Smith & Wollensky Restaurant

Elite '08

22

58

Evelyn K.

Houston, TX

2 1/4 Stars.  I wasn't impressed; in fact, I was as little disappointed with this particular Smith & Wo.  Not a very attractive restaurant, which is surprising considering its prime location in the Rittenhouse hotel right on Rittenhouse Square.

FOOD:  Steak was sub-par for a steakhouse.  I am an avid steak eater, and this was blah.  Not as bad as Ruth Chris, but not as good as Morton's, the Palm, or other chains with Philadelphia locations.  (And of course not as good as The Prime Rib at the Warwick or Barclay Prime right across the square).  

SERVICE: Not so good, though not as bad as Ruth Chris.

I wouldn't return for dinner, especially when I could go elsewhere... The bar is a good place for drinks.

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1

57

Tyler e.

Philadelphia, PA

i was not impressed. it was hyped up to be a great steak place. bleh, i love steak, i order it everywhere. how do you over cook a medium rare steak at a place known for their steaks? geez, so overpriced for the food quality. more for the snooty people than a foody. plus, i don't know if it bothers you, but a ghetto, thuggish guy dressed up, is still a ghetto thuggish guy. don't get me wrong, i grew up in north Philly, so i know ghetto. when i go to a place that's $50 a steak, i don't want a hood rat serving it me. now, anyone can get dressed up and look nice. what I'm saying is, baggy pants? shirt loosely tucked? tats and braids? now tats and braids don't matter, honestly, but damn, wear clothes that freaking fit. and tuck your damn shirt in.

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Elite '08

21

79

megan k.

Philadelphia, PA

i love it here. just plain fun. the staff is great. always a good time.

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Elite '08

167

222

Wilbur L.

West Los Angeles, CA

solid chain steakhouse.  i've been to the one in vegas and just went to the one in philly and i've gotta say, their service is impeccable and the dry aged meats are very good.

after suffering through a 5hr flight in which my seat would not recline and the inflight movie (the gameplan) did not work, i was bitter as i stepped into the frigid weather in philly.  when i checked in the hotel (the rittenhouse hotel), all i wanted to do was warm up, stretch out my sore back and get a hot manly meal.

items 1 & 2 were easily accomplished in the confines of the hotel room, however, i was at a loss as to what to eat.  my co-worker called and utter the magical words:

"meet you in 30mins at smith & wollensky's just off the hotel lobby"

righteous!!  i immediately had the image of a big ass and bloody bone in rib eye dancing around in my head.  

since i love earning pts, i logged into opentable and snagged a ressie.  score: 100pts. woot!

30mins later i was at the bar at s&w, and for a tues night, it was PACKED.  there were some 30 some hotties, cougars on the prowl, geezers and lone business folks milling around and drowing their sorrows in booze.

the maitre'd seated us upstairs into a booth, which allowed our group to discuss business without having to raise our voices.  the booth was situated next to the window and allowed great views of rittenhouse square as well.  

our first waiter (we had a total of no less than 4 that evening) provided us with the specials, which were not appealing to me......because i was going to rock the bone in rib eye.  oh yeah!

we ordered a bottle of 2003 groth cabernet, however, they provided us with a 2004 groth due to the fact that they were out of the 2003.  this was fortuitous as 2004 was a better year for the grapes in napa.  the wine was young and very fruit forward and drank well.

onto the order:

no apps

salads
- wollensky salad
- iced wedge
- tossed green

entree
- bone in rib eye, rare: me
- bone in new york, med rare: cohort
- altantic sea bass: cohort 2
- sirloin, med rare: potential business partner (pbp)

sides
- truffled mac n cheese
- green beans

the salads were delivered by waiter #2 and i split the wollensky salad with our bpb.  the wollensky salad was very good, i really dug the mustard based dressing, button mushrooms and the fried bacon combo was fantastic.  waiter #2 hung out a lil bit to chit chat (new yorker me thinks) and went along his merry way.

our main courses were brought out by waiter #3 a tad bit after we finished our salads and  waiter #1 immediately placed our side dishes on the table after all the entrees were brought out.  

to say that i was thrilled when waiter #3 placed the big ole hunk of meat in front of me is an understatement as all i had up to that was a bowl of cereal at 6am and a not so tasty wolfgang puck express sandwich on the airplane.

i immediately dug into the ribe eye and it was cooked a perfect rare.  nice and hot and slightly charred on the outside and nice and cool on the inside.  deeeeelicious.  you can defintiely taste the beefiness of the meat due to the dry aging process.  i was in meat heaven!!

