Rouge — Restaurant in Philadelphia

I had a reservation at this restaurant on May 5th 2018. I drove nearly 50 miles to enjoy one of their excellent hamburgers that I've had several times before. When I got there everything was perfect they gave me a nice seat on the window. However there was a very large group of what I will consider to be locals and regulars in the restaurant that were very very loud in particular a very loud woman with an amazingly annoying voice. They were clearly disturbing other people in the room because I saw several people look back at the group every time she made a loud laugh or loud boisterous Outburst of some sort. I very politely ask the waiter if the manager could ask them to quiet down just a bit. Mind you now I understand that this is a somewhat loud restaurant but this was clearly over the top. When the very very polite waiter came back over he said to me that the manager told him that they were regulars and VIPs and Friends of the owner and that there was nothing that could be done. He was very sorry because he knew that the group was disturbing other people.

I was pissed, I told the waiter to have the manager come over cuz I wanted to talk to him when the manager came over he definitely tried to cover up saying what he said but I knew because he didn't deny that was the case I confronted him and told him that I can't believe they would allow someone to be that loud in the restaurant. Although the manager was very polite he apologized several times but none the less I think he initially said that and then he subsequently went back to the group and ask them to move and they complied.

All I can tell you is the manager definitely didn't want to cause his VIP group no matter who they are to be uncomfortable unless somebody forces hand.

I'm not saying that I won't go back to the restaurant because this was a unique experience all I'm saying is the manager clearly has some VIPs that he thinks are more important than other paying customers. These snooty Little manager types need to watch what they say because customers like me hit them in the pocket when we don't come back to the restaurant anymore or when we write a nasty review like this.

The manager was a little skinny scrawny snot-nosed 35 year old kid. At least in the end he did give me my beer for free but none-the-less be on the alert when you go to this restaurant to make sure you get...

On a cold windy night, we found our way in Rouge on Rittenhouse Square. Having walked by this place many times, I was never really impressed with their front, but inside, the atmosphere is warm and cozy.

The first dish that was served up was the French onion soup with gruyere and provolone. I didn't have this, but word is it was good. I had the King Salmon - a nicely cooked filet of salmon laid on top of a mixture of kale and red quinoa. The salmon was delicious, but the kale and quinoa were mediocre at best with little to no flavor. I asked for the dish without the honey-mustard sauce since I'm not a fan of mustard, so that may had altered the intended flavor profile. I did ask if they could substitue the mustard sauce with something else, but was basically told there wasn't a substitute. I had a bite of the Seafood Risotto, which tasted fresh and flavorful, unlike my kale. We also shared the truffle parmesan pommes frites - come on, you know nothing with truffle oil can go wrong.

For dessert, we had the olive oil lemon cake served with vanilla gelato and cherry (?) spread. We didn't taste much of the vanilla in the vanilla gelato, but this only made the flavor of the olive oil lemon cake stand out even more. We also had the ice cream sliders - two of which were light and delightful, the third one (peanut butter) was the unwanted third wheel with no contrast in flavor and heavy to the palate.

Overall, the food was great; however, there were a couple misses. First, we each had a small plate and a butter knife, but no one brought out any bread. After the French onion soup was served, we had to flag down one of the waiters to bring over the bread. Second, the outer layer of the risotto came out cold, and needed to be mixed up to distribute the inner heat out. Third, it would had been great if the kitchen tossed the fries and truffle parmesan first, rather than just sprinkling the parmesan on top (which means by the time you get to the fries at the bottom, they're just plain old fries). So, no big mistakes that can't easily be fixed. In the words of a terminator,...

Usually I am not a review writer, but event that happen to me at Rouge on august 18th couldn't be just ignored. I don't know how to write it nicely or properly, so I will just explain what happened. Me and my friend ordered a bottle of Clicquot ( champagne) and we got a chance to sit at the corner table. Bottle was just opened and only one glass poured, so obviously bottle is almost full. After like 15-20 min I wanted to step outside for a fresh air and after like 5 minutes we came back. Our table was taken champagne gone, and manager name Russ ( I hope I spell it correctly) literally kicked us out. First of all I would like to say, he's appearance wasn't professional. Not the way he was dressed not the way he was talking to us. He held two glasses of unknown substance, which he claimed was our champagne! and when I refuse to take those drinks and would like to have that situation resolved, because the only one reason why I was there is to have a wonderful time, but instead he yelled at me and said that he will refund us and he want us to get out. quote " I will give you money back and get out of here" My heart sinked. This unfortunate event won't make me come back to that establishment. I remember one time I was at that place during the day and I met the owner of this place. I remember how worry he was about a woman that needs a chair and he was getting it for her. He was showing care about he's client and at the same time make that person feel welcomed. I think he would be outraged if he would witness how that unprofessional in all the aspects manager handled the situation. Actually created it. Thank you for your time. And my golden rule is Treat people, the way you would love to be treated. That's all. Nobody...