's so stale, you have to fair stab it to make it go through the bready bit. How long has this been in the freezer? Since covid? I tried 2 bites and put it aside. Nah, not playing myself like that. Factor in the 10 minute wait to be first acknowledged by the server when you're seated, this place can easily be skipped altogether. Just come up for a look around, then leave. Dinner and cocktails can very much be better done elsewhere within...

I have never written a less than five star review for a place and really used to enjoy coming here before the pandemic. However after the last experience we will not be returning. Earlier this week, our friends had a private event at assembly before their wedding. We arrived into town late, as the event was ending around 8pm, but since the hours posted until 11:00 p.m., I asked the bartender if the bar was opening back up after the event. I was treated with such disdain and with such a condescending tone, I was completely caught off guard. However, I gave the bartender the benefit of the doubt and just moved out with my night. Today, we tried again to enjoy the space. We are guests at the hotel and went up to the bar. We were told we had to come back downstairs and make reservation with the hostess, which we are perfectly happy to do. After waiting in line for almost 20 minutes, the hostess told us that there was table available and that we would be able to go up shortly. Almost 5 minutes later, we were then told that other hotel guests who did not have reservations had taken the tables that were previously assigned to us and that we no longer had a space available. There are enough amazing bars in Philadelphia filled with kind people who genuinely enjoy working with their customers. Please take your business elsewhere. We will...