Friday Saturday Sunday — Restaurant in Philadelphia

My wife and I dined here on May 16th, 2024. I wanted to take a little time to digest my experience before writing a review, perhaps i have taken a bit too much time as some of the details I wanted to write about have slipped my memory. Life picked up again and here I am 13 days later writing this review.

My wife and I are both in the hospitality business. I have worked back of house for 16 years, my wife, front of house for 14 years.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by a friendly host team on the main floor and taken up to our seats where my wife was asked if she would like her coat hung in the closet. She said yes. She was given a ticket with a number and was told to hand that to our server at the end of the meal.

As we sat and got comfortable we were asked if we would like still or sparkling water and upon the arrival of our water, we were presented menus. We had a brief conversation with our server who explained how the night was going to go, we said yes to the wine pairing, and were off to the races.

For the sake of sounding like a back of house person who only drinks wine at dinners I will leave the wine details out of the review. What I do know is, food by itself can be a whole experience for your taste buds and olfactory system but when you have intentional wine pairings that hit the mark with the food you are consuming, it turns into so much more, and FSS did not disappoint.

Our first round of wine hit the table followed closely by our first course. A small tartlet of fresh fish, salty caviar, a little spice, light and creamy sabayon. Thank you iSi for your magic abilities.

Next to the tartlet was a one bite beef tartare with something reminiscent of Japanese milk bread (apologies for the misinformation, this is where a two week gap plagues my memory)

Our second course was my favorite of the night. A chawanmushi dish with texture, warmth, and comfort. At the bottom was little pops of texture, crunchy morsels of (bread?), it made the dish in my opinion. There were also pea sized bits of squash suspended in the custard that played very well with the crunch at the bottom. Great textures. Foie gras provided the richness in the dish, calamansi provided the needed lift on your palette, and the spices which seemed like a "pate spice" blend, brought it all together. I could eat bowl after bowl after bowl.

Next was a fun take on tortellini en brodo. Bentons ham, collard greens, and potlikker. Great pasta dish. All I can really say about this dish is that it's very whimsical. A classic dish with a very sharp 90 degree turn, making it into something completely its own. Turning potlikker into a broth with so much oomph is really something special.

The following course was our sweetbreads which were accompanied by a surprise dish of gnocchi with brown butter. At this point in the meal we had started chatting with the diners on both sides of us and were having a 3 table conversation about life, where people were from, etc. I have trouble recalling this dish in its entirety: however, I do know that we had sherry for this pairing and I have never had such a damn good pairing with sherry in my life.

As we continued to talk to our new friends on each side of us our table was cleared, we were reset, given our next glass of wine, but where was our food? PEOPLE, we were sat at the 6pm seating of a tasting menu. Chef and front of house do not want you to linger and hang out, they have to have your table ready for the next seating at 8:30pm. With that being said, our food did not show up while we were talking to our friends. This is one of those truly magical things that happens in restaurants that are of a certain caliber. For our server to notice that we were enjoying conversation with those around us, communicate with the kitchen that the next course needed to hold for a few moments longer, and then time that communication again with the kitchen to fire our food, REPSECT. Being a boh person I do apologize to kitchen, I know this makes your next pick ups heavier.

Well google says no more words... GO eat,...

Unfortunately…….I write this morning saddened, still shocked and in total disbelief at what I experienced Friday evening July 30, 2021 at FRI SAT SUN.

“IT DOES NOT MATTER, I can’t have this” a direct comment made multiple times by CHAD WILLIAMS - Proprietor • Chef as listed on his upscale business card.

My girlfriend and I met for the very first time, exactly two years ago last night, at this restaurant. We stopped in last Saturday to reminisce and enjoy a cocktail while in the city. We decided then to come back last night to celebrate our anniversary.

We mentioned this to the bartender at that time and were impressed upon arrival, to notice from a distance, he had a spot set aside for us at the bar.

From here our experience totally changed.

We have a well kept, very small service dog. He accompanies us everywhere we go. The hostess initially greeted us with “we don’t allow dogs in our restaurant”. We explained and presented his service dog license. It is clearly displayed on his harness, mentioned our positive experience last week and that he was with us. We then proceed to the bar where our place settings rest and greeted by the bartender “see I did not forget you were coming back, welcome and what may I get you to drink”. We were truly impressed! He already knew about our special evening as we were prepared and looking forward to experiencing the $130 per person, food tasting menu.

Within minutes, Mr. Williams approaches my girlfriend with the quote I reference above and accuses her of trying to hide our service dog under her dinner napkin. Might I remind you that our dog is small, resting peacefully and used to sitting on her lap, as to not draw attention if he were on the floor. He’s so small and docile that you can’t notice him unless you know that he’s there.

