Laurel

What Nick Olmi and his team do with food at this restaurant is beyond remarkable. We made the trip in from NY just to eat here. If you are a foodie, you MUST have dinner at Laurel and treat yourself to magnificent takes on food, presentation and taste with superb service to match. Simply fantabulous!

After reading some quite poor recent reviews on Open Table and Yelp,I had been a little concerned about going to Laurel. I am delighted to say that our experience was overwhelmingly positive. The food was spectacular, the service lovely, the room very pleasant, and, at least on a non-busy Tuesday night, the noise level fine. We ordered the 6-course menu and added gnocchi with white truffle to share. We thoroughly enjoyed all of the courses and were delighted that the servers were willing to explain them to us. The food is adventurous and super interesting. It never tipped into strange as is sometimes the case in ambitious restaurants. It was also more than enough to eat. I'm really glad we got the gnocchi because I love gnocchi and truffle and they were great, but we would not have been hungry without. My only slight negative is that there is a bar next door where the servers go to get drinks. When that door is ajar, waves of bar noise come in which is jarring. Otherwise the dining room and ambience is lovely. We will definitely go back.

Over rated restaurant, service style too pretentious, anxious and stiff. Choose between 2 surprise menu... you don't know what you get until you receive it which makes choosing the wine a little difficult. Out of 6 corses only 2 were up to expectation, scallops and duck were delicious, the rest was bland and without flavor. Horrible dessert!! Spend a total of 460$ for two persons.

Our experience at Laurel was wonderful on all levels. The food was delicious. We enjoyed the 6 course tasting menu and left with happy, full stomachs. The service was great. The noise control was good (I didn't really hear nearby conversations, even though the restaurant is cozy). I marked "Value" down because it's not meant to be a value restaurant. It was a gourmet meal and we paid accordingly. No complaints there.

Honestly...disappointing. We spent years talking about going to Laurel and never being able to score reservations when we were able to. Now, all of a sudden it’s easy to get reservations during prime slots (8:30 on a Friday night in the Fall and it was half full) and if our meal was not a one-off, it was clear why.

We opted to do the 6 course dinner with wine pairing. The first course was a cold poached lobster on top of puréed beets and you could guess that the beets overpowered the delicate lobster and you’d be right.

Next course was a smoked tuna that was sliced so thinly and with such a small portion you could barely get a taste for it. Next was a squash dish that apparently had quail in it but it wasn’t memorable. There was a scallop dish that was the star of the show but that isn’t saying much. The meal finished with a duck dish that similarly to the squash was unmemorable.

Finally, the dessert was puréed strawberries with whipped white chocolate that tasted rancid to me.

We wanted to love it, it was a special occasion and while the service was outstanding the food missed the mark and the experience did not live up to the expectation.

Extraordinary food and experience! We had had this restaurant on our bucket list for a long time and were not disappointed!! We would highly recommend going at least once. We ordered the 6-course chef’s tasting with wine pairings and the $75 Kobe add-on. As a note, expect decadent and rich food in exceptionally small portions (small even for high-end chef’s tasting menus) and to potentially still feel a little hungry in the end.

Birthday celebration

An extraordinary experience. Food and service were absolutely amazing.

Food was good but not excellent. Even though we are not big eaters found portion size very small. A slight increase in portion size at least for 6 course dinner would be desirable. Service was excellent and the ambiance was charming. Not a great value but worth a try

All 4 of us had been to Laurel 2 years ago and all agreed it was a 10 out of 10. Absolutely wonderful. So, we were all looking forward to coming back for the 9 course tasting menu. We were unanimously underwhelmed by the whole meal. While everything was very tasty, only a few stood out compared to last time when everything stood out. It would have been nice to have more than a nibble of Icelandic Cod, tuna or an oyster. The Kobe beef at the end was less than the size of 1/2 a Triscuit. The bread was fantastic by the way. I don't mean to belittle the hard work that goes into a meal like that but you asked.

We went this place just after work and with to relaxing and enjoy. The food served there really give us a very pleasant surprise. The staff of this place are really professional and sweet. We enjoyed our dinner and time very much over there. Every single course you can test different flavor and full of layers of joys. It’s a really good place to go.

for $400 before tip i expected a better than average meal. i’ve enjoyed a number of high end restaurants featuring tasting menus and was quite disappointed with laurel. the oyster was the simplest and best item on the menu. the fried sweet potato overwhelmed the other flavors for that course. a number of courses were excessively salt forward. my duck course was overcooked. the in between course that was a pastry shell filled with fois gras was awful; and i love fois gras. the dessert was way too heavy and far more volume than needed; it was as if the dessert offering tried to compensate for the other courses. laurel failed at attempting to create a menu that was interesting, creative or offer unique flavors.

Each course is extremely small, so consider the 9 course option. Flavors were interesting and the dishes were beautifully presented, but we felt the meal as a whole was not a good value .

