Vernick Wine Shop & Tasting Menu

I had superb food throughout my week in Philly but this restaurant topped the lot. Food was absolutely fantastic - every dish a flavour sensation. Service was also faultless, & the greeting warm. It’s an upscale affair, set within a beautiful character building in the posh part of town, but the vibe is low key & unpretentious. Loved every minute!!

I had not been back for many years, and my first visit was not a great experience. Decided to try again because so well rated and it was close to where we were seeing a show. The meal was fantastic. Certainly understand now where the great reviews come from. Will look forward to coming back soon.

Excellent service, professional demeanor of staff. Food was delivered bar side as we find some of the best customer service! Cocktails were mixed to perfection. We had the oysters, shrimp appetizers, scallops entrees, and the spaghetti crab appetizers! Cool vibes clean atmosphere.

We had an excellent meal. My wife had the crab appetizer and the skate appetizer, both excellent. I had the pork chop, which was perfectly prepared and delicious with a slightly spicy sauce. Service was good. My only downside is that the tables are close together. It’s quite a small place. Try to eat at the front of the restaurant overlooking the street. It gives you a little more space + air.

The food and service were outstanding and the ambiance was perfect for our Anniversary dinner.

Vernick Food & Drink- Philadelphia, Pa. 5 Stars NUMBER 1 ALL USA ALL-TIME!! As we drive north on Christmas Eve I felt a stop in the City of Brotherly Love was appropriate. It was not easy to reserve a fine dining adventure. Vernick could get us in at 11:00pm. I took it because I know how highly regarded this locale is. As we were driving I called and asked if there had been any cancellations. Lucky for me there was. 6:30pm. With a nine year old in tow it was much better. So we get to the restaurant and it's very small but packed to the rafters with people. This to me is always a good sign. All of the tables were very close together. However, being in an establishment like this you never have to worry. Everyone was dressed up and professional. They only downside to this review is it was too dark inside for me to snap pics of the food. I took them but they did not come out well. On to the substance of the experience. The drink menu is easily the coolest array of cocktails I have ever experienced. I started with the House Old Fashioned. A perfect balance of flavors between the bourbon, the butters and the Demerara sugar. My second drink was the Deshler a fine combination of top shelf rye whiskey, dubonnet and dry curaçao. If we were staying in town a few days I would have had more. As I perused the menu I began to wonder why restaurants with a diverse menu like Vernicks do not exist in my neck of the woods. Anyway, I started with fluke served sashimi style in a light piquant broth. The fluke was so fresh it was still moving on my plate. This was my first foray with fluke and it was way worth it. The adventure continued with veal sweetbreads. This organ was so juicy and tender. The sauce was decadent and smooth. I wrapped up with the venison. I have consumed venison over 20 times in my life. Every single time I always got a gamey note at the end. The Vernick venison was sans that note. How they did it I do not know. My daughter who is finicky tried it and thought it was filet mignon. After finishing the meal, we went to exit and the hostess was handing out packs of fresh baked chocolate fudge cookies. Thoroughly amazing. Big Boy rates this number 1 in the country.

I have been to Vernick's on many occasions, and I have to say that after my most recent visits, I left extremely dissatisfied. Last Saturday, I sat at the bar and was really looking forward to the Bison Strip Loin. The Beef Tenderloin Tartare and Arctic Char came out together in a timely fashion, both excellent. After an hour and 30 minutes, I asked the bartender if the Spaghetti with Lump Crab and Bison was still coming, he responded that he had no control over the kitchen, but the orders had been entered. To pass the time, I asked if they had any desserts, they had several appetizing options on the menu. I requested black pepper, the other bartender said he didnt have any behind the bar, but would go back to the kitchen to get it. He returned 10 minutes later without anything. At an hour and 45 minutes, I asked how much longer it would be for the pepper and Bison. The bartender said he didn't have pepper and was waiting for us to finish our pasta. He asked if I would like him to fire up the main course. I asked what he meant the first time and he could not give an answer. I can understand if they were busy for Easter weekend, however it seems like instead of offering clarity or solutions, they were offering excuses. I wasn't sure how much longer it would take, and so I asked for the check to finish dinner elsewhere. I spoke to the manager, James Smith, and after explaining the situation, he said, "you're good". I asked what he meant, and he said he would take care of the check, but I had already paid. He searched around the host stand, handed me a crumpled business card, and said that if I came back, he would take care of it. I returned this evening, and while the food was good, James only solution was to take two drinks off the $300 check. The first check was $150. While I would love to support a fellow native from Cherry Hill, NJ, and the food never disappoints, their service leaves much to be desired and I'm not sure if I would return.

We come here a lot and usually love it. Last night was rough. Four of us. Service was just OK-sat upstairs. Had the steak (very good), whole Dorado (split between 2 was just ok and way over salted) and the Tilefish (good) along with fromage blanc on toast (excellent). All of the accompanying veggies were so salty they were basically inedible. At this price point food/service need to be spot on and they weren't. It was a a Wednesday so maybe the "A" team wasn't around as there was a lot of service people milling around and chatting vs providing service. Having worked in the restaurant biz enough I know this doesn't happen when the boss is around. We enjoy going out during the week to avoid the weekend crowds so I hope this was a one time event. We will give it another shot in a couple of weeks.

