943

943 is my favorite restaurant in Philly! I haven’t tried everything on the menu but the stars for me, are the empanadas and the flan.

First off, I try to visit as many places as I can throughout the city for great food. I never find myself compelled to go out of my way to write a review about the places I visit, but 943 really impressed me.
I was recently on
and I just so happened to stumble upon the restaurant page. I was looking up a bar that I visited a few years ago and noticed a review of 943 at the bottom corner of the page. I don’t know why, but I decided to click on it and read the review. It seemed like a really interesting place to check out.
My girlfriend is a fan of BYOB’s so I decided to try something different, instead of the occasional «night out in Old City/​Center City». The evening we went, I scheduled a reservation and the young lady that answered was very polite. When we arrived it was definitely a neat scene to see as there was a couple dining inside at the window, you could tell they were enjoying their dinner. As I walked in I’d have to admit, it wasn’t your typical restaurant scene in Old City or Center City, it felt as if I was walking into someone’s dining room. You could see the kitchen and the head chef Pascual grilling various meats. I was greeted by a waitress who had us seated at a nice window seat.
The menu was simple and everything was priced well. As our waitress came to bring us our glasses of water, she popped open our red wine bottle and served us. I decided to start of with the grilled provolone and ensalda romana (caesar salad), while my girlfriend had the house salad. For the entrée she had the Ravioli de Casa, which was a spinach ravioli in a garganzola cream sauce. I had the Bife de Chorizo, which was a glorifed New York Strip.
Our waitress brought our appetizer and salad over and we were quite pleased. Everything was fresh and very well prepared. The grilled provolone melted in your mouth. Another waitress was very attentative to everyone’s drinks and made sure we had our glasses filled. It was nice to see as the restaurant was not that busy. Every now and then you would see the head chef Pascual, pop his head out to make sure service was going well. He even went over to a few tables to introduce himself and make sure his customers were happy.
Our entrees took a bit longer than we expected to arrive at our table, but we were enjoying ourselves as well as the wine. The moment came and our waitress bought over our entrees and my mouth watered as I saw this beautiful slab of strip steak. My girlfriend’s ravioli dish looked amazing as well. Everything was cooked to perfection. The steak was seasoned perfectly and really didn’t need anything on it. The fingerlings and green beens that accompanied my steak were also very good. My girlfriend is a huge pasta lover and she couldn’t stop raving about how fresh the pasta and other ingredients were. We both shared our dishes and were very pleased.
We ended our night with the flan for desert. I have to point out, being latino myself, this flan was almost as good as my grandmother’s. I can’t say enough about 943. The atmosphere was great and so was the service. I will recommend this spot to anyone and I look forward to my next visit.

Food: 5
Décor: 2.5
Ambiance: 3
Service: 3
Value: 4
They closed!!! NOOOOO! Amazing steaks. Great little byob, that I wish I’d have another opportunity to visit.

Okayish. Some hits but enough misses that it’s not worth coming back a second time. We wound up ordering a bunch of appetizers and dessert.
Empanadas: Chicken ones were bland, beef were just okay.
Fritto Misto: This was a special, a mixed appetizer with fried sardines, shrimp, calamari, and something else I can’t remember. The sardines were decent but the bones were still in, which seemed weird to me as you had to dig your way past all the batter, pull out the spine, and then eat it. Shrimp was very overcooked, and the calamari was bland. Plus, the batter itself was nothing to recommend. I’ve had better fried seafood apps at the local gastropub.
Moscardino pulpo: This was the one thing that was perfect. I could eat a whole bowl of this, maybe on top of some linguine. The octopus was wonderfully tender, tomato sauce rich and well spiced, and the olives added a salty kick at the end.
Alfajores: lemon dessert sandwich cookies with dulce de leche and rolled in dried coconut. Cookies were very tasty but the middle could have used twice as much dulce de leche.
Waitresses were nice but slow (there were only two for a packed house). I did note that the paper menus were covered in grease stains, which I thought was a little tacky.

