Standing O Bar/Bistro — Restaurant in Philadelphia

Competent service, competent food, excellent martini all at TGI Friday’s prices.

The dining environment is clean and well kept. As are the restrooms. Important to note: everything in the restrooms is kept clean and it all works. Soap? Yes. Hot water? Sure. Towel? Yes, auto feed works, towel delivery complete. And well-lit with no malodors.

So how difficult is it to make a dry tangauray martini, up, neat, olives on the side? Piece of cake here, perfectly balanced with the wafer-thin characteristic ice skim and everything. I order this a-LOT and most places find a way to screw it up. Not here.

The food came right on time, but who could care after two of those martini’s? My bowl of bolognese was only just a hair less cathartic than such heavy-hitters as the White Dog Cafe but not up to the bar set by mamma Mario Batali’s heartfelt love at Babbo. But if it were, would you notice? I was particularly enamored with the little latticework of arugula on top of the bolognese for three reasons: First, no one can accuse me of not eating my vegetables, they’re right on top my friend, and now they’re deliciously gone. Second, arugula has a slightly smoky kind of bacon-y taste and it fit right in. And third, well, it’s arugula man, c’mon.

Anyone still reading has to work in the standing-o brigade, so here you go: Capers? Save those for the seafood and puttanesca. ...

This bar/restaurant is connected to the lobby of the Doubletree Hotel. It was the worst. Note - this bar is wide open to the lobby, only a ramp on one side and a step on the other that separates the bar seating from the lobby seating. We sat at the bar for 20 minutes before the bartender even approached us. I tried numerous times to get his attention and he wouldn't even look over at us. In a separate event, we had brought food back from a restaurant outside of the hotel. We tried to sit at a high-top to eat, and the bartender refused to let us sit there since we were not ordering food from them. From there, we moved to another seating area in the lobby, and the bartender continued to just stand at the railing and...

It seemed that the staff was working against their own will. Food options were rather limited, and was not of a decent quality. Nothing that I would expect at a Double Tree by Hilton. I ordered the Piri piri chicken and the fillet was overcooked and the drumstick was (slightly) undercooked, the patatoes that came with the dish were bearly seasoned although they were of a good quality. The vegetables (tomato, cucumber and raw red onion) were not seasoned and completely out of balance. If you are staying at the Double Tree I would suggest to go...