Quick Links
Calendar
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
Categories
Archives
XML/RSS Feed
Friends
Usuals
Comments powered by
Site Meter Web Counter
Statistics
Total entries in this blog:
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Aug 26, 2005 06:15 PM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Aug 26, 2005 06:15 PM
Morimoto
723 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, (215)
413-9070
This review will take the form of a letter (that
has yet to be sent) to the powers that
be:
To Whom It May Concern,
On August 13, myself, my partner, and our good friend dined at your restaurant. Having dined once before at Morimoto, we looked forward to another wonderful dining experience. In terms of the food, we were not disappointed; in terms of the service, we certainly were.
As you are well aware of, your restaurant serves some of the best food in Philadelphia, the US, and the world. My appetizer of Morimoto Tempura, floating in a sinful gorgonzola cheese sauce, my partner's chef's combination sushi, and our friend's (by now world-famous) Black Cod Miso were all amazing.
However, the service was amazing in the ways in which it did not live up to the standards of the food. First, we arrived early for our 8:30 reservation and contentedly waited in the bar. We were escorted downstairs to go to our table at about 8:35. The hostess took us to our table--for two. I am not sure why she could not do the math that the three people following her were not going to fit in a table for two. After we pointed out the math problem, she took us back to the entrance and told us that our table would be ready shortly. After fifteen minutes, during which no one spoke to us about the progress on our table, we were finally seated.
I greatly enjoy the interior and ambience of the restaurant. I think the music is aptly suited to the atmosphere, as is its volume; it is a noisy, bustling room, and I am fine with that.
However, it is incumbent upon your servers to adjust to that noise level; the problems we encountered with our server, I believe, stemmed from his approach of dealing with us as if he were listening to an old, boring uncle at a family reunion: he nodded and said yes, but probably barely heard a word we said. How else to explain that my partner did not receive the appetizer he had ordered? Or that we did not get separate checks, even though we had asked for them?
The strange spacing of the service of our food was probably not his fault though. We had ordered three courses (two small appetizers and then entree); between the first and second courses was a very long gap (perhaps a half-hour), and then hardly any time to finish the second course before the entrees arrived. Even then, our hot entrees arrived, and we were halfway through them before my partner's sushi arrived. Certainly, sushi comes out at different times than hot entrees, but such a gap seemed sloppy to me.
Our experience was symbolized by the drip from the condensation collecting on the overhead air-conditioning vent periodically falling on my partner's head: not anything to get overly irate about, but annoying nonetheless (by the way, when apprised of this annoyance, our server said that he knew of the situation and explained that it sometimes happens during extremely humid evenings...but did not apologize). And certainly annoying when the service detracts from (instead of complements) the wonderful food being served. While I cannot perhaps sample such cuisine anywhere else in the area, I do not think I will return, because I can certainly spend hundreds of dollars to get excellent food and service at a number of places.
Sincerely,
Gregory M. Weight
To Whom It May Concern,
On August 13, myself, my partner, and our good friend dined at your restaurant. Having dined once before at Morimoto, we looked forward to another wonderful dining experience. In terms of the food, we were not disappointed; in terms of the service, we certainly were.
As you are well aware of, your restaurant serves some of the best food in Philadelphia, the US, and the world. My appetizer of Morimoto Tempura, floating in a sinful gorgonzola cheese sauce, my partner's chef's combination sushi, and our friend's (by now world-famous) Black Cod Miso were all amazing.
However, the service was amazing in the ways in which it did not live up to the standards of the food. First, we arrived early for our 8:30 reservation and contentedly waited in the bar. We were escorted downstairs to go to our table at about 8:35. The hostess took us to our table--for two. I am not sure why she could not do the math that the three people following her were not going to fit in a table for two. After we pointed out the math problem, she took us back to the entrance and told us that our table would be ready shortly. After fifteen minutes, during which no one spoke to us about the progress on our table, we were finally seated.
I greatly enjoy the interior and ambience of the restaurant. I think the music is aptly suited to the atmosphere, as is its volume; it is a noisy, bustling room, and I am fine with that.
However, it is incumbent upon your servers to adjust to that noise level; the problems we encountered with our server, I believe, stemmed from his approach of dealing with us as if he were listening to an old, boring uncle at a family reunion: he nodded and said yes, but probably barely heard a word we said. How else to explain that my partner did not receive the appetizer he had ordered? Or that we did not get separate checks, even though we had asked for them?
The strange spacing of the service of our food was probably not his fault though. We had ordered three courses (two small appetizers and then entree); between the first and second courses was a very long gap (perhaps a half-hour), and then hardly any time to finish the second course before the entrees arrived. Even then, our hot entrees arrived, and we were halfway through them before my partner's sushi arrived. Certainly, sushi comes out at different times than hot entrees, but such a gap seemed sloppy to me.
Our experience was symbolized by the drip from the condensation collecting on the overhead air-conditioning vent periodically falling on my partner's head: not anything to get overly irate about, but annoying nonetheless (by the way, when apprised of this annoyance, our server said that he knew of the situation and explained that it sometimes happens during extremely humid evenings...but did not apologize). And certainly annoying when the service detracts from (instead of complements) the wonderful food being served. While I cannot perhaps sample such cuisine anywhere else in the area, I do not think I will return, because I can certainly spend hundreds of dollars to get excellent food and service at a number of places.
Sincerely,
Gregory M. Weight
Posted: Fri - August 26, 2005 at 06:14 PM |