9 Prime — Restaurant in West Chester

I sent the below email 3 weeks ago and heard nothing. Hello,

I wanted to take a moment to send an email regarding our dining expierence on 3/8.

I had been watching and waiting until the opening for months and was able to line a date night up for the wife and I without kids to come excited to try a new steakhouse.

We traveled up from Delaware and I dropped my wife off out front while I parked. She advised me that she was seated and "staring at butts". I figured she meant some art on a wall. Once I entered, the host brought me to where my wife was seated in an alcove booth along side the bar. Immediately I realized what she meant and there was a crowd gathered between the alcove and the bar seats. At seat level, we were staring directly at thier butts. Thier conversation overwhelmed ours. Our waiter came over and greeted us promptly. He clearly was having trouble with the same acoustics we were due to the crowd. More on this later. He recommended some appetizers and mains. The smoked burrata and the Piedmontiese Strip steak were among those recommendations and we did choose both. Along with other items we anxiously awaited our meal.

The crowds I front of us came and went, I guess making for interesting people watching at times. Our appetizers arrived and were delicious. Then came time for our mains. My wifes filet looks great however, as soon as my steak was set down I immediately questioned the food runner as it did not look at all like a strip steak but rather a rib eye. She said it was the strip and walked away. Our waiter then got to us about 5 min after the food delivery and I had elected to not cut into the steak asking him once again if it was the strip steak and he said yes, but would go check. He came back 5 more minutes later and said it was in fact the strip steak. Knowing that I have bought, ordered and cooked many of both strip and rib eye steaks I still did not want to cut into this as I was certian this was not the high end strip I ordered. I waited until a manager came with our bottle of wine and again asked him. He immediately said, not, that is a rib eye. It had been about 15-20 since the food arrived and I had told my wife to enjoy hers. Now the manager offered to re-fire the entire meal and sides but we elected to just have mine done correctly while my wife continued to eat hers. Finally my steak arrived and looked like what I envisioned. It was delicious and perfectly cooked. But if a waiter is going to recommend specific items, then they should certainly know what it looks like as well as any one else expiditing the food. We also received brussels and when I told the waiter we ordered the charred broccolini, he said that was his fault because he was having trouble hearing our order due to the crowds gathered around our table.

We then ordered a desert to split and it was good.

Between the apps, wine, meals, desert and cocktails, we would have thought something would have been done to compensate us for errors that we should not have been responsible to catch. I realize this is new for everyone but basic things like cuts of beef should be part of staff education. If I can pick out the cap, eye, and tail on a ribeye as I pointed out to all the staff, the staff should be able to understand the same things. I've attended pictures of the rib eye and then the stop so you clearly can see the difference in my steaks. While the end result was good tasting food, the combination of the expierence has us wondering about returning. Thanks for taking the time to read and I hope, if nothing else, this improves the expierence for...

Initial vibes: Really cool space. Bar when you walk in is beautiful, well decorated, lighting fixtures are pretty. The space is really stunning upon entry.

Met by their greeter- who was sweet. I will say I was shocked at how overall young the staff was.

Got seated around 6:45. We were told to order everything at once so we ordered by like 7:15. Our waiter did a good job walking through the menu. Food took quite a bit of time. For apps we got Caesar salads and the burratta. Loved the salad, good portion, really tasty. The burratta app was also very tasty. Apps came out at like 7:40?

For dinner we all got nice steaks between $60-90 each and ordered several sides for the table. Food took another 40-50 minutes which was pretty annoying. I don’t think we started eating until like 845ish? The brussel sprouts were insanely tasty, all the other sides were very mediocre and came out luke warm. We got the Brussels, mashed potatoes, lobster mac n cheese and truffle fries. Truffle fries were almost cold. The sides were very subpar to me, someone at the table liked the lobster mac but I’ve had much better. I wished it was warmer. The steak was extremely tasty- really enjoyed it. Everyone at the table enjoyed their steak, no complaints there. Also no bread for the table which I thought was weird. I’ve been to nice steak houses where they have amazing home made bread as a basic commodity.

