I'll admit I'm a Stephen Starr junkie so I really couldn't wait to try out The Dandelion. The bottom line: I plan to give this pub another shot but my fist visit there was a bit all over the place.
The outer facade is adorable, it looks like a quaint corner pub was transplanted from England and plopped down in the middle of Center City. I guess aesthetically using the corner door as the main entrance seemed like a good idea, but you are basically causing a draft through one of the dining rooms every few seconds and leaving a hostess to direct new customers through an eating area and up the stairs to the actual host station.
The outer facade is adorable, it looks like a quaint corner pub was transplanted from England and plopped down in the middle of Center City. I guess aesthetically using the corner door as the main entrance seemed like a good idea, but you are basically causing a draft through one of the dining rooms every few seconds and leaving a hostess to direct new customers through an eating area and up the stairs to the actual host station.
We were seated downstairs b/c that was the only thing available for walk-ins at 6pm but I'm sure that's due the Dandelion being the new kid on the block. The menu is a decent size and offers some traditional British fare such as fish and chips, shepherd's pie as well as some American classics. I ordered the deviled eggs, the foie gras and the lamb shepherd's pie; my friend ordered the root vegetable soup and the chicken entree. I was also sipping on the house-made cocktail called the "Tatanka" which features fresh squeezed apple juice as the manager was quick to tell me. And then the wait began.I was catching up with my friend so it wasn't like we were sitting there counting the minutes but unfortunately it was beyond noticeable that after we got our soup + foie gras, we were waiting for quite a long time for our entree. The waitress did come over to apologize. I was a bit overwhelmed by the saltiness of the deviled eggs but the foie gras, fried egg + bacon combination was AMAZING.
When our entrees finally did come, I thought my pie was excellent. It was a nice decent size, not too much. Unfortunately my friend seemed to have the heavy-handed salt problem with her chicken.
We had our food cleared and then the manager visited our table again to apologize that the entree took over 30 minutes to arrive to our table and that he was comping them. We told him he didn't have to (and we were taken aback for the fact that while I did say something to my friend, we didn't complain about the wait b/c we were busy chatting) but he insisted. That to me is pure class. And for that reason I will give The Dandelion a second chance; well that and the fact that my boyfriend still wants to try it despite our dodgy visit. I hope to be update this review with some more positive aspects next time!
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