LeBus East Falls — Restaurant in Philadelphia

Accessibility Notes:  The restaurant is carved out of old city buildings, which presents access issues for people with disabilities. The entrance is awkward if you use a wheelchair. It slopes up to the door sill with no level landing.  See photo.

Once inside, the waiting area is small and narrowed by bread baskets (mind you, the bread is great). If you have to wait, and you probably will, a wheelchair will block the only entrance/exit. If you go further into the restaurant to wait, you will either block the hall to the bathroom, or be in the area where servers pick up food from the open kitchen.

There is a restroom marked as wheelchair accessible, but it was in use, so I did not take a photo.

There are only 2 four-tops available for people who use wheelchairs or cannot nevotiate steps. The accessible tables are right beyond the entrance, across from the open kitchen. The rest of the restaurant and the bar is reached by going down 3 steps. There are more steps up to an elevated rear dining area and the door to the outdoor seating area.

I make accessibility comments in every review. Not singling out LeBus. People with disabilities want to know if they can be accomodated.

Service:  We arrived about 11 am on a Saturday. Party of 2. There were already a 2 and a 3 in the tiny waiting area. A 5 w/reservation arrived. Pushed me toward the open kitchen pick-up, where I could inspect the half-dead basil and parsley in a glass of seriously unappetizing green water - down-side of an open kitchen.

What was the host doing? Slowly figuring out how to receive a phone order for take-out, which he had not previously done. Eventually, he looked up the twelve of us tried to figure out who was who. The 5 were seated first, so make a reservation. The rest of us had to tell him several times that he had a 3, a 2 and a 2. He didn't seem to have a hosting app, whiteboard, or paper seating system. Tables were found when a woman in blue started helping him. Suggestion: assign a server to receive take-out orders, since they know the menu and ordering software.

Once seated, table service was better. You get a bottle of still water and a great bread basket immediately. Slices of baguette, raisin, and multi-grain. We were waited on promptly, the server knew the food, and we didnt wait long for it to appear.

Food: I wanted so much to like this place. I got scrambled eggs with toast, brunch potatoes, and sausage ($12). A side of corn pudding.  My companion got Eggs Benedict with Pulled Brisket ($13).  The eggs and toast were fine. The potatoes were very tasty. Thick slabs with nice crisply fried surfaces that taste of beef fat.

The sausage may be the worst I ever had. A dry over-cooked patty that fell into crumbs when touched with a fork. I picked up crumbs with my fingers. Utterly flavorless. Unseasoned. Plain ground pork with the life cooked out of it. Someone doesn't grasp sausage as a concept.

But it was the corn pudding that broke me. I picked a simple breakfast just to get the side of corn pudding. I love corn things. Pone, spoonbread, torte, griddlecakes, fritters, grits, polenta, muffins, on-the-cob, corn salsa, corn casserole, you corn name it. Pudding implies a certain custardy moistness. This was shaped like a small souffle, looked light and airy when cut open - I hoped maybe like a popover. But no. Dry, bland, flavorless, and spongy. With canned corn kernels - at the height of summer corn season!? I tried salting it. Just too sad to eat.

The tables are not set with salt and pepper shakers. You have to flag someone down and ask for them. That implies the chef is confident in the seasoning. Please, just start putting them on every table. Every blessed table. Hot sauce might help, too.

We got a chocolate croissant to go and split it on the way to the car. Delicious and buttery and wonderful.

Bread is your superpower. Sausage is your crime against humanity. Find someone that knows what to do with a pig and buy...

We had a pretty dissapppointing time at Le Bus. We made a reservation for Sunday brunch as we were turned away from dinner a prior evening night. When we showed up we still had to wait about 15 minutes until they figured out the seating arrangements.

Everything seemed rushed and not put together properly. The hostess sat us and gave us menus and then asked what we wanted to eat all within about two minutes. It was obvious that we didn’t have a waiter/waitress. We ordered the first thing we saw as we didn’t have time to actually read the menu. She took our drink order as well and then she was gone.

We were oddly sitting in the waiting area and had people standing next to our table the entire time. As we sat there, we could see plenty of open tables and didn’t understand why so many people were waiting. It was so disorganized. It became apparent that not enough people were working and that they were all in a panic.

All of our food came out at the same time. Appetizers, entrees and drinks. We sat there for 30 minutes without anything. We had ordered a meal off of the children’s menu and it came with different items then those listed in the menu, so we had to wait for the right stuff to be made.

The hostess attempted really hard to make it seam like our table wasn’t an afterthought, but overall I feel like it was a waste of time and money. I really wanted to be within walking distance of a great restaurant, but right now I feel like it is just as undesirable as the crappy Mexican restaurant that used to be there.

I’ll give it a few months and try again, but $60 for brunch for two adults and a 3 year old without alcohol is a crazy price for a terrible time and an obvious lack of coordination. Maybe they rushed the opening. It really sucked to wait until almost noon to eat breakfast.

Ps. Stuffed French toast...

Three of us went last Friday evening. Place was only two-thirds full. Shore weekend, I suppose. The welcome was not great. One group in front of us and one behind us. The host stand is so close to the door that the group behind us was right up against the door. Another group arriving would have had to wait outside. Either move the host stand further from the door or train your host to invite people to step further inside.

The host seated the party in front of us, and then disappeared. Probably waited 90 seconds for her to return. May not seem like much, but the place was definitely not busy. Then we got no welcome or hello. Just “How many?”

Service was pretty abysmal. Our server was nice enough, but not professional. I asked her for the cocktail with the French name, and she looked at me like I had two heads. I had to say it again and point to it on the menu.

The three of us ordered, and minutes later she brought out two entrees. She didn’t say a thing abour the third entree and walked away. I had to wait 5 minutes for the bartender to finally bring my burger. No explanation or apology.

Server finally reappeared. I asked for a Belgian bottled beer from the menu. Again she looked at me like I was crazy. I had to point to it on the menu. She walked away. Three minutes later she comes back to refill our waters. I asked about my beer. “Oh I put the order in.” She walked away.

Three or four minutes later she comes back with my drink. Why does it take seven minutes to get a bottled beer on a slow night? If this place isn’t making a profit, that’s why.

Staff here reallly needs more training. The food was okay, but the poor experience took away from the food. Walked out $94 later. I’ve had better service during $15...