Best restaurant in town. 5 star experience. Love it.

Innovative and delicious! The tasting menu is outstanding in every regard: presentation, explanation, ingredients, aromas, flavors, textures, variety. The wine pairings were unique and perfect accompaniments. Laurel is a true gastronomic delight sure to please any foodie!

We enjoyed the nine course tasting menu with wine pairings. Each dish was delicious and we both liked each wine that was delivered. We would go back the next time we are in Philly.

Very eclectic with ingredient combos & only for those who can appreciate unusual combos. Lovely presentation. We chose to split two extra courses added to the nine course menu & had Wagyu beef along with gnocchi, both excellent with the best gnocchi ever! Shared the wine pairing b/c we bought a bottle of champagne but was disappointed the previous requested Dom Perignon wasn't available.

First, the wait staff were wonderful - attentive, friendly and knowledgeable. There was a distinct feeling of teamwork that included some of the kitchen staff. We were limited to a six or nine - course tasting menu. Both were costly, but we chose the nine-course option. Nothing resembled French cuisine, not in taste or in style. About half of the dishes lacked identifiable flavors and three were over-salted. I realize that the use of nitrogen is trendy, but good chefs don’t need it. For some reason, about half-way through the evening, they served an oil-soaked, salty heavy brown bead with salted butter. I was dying for a plain baguette. The wine list was short and reasonably priced. Some guests brought their own. We left saying we’d never return.

Fabulous restaurant for celebrating our anniversary. The food was delicious and varied, the wine pairing was excellent, and the service was perfectly attentive.

First time for us. We absolutely loved the restaurant-really great experience- excellent food and service!

Everything was fantastic from the food to the service to the way everything was prepared to the creativity of the meal and to the complexity of the taste. My only recommendation to the restaurant would be for them to speed up the dinner just a little bit. It was just my wife and I had been a long day and we were there for over two hours.

Dinner at Laurel is all you would expect from a terrific Chef that develops great tasting menus and a level of service that always exceeds your expectations. Chef Elmi has created a wonderful restaurant that we always enjoy going to. The menu is a journey of flavors that always amazes and leaves you wanting to come back again and again.

9th anniversary. It was impeccable.

Excellent service and food. All courses have Exceptional recipes, three Michelin star-worthy food, and beverages. The wine paired nine courses must try.

Extraordinary on every level.

Our 4th time and probably the best yet. Every visit has been better than the last and we leave with our minds blown. Hands down the best dining experience in Philadelphia!

Excellent as always!

Another excellent dining experience at Laurel. The food was innovative and exceptional. The service professional, friendly & attentive, and the dining room though small was quite and nicely appointed. Chef stopped by before we left to ask about our experience which was first rate. We have celebrated our anniversary almost every year since he opened and Laurel reliably offers an excellent fine dining experience. We will be back.

Laurel is simply magnificent!!! Local ingredients changing with the seasons is truly a huge plus. I like that they use as many local producers, and not just suppliers as possible. We went full tilt this visit, ordering the 9 course tasting menu along with splitting the two supplements offered. Chef's Signature Gnocchi served with freshly shaved black truffles, tableside, along with the Kobe beef. So glad we did. Both dishes melt in your mouth. We love the attention to detail at Laurel, whether it be the service, or how the food is prepared and served. I wish I could dine there every week. Special thanks to all of our servers, Jane, Sarah, Melissa, and Nick, and of course, the kitchen folks. Well done, Laurel.

The service and food was amazing. Chef Nick greeted us at the table and made us feel comfortable. The 6 plate tasting menu was insanely good and we priced it with the wine selection.

Very pleasant ambiance, food was delicious and well presented, service was very good.

One of the best meals, or may be the best, meal that my wife and I have ever had

Amazing experience at laurel . It was my boyfriend birthday and he wanted to go back to this restaurant! We went to this restaurant 2 years ago and he is a huge fan of the chef ! He is very creative and different and the food is nothing you have had before . If you want to experience something you have never experienced before go to laurel .

Creative and delicious food, excellent cocktails, reasonably priced wines by the glass. Very pleasant atmosphere - tables are close together but noise level is very low - perfect for conversations. Service is excellent!

AMAZING. We’re used to go everywhere for tasting menu and we tried really good one. Laurel was fantastic. We will definitely be back. The caviar with ice cream was one of our favorite. Each bites was a pleasure. Merci!!!!!!

Second time there and the staff and kitchen were very accommodating to my food allergies etc.

A wonderful experience.
.. it was my wife’s birthday and she absolutely would not have wanted to celebrate it at any other restaurant.
Consistently excellent!

This place was absolutely incredible!! Get the wine pairing. It’s a must!!

The food and service was excellent and we will probably to back, although be aware that it is $$$$. We had a cocktail before dinner, the 6-course tasting menu with wine pairing, and the bill before tip was just under $400.

One word, three syllables.
Dee-Lish-Us