Townsend - Philadelphia

The food was good, but consistent not warm. We felt awckward to send it back to be re-heated, and again it was reallt tasteful, jut not hot.

This restaurant has potential, but there are some issues that need to be addressed. Our table was not ready at the reservation time, and there was limited space to wait, so we ended up hanging out in a window area. The server was great and helped us choose a nice bottle of wine from a moderately interesting list. The bread basket and amuse bouche of vinegared beets were brought by a runner, who accidentally spilled one on the table but did not offer to clean it up. Our first courses, potato potage and baked oysters with Pernod, were well-prepared. However, our main courses, duck breast and fish with leek and vegetable purée, were delayed in arriving at the table. We decided to skip dessert as nothing appealed to us. There are some "rough edges" that were managed well by a knowledgeable server, but it seems like there is room for improvement in communication between the front and back of the house. The restaurant also needs some acoustic treatment as the noise level was quite high. We plan to give it some time to improve before returning.

I recently visited the new location of this restaurant, after having dined at the old location several times. My recommendation now is to request a table against the wall or upstairs. The window tables can be quite cold in winter, and the one closest to the service station can be distracting. As for the food, I have to say I don't really understand the hype. It is good, but not outstanding in any way. The sweetbreads were too large and contained a lot of cartilage. The tuna nicoise was a bit grainy, and overall, the entire meal was overly salty. Maybe I am being too critical, but for a top-rated restaurant, I found the whole experience to be underwhelming. This sentiment was also reflected in my previous visits to the restaurant.

Seating was swift when we arrived with our reservation (which we made 15 mins prior); the food was all fantastic from the amuse bouche to the sophisticated dessert. Everything was so fresh and extremely well executed. It's a masterclass in French cuisine.

I have never left a poor review. We were really looking forward to trying Townsend as we have heard great things. However, the food was extremely mediocre some lukewarm, some so hot as if out of a microwave. It lacked any real flavor. The foie gras mousse was gummy like glue and the duck was questionably duck. The only thing actually worth eating were the oysters. Our meal was so disappointing we immediately walked to Friday, Saturday, Sunday where we know we can get a top notch, perfectly executed meal with staff that don’t seem like robots. Just having a reputation for good food won’t do much unless you only serve people who would be happy eating at Applebee’s every night. We won’t be returning.