This is a small intimate restaurant, nothing fancy. The waitstaff and hostess were exceptionally nice. They continuously came over and asked if everything was alright and filled our water and wine glasses.
The food was pretty good. Not overly spiced or flavorful. We ordered the short ribs, pasta sampler and ham and cheese empanas. It reminded me of a typical homecooked Italian meal. Empanas were ok. Nothing like the empanas you would get in South America from the street vendors, but still had a good taste.
I am not sure if it was really worth $ 20 a person but I would go back again if there was another Groupon offer.

When people ask me where to get a great meal at a decent price, I direct them here. I’ve eaten here many times and have never been disappointed. Everything I have ever tasted from here has been amazing.
My typical order is the entrana, the grilled skirt steak. The steak is cooked to perfection, salty (but not overly so as some people have stated), and flavorful. When dipped in the chimichurri sauce on the plate, it’s a fork full of heaven. The green beans that are served with it are also to die for, I ask for extra. They’re garlic-​y and have that perfect snappy-​tender texture. The empanadas are incredible, with the jamon y queso being my favorite. Our last visit here was during a terrible thunderstorm and we were the only guests so the chef sent us out the Provoleta appetizer. I loved it so much that my friends only got one bite each before I stole the whole rest. For dessert, we typically get the lemon cookies with dulce de leche filling, which sounds like it would be kind of an odd pairing, but works so well together.
On top of being incredible food, the service is outstanding. The servers are always friendly and attentive. They are knowledgeable of their menu and are more than happy to make recommendations to new guests.
All of the negative reviews from Unilocal are from people who visited or had problems using the groupon so don’t be discouraged. This is a gem of a restaurant and I give it nothing but highest of praise. Grab a bottle of wine and head on over.

We went here during the winter and used a groupon for a multi course tasting for two. That was great because we tried a lot of different food. Empanadas were excellent. Steak was very good. We enjoyed all of the food and the bottle of malbec we brought to match the food. This is authentic Argentine food! I spent six weeks in Argentina so when I need a good fix of steak and empanadas, I will beback!
I had read reviews about the cloth napkins being linty. They had paper napkins when I was there. They should buy nice black cloth napkins to match the décor. Hopefully they have stopped using cloth napkins since it makes the place feel less glassy than what it deserves.

This restaurant is one of my neighborhood favorites. It seems as though the groupon deal they offered gave them some really scathing reviews. Allow me to give a review WITHOUT the groupon experience.
Like I said, this is right in my neighborhood so I frequent it. I’ve gone here for big occasions and casual date nights– both great.
I recommend anything on their menu that they grill… they have a gift.
Also, the wait staff is always attentive and prompt without hovering.
This place is incredible and everything on the menu is delectable.
Please head on over here and give it a try– without the damn groupon.

Time for an upgrade.
My last experience at 943 definitely warranted another review. After having dined previously and enjoying the food, I had felt that perhaps the service and feel of the restaurant was a little off. I believe these issues have been corrected and they are just catching some wind in their sails.
Early tastings from the kitchen were the grilled sweetbreads and the grilled shrimp. If there is one thing that this place excels in, it’s grilling. The two aforementioned items came out perfect. They had that great grill flavor and were cooked to perfection. The sauce on the shrimp was something sweet, spicy and smokey. There might be magic happening back there.
My entrée, the Entrana with chimichurri and crispy fingerlings was beautiful. Not only did the steak have the awesome grill flavor I spoke about earlier, but the chimichurri brought a fresh and light feel to each bite. The potatoes were also perfect, crispy outside, soft inside. At this price point, it is one of the better values in the city.
If the previous courses weren’t enough, their house-​made flan just sealed the deal for me. I’ve always though of flan as kind of blah. Not anymore.
Today we spell redemption 9−4−3.