We begin to explain in a professional and respectful manner that the law protects and allows rights to anyone having a service dog. Our intent was to educate Mr. Williams. We once again showed him our dogs license, receiving the same push back of “I CAN’T HAVE THIS AND IT DOES NOT MATTER”. I’d like to mention Mr. Williams was soft spoken but not at all interested in hearing what we wanted to share with him until I mentioned writing a review.

At this time I decided to leave, my girlfriend was very upset and our evening was ruined. Not by missing out on a meal, rather by the position and manner in which the OWNER of a High end, distinguished restaurant took as to be so ignorant and disrespectful of the rights that SHOULD protect those with service animals.

My girlfriend and I are professionals operating business in the area. We both are experiencing and highly aware of the operational challenges all businesses face today. We also believe in supporting small, family focused business. I do not write in an effort to harm, yet simply to share our disappointing experience.

We also know the power of a review, respect that power and only post positive reviews. This time our poor experience at the hands of the owner can not be overlooked as in can impact someone attempting to visit this restaurant in the future.

We also know the power and term, “word of mouth”. We will share our disappointing experience at Fri Sat Sun, only with the intent to advancing the RIGHTS of those with service animals.

We ended up at a restaurant named: BRONZINO ITALIAN RISTORANTE 261 S. 17th Street Food was incredible along with a charming courtyard in the back of the restaurant, just a few blocks away from Fri Sat Sun. They even brought a bowl of water out for our service dog and welcomed him. Might I add…..BRANZINO has the same type pedigree, just educated and acceptant.

I truly wish I did not have to share this, but was so disturbed that I had no other choice. I truly wish Fri Sat Sun...

Friday Saturday Sunday- Philadelphia, PA- 3.75- Stars

The City of Brotherly Love is known for several things, such as being the hometown of Benjamin Franklin, putting a jersey on William Penn's statue during playoff runs and for throwing snowballs at Santa while he was visiting an Eagles game. However, during my time here, and I know this is no secret but, I have also come to realize that Philly should be better known for some damn fine eating establishments as well! Frangelli's comes to mind (if you have never had a franolli get thee hence--pronto!) and my current subject of review, the restaurant with the three-day name, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday is conveniently located in the old neighborhood just west of Rittenhouse Square on the corner of Rittenhouse and 21st. Having been open since 2016, they are quickly making a name for themselves in and out of the neighborhood. Upon entering I was slightly taken aback by how small the dining area was, it's just a tiny room (make a reservation). After being led to our table and handed a menu I noticed the place felt bigger than it looked. Glancing at the walls, I attributed this to the scenes depicted throughout the establishment. With big, sweeping landscapes, they lent an air of openness to an otherwise cramped space.

We were soon approached by a fantastic human by the name of Layton who came to take our order. Layton was well groomed, professional in his approach and had a fantastic personality. After a few minutes just enjoying his engaging personality, I put in an order for a $413 Million Dollar Baby cocktail, Shrimp Cocktail, Chicken Liver Mousse, and Lobster. It wasn't long before Layton returned with my cocktail, and what a cocktail it was. This cocktail is an ingenious concoction of Scotch, Oloroso Sherry and lemon-coriander shrub. The result was a massive depth of layered notes of goodness.

After allowing me ample time to savor the delightful drink in front of me, Layton returned with our food. As one can see by the posted pictures, the presentation was flawless and the plates looked like works of gastronomical art. The bread was fresh, warm and had just the right amount of chewiness to crust as one would find in any fine dining place in Paris, New York, or Los Angeles. The Shrimp Cocktail came with some of the biggest, sweetest, freshest tasting prawns I have had. The homemade cocktail sauce contained notes of horseradish, red pepper, fresh tomato and was absolutely to die for. The Chicken Liver Mousse looked like Braunschweiger but tasted even creamier. The side of Carrot Confit (made of several varieties of the tuber) was cooked unevenly and not pleasant to eat. The date molasses threw the dish out of balance.

This brings us to the final item in our order and the last to be reviewed, the plate of Lobster with green garden dashi and parsnips. The huge chunks of Lobster meat were luscious and presented flawlessly, the parsnip purèe was a pure delight on the palate. If there was any drawback to be found in this course of crustacean it was that I found the reduction sauce to be ever so slightly lacking in flavor. The depth and complexities of flavors found throughout our meal, from my opening cocktail to the Chicken liver had set the bar high and I was expecting to be blown away by the sauce. Alas, I was not. It was good, just not what I had come to expect from the previous items.

The Big Boy says, "For amazing, complex drinks, Slightly Above Average eats and awesome service you can't go wrong with a stop at Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Sadly, I found out no matter how much you try, you can't stay for three whole days. Something about table turnover..." #iamthebigboy...