Sycamore

I have been thinking for a while about what I would write about my visit 2 weeks ago to Sycamore. There were many, many high points, but also some not so much.

The location of this place is a little odd. But after reading so many great reviews, I decided to give it a go. I was treating my husband to a make-up birthday dinner, and we drove a long distance to get here, coming all the way from Northeast Philadelphia. It was most certainly worth the trip. We decided to throw caution to the wind and go with the $29 prix fixe. My husband was worried about it because he doesn't like salmon (clearly because he is crazy), but I was pleased when I asked the server to exclude any salmon selections and he did not seem to mind at all.

Not to get too much into specifics, because it's a varied menu anyway, but everything we had was very unique, inspired and seriously magnificent. There were several courses- amuse, bread, salad, mezze, entree, cheese and dessert. The portion sizes were much larger than I had anticipated as well. Quite impressive for only $29! Seriously, if I were judging Sycamore on food alone, I would be giving 5 stars without hesitation.

Alas, there were a few misses. Sycamore prepares a few different cocktail mixers to accompany whatever spirits you've decided to bring. We tried two different shakers, Indian Ocean and Moscow Mule. I feel like these were conceptually very good, just executed poorly. Both had waaaaaay too much citrus. We couldn't even finish the second shaker because we were both starting to experience terrible heartburn. But like I said, I think this is a small error in execution that could be easily adjusted.

Then there was the service. I won't say that the service was at all poor, just a little...off. The servers (both male) were both dressed khaki pants and non-matching sweaters, so it really just looked like street clothes to me. I can kind of get what they are going for with this, but then the bus-girl was wearing all black. I feel like there really needs to be some kind of cohesiveness with the uniforms. It's a small detail I know, but I certainly noticed it. Also, at one point we asked to see the menu again to look over the mixers, and the server completely forgot to come back and check on us to see if we wanted to order any of the drinks we had been looking at.

At the end of the day, Sycamore is a lovely restaurant that really hope does well. I will certainly be returning again, and I hope that they will have tied up some of these loose ends by the time I do.

I used to love this place. Something happened and now it's not worth the money anymore.

We ordered à la carte. The 3 appetizers were good, ingredients were fresh, my cabbage soup was a little average.
Then we got 2 risotto and the broiled ribs.
A risotto for $25 needs to make me scream of enthusiasm, instead it was boring and overcooked. Same thing with the ribs ($28). Any diner would have cooked them the same way.
Desserts were good. Waiters are as strange as always, but we knew that already.

PLEASE FIX WHATEVER IS GOING ON WITH YOUR KITCHEN!!! I WANT TO LOVE THIS RESTAURANT AGAIN!!!

I read all the good reviews of sycamore so I was expecting something exceptional. I was disappointed with the finesse of the food. It was good but not great. A fine neighborhood restaurant but not worth it going out of the way for. The service was friendly but very amateur except for the manager who was very good.