Restaurants near Independence Visitor Center

I visited Buddakan for Center City District Restaurant Week. The value for the amount of food you receive is amazing (obviously for RW, but even so for the original price). The staff was helpful and friendly, even though they were busy with lots of RW guests. I would highly recommend.

We've never had a bad meal here---our favorite restaurant in the city! Terrific ambiance sitting in the garden outside, always interesting variations on food, great drinks and attentive servers. What more could you ask for?

The highlights. The food was fantastic. Party of 2, we did omakase + sake pairing + a few additional menu choices. Everything was very good or better. I probably wouldn’t do the sake pairing again but it was good, there were just other, better, imo choices. The flow of the staff was consistent and attentive. That said many were just going through the paces. Our main server clearly didn’t have much, if any prior food service experience, or training, which for this style, reputation and price point is pretty disappointing. Which leads me to the next negative. Cleanliness. For those that balk at the “if I’m spending” statement I apologize but we’ll just have to agree to disagree. If I’m spending over $700 on dinner for 2 it’s my belief that my server shouldn’t grab my water glass by the rim to refill it. That the tables and floors, walls and bathrooms, etc should be clean. Morimoto is not. It’s clean like a $30/plate chain restaurant clean but that’s the best I can say. There’s superfluous wiping, but nothing is clean and servers consistently go from clearing tables, picking up trash, etc. to serving food without wiping, washing, sanitizing, exercising any kind of basic food service hygiene procedures or training. The space itself is fantastic. The execution of the construction is hurried but acceptable (speaking as someone who has built out several high end restaurants) but the design elements and theme are gorgeous. My hats off to the architects snd designers, a job very well done. Would we return? Maybe. Sit at the counter, try a different tact with the menu, assume we get a different server (who was, to her credit unfailingly pleasant, just poorly trained or not suited for high end food service)? Maybe. There are other very good omakase choices in Philly that are without question better per $/spent. All in all a pleasant evening, I would just say that almost every $750 meal for 2 I have experienced was better.

We’ve enjoyed dining at Fork numerous times over the years. We returned this past weekend to find some great updates to both the interior and menu. We had the roasted beets, corzetti, and tuna crudo appetizers followed by the arctic char and we finished with the chocolate tart. Every dish from this new chef was excellent and wonderfully creative. The service as always was top notch. Go if you’ve never been and if you’ve been before, go back!

Love going to High Street. Love the energy, food preparation and general good feeling of the space.