Despite living in Philly for 15+ years, I finally made it over to Bistro St. Tropez this week after being curious for many years. While my curiosity is now sated, I can't say I feel any strong desire to go back.
Admittedly, I went there with a friend during restaurant week, when quality and service of food can always be suspect. Nevertheless, we were intrigued as their choices seemed more interesting and varied for the week than most.
After some confusion and long wait at the front, we were seated at a decent if crowded, small table facing 30th Street Station. They were out of the sparkling sangria listed on the RW menu so we got the red sangria instead, which was very good (even if our waiter seemed intent on spilling much of it on the floor). We had to order our entire meal, including dessert, right away. All dinners started with a generous and spicy bowl of gazpatcho. I then had the tuna tartare, which was ok, not especially flavorful and the toasts had some kind of spread on them that looked almost like cheese whiz. My main was a paella which also was just so-so: it was only lukewarm and seemed to have just been prepared in builk and dished out as ordered. For dessert, I had ordered a Gran Marinier frozen souffle which quite honestly had the taste and texture of cool whip and little else.
All told, nothing about the experience made me want to rush back for another meal. Beyond the just-average food, the room was very noisy and the wait service not great - and smelly! Our waiter had quite noticeable body odor which was really unpleasant any time he reached over to fill my water glass! This place seems to be lasting on its location and little else.
Pros: Sangria, view
Cons: Food, service
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