Restaurant Aleksandar — Restaurant in Philadelphia

Had chief's taste menu for $70 a person. Comes with 4 courses. Closes at 11pm. Went at 7:30pm. First course, tomato soup. Tasted like it's from a can, nothing special. Portion size is small ($16, a la carte), partner had devils "eggs", just 1 egg cut in 2. Taste was nothing special ($12, a la carte). Second course, wanted charred octopus, but they ran out. So I ordered PEL mussels. After ordering, I was told they ran out. This is at 8pm, 3 hrs before closing. So I ordered the beef tartare. Not too bad but over priced for it (was the best thing I ate). Partner had Salmon Carpaccio. It was not bad. It was 4 thin slices of salmon with a few leaves, tomato, super thin cucumber and lemon, ($17, a la carte). Main course, I had Prime Strip ($45, a la carte). Very disappointed. 4 slices of 1inchx1inchx0.5inch cuts of steak. Tasted like it was burnt outside and that's it. Three 2inch broccoli rabes and a small potato. Potato was the star of the dish. It had a crispy, salty outside. Inside was just plain potato. So $10 a slice of steak and $5 for a small potato and part of a broccoli rabe. Partner had Seafood Linguine El Nero, better but not great. Mussels tasted very oceanic...like it was boiled just enough to open their shell and tossed into the sauce for 1 second. Squid ink pasta was well cooked, but sauce was nothing special. Most of what I tasted was the ocean flavored mussels. Not sure if that's what they were going for. Cocktails, I got two drinks. "One Sip at a Time" and "Midnight at Budapest". One Sip at a Time was not smokey, the apple wood was burnt at my table and there was barely any smoke. Went away after 3 seconds. I didn't like it much, but it was mostly whiskey flavored with a hint of sweetness. If you like rye whiskey, it tasted like a cheap one, but not terrible, but not great. I was expecting smokiness, but it was a miss. Midnight at Budapest, not my kind of cocktail and very watered down. I sobered up from this drink. It has sugar along the side of the cup, rim to bottom. Not sure if they wanted me to lick my cup or what. I had to wipe my hand often from grabbing the cup. This drink was not to my liking, a bit...bitter?... Cannot put my thumb on the flavor but maybe someone will like it, so I'll say it's ok. Dessert, I had cheesecake and partner had chocolate cake. Cheesecake was....a cheesecake. It was about half an inch thick (probably was a 20th of the whole cake) it laid on its side with 3 blueberries and small mints leaves. It was doused with carmel and chocolate sauce. Tasted like it was from a cheap supermarket. Chocolate cake was 1.5inchx1.5inchx1inch thick. It was dry, had 3 blueberries and some small mint leaves and also covered with carmel and chocolate. Not good. Service was not great. I can tell she was a nice person, but did not do much for service. Forgot who had what food, never came back with water that we requested, did not come check on us. I think it is a trick waitresses do to seem not so bad by trying to have a small 2 sentence chat at the very end of the meal to try and get a little more tip....which is what my waitress did. She seemed nice cause of it, but does not make up for service. I was given a butter knife while my partner got the steak knife. Had to swap plates twice out of the 4 courses. I told her the cocktails were not good when she talked to me, but when she came back with the check, she tells me that she hopes I come back for the "delicious" cocktails. So I can't tell if she was even listening to what I said. One other thing that is not the fault of the restaurant, but the larger party next to us was obnoxiously loud and some had really high pitch voices that would hurt your ears. Not just our table, but we saw other tables stare hard at that their table every time they got super loud. The loud table paid no mind because they were a bit drunk and were having a girls night out. Overall, nothing good, over priced, poor service, stay away. My total was $189.70...

My friends and I went here for New Year’s Eve dinner and it was a major letdown in terms of the food and service. We did the Chef’s Tasting Menu ($120/person) and the additional wine pairing ($90/person). With a price point this high, I expected the food, service, and overall experience to be of quality, especially for a NYE dinner.

