The Blue Elephant Pottstown — Restaurant in Pottstown

Our visit occurred during the second open weekend. We were thrilled to see how the owners renovated this old marque building, originally a bank, then pub food bar. The renovations are so classy and set up a dining atmosphere complete with thoughtfully designed menus embossed with a simple Blue Elephant insignia. We loved the new open kitchen window and the old mirror wall. We love how the owners have far fewer tables than the last iteration of a restaurant. The space is completely reimagined. and could not be more perfect in setting a tone for an eloquent, artistic dining experience. The dishes and gold silverware/chop sticks were equally eloquent with gorgeous clay plates from Australia maker. Thoughtfulness and craftsmanship were the descriptors we inferred from the details that came together in the plate presentations and restaurant setting.

The service does juxtapose the narrative of an eloquent dining experience. It was good - but needs lots of polish. And, no doubt, the staff will be trained to meet this eloquent narrative established in the details of the setting.

The timing of courses, in our experience Saturday night, was not well-paced. The salad was delivered immediately after our appetizer, which arrived rather slowly. Entree course lagged well-behind the clearing of our salads. To the servers as feedback - our expectations of an eloquent dining experience: plates should be cleared, especially as a table for two, when both diners are finished. And certainly the server should ask if we want dessert before both are finished and entrees cleared. We were provided fresh silverware between salad and entree, delivered on a tray - very nice. However, the server delivered both sets when my spouse had not finished his salad course.

I am asking for these service touches because the menu prices and the setting suggests this level of detail. The menu is completely ala-cart, including the sides for entrees. Thus, our salads ranged between $10 - $12, and our entrees ranged in the upper $20’s. Sides, which we did not order, range an additional $6 or 7. I have eaten in other restaurants where the menu, including the entree sides, are priced out. No worries on this, however, in these restaurants the servers were not wearing jeans and in some cases t-shirts. That server attire seems a remnant if the pub bar it used to be.

Our salads, Caesar and arugula, were generous portions served in beautiful matte black bowls. The goat cheese balls for the arugula salad was fantastic with the figs. Super nice. The Caesar with baby kale was such a nice twist on a standby. Could the chefs remove the stems? Also, could servers offer cracked black pepper?

We ordered the lamb chops and the halibut. Both were prepared perfectly, my halibut was flaky and on a bed of wild mushrooms; my spouse’s lamb chops were medium. The smaller portions beautifully presented absolutely meets our expectations for this level of restaurants and cooking and plate presentation.

We did not have dessert or coffee.

I realize this is a long review. We’ve been waiting for the Blue Elephant to open - to have a restaurant that is the whole dining experience and I am so grateful for the owners’ investment into this building and in Pottstown. We will be back for the Sushi...

Amazing setting, so-so food experience. Let me explain. Went on a Saturday night (11/22/24) and was amazed by the beauty of the place. Stunning architecture! High ceilings, beautiful wood work, all well appointed with tasteful furniture and decor. The TVs over the bar actually kind of ruin it! We had a 7:15 reservation and were seated promptly. Our server, Andria must have been tied up (which was fine for a busy Sat night) so after about 2 mins another server stopped over and said he saw us waiting and asked if he could get us water and what kind. Impressive! When Andria did come over she was so sweet, went over the menus with us and was perfect for the rest of the experience. We tried the crispy seoul wings and the salmon crudo. The wings had great flavor but they were undercooked!!! It was not enough to risk the retaliation of sending back but enough that we were concerned how we would feel later. The salmon crudo serving was a but anemic and just lacked anything to make it stand out. We also ordered the seafood drunken noodles and the massaman short rib. The noodles were packed with seafood, the noodles were cooked perfectly and the flavors were amazing! The short Rib unfortunately was rubbery and tough and didn't just fall apart with the press of a fork like they should. After much debate, they were sent back. After a reasonable wait, the manager brought out a replacement dish with almost no apology and assured me that it was only bc she agreed the original dish looked rubbery to her too. The second version was still tougher than a short Rib should be, but had good flavor si we ate it anywa. We're were too full to try dessert. We were shocked when we got the check and there was no form of compensation for the dish that was sent back. Usually, at the very least a round of drinks are taken off (which would have been minimal since we didn't order alcohol), but no such courtesy was offered for the inconvenience. This couple with the forced apology was very off-putting. All in all, we may go back, mostly for the environment and atmosphere, but it's not on our list of places to recommend or rush back too...

I ordered food from BE on 11/14/2024 along with another person who was patronizing a local business close to BE. We both ordered food and walked to the restaurant together. I ordered Pad Thai w shrimp, the other woman ordered the same however also had tofu added which she did not ask for nor want. After my first bite I realized the dish tasted funny. I eventually realized the taste was coming from the shrimp. I asked the other woman how her food tasted and initially she thought fine. I ate another shrimp and it tasted ok. She bit into a piece of shrimp from her dish and immediately spit it out. The shrimp tasted bad and had a weird cleaning chemical smell. I called the restaurant to report the incident and offered to bring the dishes back. We ordered another dish (swapped) and were given a dessert free of charge for the inconvenience. Later that night I got sick, I called the restaurant on 11/15 however needed to leave a message due to the managers being in a meeting. I had a rough weekend and had to cancel important plans. I followed up today 11/18, the first day I’m feeling better, to speak to a manager. I shared the incident and the aftermath, I spoke to the same manager we saw on 11/14 when we returned the food. The manager listened and stated she was sorry about what happened, that they conducted an investigation in the kitchen and no other patrons reported any problems. I reminded her there was another patron that reported a problem. I was told there was nothing they could do about what happened. I expressed I was disappointed at the lack of concern, she essentially explained it wasn’t that there was not a concern and repeated they conducted an investigation and that nothing could be done. I explained if she felt her response was sufficient then to have a nice evening and I ended the call.

I do not typically take to the internet to make reviews like this but IMO this situation was mismanaged. My dish was swapped out for drunken noodles, I was comped a free dessert of their choosing, and got very sick resulting in missing out on important weekend plans to be told...