River Twice — Restaurant in Philadelphia

I’m going to be pretty blunt with my review and mind you, I’ve never reviewed a restaurant before so this was just a terrible food experience that I needed to share. If you’re thinking that this is going to be cruel, it is, but understand that my partner and I ate here in January and I’m now writing this review. It’s been on my mind for two months, so I’ve taken the time to write and think whether my actions are justified. This was not written in haste.

Before I rip into this meal, let me start by saying that the hostess/waitress were friendly and attentive. The food was executed perfectly, so the cooking staff were doing wonderful.

Now, why the one star? Every dish had little to no seasoning across the board. How do I explain the little seasoning in these dishes? Well, imagine making instant ramen and not using the sauce packet — just water and noodles. It was that bad.

The whole pre-fixe was forgettable. The underlying theme of the courses were, “where is the salt?” “This is not seasoned properly, blah blah.” I’m not asking to douse my pallet with salt, but there was no acid, sweetness, lacking of texture, etc. There were some dishes that we didn’t even touch after the first bite; the other dishes we finished were simply out of obligation.

Mid-way through the dinner, someone dining outdoors requested for salt and there was the “head chef” who was standing at the bar helping with expediting? I’m not sure what he was doing aside from drinking because he was standing on the side of the bar that wasn’t in the kitchen, but where the guests should be seated. Anyway, when he heard that a table asked for salt, he slammed the bar and jokingly shouted, “they want salt?!?!” Nervous laughter ensued by the staff and the guests in the restaurant.

This made us uncomfortable because we’ve had about 3-4 courses at this point and wanted to request for salt; however, our disposition changed when the 6th course came around. The 6th course was a wagyu dish and it had very little to no seasoning. My partner and I were fed up with the dishes being under-seasoned so we requested for salt — no fuss.

After we finished our “dinner” we went to a bar down the street to grab a burger there because we didn’t eat much. As we’re eating our burgers, the entire staff from the restaurant enter the same bar and sit in the back of the bar which is where we were. It was obvious they knew who we were as they stared/pointed, and I was enjoyably eating my burger because it was by and far the best thing I ate that night. Why am I bringing this up? Well, that same head chef was there with his staff and he was visibly stumbling from his table to the bar. I’m not here to speculate that he was drunk, so take that with a grain of ..salt.

Overall, you have to be blinded by your own arrogance to charge $100/person for a meal that poor. Once again, food was executed very well, so under seasoning was a purposeful move. I’m sure the reasoning is somewhere around “we want our guests to taste the freshness of ingredients blah blah”, but if a guest wants to enjoy their meal with salt, let them do it, don’t guilt-trip/shame them behind closed doors because you’re not fitting the bill. Before I sign off, $100 for a meal is not a bad thing, but you better come correct to justify the high expense. If a guest is coming to your restaurant, you have to understand that a $100 meal is a privilege to enjoy for them, and one that many can’t afford so this is a treat, a moment to feel special/accomplished.

Sadly, there’s nothing to feel special about...

I usually do not frequent Philadelphia but just so happened to be in the area with my wife and therefore I wanted to try something new for dinner. When I was searching for restaurants I came across River Twice, which was described as a seafood tasting menu utilizing French and Japanese techniques, I was sold! I did have trouble finding a reservation, however I luckily found a same-day 9:30 slot open on a Saturday night so I quickly grabbed it.

As we entered I noticed the restaurant was a small intimate space, which has a counter over seeing the kitchen. As someone who likes to cook myself, I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had two seats available at the counter. Once we settled in I took a look at the menu and immediately decided to get a few items to add onto their tasting menu. We opted for the bread course and the ultra-decadent bluefin tuna topped with Uni on Chawanmushi toast.

The bread course which came first was a solid hit. They get high quality sourdough bread from a local bakery, which was impeccably paired with Strachiatella cheese and an amazing Tomato Olive tapenade. Our next course was a refreshing bay scallop crudo paired with watercress puree. If I do have a critique on this course I would possible suggest a little more herbal flavoring, as the dill sprigs which came with the course were muted. Then came our optional course of Bluefin tuna toast. As expected you can't really go wrong when using such amazing ingredients, and while it cost $32, it was not exorbitant considering the quality of ingredients being used. The next course, sushi rice, was the highlight of the night for me. A bed of sushi rice, flavored with black vinegar and slightly crisped in a cast iron skillet is topped with a rich potato hollandaise, a piece of cured and smoky eel and then the chef topped it with Perigord Truffle. This dish was amazingly balanced as it had richness from the hollandaise, earthiness from the truffle, a salty component from the eel and the vinegar in the rice helped cut through everything. This was a Michelin star quality dish. We finished the savory courses with Halibut, on top of carrots and celeriac, in a sauce made with clam broth. This was a good course which was highlighted by the flavorful vegetables. The dessert course was a play on a creamsicle which has very nice textures and citrus flavors. They definitely captured the nostalgia of eating a creamsicle.

All in all it was a pleasant experience and I would recommend River Twice to anyone who enjoys seafood. While I do realize that $75 a person is not cheap and one might require a few extra courses, this is reasonable considering the high costs of good quality...

Oh my god! What?! Come on now! Are you kidding me?! My life has been changed!

All of the above were exclaimed last night in between bites at the Chef’s Counter at River Twice.

River Twice is the kind of restaurant that will ruin every other dining experience for you. It’s just dunking over the competition course after course. It’s not fair how good every aspect of this restaurant is. River Twice is truly special.

Special. For any special occasion, or if you just want to feel special, and you are fortunate enough to afford it, treat yourself to the Chef’s Counter menu with wine pairings by Ben and be prepared for a life-changing experience.

I won’t walk through every course, because I think the joy, the sheer joy, of this restaurant is its ability to surprise you with every bite (and sip).

If you have an adventurous spirit and palate and trust River Twice to take care of you (which you should), you will not be disappointed. There are few components and ingredients that my wife typically avoids or does not care for, but in River Twice’s hands they turn them into gold, and my wife is now a convert who can’t stop thinking about these dishes. Special. Life changing.

And Ben is a wizard with the wine pairings! Perfect every time. New (to us) and exciting wines that we would never have tried before. German wines? Rieslings?! He nailed it. I want Ben to follow me to every restaurant from now on and offer me the perfect pairing.

But that’s silly, because why would I eat at any other restaurant?

All of the staff and chefs behind the counter were incredibly friendly, knowledgeable, easy to talk with, and I hope they found enjoyment in our enjoyment of what they were putting out. We could’ve stayed for hours and chatted with them about food, art, French rap music, you name it.

We lived in NYC for ten years and ate at many “Good” restaurants during our time there, but never have we been so thoroughly delighted than at River Twice. I don’t know how they do all that they do out of that small kitchen. It’s miraculous.

That’s not true. It’s not a miracle. It’s a ton of hard work, excellent sourcing, years of experience, and trust in their team of collaborators.

Thank you River Twice. I hope you know how special you are.

And yes, the Mother Rucker is as good as everyone says it is....