My Loup — Restaurant in Philadelphia

We were very grateful that despite us making a snafu with our reservations, they were able to accommodate us! Thank You! Thank you!

The ambience was NOT hoity-toity. It was a nice casually relaxed lit Zen ambience. The staff attentively ebbed and flowed seemingly effortlessly throughout the space to their patrons. Never have I ever thought I would be enjoying cuisine while various tunes jammed soft in the background such as Indeep’s “Last Night a DJ Saved My Life“

We took on the Let Us Cook.

The bread came out, loved the sponginess, great crust; spectacular with their butter and those butter pickle chips! The next course was The pickled shrimp with aioli and a bit of basil on those saltine crackers; alongside an ample seafood tray. Everything super fresh! Each individual item on the seafood tray was good. The mussels creation abit too much vinegar? Maybe they wanted to fight with the pickled shrimp? We just cleansed our palettes between each item with our bread. Try some of that horseradish on your raw oysters! Can I say how I desperately wanted to crook my pinky finger sophisticated while demurely sipping my adorable little Bloody Mary shot with the cornichon pickle? The MOST MEMORABLE was the sea urchin! THIS was our favorite! From this point on, whenever I think of sea urchin, this creamy delicacy will pop into mind!

Our next course, several plates: a chilled dish of thinly sliced roast pork with bits of slivered crunchy celery a sprinkle of capers and a side of hot fries…devoured. A crab crueller. The mini clams casino with broccoli… delish(how the broccoli seemed a concentrated intensity without overwhelming the clams casino? Yes I noticed...I enjoyed that!)

Next course: braised rabbit with preserved summer tomatoes with a side of rice. If the food runner didn’t tell me that these little mini tomatoes were preserved, I would have mistaken them for fresh!

The rabbit was tender(not gamey). Each little tomato I took in were like warm bursts of sunshine making me yearn for summer!

Phew! Our server presented the dessert menu. We went for the citrus trifle and the chocolate cake. The citrus trifle was intense lemon-orange olive oil cake..it came for your tastebuds! The chocolate cake DON’T YOU DARE UNDERESTIMATE!! For ME It was the sophisticated rico-suave enigma…I was very pleasantly shocked! This is not your cliche chocolate cake. You a chocolate cake fan? Journey here and get this!

We waddled off super full of food and great memories! Advice…if you partake My Loup’s LET US COOK, do not eat anything prior(skip your lunch, perhaps have a nibble for breakfast.)

The food was great, but the food can’t carry itself! The most AWESOME SERVICE EVER! It is the pinnacle of what a team service should be! From the host and managers to the food runners the bartenders! You wanna know how to have servers run a restaurant proper go to My Loup and check it out!

This humble patron thanks you! Y’all go here!

my pictures will not do the food any justice.

PS: a week later was still talking...

So, had been VERY excited to try this restaurant. In general, my take on restaurants are that not only should the food be good, there should be excellent service, an atmosphere of conviviality for the patrons, including sound and environment, and value. Service was excellent, professional and thorough, particularly enjoyed Dmitri and the sommelier who assisted me with my wine questions. As far as atmosphere, it was cute. However, I don't understand the level of music in a restaurant that only has hard surfaces. If very loud music makes it more difficult to enjoy one's conversations with the people at the table, particularly if any are older (I literally had to re-tell my mother everything the server said). Thankfully, the volume did reduce after a time, but still, it just seems that there should be more sound absorbing materials so that folks don't have to shout and servers can be heard easily. Overall, we felt the value wasn't there for the entire package, i.e., food, wine, atmosphere. At a minimum of $100 per person, it felt disappointing. IMO, high prices do not make a restaurant a better quality. Specifically, the wine program has some wonderful selections, but has no wines under $50 (I recall only 1 option at $55). There are many excellent wines on the market that could be offered for less. Cocktails, we tried a total of 3 different cocktails (including 1 dessert cocktail), but found them to err on the side of sweet which although wasn't bad, wasn't that enjoyable in a 50/50 martini. Food: 3 of us shared everything we ordered. From the raw section: pickled shrimp had been over brined and therefore slightly tough. Didn't feel the brine actually enhanced the flavor of the shrimp either. Trout with favas, while the trout was excellent, we found the favas to be a bit too hard. 2nd course: bread was excellent, pickles were a gimmick. The "live" scallop... What can I say, we had quite a laugh about that the next day... One average sized scallop cut into several slices... I have had larger and sweeter when not live and not $19 for ONE. 3rd course: Halibut delicious, but over sauced for a delicate fish, the whole fluke for $85 was our favorite over all. The rhubarb dessert and half a glass of a dessert cocktail were both tasty. Again, this is my assessment and that of the other 2 people with whom I shared dinner. I have eaten in some of the best restaurants (and very expensive restaurants), including Lutece, Le Bernardin, Montrachet, Per Se, Michelin restaurants in Italy, France, etc., through the years. It pains me to feel as though restaurant reviews are being gauged on the costs of eating a meal. There are so many struggling restaurateurs who keep costs in line with value and consider the customer as more than one for special occasions, particularly in a casually...

Our first experience at My Loup had some very high and not so high moments.

First, the food is DELICIOUS. From the raw bar we had a fluke crudo that was seasoned/dressed in a way that just melted in the mouth, as well as delicate pickled shrimp that was not afraid to be paired with pre-packaged saltine crackers. Dope. We also had 3 small plates that were solid -- ham and cheese croquettes (wish they were a little bigger for the price), clams casino (same thing), and bone marrow that was absolutely amazing on the extra sour sourdough. For dessert we had a wonderful Hazelnut profiterole that capped the meal off perfectly.

The drinks were also lovely -- it was my husband's bday so we splurged for the agave vesper, which was like a delicious tequlia martini. So smooth, and yummy (and apparently ethically sourced which is what drives most of the price)!

We were mostly happy with the service, but not one person came over to ask how any of our food tasted until after we had finished the plates, and while we did enjoy the fact that all of the small plates were coursed out for us, there was an error with our last plate and we ended up waiting over 20 mins for the correct item to come. There were also several times where we tried to get the attention of our server but they were often talking to the host near the door instead of looking around to see if any guests needed them.,

The thing we were least happy with was the ambience/table location. We were placed right next to the bar, and for nearly 1/3 of the meal one of the bartenders was cleaning glasses literally one foot away from us (not exaggerating). So in the same way that you feel you have to stop your conversation when a server comes over, every time she came to clean the glasses we felt we had to stop our conversation or she would hear all of it. Also, servers kept coming up right behind me to talk to that bartender and/or grab drinks from her. It's not an exaggeration to say that I felt like servers were on top of us nearly the whole meal, and yet no one was checking in to see how WE were doing (except when the one bartender asked how our $32 cocktail turned out).

This summer we had the BEST Philly dining experience of our lives at Her Place Supper Club, and I was expecting more of the same from My Loup. While I won't dock any stars from my review because this place has tons of potential, I would definitely recommend they rethink that table right next to the bar, and I will definitely ask for a seat in the dining...