Bluestone Lane Walnut Street Café — Restaurant in Philadelphia

UPDATE (in response to the owner): there are several recent reviews that all say the same thing: this place has declined. It's filthy and unhygienic. So, my review does reflect their usual standard. This is a hard review to write because I absolutely used to love coming here (going back to when Trista, Kylie, and Sarah worked here), and the hot drinks here are some of the best in the area. I used to come here regularly (every day), but I stopped because it’s hard to overlook how gross the place is (see photos of floor, benches, window sill, & table base). I agree with the recent review that said this place looks worn and dirty. The floors are ALWAYS absolutely filthy and there is a ton of food debris between the grates/slats of the benches. The floors look like they’ve never been mopped and judging by the amount of food in the benches, those aren’t getting properly cleaned either. I visited almost everyday for 4 days straight once and there was lettuce from a salad on the floor under the table where I sat on Day 1 and it stayed exactly there rotting through Day 4. They simply do not sweep or mop the floors, at least not often enough for how high foot traffic is at this location. And, why have benches with slats that trap food if you’re not going to clean them regularly? Even the window sills behind you when you sit by the windows are gross and make me careful not to let my hair or coat touch them. The bathroom is also disgusting. Someone had diarrhea in one of the bathrooms and it stayed splattered on the toilet for many days until it was eventually cleaned (I was too grossed out to stay in there long enough to take pics). That was the final straw for me in terms of this being one of my regular spots. If this is what the front of this place looks like, I don’t want to imagine the back kitchen. Pros: The staff are great (though the previous staff were a bit more friendly and invested more in getting to know regulars in the neighborhood), they make the BEST matcha latte in town (high quality matcha powder), and many of their food items are delish. It really is a shame that they don’t invest in regularly performing basic cleaning because it's such a nice location (spacious with a ton of natural light). Management should consider closing this location for one day to do a deep clean if they're not going to do basic cleaning daily at closing. Because of how disgusting this location is, I can’t dine in...

Good coffee. Good menu. Hit or miss service. Good atmosphere. None of the above is out of this world — Just ok. I go here once in a while because my friend and I make the rounds going to different places for our weekly coffee get together. Went here recently on a Sunday morning after not having been here for maybe years. Kid friendly for my friend’s son with coloring page and crayons provided which was nice. Must note that I will never understand why this place serves a coffee cup and then a side glass JAR of coffee. It is a hot glass container that the customer has to handle in order to pour their coffee into their cup. The glass jar does not keep the coffee hot and it has no handle so it’s a recipe for the customer dropping it and or burning their hands. And it’s more dishes to clutter the table and later wash which is wasteful. It’s always been so odd to me. Finally, for the average-ness of their coffee etc, I personally feel that Bluestone Lane is overpriced and you can get just as good -if not better- coffee elsewhere - for cheaper.

Addended review as of April 2025 — after having been here several more times since my above review, I will not be back. This place cannot keep up with its crowds and is understaffed with fair to poor service and an overpriced menu. The most recent visit was awful. We had to get our own cutlery and napkins, asked for multiple spoons and got one, no saucers for our lattes, missing items from our order, needed to ask for more water, and never saw our server once to ask us how things were, if we needed anything, etc. No napkins salt pepper sugar etc. Food is grossly overpriced. A small breakfast sandwich is $11-16. 3 adults dining here, 0 service: $80. Insane. This was our...

I genuinely don’t understand how this place still has customers. I can only surmise that this restaurant was intended for a different class/crowd of people who have a lot of disposable income because the VALUE that this place offers is pretty terrible. Don’t get me wrong, I love to treat myself and will splurge on quadruple the prices here if it’s worth it, but Bluestone is NOT worth it. The quality, taste and variety of menu items was either at or below average but everything is SO expensive and overpriced.

A few months ago, when this place first opened, I checked it out because it had a cute exterior/interior and I liked the vibes, but after dropping over $35 on a SUPER underwhelming brunch that I could’ve easily gotten for $12 around the corner (it didn’t help that they didn’t even try to make the dishes LOOK fancy or more expensive), I vowed never to come back.

Today, a friend was visiting me and offered to pick up a breakfast sandwich for me from around the corner: “I’m sitting outside a super cute breakfast place”. I hoped to god it wouldn’t be Bluestone. But yup. She got to my place and the first thing she said was how upset she was that she got overcharged at this place around the corner for food she didn’t even enjoy. On top of that, she said the waiter served her water she didn’t ask for and charged her almost $3 for it. They didn’t have a sausage, egg & cheese (only a bacon option. What? You’re a breakfast/brunch cafe) so she asked for no bacon then- and she still paid the same premium price. As SOON as she started ranting about all this, I said “oh please don’t tell me you went to that bluestone place”.

Food is mid, service is mid, but you’ll be paying an arm and...