Armed with a groupon, Katrina C. and I made it here on a Wednesday night. I had made a reservation, which was good, because the restaurant got pretty packed. They definitely have room for more seating if they want it, but it seems like they would have to hire more staff.
We sat down, and waited about 5 minutes and the waitress came over to let us know they were out of a few things. It was only 6:30, so that was pretty quick to run out of specials. We weren’t quite ready yet, which led to about a 10 minute wait for her to come back.
We wanted to get two appetizers and one of the steak dishes. Neither of us wanted a big steak on our own, but we wanted to try it. The waitress informed us that there would be a $ 5 sharing fee. In general, I think plate sharing fees are kind of silly, but I guess I understand if you just get one app and one entrée or just one entrée, but we threw the extra app on there, so for all the waitress knew, one of us was going to eat the steak, and the other was going to eat the appetizers. Well that sharing fee led us to reconsider our options so we needed another minute, which turned into about 15 minutes of waiting, while the waitress cleaned tables, seated people, etc, while we are sitting there hoping to finally order food. It was pretty ridiculous. I would have left if I didn’t have the coupon to use.
Ended up just ordering 4 appetizers: Caesar salad, 3 empanandas, octopus, and shrimp. The empanadas were tasty, and the octopus was cooked nicely, but otherwise I was underwhelmed, especially for the prices. Also the portions were pretty small. The food service went smoothly, but then came the time for the check. We sat there for about 20 minutes waiting for it to come. Meanwhile, there are about 10 people standing by the door waiting to be seated. You’d think they would want to get us out of there. When we finally got the check, we needed change which took another 10 minutes, and when we gave $ 20 for a $ 5 bill, the waitress came back with two tens. We had to make change from the table next to us, who was also trying to pay and leave.
The interior is nice, and it’s in a good location, so I really wanted to like this place, but the service was so frustrating. And the food really didn’t wow me enough to want to go back.

A good spot for steak… and not a good spot for vegetarians. Not being sweetbread gurus, we decided to take the plunge and started with the Mollejas (I found that sweetbreads are not my favorite, but I did like the garlicky chimichurri preparation). Both the Tira de Asado (short ribs) and the Entrana (grilled skirt steak) were good-​sized portions and were cooked to perfection. We ordered the Flourless Chocolate Cake for dessert, but found it more like a dry brownie.

I saw some of the other reviews on here and I just had to chime in. It seems like a few of the one star reviews are fake or from folks who havent actually eaten here. I have eaten here more than 6 times and I keep going back.
I have never had a problem getting reservations and they even managed to fit me in on Valentine’s day when I called the same day.
The food:
One of my favorite meals in the entire city is the Grilled Short Rib at 943. It’s very difficult for me to order new things. It’s grilled slowly over time and not braised like most people usually expect.
The other item you HAVE to have is the Garlic Shrimp as an appetizer. I can also honestly live for a decent amount time only eating their empanadas, especially the Ham & Cheese but I suggest getting the sampler for yourself.
I have a huge amount of Hispanic friends from when I worked in Manhattan and they have always made Flan for special events or for our office. 943’s Flan blows all of those home made recipes away. I would grab a bottle of dessert wine and head there just for the Flan.
The negatives (Which aren’t many otherwise it wouldn’t be 5 Stars):
It’s pretty loud when it’s packed. Maybe some dampening wall hangings?
The proximity of liquor stores to the Italian Market which is not their fault. Between 943, Monsu, Little Fish, and Cochon, even a PLCB store would make out like a bandit.

