Jack's Firehouse — Restaurant in Philadelphia

After taking a tour through one of the local museums we worked up an appetite. Jacks was in walking distance and after looking at the menu online everything looked great. Me and the wife went inside and was kind of lost due to the fact the hostess stand is in the middle of the restaurant. After finding it we requested a table outside we were told there were no tables for two outside but there was one inside. No big deal, we took it and was looking forward to a decent meal. We were told at the hostess stand we were only allowed to be at the table for an hour and a half or so. After being seated we were allotted time to look over the menu. We noticed there was a large party adjacent from us. It was at least 15-20 minutes. Before we were asked what we would like to drink. I ordered a sprite and my wife ordered a glass of Rosè along with an appetizer. Another 15 minutes went by and we got our drinks. I received a small glass bottle of sprite that contained approximately two drinks at most. The appetizer came out cold but was still tasty. We were looking forward to our meal. My wife ordered the chicken with Mac n cheese and succotash and I ordered a Philly cheese steak with sauteed mushrooms added. After another 45 minutes or so the food came out. Due to the fact it took so long for the food to come out we were sent out 4 bite sized corn muffins with some butter and some kind of sour cherries. Finally the food came! My wife's said the skin of the chicken was good but the chicken itself tasted as if we're boiled with no seasoning. The Mac n cheese was very bland and was very buttery. It took a lot of salt and pepper to make it flavorful. My sandwich came out and the waitress made sure to tell me that the sauteed mushrooms were added however they were harder to find than the oak island treasure and the fries were very bland again with no seasoning. We weren't checked in with until we were almost finished with the meal and I had no refill of my drink until that time so I was brought out another glass bottle of sprite containing about 2 drinks. And my wife ordered one of those small bottles of sprite as well. Keep in mind this is a restaurant with a $$ rating on Google which would put it within athe Applebee's or Texas roadhouse price range. When we finally received the bill I was shocked to see we were charged for each sprite individually at over 3.00 each. They automatically added a 20% gratuity no matter the party size and the bill was 99.00 and change. I sat there for another 15 minutes waiting on our server to collect the check and we seen no sight of her so we walked up to the hostess counter with the check. Our hostess came out and seen us standing there and collected the check as she was walking away she said "let me see, I forgot" I was puzzled. She came back with the receipt for me to sign and of course there was an additional tip section after being charged that much for a meal and a 20% gratuity added along with very slow service even with a large group, I promptly crossed that line out...

I want to like this place, but Jack's Firehouse was a disappointment to me.

Let me start off with describing the location. Obviously it's a 19th century firehouse that's been restored. It has a great look. The large front doors open and ventilate the entire restaurant during the spring & summer. This is where the tables start. If you want to eat outdoors, they have tables out front on the sidewalk and on the side of the building in a little shaded courtyard. Just inside the double doors are a few more tables and then a large 360 degree bar is located in the center of the room with an old row boat hanging above. It looks pretty cool, especially all the dark wood work. Behind the bar is another dining area and they also have a private room for party's. The place looks great. Unfortunately it stops there.

We had just spent 2 hours across the street touring the Eastern State Penitentiary and we were starving. Upon arriving were seated immediately and opted to sit out front since it was so nice out. The inside was empty and the outdoor tables were about half full. They also seemed well staffed. You would think we would have had fast impeccable service. We didn't. In fact I'm pretty sure our waitress forgot about us several times.

Our waitress brought us a plate with two buttermilk rolls and corn bread cake. This also came with a severing of a raspberry preserve and some sweet butter. This was decent.

Once our orders finally arrived about 30 minutes later I found mine was not prepared as I requested. I asked for a medium well burger with Cheddar and received well done with White American Cheese. Can you say say dry? My companion's was also well done. However we didn't send it back. They were so slow we figured the burgers wouldn't return until the sun went down. We had to ask for mustard and ketchup and that took the waitress almost another 10 minutes. We also had to ask for refills on a drinks as well. Last but not least the fries. They were the 'fresh cut' variety however it seems we had the bottom of the fry basket. All of the fries were terribly small and appeared to have been cooked several times.

I've had worse in other places, but I definitely expect better when I come to a place like this. Especially when there's no dinner rush or anything going on that would cause delays or mistakes.

Once the meal was over we waited for what seemed like forever for the check and the place still wasn't even a quarter full. Next time I'm in town, I'll try...

Pros: convenient location across the street from the penitentiary. beautiful building inside and out with vintage charm and pleasant ambiance. complimentary buttermilk biscuits and mini-cornbread muffins with butter and cherry compote.

Cons: ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING ELSE.

We dined in the early afternoon on a Saturday. Brunch was the only menu offered. In our party of six, everyone left disappointed and shocked/slightly angry at how bad our experience was.

Our server was kind of annoying, seemed a bit off his game, and was less than attentive. We had to ask for our second round of water. Thank goodness for those complimentary biscuits and muffins because it took about 45 minutes to get our food.

My mom and I had ordered the spinach salad with anjou pear, feta, and champagne vinaigrette topped with roasted chicken (which was an additional $4). My husband and sister each ordered the firehouse cheeseburger, and my two brothers had the blueberry pancakes and french toast. We also had a half-dozen of oysters on the half-shell, which were good.

The salads were, by far, the worst item we received. A meager portion of baby spinach was scattered over a regular-size dinner plate; on the side were four small strips of chicken so hard we could barely bite them. A few strings of tasteless shredded pear sat on top. I think we each spotted two or three crumbles of feta, and as far as we could tell, this “champagne vinaigrette” was a skimpy drizzle of olive oil. Luckily, my husband got some honey mustard with his burger so we poured some over our salads to at least give them some flavor. I doubt I’ve ever been so ripped off on a meal.

The burgers were decently sized but charred (ordered medium well), and both the pancakes and French toast were so dry even extra syrup couldn’t redeem them.

When it came time to pay, the server couldn’t split the check based on parties and items ordered, instead offering to divide the check evenly three ways. So my sister, who had ordered only a $15 burger, had to pay $35 for her meal.

We couldn’t get out of there fast enough. Not only were we out $100+, we lost about an hour-and-a-half of valuable sightseeing time. This was definitely one of my worst dining...