I was very impressed with the quality of the food. We had a whole fish, pork chop, and their big steak. The food was as good as we have had in New York and Las Vegas five-star places. If you want the best food in Philly, this is the place. However, the ambiance is a crowded feel with small tables fit tightly together. The service was good, but not quite what I would expect from a five-star place. At times slow and they are rigid in their food preparation when you want to vary. We also visited Jean-Georges and Vernick had better food. But service, view, and ambiance was better at Jean-Georges than Vernick. So if you're trying to choose now you know the differences.

Well, 20 minute walk through the heat, then open windows and no conditioning inside - only saison beer brought the rock pilgrims to life. We came to the Vernick restaurant specially for seafood and there were no regrets at all. Because: there was no way to resist against charcoal grilled black sea bass as well as smothered red snapper… White wine from California along with those delicacies assisted us on our way to the culinary bliss… And then time for dessert came… Milk chocolate tart paired with vanilla panna cotta formed the necessary icing on the cake. The Wine Shop next door turned out to be an extra good surprise for after dinner time. Two rock pilgrims seemed to be fully prepared for the Mötley Crüe & Def Leppard Stadium tour gig.

To put my comment in context, after cancelling 5 trips to Europe during the past three years in May we spent 15 days in Paris thoroughly enjoying a number of different restaurants. To celebrate our 53 wedding anniversary this weekend we have gone to Philadelphia for its restaurants and tonight dined at Vernick in its wine space for its fixed tasting menu. What to say about it - superb in every way and better than all our Paris restaurants. Though fixed menus always pose a risk, Vernick’s quality of food, creative and service all was exceeding excellent.

A long-awaited dinner at Vernick Food and Drink was 3-stars fine; after the experience, we would have preferred to dine elsewhere. To start, the dishes - as expected they’re expensive, but worth it. They were elegant, delicious, and hearty. The small plates were actually quite filling. We’re very happy we didn’t go with the waiter’s recommendation that we order two small plates and two mains for two people. We ended up ordering three small plates, the sea bass for our main course to share, and two desserts (the desserts, mind you, are small but quite sufficient). This was more than enough for two hungry guys. In a nutshell, the food was what one would expect from a James Beard Award winner: exquisite. Now for the bad: the service. As I said, it appeared the waiter tried to upsell us on additional dishes. Even after ordering, he went on to say, “In my opinion, you might want to consider ordering more.” We told him we were fine, and that if we were still hungry, we might consider ordering more. Otherwise, dinner service was good. Until, that is, the end of the meal. Toward the end, the waiter seemed to disappear. When we were finally able to order a coffee and two desserts, he dropped off the check and walked away. He came back about two minutes later and said, “oh, did you order dessert?” Yep! After the coffee and dessert came, he disappeared once again. When he re-appeared, we asked for the check - which, when we received it, had items on it that weren’t ours. Fine, easy mistake. But then again, after he corrected the check and brought it back, he disappeared again. We waited about 10 minutes for him to come back so we could give him the credit card. After taking the credit card, he left - this time for about 8 minutes. This in itself wouldn’t otherwise be such a problem if this weren’t such an expensive experience that we had been waiting for for several weeks. In all, waiting for the check, paying, and signing the check took almost 20 minutes. The other problem is that we booked this reservation for 9:00pm on a Thursday. We don’t typically like to eat this late, but it was the only reservation they had left for the night in question - and I booked several weeks in advance. That said, after being seated for about 30 minutes, the waiter came to the table telling us that the kitchen was about to close and that if we wanted something else we should order now. At this stage, we hadn’t even received our first course. Why accept a reservation at 9 only to announce the kitchen is closing thirty minutes later? The experience overall was fine, but with the number of other fabulous restaurants in Philly, I won’t be back.

Yes, have been here and will return!

A noisey bar scene up stairs to the restaurant. The service was quite casual and the tables small and basic. Maybe because it was an early reservation and half full but there was no atmosphere at all. We were there for the food but that was the big disappointment. A very limited menu which is fine but the small plate starter was very small, the squab sausage was a little tough. The entree Halibut was a very small piece of fish that seemed steamed and rather wet, swimming in an over salted large amount of bean and blood orange sauce. My husband had the pork chop which he said was quite good covered in a cherry compote. It was quite difficult to get a reservation which made it even more of a disappointment.

Outstanding meal at this wine shop by day, restaurant by night, Vernick Wine and Tasting Menu. Debuting their fall season menu for the first time, the incredibly professional and helpful staff presented the progression of dishes that showed the steady hand of a chef at the top of his game. The first course featured a flight of seasonal fruits and vegetables that layered multi-dimensional uses of the same ingredient, a brilliant concept that was excellently executed. A striped jack course brimmed with the freshness of the sea complemented by the earthiness and seasonality of apple, macadamia nut and kohlrabi showcased both the creativeness and the playfulness of the experience. One misstep was the Maine lobster in feuilles de brick, while the bisque and shellfish mustard were a superb accompaniment the lobster itself was chewy and a little difficult to eat. The monkfish, matsutake, nasturtium and fig vincotto was as good as it gets, the fish itself a portrait of perfection only to shortly be upstaged by the cervena venison loin. I've never been fond of deer meat but this humanely raised animal allowed to graze and never given hormones or feeds has an unmistakable impact on the flavor and texture: deeply flavorful and with none of the gaminess and toughness you get from hunted wild deer. A surprising pairing of a mole rojo, Bartlett pear and squash butter brought this dish to the apex of the meal, hands down, by far the best venison I've ever had and probably the best dish in all of Philly last night. The meal finished with a delicious toffee date cake bringing the seasonal nature of the menu home. A true gem of a restaurant, I expect to be coming back here every time the seasons change to see what magic Chef Vernick and his CDC has to offer.