Mocktails are insanely priced. $16 for a mocktails and it’s the same price as a cocktail and it’s made with some sprite and muddled raspberries.

Service was sub par. There was our waiter running around and he seemed to be taking care of a ton of tables. He was very friendly but kinda inattentive. Water was continually refreshed by a girl walking around which was nice but our waiter was basically gone after we ordered. Food came out from other folks, he asked how it was, then we didn’t see him again until half of our party had to leave because it was getting too late.

Over $800 for our meal (that includes 20% tip) for four. We got one bottle of wine (like an $80 bottle nothing crazy), nice steaks, lukewarm sides, decent apps, no bread, subpar service.

Half of the party had to leave early. They finished eating and it was almost 930 and they had a babysitter to rush home to. The meal just took way too long to come out.

The prices at this place are very high for what you get and the overall experience was pretty mediocre. Almost $850 for four people for dinner and walking away feeling “meh” is really disappointing.

Might be a fun place to pop in for a drink and an appetizer at the bar downstairs. I heard the cocktails were good from the other members of our party who sat at the bar before our reservation but we won’t be returning for dinner. Just fell really short of expectations unfortunately. When you charge what they charge and expectations are high, it’s tough when they don’t meet them. I think the service has a lot to do with it and the food just fell pretty short. Steak was good, but everything else was pretty average and everything took really long...

I’d Rather Light $1,000 on Fire Than Ever Eat Here Again.

Let me preface this by saying we go out to dinner nearly every weekend—everywhere from small “quick bite” places to high-end restaurants. We've had $100 meals, and we've had $1,500 ones. We rarely complain, and when a place misses the mark, we shrug and move on. But 9 Prime was so egregiously bad in every possible way that we felt obligated to say something.

We had a table of six at 7:00pm on a Friday night. The restaurant was dead. Three tables total in the whole place. The bar? Completely empty. That should’ve been our first red flag.

Despite being practically the only people there, service was still abysmal. It took forever to get drinks, no one checked in on us once during the meal, and it wasn’t until the end when a server asked if we wanted boxes for our untouched meals that we got to express how horrendous the food was. She seemed caught off guard, didn’t know what to say, and fetched the manager.

What followed was one of the most unprofessional manager interactions I’ve ever had. She came over without introducing herself and asked, “What’s the issue?” Not “I'm sorry to hear that, can you tell me what went wrong?” but a defensive and dismissive “what’s the issue?” I calmly explained that the food was way off tonight. Her response? “Can you be specific?” as if we were making it up. Oh yes, we can.

Here's the specifics we explained: Mashed Potatoes: So overloaded with garlic they were spicy.

French Onion Soup: So drenched in brandy it tasted like iodine. Inedible.

Steaks and Duck: Every cut of meat at the table was overcooked, dry, and completely unseasoned—shocking for a place that markets itself as a prime steakhouse.

Octopus: Rubbery to the point where even with a steak knife, you had to saw through it.

Pasta: Flavorless with an odd artificial smokiness that no one at the table could place.

Drinks: Sickly sweet or watered down—no balance, no craft, just gross.

The nameless manager didn’t apologize. She didn’t take ownership. She didn’t comp any of the inedible and untouched food. She didn’t even try. She blamed the kitchen and offered us a dessert as an easy out. As if we wanted to extend the meal even longer to get served another calorie. We declined, paid the full $1,000+ bill and left stunned that we not only completely wasted our money, but also wasted a nice night out.

And the irony is, they had the time to get it right. We were literally one of three tables in the whole restaurant on a Friday night.

No halfhearted ‘we’re sorry to hear this’ reply under this review from “management” is going to change what happened, or how completely unacceptable this all was.

This was our experience, and I’m only sharing it because I saw so many couples and young families out in West Chester on Friday night, just looking for a good meal and a special evening together. I’d hate to see anyone choose this place and waste their time and hard earned money like we did. Please, avoid...