Panorama

Great food & service! An amazing wine list. Can’t wait to go back again, which will be soon.

Go for the wine, not the food. Wine bar is a unique experience with a great selection of wines. Bartender is very knowledgeable.
The food and service on the other hand is mediocre. There are symptoms of decline to this restaurant. The décor is outdated, low number of patrons, and unprofessional wait staff. The antipasto misto at $ 17 was sad. For pasta, I had chitarra, it was tasty but salty. For Secondi, I shared the cioppino with my girlfriend. Description of the dish: scallops, shrimp, octopus, calamari, clans, garbanzo beans, spring vegetables, puttanesca bread. The dish was extremely salty and comprised of mostly beans and calamari with little broth. It was a painful disappointment and our waiter wasn’t around for 45 minutes to share my dissatisfaction. There are a number of fantastic restaurants in Philadelphia. This used to be one, but sadly, not anymore.

Came in for a quick glass of wine, need to come back for dinner. Bartender was very knowledgable and helpful when picking out a wine. They offer wine flights and have the largest dispensing system in the world. Happy hour is Sunday-​Friday 5−7pm and Saturday 3−5pm.

I can only speak for the drinks here, as we bellied up to the bar after eating dinner elsewhere. Extensive wine bar with tons of wine on tap. If you’re a wine lover, then this place is your heaven. The menu boasts an array of wine flights ranging in price from about $ 20-​$ 40.
I think I would frequent this place more if the location were better, but it’s a great option if you’re in the area.

So we decided to try this place for the first time.
Wine is pretty decent with a large collection. It did not appear that the staff was very versed in different wine as they referred to wines by number, and they didn’t add any knowledge to it.
We had the broccoli Rabe and the shaved pork belly. Both were tasty and delicious. No complaints.
The entrée was veal scallopine. It was very average, but edible.
The dessert was their tiramisu budino. Actually quite light and delicious.
I would have given them a higher rating, but they checked my umbrella and completely lost it. The manager and bartender didn’t really offer a good solution to this. They took my number and said they will get back to me.
The bartender quipped that worse thing is that they find the umbrella and I can pick it up and order a glass of wine. I would think they should give me some wine for the inconvenience of losing my umbrella.
That left a sour taste in my mouth. I will not be returning. There’s a lot of good wine in this city. No need to go to this place and lose my checked items.

I went here with a friend and we had a great time. We went on a Friday during happy hour and stayed for quite a while. The restaurant has a very warm and inviting feeling, everything I’d previously heard about it… we weren’t disappointed.
The wine selection is off the charts! Everything we had from the wine, to cocktails, to food was delicious. We will be back soon…

We had a bridal shower in the Wine Cellar. The staff was so accommodating to our needs, even adding menu choices for gluten and dairy free attendees. The food was delicious, and nothing was rushed. They even printed up a personalized menu for our event. Erika helped us coordinate the banquet and was serene about all of our last minute changes and requests.
We had worried about parking in the area but there was adequate street parking available.

I went here for restaurant week last week with 5 of my friends and we all had the best time with our dinner. Everything we had was delicious. Not to mention their vast wine selection! We got a few wine flights to share and were impressed with the selections. They offered their whole menu during restaurant week so we got to experience a little of everything. We all tried to order something different so we could sample a little bit of each other’s dishes. I got the scallops and could not have been happier. They were enormous and plump! They were cooked perfectly also.
The only thing I did not like was my dessert choice which was the persimmons cake — it was a little dry. We will frequent this restaurant again.
Service was great — they were friendly and were quick with suggestions.

