Prunella — Restaurant in Philadelphia

Obligatory “I would give this place 0 stars if I could.” This place has been open for a few weeks now and having 100% faith in Michael Schulson restaurants and absolutely loving all his creations so far, I step into this dismay of a place dissatisfied and utterly insulted by the host (?) lady. First of all let me start with if you’re obsessed with tiny spaces, you’ll absolutely love this place. There is maybe 2 feet of space between the host’s desk and the bar/tables placed in an overcrowded fashion. They just may have to get a refund from their interior designer but that’s just a personal opinion. Objectively, the host was rude. I said hi and said I’m there for happy hour (supposedly 4-6). She said okay and waved me in. There were no tables available so since I didn’t feel right to wait in the 2 feet space of the entryway, I decided to go farther back into the bar area looking at the menu (bartender was super friendly, I have to say handed me the happy hour menu), waiting for my friend and possibly for a spot at the bar as one does naturally. Not even 5 minutes in, the uppity white host lady comes rushing telling me I can’t stand there and can’t even be there when there are no spaces at the bar. You know, the same host lady who waved me in when I said I’m here for happy hour. What was the disconnect here? I asked her if she wants me to leave. Mind you the happy hour was only available at the very limited/crowded bar and I was planning on having dinner at a restaurant able after. She says yes or I can go to the front and put my name down. I followed directions and put my name down and it’s safe to say it’s been HOURS (while the wait time was half hour) and I have yet to receive a call or test besides the confirmation text. They took us to a “lounge” outside which was literally a homeless haven. No like literally a homeless person was there and literally no others were to be found. How can this one MS restaurant be so different and inferior to the others? And in the vicinity of other MS restaurants? I’m perplexed. Strange indeed.

If you’ve made it this far, I highly recommend you go right across to “Charlie was a Sinner” and have a much better experience. People are nicer and the ambience/speakeasy vibe is far superior. The drinks and food...

I came here for happy hour and they said that people who came to happy hour were only able to sit at the bar or outside on the side walk on top of subway grates at a weird incline. My friends and I wanted to face each other so we decided to use a table. The table was at a 70 degree incline and the chairs were wet and the subway grate was blowing hot air but I was still trying to have a nice time and ignore that. Half way into my meal we heard a loud bang… thought it was a gun shot and I felt a large gust of heat and saw a flame right beneath my chair. Turns out a transformer from the train blew out under me. The staff immediately evacuated my Table and all of the surrounding tables. My friends were standing there in utter shock. The police and firefighters came to investigate since the boom was so loud and Smokey. Then they brought over the bill and I asked if it Was possible anything could be comped because of our terrible experience sitting over a subway grate that literally exploded during our dinner. The server said oh my gosh you’re right I’m so sorry but The manager came over and said they took off a drink which was 7$. No one said anything because we were all frankly traumatized by the explosion right under our seats and wanted to leave. It seems like the staff here or at least the manager cares more about saving money than treating customers with basic respect after they experienced a traumatic event after being sat over a subway grate (which definitely has the potential to be illegal) I doubt Philly is handing out passes for restaurants to have people sit over subway grates and cover the sidewalk. This is embarrassing especially for a restaurant company that usually strives to have a good restaurant experience for its customers. I would never go back here or to another restaurant owned by this management. Nor would I recommend this place to anyone else to go eat. No respect for customers that were injured at their facility. The food was also very average for how high their price point is. There are tons of other great restaurants in the area that have basic respect for their customers and their safety and much...

We arrived early and were told we would be seated promptly at our reservation time. We returned at the exact minute of the reservation and then had to wait another 15 minutes at the bar. The bar itself was cramped - we had to literally apologize every time we readjusted or stood up because other people had to also move around, lest we hit them. The bartender even made a comment that made it seem like this wasn't the first or last time this will happen.

During that time, I was never asked if I wanted a drink. My partner was asked while I was in the restroom, but no one circled back to me. While I was in the restroom changing into a sweater (I had been at a photoshoot just prior to my reservation), the door handle's lock clearly didn't work because a waiter opened the door on me. He clearly was embarrassed and immediately shut the door, but it wasn't exactly a welcome way to feel like I could return to the bathroom to pee later and be able to lock the door.

When we could sit down, we were also super close to other tables. I ordered a glass of pinot noir, which came relatively quickly but was honestly horrible. It tasted vinegary; my fiance agreed, so we sent it back. Our waiter was pleasant and apologetic but when I suggested a different glass, he suggested bringing the same wine from a different bottle. I agreed mostly because I didn't want to argue. The new glass didn't taste "old" but it was also just still not a good wine, let alone for the price.

The appetizer we had - chicken milanese - was good but not very interesting. We ordered the hot honey pizza, which was delicious. But both took a considerable amount of time to reach out table, and we didn't feel like waiting even longer for another dish, even though we were still hungry.

You would think that for so many errors and issues, something would be offered by way of apology - a complementary dessert, appetizer, something small. It was overall a deeply disappointing meal, and we won't be returning even though the main meal...