Blue Bell Inn — Restaurant in Whitpain Township

My experience did not match my expectations and hopes. After reserving a table and communicating twice with the staff online prior to arrival, the establishment went little towards satisfying their end. We were visiting from another state, celebrating a birthday, and having local family members as guests for our dinner. I made reservations and communicated with the staff prior to ensure a smooth, planned, relaxing dinner without annoyance. I was not advised of “formal or informal dining” choices- but was asked to make this decision o line by an unsmiling blank faced hostess on the spot in the presence of our guests. Choosing informal was a mistake. I should have been presented with this option at the time of my reservation. It was my expectation to dine in a quaint, historically significant inn, relaxing in a beautiful atmosphere. Instead, we dined- 10 ft from the entrance in a glorified hallway, with wood slats hiding an employee hallway on one side, a television on the wall, and glass garage doors on the other. It was so noisy- we had to speak loudly across the table. When it came time for dessert, I had to awkwardly remind my waiter that I had preordered my husband’s birthday dessert as a surprise. Well, the only surprise we got that evening was to pay $289 for a meal that could have been purchased at Applebees a sports bar with similar ambience. Our server, although very amiable and eager to please, visited our table more times than appropriate, interrupting our conversation over and over. It is probably a minute point to mention, but I also felt it unsettling when our server offered “tap water” at the beginning of our meal. He literally said the words, “tap water.” I am southern, and maybe this is a northern regularity- but I found it odd. Of course the water is from the tap, but the connotation is that our glasses would literally be held under a spigot in a sink. Lastly, prior to making the reservation, I perused reviews and saw that a patron had reserved online for an anniversary and was greeted by the hostess with “Happy Anniversary!” I suppose since I had indicated we were dining to celebrate a birthday, my husband might have rated a similar salutation. Unfortunately we were greeted with a placid, neutral hostess. It was my wish the dinner be special and memorable; and indeed it was. However, this had little to do with the...

UPDATE: This is in response to whomever responded to my review. No, you did not come to my table and speak to me several times! We asked the dining manager to get someone to move our umbrella because it was blazing hot. She refused to get someone and did it herself which she could barely move it, and she moved it to the wrong spot causing more sun and had to re move it. Your server came to my table to take my appetizer and drink order. Then I flagged her down to ask to change my drink order from a glass of wine to a bottle. Was told yes, and then she didn’t return forever…that was the first time she informed us she forgot about us. Any other lies you would like to tell? I took a star rating away for your lie.

If I could give zero stars for the service it wouldn’t be low enough. Arrived at 5:15 and was seated on the patio (beautiful), ordered appetizers and a bottle of wine. Waited forever for the bottle of wine and was told by the waitress she got busy chatting with Rob and forgot about us (Rob is apparently a regular). We sat there for over an hour and 45mins and the waitress never came to take our dinner order. When I finally asked for my check I was once again informed that she forgot about us. What??? Then she left again for a long period and I finally took my check to the front to get checked out. Once upfront trying to check out the dining room manager was a bit confused as to why I was up there checking myself out. When I explained the scenario to her she had the never to ask me why I didn’t wave someone down to place my dinner order…why??? BECAUSE I SHOULDN’T HAVE TOO! This is not the type of establishment I should have to chase my server down to place my order. She then asked did I want to place an order to go, like what? How about you should have comped my cheese tray and profusely apologized. I had all intentions of spending hundreds of dollars here because it was my sisters birthday (which I even informed my server). But our entire night was ruined....

My husband and I recently moved to the area from the city and when we get the opportunity to do date nights we make our rounds looking for the well rated local spots. This place did not live up to the hype.

The raw bar was great. I would probably go back for some sort of oysters and champagne happy hour if they had it. We ordered east and west coast oysters and cherry stone clams. Each was teeming with briney liquid and there wasn't a hint of grit or shard of shell which can happen a lot of the time, even at places known for raw bar.

Our server asked to take our order repeatedly when we first sat down, but after that our water and wine was never topped up. Our wagyu had clearly been resting for a long time, there was clearly no delay in firing the main course. It seemed like they were trying to turn the table very quickly, not a great feeling for this price point and particularly odd for a suburban restaurant - it's not like you'll be getting many dinner reservations for 9 pm at this location.

The grouper was fresh and flaked perfectly but the rest of the dish was ill conceived. Long strips of fennel stems were cooked down in small pearled pasta and cherry tomatoes for some reason. The whole entree was overpowered with balsamic.

The wagyu flank was also cooked appropriately medium rare but had been sitting in a sliced state for so long it was room temperature on the outside and dull/matte on the surface of every slice. The wedge potatoes didn't even have a dusting of herbs or paprika or anything. They were like wedge fries you'd get at a burger joint.

There was a very mediocre cover band playing loudly before 8pm, right through the main part of dinner service. The women's bathroom wasn't clean. I heard this place was "modernized" a few years back and I guess that's what they were going for with the lvp floors and the reclaimed wood walls. The thing is the vibe and menu feel oddly dated already, like they were trying to be "on trend" for 2012...