The Chef’s Tasting Menu was a five-course meal, which was SUPPOSED to be paired with five different wines. However, each course did NOT come paired with a wine. We actually got to the last course (dessert) and were still missing three wines, which is unacceptable. Even worse, our waiter rudely put down the check on the table and even acknowledged that we still had three wines coming and was just leaving the check in the meantime. I had two big problems with this. 1. How does a food establishment expect its diners to pay WITHOUT serving all food/drinks that were promised? 2) It seemed like we were being rushed out when we had made a reservation for a HOLIDAY DINNER.

The shift manager or GM came to pick up our checks shortly after, and we expressed that we were still waiting for our last three wines (and that our waiter was aware of this). The shift manager or GM apologized and told us that our remaining drinks would be coming out right away. He then asked us if we could move to the bar area in the meantime, which we absolutely refused since again, we had made a table reservation for NYE dinner! It wasn’t our fault that our drinks were slow to arrive, and now we were being asked to move to the bar area to free up space essentially? Absolutely not.

The shift manager or GM was apologetic again and said that part of our checks would be comped. This did NOT happen. He came back later with our three remaining wines, which included the Moet rose champagne (listed as the fifth course wine pairing). However, he very enthusiastically expressed that the mini Moët champagne bottles were on the house for the poor service when the MOËT CHAMPAGNE IS PART OF THE WINE PAIRING MENU THAT WE PAID FOR. This “nice gesture” was basically a scam.

Lastly, overall, the food was not good. The Norwegian king crab that I had for my first course was very over cooked to the point that the crab’s texture was rubbery. The knife could barely cut through it. I got the sea urchin bucatini for my third course, and the noodles were sticking together and clumpy, which again is completely unacceptable. The wild stripped bass (fourth course) tasted very gamey and unseasoned to the point that my friends and I could not eat the course at all. The only quality course was the second course, specifically the scallops.

Between courses, silverware was not replenished efficiently. Multiple times, our courses were served with no silverware. We physically could not eat until we got the attention of our waiter and requested for silverware. In addition, a worker spilled a glass of water at our table, which got all over my coat.

My friends and I were very disappointed with our experience here and would not recommend this place at all. We left with a bad taste in our mouth (literally and...

$100 (per person) can buy you a lot of things, such as: 25ish oysters, 8ish bowls of pho, or 66 and 2/3 Costco hot dogs. In this case, it bought us a subpar restaurant week dinner.

My recent dining experience at Restaurant Aleksander in Philadelphia, particularly during restaurant week, left much to be desired. Despite the allure of a special menu, the overall impression was far from satisfactory, and for the price paid, it simply did not live up to expectations.

The discomfort started with the seating; the chairs were notably uncomfortable, making it challenging to fully enjoy the meal. Moreover, the bathroom was an unexpected source of discomfort due to its excessive heat, creating an unpleasant environment that detracted from the dining experience.

Moving on to the culinary aspect, the appetizers were a letdown, lacking the expected depth of flavor. The disappointment continued with the main courses – the lamb chops were disproportionately fatty, leaving little meat to savor, and the sea bass proved to be surprisingly bland. These shortcomings were particularly disheartening given the anticipation that comes with trying diverse dishes during restaurant week.

Dessert did not fare any better. The pannacotta, advertised as a creamy delight, turned out to be more akin to a basic parfait, falling short of the promised indulgence. The tiramisu, a classic Italian treat, tasted as if it had been prepared days prior, lacking the freshness and rich flavors one would expect.

Even the cocktails failed to elevate the experience, lacking the vibrancy and complexity that can enhance a dining experience. Considering the sum total of these disappointments, the value for the price paid during restaurant week was conspicuously absent. This experience has left me with reservations about returning to Restaurant Aleksander, as the overall quality and comfort did not align with the expectations associated with a special dining occasion. In hindsight, the choice to dine there during restaurant week did not prove to be a wise investment, and it's safe to say that I would not consider revisiting in the future.

Despite the culinary letdowns, it's worth noting that the one redeeming aspect of my visit to Restaurant Aleksander was the friendly and attentive waitstaff. The servers were genuinely warm and accommodating, going out of their way to ensure a pleasant dining experience. Their friendliness provided a contrast to the disappointments in other aspects of the evening, offering a glimmer of positivity. While the waitstaff's efforts were appreciated, unfortunately, their amiable service alone could not fully compensate for the shortcomings in the overall...