Bloomsday Restaurant & Wine Bar — Restaurant in Philadelphia

An excellent dining experience happens when many things align. this was our first time here. Our waitress Lucy was delightful. She was attentive and knowledgeable, especially about the different wines we could order. The chef, Kelsey, proved to be worthy of accolades. I loved the kale Caesar salad, which had a delicious tahini dressing, and the spicy wings were exceptional! The seafood pasta was delicious.

But my complaint was the loud music. As the night went on, the music got louder, and louder, and we found ourselves literally yelling at each other in the front window seat. Why do bartenders and managers of any restaurant feel that music has to ring through your ears when what we’re trying to do is catch up with friends we haven’t seen for a long time, and enjoy some great food?? And to boot it was a rough rock ‘n’ roll theme, which is not conducive to seamless conversation. . There’s a middle road where one can play rock ‘n’ roll of any kind as long as it’s in the background. Music should never, ever be in the foreground in an restaurant of this caliber! It should be an accent, because it is JUST as important as the lighting, food, and service. When I inquired about whose music list it was we were listening to, the host gave me a snarky response of “it’s all of ours and you are the first person in four years who’s ever complained”, turned on his heel and left. The right thing would have been to say, “is there something you are concerned about?“ In which case I would’ve said that I just wanted to request to have it turned down a little bit, so we could hear each other. But he felt compelled to come over and tell me a second time (!!) how it was the FIRST time anybody had complained about the soundtrack in four years. (how incredibly repetitive to listen to the same soundtrack for four years. There’s so much great music out there one would think he would at least rotate for variety the music choices ). So that’s why I’m writing this review to whatever your name is Mr. Host, you need to learn that concerns of a customer are worth hearing, always. Brushing off my comment as being “something no one else has EVER done in four years” just was not professional. All I wanted to ask was that the music get turned down a notch so we could continue to hear our conversation with our dear friends of many decades. So I’m giving this review fewer stars, since that experience left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Again, dining is an overall experience of which food, service, lighting, and music all play a part in this incredibly delicate dance. My husband and I have owned many restaurants in the city over the last 40 years, and this has always been our mantra- to balance the music to the decibel level of the dining room, and dim the lights as the sun sets. (I should point up by the way that the lighting was perfect.)

So this is needs to be a lesson learned, to just turn the music down a notch. Just a notch:) You can play whatever you want, but just don’t force your loud rock ‘n’ roll at 7 o clock on a Wednesday night into my conversation. Keep it in the background to please everyone.

Many kudos to Lucy and Kelsey, who otherwise excelled in their jobs. I still will return because the restaurant is a cute addition to Head House Square, and I will...

Bloomsday was one of the 27 bars that made the cut on USA Today's "Bars of the Year for 2024" list.

My first question was what credibility does USA Today have when it comes to making a "Bars of the Year" list? USA Today not in the trenches like that smh.

According to our robot friends (ChatGPT), there are 60k-70k bars in the US. Trying to narrow that down to 27 seems a bit ridiculous to me. It's giving "ESPNs top 100 athletes of the 21st century" list. They are clearly just trying to stir up some controversy to get their clicks and readership up.

Yeah, you got more engagement but at what cost? How much is your soul worth? But to be fair, here I am mentioning both lists so they are doing their job lmao. Y'all won...

Okay I'm yapping, but I walked into Bloomsdale hella skeptical.

We walked through the cobblestone streets of South Philly and entered an ultra inviting interior. Dim lighting with candles at every table, exposed white brick on the walls, white marble tables, clean wooden floors, vintage wooden chairs, a wood burning fireplace, etc.

We sat and within the first 10 minutes I already shazam’d 2 songs. I lowkey rarely shazam songs anymore, so that holds weight with me idk. Playlist was hittin.

Our waitress was super engaging and jawning with us, and was great at recommending the natural wines without being too serious. I honestly can't believe I didn't get her name cuz I really want to shout her out.

For food we went with the Lemon Pepper Wings, Patatas Bravas, Wedge Salad, Dry-Aged Burger, and Steak Frites.

Honestly, all the food for me was a solid 8/10. Really good food, but not great. Nothing blew me away. Although my girlfriend will be mad reading this because she LOVED her burger so I gotta shout that out.

This glass of orange wine I had though… my goodness. It was the best glass of wine I've had in a MINUTE. It was a natural biodynamic wine from Swartland, South Africa. Idk what "natural" or "biodynamic" wine really is, but I sound so sophisticated saying it so Imma keep running with it.

All in all, top 27? Hell nah, but the vibes and wine in here are sensational. I will be back for my natural biodynamic wine from South Africa. I only drink biodynamic wine now… you wouldn’t get it.

Ig @jnov_ Tiktok...

Beautiful cafe that serves beautiful food! My friend and I were able to get seated on a Friday around 6PM without having to wait. The staff here is so friendly and so helpful too! We got drinks and a bunch of food to share!

I got the Born Feral drink - description states a milk punch but it's not milky.. the cocktail is clear and a little brown. It tasted a little tart with a hint of smokiness/bacon? It was surprisingly good and I loved how tart it was

For food we ordered the spicy carrot hummus, scallop crudo, PEI mussels, and the oysters (orleans cocktail)

Spicy Carrot Hummus - the texture isn't as smooth as a regular hummus but it's good and spicy! And you can taste a hint of the carrot (the taste is not too strong). This is served with a side of toasted bread

Scallop Crudo - this is the tastiest scallop crudo I have ever had in my life. Not only is it beautiful to look at, adorned with flowers and peach, and toasted sweet cashew, but it was super creamy and fresh! It kind of melts in your mouth with a creamy texture and pairs really well with the lime aioli and the toasted crushed cashew it comes with . (This was my favorite dish)

PEI mussels - this is my second favorite dish. The mussels are of good size and cooked really well! The sauce that comes with the mussels is excellent, you will want to drench your toasted bread in there. There is a chunk of sausage meat that is in the dish and that is seasoned very well and a perfect texture too. I would definitely recommend this for any mussel lover

Orleans Cocktail (oysters) - this is a pretty version of oysters. It's oysters on a bed of salt, garnished with lavender and peaches. It's pretty but the oysters are a little too salty for my taste. Again, it's pretty but if you're going for fresh oysters, I would skip this.

All in all, this is an excellent place for dinner. The inside is beautiful and nicely decorated, and the food is pretty and delicious. I would definitely come back and I 100% would recommend to all my Philly people...