I haven’t actually EATEN here so I can’t review the food. I give it a one star because the process of simply getting a seat to eat said food has been a royal pain.
I did get the Groupon for te tasting menu. First time I called to make a reservation, they said they were booked solid. Fine. No walk in’s either.
I tried again a few weeks later to schedule another date. Nobody answered the phone. At all. I called at a normal time, no answer. Tried to schedule online. Not connected to Opentable.
Called again a few weeks later, got someone to answer, who put me on hold for 10 minutes. Then I hung up, called back, and finally he booked me for 4 people.
I arrived at the restaurant with my group of 4, then noticed that the sidewalk was filled with italian market trash piles. Not a very pleasing entrance to a restaurant with $ 22 lobster ravioli appetizers. I told the waitress that I had a group of 4, but 2 others wanted to join (it was my friends birthday). First she scolded me, told me that I should have called first (note the above mentioned calling difficulties I encountered). They looked for extra chairs, but the place was solid packed. No chairs available. So we walked out. I also saw they they didn’t even feature the groupon tasting special because they were ‘too busy’ to offer it.
Why would you offer a groupon if you didn’t have enough seating capacity or staff to a. answer the phone, or b. accommodate walk-​ins or c. actually HAVE your groupon tasting-​menu available or d. at least a clean sidewalk area for people to wait.
So thank you, 942, for taking my $ 20 for my groupon and then making it such a pain in the rear that I never even bothered to redeem it.

I’ve tried going back here twice since the last time, to no avail. The first time I walked by on a Saturday at around 5:30PM when there was NO ONE there. Asked if there were any spots for dinner… they said they were COMPLETELY booked for the evening. Later, I walked by again at 7:30PM and the place was TOTALLY empty and they still claimed to be booked.
My 2^nd attempt was the day before my groupon was to expire. I got there at around 8:30PM, there were a few 2-​seater tables available, and Unilocal said it closed at 10PM on Sunday. I was greeted by a rude/​flakey hostess/​server:
Hostess: ummm… like, we’re closed.
Me: Uh, really? but there are still people eating and Unilocal says you close at 10PM.
Hostess: Uhhh… like we never close at 10PM, but we like ran out of food.
Me: okay, so can I make reservations for tomorrow?
Hostess: no, we’re like closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.
I don’t understand what their problem is. It’s like the don’t want anyone’s business. I’m not sure if I’m going to attempt going here a 3^rd time.

The major pitfall of this place: one of our two steaks (the entrana) was suuuuper salty. Almost inedibly so, and I tend to like salty foods. The grilled octopus was also extremely salty, and probably not worth the $ 12 for the amount given. Each bite of both made me want to guzzle an entire glass of water, which unfortunately they weren’t very attentive about keeping filled.
I will say that the grilled short rib was nicely flavored: if only they’d been as moderate with the salt on the other two items, this place could’ve easily been a 3. The four meager pieces of fingerling potatoes that came with the steaks were just okay, and the wrinkled sauteed green beans weren’t that great. However, the bell pepper-​infused olive oil with the bread was a nice touch, as was the complimentary small ramekin of finely diced cheese and meat.
Overall though, if I had wanted to increase my sodium intake that significantly, I would’ve gotten myself a salt lick. In fact, they could throw their steaks into cow pens and the cows would cannibalistically come a lickin’.

Honestly, I’d sum it up as «sucks.» So, aside from taking forever to get orders taken and served, and literally a third of the things on the menu not available that evening, the prices are through the roof for paltry amounts of food. Sure okay, the food should be fantastic right? I didn’t think so. There was 4 of us so we had a variety of dishes and we all felt pretty ripped off.
And here is the part that really pisses me off. Before I sat down at this restaurant I looked around the restaurant for «cash only» signs. I looked at the front door. I checked the menu. Nothing anywhere to be seen. I looked at the prices on the menu which showed the average dish is about $ 20 a head. Okay, no problem then for accepting credit cards, right? EEEEEEERRRRRTTTTTT. That, my friends, is a giant buzzer right over your head. So I had to look like an a-​hole and borrow a few bucks from one of my friends, while another addition to the party had to go run to the ATM. Probably the only worse scenario than that would be getting a card declined… but I digress.
I can’t give this place one star because the waitress was nice and apologized like three times for not accepting credit cards.
We couldn’t figure it out though — Why do people eat here?
Food Quality/​Taste = 1 Star
Portion Size Given Price = 1 Star
Price = 1 Stars
Service = 2 Stars
Experience with Staff = 4 Stars
Décor = 2 Stars

