Emil G.
Yelp
Just visited again on a weekday night. The place was busy and noisy to the point where I thought we should get seated outside to spare our ears. Our server was great and checked on us consistently.
We ordered 4 nonalcoholic mojitos, baked brie, smash burger, and a strawberry fennel salad. (Sadly, they don't serve the spinach and artichoke dip or Korean cauliflower anymore.) Mojitos were good, but the small glass was at least half ice. The baked brie and strawberry fennel salad complemented each other and can be shared, especially the brie. One thing I will note is the strawberry fennel salad description does not mention that its base is arugula, in case this is a dealbreaker for anyone. I'm not a huge fan of arugula, so this was a bit disappointing. On a related note, it tasted like it was vegan since it was just strawberries, tomatoes, arugula, sunflower seeds, fennel, and vinaigrette, but the menu didn't mark it as such (though it did have a gluten-free label). Considering the sparse vegan/vegetarian offerings, they should label the ones that don't have meat or dairy.
I was surprised by the total on our check, which was just over $100 for a salad, appetizer, burger and fries, and four nonalcoholic mojitos. The salad and baked brie were decent but not memorable. The last time I visited was a year ago when their mojitos were $3.50 each. However, they've doubled the price to $7 each. At least half of each beverage was ice, so we essentially paid $3.50 for ice per glass. What warrants this steep increase? I noticed their alcoholic cocktails remained in the $11-13 range, so surely it's not the cost of ingredients. It must be to capitalize on the growing popularity of nonalcoholic options, which is unfortunate. This is no longer a great drink deal.
Another thing to note: on the bottom of the menu they mention they add a 3% kitchen fee to each bill for their BoH staff. While this is some semblance of transparency, I hope they consider incorporating this into the menu prices instead, since they update the menus on a regular basis anyways.
For now, I don't really see this place as worth visiting - great service aside. In comparison to other places in Manayunk, their pricing isn't terrible, but the food quality could be a bit better.