i grabbed some string beans and a couple scoops of the truffled mac n cheese.  the string beans were eh....i think it required more salt but the trubbled mac n cheese was hella good.  as i swallowed each bite of mac n cheese, i felt the blood in my veins coagulate.  oh so good but oh so bad for your health. cheese, oil, cream and more oil.  hahaha!

we topped off the evening witha  slice of the coconut cake, served by waiter #4. unfortunately, it was just ok.  i would have liked it if the cake was more moist.

all in all, the food and service was good.  s&w definitely has their formula down so service, eats, etc are all very consistent no matter which s&w you choose to dine in.

funny fact, there was a plethora of metal plaques with names affixed to the wall on either side of our booth. per waiter #1, the plaques are to recognize famous folks that have dined at the particular table or for their regulars.  

names we saw included: magic johnson, gina gershon, sir charles barkley, a few congressmen, etc.

pretty cool huh?

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Elite '08

161

524

Bill M.

Philadelphia, PA

I don't eat beef so I can't review it based on it's top of the line steaks which is what it's known for. But it does have a good selection of other food too (great crab cakes!). the staff is big time friendly and they offer top of the line service.
The bar could be a lot better. they don't have much of a good beer selection, they do have a good alcohol variety though.
It is a good place to go to see a lot of stars. My friend who buses there has told many a story of running into Bruce Willis, Jim Carrey, and all kinds of other stars. It's also a regular bar for some of The Phillies and a couple Eagles. but that's what you expect with a high end hotel restaurant.

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14

21

Jaime V.

Philadelphia, PA

Went here last NY eve. Good food but thats about it! Too business like for me. I felt like I was with surrounded by a bunch of stuffy business men. Great View of the city though!

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61

387

Caitlin C.

PA

This is a classic business suits steak house. Bring any father here for father's day (unless they are vegetarian) and you will be a hit.

The sides are reason in themselves to go here. Creamed spinach, kernel corn and buttery mashed potatoes (all for about $5). I recommend the Gorgonzola-crusted filet mignon.

Be prepared for a heavy bill and an even heavier stomach. But this place will surely impress your date (although be warned they will never finish their dinner).

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70

300

Nicole R.

PA

I went to S&W for my birthday with my parents.  TK called ahead because my stepfather will only drink Amstel Light.  They don't usually carry it so my server actually made a pit stop on his way into work and bought two six packs.  Needless to say, my stepfather was chuffed.  He drank 11 of them!   It also goes without saying that our service was exceptional.  It helped that we knew the server (Allan) but I think he's just good anyway.  He was very attentive but not overbearing.

The food was really good.  It wasn't the best steakhouse that I've been to, but I was impressed.  I got fillet mignon and it was cooked perfectly.  The sides were good too.  I really enjoyed the spinach, but I loves my greens.  They were a plate of garlicky goodness!  The mashed potatoes were also a favorite of other members of my party.  The space is kind of a funky feng-shui mess that leaves you feeling a bit entrapped.  I've also been to S&W just to go to the bar.  The bartender made me a fisherman's friend which is whiskey and port.  It sounds disgusting but I kind of liked it.

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Elite '08

51

138

Laurel M.

Philadelphia, PA

I visited S&W last night during restaurant week.
I don't have much to say about the place - it was basically your average traditional upscale steakhouse.  My filet mignon was very good, but certainly not the best or outstanding in any way.  That pretty much describes everything I ate there that evening...the fried calamari (prolly my fave dish of all), green salad, the steak, the asparagus, the cheesecake & even my cosmopolitan.
Very good but not exceptional.
The interior design had you feeling very "enclosed" as well.  Large pillars and walls and various levels separated the booths & tables.  While you had the feeling you were dining in relative privacy the din of the place was awful.  I found myself having to talk very loudly in conversation.  I might expect & accept that at a trendy, young, "cool" Starr establishment, but this place had a decidedly "businessman" feel to it.  I suppose in short, the acoustics were simply not well thought-out.

Hands down, the STRANGEST aspect of the evening was the fact that it seemed like we had 2 (?!) waiters!!  And there were only 2 of us!!  It was very very odd, it felt like a sort of circus routine & I wanted to say something about it, but it was so mind-boggling to myself & my aunt we just let it go on.  One would come and ask us a question & see how we were doing, then *immediately* following the other would come by and say & ask pretty much the EXACT same things.  It was so bizarre (believe me it was more bizarre in person than I'm sure it seems in regards to what you're reading here) I almost started wondering if they were playing some weird trick on us on purpose.

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