Revolution House — Restaurant in Philadelphia

Disappointing Experience – Won’t Be Returning

After a long walk, we decided to take a short break and grab a drink. We were drawn in by the happy hour sign outside, as it was within the happy hour timeframe. However, as soon as we entered, we were told by an employee that happy hour only applies at the bar, which was quite misleading. This important detail should really be listed clearly on the sign outside.

Despite that, we decided to stay and were seated at a table. I noticed on the menu that a 20% gratuity is automatically added for groups of 5 or more. Fair enough. The server asked if we wanted food, and we immediately told him we had just eaten and were only there for drinks. His response was a bit awkward—he said most people order food and while he was okay with us just having drinks, his manager might not be. That made us uncomfortable. We even said we’d leave if it would be a problem, especially since the hostess hadn’t asked whether we’d be dining or just drinking. He insisted it was fine and we stayed.

Then it got weirder. About five minutes after getting our drinks, the server returned to ask if we wanted shots (we didn’t). Then around 15 minutes later—while we were still finishing our first drinks—he asked if we wanted another round. We said no, and mentioned we’d be leaving soon. His response? “Okay, I’ll bring you the check.” It felt like he was eager to get rid of us.

And the final surprise: a 20% gratuity was added to our bill—even though we were a group of four, not five or more.

All in all, this was a poor experience. While the waiter’s attitude was the main issue, management also shares some of the blame for unclear policies and lack of communication. We won’t be...

I gave this place four tries to make up for the first one. First, a few positives: the food is amazing; many of the staff, especially the bar tenders, are amazing; I have never had a bad beer here and they rotate all the time.

But I was so unbelievably disappointed with some of the staff, and both times it happened when we asked if we could sit on the deck upstairs. The first time, they scoffed when they asked if we were eating and we said we were going to order a bunch of appetizers to share plus drinks... (The bill was $70+ for 3 people in the end). The next two times we sat at the bar and had a great experience. Now for the fourth visit, we asked for a table for 3, they brought us to a lower level table, we then asked to go upstairs and the hostess said you'll have to wait for at least 30 minutes. I knew from previous times that high tops upstairs are first come first serve so I said I might just check if one of those is available. She rolled her eyes in front of all of us and said "fine", gathered the menus and walked away. There was only one high top taken and 4 open tables on the deck, all available immediately according to the staff upstairs.

Again, I love the food, drinks and most of the staff here, but there is something seriously wrong with the hostess team or with the management directing their staff to push for downstairs over deck seating. I'm really not sure what it is exactly, but I've never seen...

Was good overall but had a mixed bag experience. First of all, nice prices for happy hour. The staff was nice enough to let me and my girlfriend sit in the enclosed upstairs deck even though no one else was up there. It had heaters and was comfortable. Very nice space. Until they turned off the heaters without telling us because after a while they didn’t want us there anymore because they wanted to close out the upstairs because no one else was there. So they decided to freeze us out 😅 very passive aggressive and not appreciated. As for food, Thai chili chicken wings were good. I didn’t care for the brussel sprouts because they were too saucy and not crispy enough, but my girlfriend liked them. The chicken tacos had decent flavor but they decided to serve them in the worst taco shell that was like a crispy cracker that just fell apart. Not a normal hard shell, not a soft corn or flour, but a hard flour cracker I guess? 🤷🏻‍♂️ if they changed the taco shell they would be pretty decent. Anyway it’s a pretty nice atmosphere and a great location. Upstairs is a nice bar and really...