Wilder — Restaurant in Philadelphia

We first entered the building at 2:30 and the host brought us to the bar. I’m not sure why we were sat at the bar when there were open tables but whatever. Anyways, they were really specific about their menu, the bartender seemed a bit irritated with us I’m not sure why but her energy felt weird. Brunch menu ends at 3, midday menu starts at 3, and dinner menu starts at 4. Every time I had a question regarding the menu the bartender would literally walk away mid question. I found that very rude and ignorant. Now I work in the customer service industry and I’m also a lowkey food blogger so I was taking mental notes of everything while keeping it very professional. I ordered the salmon salad off of the brunch menu at 2:45 and a half of dozen of raw oysters. The salmon salad came out first at 2:50 and the raw oysters came out at 3:20. I ordered from the midday menu at 3:20 and I ordered the grilled oysters and the Pacheco Ravi. The food took very long to come out, the grilled oysters came out first at 3:40 and then we sat there and waited another 15 minutes for my Pacheri ragu which was disgusting. It was very dry , there was not much pasta sauce, the shells was wayyyy undercooked, for 27$ I was very much upset. I’m upset that I ordered the wrong pasta because on google I seen the pacheri ragu pasta also had the same pasts noodl as the mafaldine alla vodka. I’m allergic to crabs that is why I didn’t order that specific pasta. After that disgusting pasta I decided to order the mafaldine alla vodka pasta WITHOUT the crab. When I got home I realized my pasta was super dry. For 30$ without crab I should’ve got it for 20$. Once we were getting ready to go and waiting for my last pasta to go, the waiter energy was much better it’s like she never really wanted to serve specifically us. I felt that the atmosphere was a bit racist and unwelcoming. It’s like they have African American females as the host to seat people down to show that their establishment is diverse but I did not feel that at all. Is it because we didn’t have a reservation we were sat at the bar? Because I called in advanced if a reservation is required and they stated that they do walk in and reservations. The bartender was rude to only us and we were the only colored people at the bar :). I ordered 2 cocktails it was the best thing on the menu but other than that it was horrible. We spent 200$ and tipped very well for a big disappointment. My bf was upset that he wasted his hard working money on a...

Been hearing great things about Wilder, so I decided to check it out. Got an early reservation on a Saturday night. Beautiful space and set up on three floors. We were seated on the first floor, which shares space with the bar and kitchen.

I started the evening with the Harder Rain (Tequila, Lime, Chili, Cuke), which was delicious. One of my dining partners had the Chardonnay and enjoyed that as well

For starters, we chose the pull-apart rolls, the foie gras, and the beet/burrata salad.

The rolls were ok, but maybe it’s me. I was expecting them to be hot or warm at the very least. I had one and decided it wasn’t worth the extra calories. Maybe they are supposed to be served cold, so just not my jawn.

The beet salad was decent, but nothing I’d have to come back for. We left about half of that.

The Hudson Valley Foie Gras with sour cherry jelly, mostarda, celery, cocoa nibs, and toasted brioche was excellent, and I sent that back empty. Plus, it came with the most adorable duck foot serving tray for the brioche. (Check out the pictures)

Maybe it’s still Covid-related, but the service was slow. Our appetizer plates sat on our table for over 20 minutes until our server removed them. Perhaps it’s a training issue, but many runners passed our table, looked at the empties, and kept cruising by empty-handed. This did not change anything about my experience as we were not in a rush, simply an observation.

I went with the Sweet & Spicy pizza pepperoni, spicy soppressata, roasted red onion, fresh mozzarella, honey, and basil as my entrée, and I enjoyed it. A word to the wise, it contains sausage in addition to the above for mentioned toppings. So that’s a plus for me but probably not for everyone.

My wife had the casarecce with whipped goat cheese, fava beans, pea leaves, pecorino, and pesto, which was ok but super dense and heavy. The green color popped, and the flavor was good, but the pasta was too toothy for me. Would not get it again.

My mother-in-law had steak tartare as her entrée, and it was good. I tried some and found it a little dry.

We passed on dessert. All in all a good experience, but I’ll give it some time until I return. They are heavy on the raw fish department, so maybe we will go...

Highly anticipated and it mostly lived up to it. The food is delicious and extravagant! Well prepared and beautifully displayed. The space is gorgeous and you can tell they paid attention to detail. They were attentive to the acoustics, combating the hard surfaces with beautiful fabrics throughout. Even with a full house, you can have a conversation with your companion from across the table without leaning too far in. Despite the vastness of the three floors and large floor plates, the tables are set close together. I think they should take a few out in each row to give folks some elbow room. We had a few cocktails; Memory Burn, Delancey's Gusto and a couple glasses of Pinot Noir. The cocktails were lacking a bit. The Memory Burn was not flavorful and the Gusto left little to be desired. I think there's room for improvement on the Beverage side. Next, our appetizers were a few of the oysters and the Beets & Burrata. The B&B was delicious although the serving portion could have been a larger, it's a size not meant for sharing. Finally our entrees were the Lobster Risotto and the Steamed Halibut. Both were delicious but the Lobster Risotto was decadent and savory. Our portion had plenty of lobster meat but also way too many hazelnuts. I think the cook gave us a heavy-handed serving of the hazelnuts which took away from the dish. The halibut was tender, flaky and beautifully prepared and full of flavor!

All in all, it was a satisfying meal. The place just opened so I'm sure they'll work out the kinks and perfect their offerings. I'd also like to mention that the chairs are little short. I felt like I was a kid sitting at the adult table on Thanksgiving. I think if I had a steak or chop which would require the use of a knife and fork, I'd feel like T-Rex with short arms trying awkwardly to manage the height difference. One more suggestion for management, add some more songs to the playlist. We were there for 90 mins and the playlist did at...