Blondie — Restaurant in Philadelphia

I went to Blondie, for the first time, on Wednesday, November 9th for dinner, and then returned with a friend who missed the previous dinner the following Friday. Myself and 11 girlfriends wined and dined there together on Wednesday, and had a wonderful time together. Friday was also a nice time. The atmosphere is very upbeat and the ambiance was nice. There was music playing in the background. 80s-90s hip hop and hits to be specific, and the lights were perfectly dim. You could see everyone, but not their pores! I LOVE that! They did a great job with the remodeling of the place. It’s very chic, and warm. We felt comfortable, relaxed, and also like we were not on Main Street in Manayunk. The vibe and decor is more center city!

We shared many items including: truffle fries, fried onions, deviled eggs, two salads , and a cheese board. I shared entrees with a friend and had the mussels in white and the fried chicken platter. The mussels were phenomenal, and we devoured the fried chicken. The only thing they could have improved is the presentation of the chicken plate! It tasted great but was the least ascetically pleasing. I tried a few bites of the short rib and it was outstanding!!!! Our server was wonderful, I can’t remember his name but he was of Latin decent and on the shorter side. He had jet black hair. He was efficient, kind, helpful, and even gave me a glass of champagne on the house for my birthday! We loved him! On Friday we ordered the warm shrimp Caesar(again), crab dip, blondie onions (again), and the pork ribs. The ribs were DELICIOUS!!!! They were presented well, cooked to perfection, and the flavor was awesome. We were disappointed that the salad came with the Caesar dressing on the side, this time. None of us requested it, and we ordered it because we loved how it was served previously. The crab dip was okay. It was extremely cheesy, and the flavor was missing something. There also were not enough toast points to eat it all. Adding some veggies or pita would have improved the plate, and maybe some old bay, garlic, salt and pepper? For an entree, I got the salmon. It was delicious! The black rice that accompanied it was NOT very tasty. Some peices were hard and crunchy and it didn’t have much flavor, at all. We tried a dessert and it was delicious! I’ll have to double back for the name of it. I drank Pinot Noir the first night I was there, and they were out of it the second, so I decided to get the Cabernet Blend, per the servers suggestion, and I loved it! Speaking of the server, she was wonderful. Some of the plates were a bit pricey for what they gave you, and they could work on their consistency, but overall, it was a great experience. The servers insured that. Blondie is still very new and I’m sure going through growing pains, but I’m confident they will continue to improve. I will absolutely return and try some things I...

Today is 10/5/22 and I just stormed out of Blondie for the way that I was treated presumably because I’m a Black person. I walked into the restaurant a few minutes ago. A white party of 3 was standing to the side waiting to be seated and I approached the hostesses — 1 white male who turned out to be the manager Ryan, and 2 Black women. Ryan asked us to wait to see whether he was able to accommodate us; so we waited. Minutes later Ryan returned and said he didn’t have a table but we could sit at the bar. As I sat at the bar I thought it odd that he couldn’t find a table for 2 but he was able to accommodate a table of 3. Ryan showed the white party of 3 to their table and I looked at the 2 Black hostess and they were also trying to understand why Ryan wasn’t able to seat us. I looked around the bar and noticed that only Black patrons were seated there. . I approached the hostesses and told them something wasn’t right. They agreed! So they found us a table and told Ryan when he returned to tithe hostess stand. By this time I’m fired up because it’s clear that Ryan was treating us, and all the other Black people at the bar, differently. So I approached him and said how is it that a table magically appeared. How is that the Black hostesses were able to find us a table? He responded with, “the other party was here before you mam.” I said, “that doesn’t explain my question” and he dismissed me and said enjoy your dinner mam. The Black hostess tried to deescalate the situation and showed us to our seat. I sat down because I appreciated the willingness of the hostesses who pushed back against prejudice and bias and did the right thing plus I was hungry; but as I sat at the table I couldn’t eat. I was just angry that I had to abandon the joyful space I was in a deal with Ryan’s ignorance and foolishness. I was angry because I had to activate my angry Black woman to confront this man. I was angry because this white family stood there acting completely oblivious to what was going on — the convenience of privilege. So I left because I refuse to patronize an establishment that perpetuates racism and bigotry. Ryan is employed by Blondie and therefore Blondie is accountable. Black dollars have power and we must learn not invest our dollars in establishments that don’t serve us! As I left, I told the hostesses that I couldn’t eat there because of how I had been treated. They both understood and asked if they could hug me. We hugged and thy apologized for my experience. I thanked them for looking out for us and for intervening on our behalf. I hope that Ryan is held accountable for his actions. In the meantime, I will not be dining at...

I want to love Blondie SO badly. We’ve been twice since they opened, and both times we have loved the same things: the decor and vibe are awesome, great music, good food and drinks. The first time we went, I had ordered the filet and asked for medium rare. When my dish came out, it was completely raw beyond the char on the outside. They warmed it up a bit to get it to the correct temperature and it ended up being a good meal. They had only been open a month or two at that point so no harm there. We went again tonight for an early Valentine’s Day dinner that we had made reservations for. They were busy and initially we were seated in a very busy walkway sort of area. I asked the host if we could be moved to a bit quieter spot, to which he told me that he couldn’t because of reservations for the same size party as us for the same time we had, despite multiple two tops being open in the same section with the same server. Ultimately he was willing to move us, but it seemed strange to get pushback in the way I did, and when I got back to the table, our server had already moved us over to one of the open tables. Sort of odd was that our server mentioned the kitchen wouldn’t let him put our app order in until we also knew what we wanted for dinner so it could all be put in at the same time (maybe to manage ticket times or something? Still seemed weird and made us feel sort of rushed). The food was good (again), our server was kind though we didn’t see him often and it took a while for everything to come out/get water refilled/etc. Lastly, we ordered dessert to-go, and it didn’t come out for half an hour from the time it was ordered (ticket was stapled to the bag when we finally got it), despite being told more than once that it was coming shortly and seeing a bunch of other tables get their desserts while we were waiting. We finally had to ask our server if he could find it for us because we needed to head out. I’m a bit bummed by the last experience because I really really really want to love this restaurant. I get that it was busy, at the prime dinner time, and that sometimes stuff takes a bit or gets lost or not put in right away… but the experience really left something to be desired. We will probably give it another shot, but maybe not on a weekend night and definitely with different...