I went to Panorama last night with my parents and boyfriend for restaurant week. The restaurant has a very warm and inviting feeling when you walk in and I was excited to try this place. Unfortunately we left disappointed.
I made a reservation a few days prior and was lucky to get an 8pm reservation for Friday of restaurant week. Part of the reason I picked Panorama was that they offer their full menu even during restaurant week and they have over 120 wines on tap and seemed like the type of place my parents, especially would enjoy.
The food was excellent every single person loved every piece of the meal. My two star review is due to the service. Each of us ordered a wine flight, which seemed like to the thing to do. Most people appeared to have ordered them. Our wine did not arrive until after the first course was cleared– which wasn’t ideal but the first course did come out rather quickly and it takes a little more effort to assemble a wine flight than pour a glass. My boyfriend and parents were all served their flights and entrees. I received my entrée with no wine. After about ten minutes we made a comment. The waiter became slightly defensive and admitted that they gave my wine to the wrong table. Honest mistake but we would’ve appreciated honest, unprompted communication instead of him trying to act like there was no problem. I didn’t receive my wine until 15 – 20 minutes after receiving my entrée and our server did absolutely nothing to make up for this. He didn’t even make an effort to speed up the process of getting the wine to our table he just awkwardly stood by our table. Kitchen/​bar mixups happen but his apologies were extremely insincere and defensive. When I finally did receive wine all members of my party were done with ³⁄₅ glasses of their flights. Good food isn’t hard to find in Philadelphia so we will not be back due to the poor service.

I’ll let you decide if this is a far review. 14 of our 19 meals weren’t fully cooked. 8 were chicken dishes and 6 were veal. Those that were chicken were still pink inside. Unacceptable for a high end restaurant demanding top dollar. Manager took $ 200 off our $ 1200 bill. Now will wait to see if we get salmonella poisoning. Symptoms of salmonellosis are diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps. Usually takes 12 to 72 hours after infection, and the illness usually lasts 4 to 7 days.
Never not eat raw uncooked foods until they are well done. Use a meat thermometer to be sure foods are cooked to a safe temperature. Do not use the color of the meat (such as when it is no longer «pink») to tell you that it is done.
Whomever prepared these meals should be fire.

Wine Bar. The biggest on tap wine experience in the world. You don’t know a love of wine until you step in here. Try it. Drink it. Love it.

If you are looking for an amazing selection of wine this is the restaurant for you! We were blown away with the wine, and feel that Panorama has the best selection in Philly. The food is really good, but very rich and heavy. Enjoy thoroughly! I recommend the lobster pasta and the squash crab pasta. Delish!

This restaurant was romantic. I enjoyed the calming ambiance. I visited this restaurant for restaurant week and was thoroughly satisfied.
The appetizers were served in abundance and the entrees were large in nature. The pasta was served perfectly (was actually asked if we preferred it el dente). The veal was tender and moist. The sauce that the food was served with was full of fresh herbs and spices.
The dessert was great and had me thinking I could lick my plate. I enjoyed the environment, food and flavors and will definitely return here in the future. If you are looking for that quaint place to spend time with the one you love, away from the beaten path and crowds, then give Panorama a try.

This place is fantastic! If you enjoy wine and good food you will feel the same. They have an impressive wine selection and have so many wine flights.
We also ordered the Italian flight of cheese which was great and had this truffle honey that was to die for!
Gnocchi was one of the best i’ve ever had — very pillowy.
Definitely going back!

Nicky P and I came here for a belated Valentine’s Day dinner. The food was very average and bland. But their wine selection is quite impressive. They hold the Guiness Book record for being the largest wine keeper in the world. They have over 100 wines on tap (I didn’t even know wines could be on tap)!
We started off with a wine flight between the 2 of us, which included 5 different wines. Our waiter was very knowledgeable and recommended a selection from the pages and pages of wine flights based on our not so picky preferences of «not too sweet, not too dry». I don’t remember which combination we chose, but we both enjoyed the experience of trying different wines.
As for food, the only thing I would recommend is the melanzane appetizer. The waiter mentioned it was the chef’s specialty. It is breaded eggplant topped with fresh mozzarella and tomato sauce baked to perfection. I got the trio pasta special as an entrée — rigatoni with tomato sauce, spinach gnocchi in a cream sauce, and ravioli. I wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about any of them, but the gnocchi was the best of the 3. We got the tiramisu, but it was nothing to rave about (then again, nothing compares to the tiramisu at La Viola). The waiter in training recommended an ice wine with dessert. I had never tried ice wine before, but it was a sweet ending to the night!
I would not recommend this place for dinner, but it is a unique place to go for the wine selection. I am no connoisseur, but I definitely enjoyed sharing different wines with Nicky P!

