Bar Hygge — Restaurant in Philadelphia

I have always been a huge fan of Bar Hygge. It is my go-to for a pub-style meal, and when people come to visit, this is usually where I bring them. The service has been and continues to be very good, and I like the vibe. The food, however, has always been outstanding. The worst I ever had was a brunch item that clearly sat a little long, so the beer cheese on it was a little congealed.

I brought a friend here last week, and it feels like everything changed. We had an incredibly disappointing meal on a few levels.

The boards are now only a la carte, which is fine except they are a good bit more expensive unless you get only the cheapest items. The portions also seem to have shrunk in every way, and the quality is far worse.

So, first off, the board: Pretzel nuggets - We got, I think, 7 small, not particularly hot nuggets. Two of them were wet, sitting in a pool of their own oil or something. The "beer cheese" was not the beer cheese I have had a ton of times before. Outside of being slightly on the light side color-wise, I am not joking when I say I would have mistaken it for nacho cheese from a machine. It was thin and far tangier than it was creamy.

Salmon nigiri - Two pieces of paper thin salmon cuts on fried cubes of rice. They tasted good, but at $4.50 per piece, they felt a little pricey.

Pork belly - Two pieces of pork belly that my friend said ranked among the worst he's ever had. I thought it was fine? But it definitely wasn't great, and again, at $4.50 per slice of pork belly, it felt way pricey.

Free bread - This bread is really good. No real complaints. Came with truffle butter.

Beer: I've always felt like the beer at Hygge from the attached Brewery Techne was okay. I never had anything that was amazing, but I never had a particularly bad beer. We both got the Hyggefest, which was malty and nice.

Burgers: We both got the Hygge Burger. I got bacon on mine, and my friend got the crabbed fries. The burgers felt much squatter than I remembered, and much more balled up so the toppings didn't really stack well, and they didn't seem to fit the bun as well. At this point, we were so disappointed in everything that I was probably looking for issues, but I have had this burger 3 or 4 times before and have always thought it was fantastic, and this time it just wasn't. The fries that came with it were wonderful though. Crunchy on the outside, buttery in the middle. The crabbed fries came with beer cheese on the side at my friend's request, and it at least seemed less bad than the stuff we got with the pretzel nuggets. Maybe they made a new batch? It didn't seem quite like the creamy delicious beer cheese I remembered though.

So all in all, it was super disappointing, and it felt like everything top to bottom had been cut from what I remembered, either portion, quality, or both. I'd say it was an off night, but it was much more than something like the food feeling a little off because of a kitchen issue. I really hope things turn around. I may give Hygge one more shot, but I definitely won't be bringing...

I really wanted to like this place opening in Fairmount, I've been there a few times so far and if you are planning to get very drunk you may like the food a little better then I did. There is something odd about the food I tried as the salmon plate I had the first time was very bland, it's really hard to mess up a salmon fillet, Ikea salmon tastes better if you know what I mean. Next time I went for the safe option and ordered the grass fed burger to avoid deceptions. Again something is not quite right in the kitchen as the beef picked up a lot of carbonized residue from the grill, this happens when you don't clean it often (I've worked in the industry in the past) simple details make a big difference, one side of my bread was burned and the other side was barely warm, fries were soaked in oil. I was on my second glass of wine so maybe if it had been the third or fourth glass I would have been drunk and not caring that much. I was very hopeful to get a break from the typical bar food in the Fairmount stretch and if you sell me a good burger I am a client for life... I still wish them good and hopefully they will bring more experienced/careful people in the kitchen. Server was nice and friendly. They need a little more beer options as most of them were ales... the space seems very big from the outside but it's actually very small and feels a little crowded. They need urgent soundproofing as its so loud it feels like a nightclub, can't hold a conversation very well. I may give it another shot...

This place just has an absolutely magical feel to it. You walk in and you feel like you're transported to your best friend's house and you're about to experience the best dinner party of your life.

I wish I had come here for dinner and drinks instead of just an appetizer and dessert, but those dishes were among the best I've ever had.

I had the Manchurian Cauliflower and it was mind blowing. The sauce was flavorful and somehow the cauliflower had a very meaty quality to it. I've always loved cauliflower but this was absolutely next level.

I also got the lemon meringue cake and this is where the true magic was. I'm a lemon fanatic and this was the perfect dessert to have. The toasted topping on top was a nice charred and slightly bitter element to counterbalance the sweetness everywhere else. It was a very nice tartness from the lemon that was just perfect. That had to be the best bite I had in Philly in a very long time.

I also had their lemon meringue IPA (I told you I was a lemon freak) and that was delicious. I don't even particularly like beer but I was told that was their specialty and I had to try it. It had an almost Arnold Palmer quality to it and it was a great pair with the cauliflower. The acidity from the beer was the perfect counterbalance to the spice and it was just perfect.

Overall, I plan on going back here anytime I visit the city, especially if I'm going in with a...