I’d heard good things about 943 and decided to check it out this past Saturday. We arrived at 8:30pm, Groupon and a bottle of Argentine Malbec in hand. The space is sparsely decorated and lacked a cozy or intimate feel, yet it was still inviting. We were seated next to the open kitchen. The polished wood tabletops with a heavy (iron?) base and chairs are very nice… no flimsy Ikea furniture here!
Our server was very pleasant and opened our wine immediately. We were promptly given some bread with pepper infused oil and a little bowl of cheese and salami cubes. Nice touch! We scarfed it all down. We started out with the chicken empanadas and the shrimp appetizer. The empanadas were flavorful. The shrimp were delicious. They tasted really fresh and the saffron/​onion/​garlic added great flavor. For my entrée I had the ravioli of the day: butternut squash with brown butter. I received a plate with 3 of the biggest ravioli I’ve ever seen. No complaints here! My boyfriend had the skirt steak. I sampled a bit dipped in chimichurri sauce. It was a delicious cut of steak, cooked as he’d ordered and not chewy or fatty.
My few criticisms: 1) please do away with the linty little towels that are on the table in lieu of napkins. I had white lint all over my black dress during and after dinner. 2) the waitress failed to tell us what the kitchen was out of before we ordered. I was all set to order the octopus appetizer only to be told that they were out of it… bummer! 3) they need to somehow cozy-​up the space. It just seemed large, open and stark.
Overall a decent BYOB that I’d dine at again!

The space at 943 is a little sparse, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Some may call it minimalistic. I think because they sat us near the window on a cold night, I’m leaning towards ‘sparse’.
The menu however, was quite warm and cozy. It was filled with so many desirable plates that we had to pull up the trusty Unilocal reviews to help us decide. We ended up having the sweetbreads (from the specials menu), the empanada trio, skirt steak, and seafood pappardella.
The sweetbreads with the beans in pomegranate seeds were fantastic. I’ll repeat — FAN-​TAS-​TIC. The empanadas weren’t anything mind blowing, but good. Like a few notches above a hot pocket. (Keep in mind I like hot pockets, and all empanadas have been relatively similar to me). The entrees were both very good. The steak was cooked nicely, and the seafood pasta sauce was right on point.

I usually don’t get this excited about a restaurant, but 943 really stands out as a cut above. First off, this place isn’t fancy and they’re not trying to be, but the food that come out of the kitchen is classy and as well executed as any you’ll find.
now the cons: the South Philly is impossible when it comes to parking, especially at night, and the surrounding area is not exactly «bustling» with activity.
now the pros: once you walk in the door of 943, the service is sincere and the ambiance is inviting and genuine. The menu has a myriad of delicious options and my wife and I were blown away at the taste of every dish served to us. Overall, the meal was authentically Argentinian with an Italian flair, just like they do it in Argentina.
and the food: you start off with two complimentary small dished 1) cured meats and cheese and bread with jardinière type oil dip. Both are delicious and serve well to warm the palate. For our dinner we tried the Empanada sample, absolutely yummy and as good as we’ve had in Argentina. Next we tried the New York steak entrée with chimmichuri and the Hake fish dish. the best way to describe it was that both were executed and seasoned to perfection. The steak was a perfect medium rare, as I ordered it, and the Hake was tender and sauced with skill.
To top it off the chef even came out and chatted us up to make sure we were satisfied with our meal. I was just sorry we didn’t have any more wine to offer him. Ohh ya, this place is BYOB. So all is all, one of the more satisfying meals I’ve had in a while, and I hope everyone at 943 keeps up the great work!

Came here the other evening for dinner with Catlyn to try out this new place. The place is very nice and spacious and we got a nice table in the window area to people watch …
Catlyn got the short ribs which were done to perfection, so moist and meaty with a side of green beans.
I got the Sea Bass with Duck Fat Fingerlings which was a special for the evening. I missed the part that it was a whole fish so I had to de-​bone it. The fish was delicious but I would have not ordered it knowing I would have to clean it first … lol
Other items on the menu sounded good and what I saw coming out to other people I will definitely be going back again.