Appetites On Main — Restaurant in West Whiteland Township

My boyfriend and I dined at this establishment a few weeks ago on a Monday night, I believe. The patio was open and it was a little bit chilly so we decided to sit inside. The hostess was sitting on a bar stool just inside the door and we asked for a table. She immediately sat us at a table that was right inside the door by where she was sitting. I should have asked to be sat somewhere else, because I felt like there was no privacy for our meal the entire time we were there.

We ordered the hummus appetizer. It was as expected. The appetizer could have used more bread because the amount of hummus that they gave was a good portion. The food was good, no complaints.

I will say now that our waitress was friendly and polite and didn't really seem to have a problem with her.

We also ordered drinks. My boyfriend ordered a shark bite and I ordered the red sangria. My boyfriend complained that his drink didn't seem mixed up at all because he wasn't tasting the flavors properly. We have both worked in or been exposed to bar settings before. I have taken courses and become a certified mixologist many, many years ago. I did taste his drink at the end of the night, and I felt that it was made properly because all the ingredients that were listed were evident in the drink. The red sangria, however, I couldn't even tell you what was in that drink. It tasted like bottom, bottom shelf alcohol of some kind. I tasted no fruit whatsoever in that drink. My boyfriend actually made a comment that I won't post on here because it would be very accusatory, let's say. It wasn't a nice comment.

When the sangria first arrived at the table I looked at it and the comment that I had was that it was really red and really clear. There was no muddled fruit, even though there was fruit floating in it. It looked like cranberry juice. There was supposed to be cranberry juice, blackberry brandy, some sort of wine, and fruit. The fruit was sitting in the drink. Other than that, I seriously couldn't tell you what was in that drink because I couldn't taste wine, brandy, or the cranberry juice.

I decided after sipping my drink, swirling to mix, and taking another sip of my drink that I was done with it. It just wasn't tasting any better. The waitress had come over and my boyfriend took the drink put it towards the end of the table and asked me again if I was done with the drink. By this time he and I had had conversations about our drinks and he was just making sure I didn't want it anymore. We never asked to have it taken off the bill, but the waitress immediately said that it could not be taken off the bill and that they could fix the drink. I declined to have the drink fixed because I don't know how you could possibly fix that drink. Nothing was bringing that drink back, and if they weren't going to remove the drink from the bill per their policy and the information that the waitress gave to us without even asking, we weren't going to spend more money to have this drink come back and taste exactly the same. Absolutely stay away from the red sangria. Totally not worth it. Worst drink I ever had in my life. There are things that you might not like when you order them, but this was 100% not drinkable. Also, no visit from mgmt the entire time.

As for our meals, nothing impressive at all. I ordered the Cobb salad. There was nothing special about it, and I feel like I could have done that at my house and made it better. My boyfriend ordered the nachos with pulled pork. The server asked whether or not he would still like the chili on it, he said sure. When the order came I tried a piece of pulled pork that was on the edge of the plate and it simply tasted like chili to me. It tasted like they mixed the chili and the pork together.

We got a to go box for his food and ended up leaving it there by accident. To this day we still talk about how bad that sangria was. We were okay with leaving the food behind since we just wanted to forget the experience.

My boyfriend said he made a review after contacting the owner privately and it was...

I wanted to give Appetites on Main a final chance, and that chance was squandered with inconsistent food quality, abysmal service, and worst of all, poor food safety. I have been in the Chester County area for 5 years now and 4 years ago, I came to Appetites for the first time to have a wonderful night with friends and cheesesteaks. Unfortunately with each subsequent visit over the years I have noticed that my overall experience at Appetites got more sour.

For one, the quality of food is incredibly inconsistent. I have seen friends get served poor food, and I myself have gotten my fair share of stinkers as well. The only consistent thing about their cooking is that they do not cook the food enough. My most recent visit with my girlfriend was the straw that broke the camel's back. All of our food was lukewarm as if it sat in the kitchen longer than it did our table, tasted as dry as a desert, and even got me sick. Combined with the many reviews of raw and undercooked food shown, it is safe to say that Appetites is in drastic needs for training in food quality and safety, as well as find better cooks.

Service here is no better than the food itself. I have seen other reviews of and heard stories of guests being treated rudely and even goaded into arguments, as well as many stories of staff threatening to sick law enforcement on "unruly" guests. But the worst part is how long it takes for everything and how cold and indifferent everyone is. We waited for roughly 30 minute for any of our food to make it to the table and the waitress seemed like she did not want to be there. Not to mention it took more than five minutes to even get our card back after the check, which is a suspiciously long time to get our card back. All that adds ups to lost time where we could have eaten and been out the door for the next group. We also did not even get any option to eat outside even though it was nice out that night.

Appetites has finally finished renovations to the building and after seeing it, the only improvement was the lighting. All the sports paraphernalia that gave this place a shred of character was gone, the music was still loud and obnoxious. Worst was the arrangement of televisions which surrounding all the dining tables. Normally a sports bar would have the televisions set up at the bar and a few televisions at the corners of the building. What was once a quaint sports bar is now a bland and uninspired location that has lost all charm; they sacrificed both form and function.

Appetites on Main seemed to stand for quality for a time, but actions over the years have shown that it has fallen off. It disheartens me that this has happened. After being consistently let down and getting sick from the food however, I can no longer in good faith support this establishment. I will now move on to other eateries and bars that will serve this community better, for the...

I gave Appetites on Main several chances, but they've run out of chances with me. I've lived in this area for 3ish years now, and the first few times I went, it was okay bar food to share with friends. I never liked how noisy it was - blaring TVs and music doesn't make atmosphere, it just makes my ears ring. But whatever, it was a mid-price, local option. I'd tolerate it for some eats with friends.

The first strike was ~1.5 years ago when a waitress accused a friend and I of having fake IDs (we were both 21+ and had valid drivers' licenses, which we presented when carded, and my ID had been accepted at Appetites on previous visits) - hers was from NJ and mine was from DE. It occurred to me after that incident how much trouble Appetites could've gotten us into - what if they'd called the cops on us? I called the restaurant after we left and reamed out a manager, who didn't seem to care. I stopped going to Appetites after that, and took my business to The Pour House down the road (much better choice).

I tried Appetites again, begrudgingly, when my sister visited and realized she liked the food. Then we stopped going again when she got ill off of the Reuben sliders. We figured it was a fluke, she has some food sensitivities, or maybe it was the fact that we had them delivered. Still, I knew there were better options in the area and took my business elsewhere.

The third strike was last night. My boyfriend decided he wanted to give the place another chance, especially since we'd noticed the renovations. That was a mistake. We ordered pierogi for starters (why was it $10 for 6 oily, pale, lukewarm pierogi?), I got the Not Your Father's Cheesesteak, and he got the Short Rib Slider. We thought the worst part of the meal was my bone-dry cheesesteak. It was like chewing and swallowing cardboard. The short rib seemed okay, but I noticed that the cheese wasn't even melted - suggesting that either this sandwich sat out for a long time, or it was never hot enough in the first place to melt a slice of American cheese. Turns out the short rib was actually the worst part of the meal, as it made my boyfriend ill in the middle of the night.

New flooring and tables are great (they're completely devoid of the personality that Appetites used to have, let's be real), but maybe they should invest their money in some food safety and quality control classes, because that's where they've always missed the mark. And maybe a meat thermometer. Looking through other reviews, it doesn't seem that it's just us who's had these issues with improperly cooked meat.

Oh, and if a patron is changing her baby on the chairs of the table next to her, maybe someone should tell her to go to the restroom. We saw this happen but were too stunned to say something to our waitress.

Needless to say, three strikes and you're...