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!!
Richard A
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.
D2958KProyd
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.
JayDeLo
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.
Rafik G
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.
gbowman
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.
qmvsimp
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.
The_First_Lex
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.
O2038XFjeffreys
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.
PDXJohn15
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.
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.
dms11
We had one great dish at Vernick...the steak tartare appetizer. It was truly amazing. But the duck breast main course was so-so at best...had the tougher consistency of duck leg, not the tender duck breast medallions served at better restaurants. At $34 for the entrée, it really should have been better. Also, we could not find a good glass of red wine here. We should have ordered a bottle instead but be warned, the red wines sold by the glass are not good. So, why would we return here? Short answer is we would not.
RonG101
The tasting menu (at least the one we had on June 24) reflects a chef - who admittedly is one of the city's top talents - is overly indulging his own whims to be different. He has all the technical talent, and service is great, dish presentation is very good ... but what was lacking was in the dishes themselves. The first course was "Flight of Vegetables" (although 2 of the 5 items were fruit), and it disappointed. The carrot was overcooked and soft, a cube of watermelon tasted like a cube a watermelon, etc. Second was tuna a foie gras (mouse) on warm brioche with caviar. It was very nice. Third was King Crab, which tasted of being tempura fried, served in a wrap of lettuce, with uni mustard. Very nice, but not what I thought we'd get from a chef of this quality. Fourth was corn agnolotti in mushroom consume with morels. It was exceptional, and the highlight of the meal. Fifth was turbot in strawberry and tomato nage (liquid). The sauce overpowered, nothing exceptional with the fish. Sixth was Rocky Mtn Lamb with hollandaise, over green tomato sauce (which, being candid, tasted and had the textural consistency of a fancy, tart pickle relish). The meat was perfectly prepared, and the hollandaise was good - of course, any good chef can do these two parts - but the tart tomato relish it sat upon was an unpleasant combination. I removed it and ate the dish without it. Desert was a white chocolate tart, good but nothing exceptional. We also had the wine pairing. Again, except for the last wine (a nice red to complement the lamb), the other pairings were interesting but unexceptional wines. Also, twice, one glass was poured to cover the next two courses. Like it said, I wanted to like it, and there were stars in the courses, but not at the level of what I would expect from one of the city's top chefs. Maybe it was just an uninspired night on his part. Also, perhaps the a la carte dining is a better option here.
Sansol012
First time back in 17 months and even better than before. Sea bass was excellent - probably the best preparation and taste that I have had in any restaurant in the world outside of le duc in Paris. The tile fish also was excellent. Service was super and the waiter was extremely knowledgeable about the wines with great background information on the wineries. Could not have had a better experience.
482JamesS482
Superb, attentive service from the second you walk in the door. Strong, flavorful drinks. Large starters. Superb fish and vegetarian dishes that were not too salty, like most restaurants. Amazing desserts and Americano coffees. We had great seats on the second floor that overlooked Walnut St. Open doors. Perfect.
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.
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.
Restaurantji Recommends
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.
We had one great dish at Vernick...the steak tartare appetizer. It was truly amazing. But the duck breast main course was so-so at best...had the tougher consistency of duck leg, not the tender duck breast medallions served at better restaurants. At $34 for the entrée, it really should have been better. Also, we could not find a good glass of red wine here. We should have ordered a bottle instead but be warned, the red wines sold by the glass are not good. So, why would we return here? Short answer is we would not.
The tasting menu (at least the one we had on June 24) reflects a chef - who admittedly is one of the city's top talents - is overly indulging his own whims to be different. He has all the technical talent, and service is great, dish presentation is very good ... but what was lacking was in the dishes themselves. The first course was "Flight of Vegetables" (although 2 of the 5 items were fruit), and it disappointed. The carrot was overcooked and soft, a cube of watermelon tasted like a cube a watermelon, etc. Second was tuna a foie gras (mouse) on warm brioche with caviar. It was very nice. Third was King Crab, which tasted of being tempura fried, served in a wrap of lettuce, with uni mustard. Very nice, but not what I thought we'd get from a chef of this quality. Fourth was corn agnolotti in mushroom consume with morels. It was exceptional, and the highlight of the meal. Fifth was turbot in strawberry and tomato nage (liquid). The sauce overpowered, nothing exceptional with the fish. Sixth was Rocky Mtn Lamb with hollandaise, over green tomato sauce (which, being candid, tasted and had the textural consistency of a fancy, tart pickle relish). The meat was perfectly prepared, and the hollandaise was good - of course, any good chef can do these two parts - but the tart tomato relish it sat upon was an unpleasant combination. I removed it and ate the dish without it. Desert was a white chocolate tart, good but nothing exceptional. We also had the wine pairing. Again, except for the last wine (a nice red to complement the lamb), the other pairings were interesting but unexceptional wines. Also, twice, one glass was poured to cover the next two courses. Like it said, I wanted to like it, and there were stars in the courses, but not at the level of what I would expect from one of the city's top chefs. Maybe it was just an uninspired night on his part. Also, perhaps the a la carte dining is a better option here.
First time back in 17 months and even better than before. Sea bass was excellent - probably the best preparation and taste that I have had in any restaurant in the world outside of le duc in Paris. The tile fish also was excellent. Service was super and the waiter was extremely knowledgeable about the wines with great background information on the wineries. Could not have had a better experience.
Superb, attentive service from the second you walk in the door. Strong, flavorful drinks. Large starters. Superb fish and vegetarian dishes that were not too salty, like most restaurants. Amazing desserts and Americano coffees. We had great seats on the second floor that overlooked Walnut St. Open doors. Perfect.