Tried out this place for Restaurant Week and the menu was set up in a way where you were able to order directly from their main menu, but was limited to ordering an app, entrée and desert. So that was good. I went with 3 other friends, so we were able to try almost everything haha. The restaurant is about a block or so away from Franklin Foundation and it’s in a hotel so you can’t really miss it. Parking is not so bad around this area. The décor and atmosphere is great, not too dark and not too loud. The wine bar was the main feature of the entire place, in my opinion. The waitress was really hospitable.
For the first course we ordered the Gamberetti & Fagioli, Insalata di Stagione, Funghi Selvatici, and the Insalata di Stagione. I enjoyed my Insalata di Salmone, the salmon was great and the greens were nicely dressed. Although the Gamberetti & Fagioli was probably the best first course. The shrimp were perfectly cooked, the cannellini beans were delish!
For the second course, we ordered Filetto di Manzo, Capesante all’Arancia, Agnello con salsa verde, petto d’anatra con more. The scallops were cooked perfectly and the flavor was on point! Although some of the sweet potato and cauliflower was over cooked, the dish over all was great. My least favorite dish was the lamb, but I’m just not a fan of lamb anyway.
For dessert, the highlight was the poached pear. A slightly sweet dessert with mascarpone.
This place is famous for their wine flights so we ordered that and throughly enjoyed being able to try a variety of wines. Although it was restaurant week, there wasn’t much diners on a Sunday evening. I would definitely recommend this place!

I can’t believe I haven’t been here before now.
The wife and I had reservations but opted to sit at the bar (where the action is). The bartender was very friendly and knowledgeable explain in the wine flights and answering our questions.
My flight was wonderful and had generous pours of all the wines. We started off with the best burrata appetizer we’ve ever had. Flavorful lightly grilled tomatoes with the cheese on top along with arugula on the side topped with a drizzle of balsamic.
I know that I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the meal but can’t quite remember what I had. The flight and the couple of martini’s I had earlier had done their job. I’ll return but won’t imbibe beforehand.

I am giving Panorama 4 stars because of the service, the ambiance, and of course, the wine flights (!!!). All of those aspects made dinner at Panorama for restaurant week a great experience for a group of 4 of us. The place has an older vibe to it, with Italian murals all over the walls, but this restaurant has been here a long time, as part of the Penn View Hotel, and there is a reason it has done so well and stuck around.
The fact that there are countless wine taps along the bar are reason enough to come give this spot a try!
I liked that they didn’t change the menu for restaurant week, so I knew what they offered all the time. I went with a beet salad for an app., scallops for an entrée, and cream puffs for dessert. Everything was good, but nothing mind blowing.
I would recommend this place to anyone, but again, for the first three reasons I mentioned, not so much for the food itself. It’s enjoyable, but I think there are a lot of way better Italian restaurants in the city to get some truly superb Italian cuisine.

This is my oldest favorite place to eat in Philadelphia and my go-​to for a special dinner when guests come into town to visit me! We are never disappointed — the food and wine are outstanding (over 120 rotating wines on tap… need I say more?) and the ambiance in the bar room or downstairs is just too cool — old school Italian.
My personal favorites are the fried calamari, which they nearly always have on special, the antipasto misto, funghi, and insalata di Caesar for starters. Plus the addicting little bread nuggets on your table as a starter!
For my main course, I almost always opt for the gnocchi con provola affumicata — they are just so perfectly executed that I can’t seem to get past them to try many more things, but I’m always tasting what everyone else gets too. The Trenette di Spinaci is spinach pasta with sausage and grated parm, also a good choice. I’ve tried the pesto over gnocchi as well and it’s to die for. Their specials are also great and we’ve ordered lobster ravioli and many other dishes from there, I have not once been disappointed with any aspect of my meal.
Now…onto the wines, the part of the meal that hits it out of the park! They have over 100 wines on tap, which are circulating seasonally so there is always a crazy huge selection! Personally, I like to go big or go home, so I choose from one of their wine flights (5 glasses, with a dozen options!). The wait staff is so incredibly knowledgable they will make sure you find one you love, and you can try it for free!
This place is perfection in my mind, and in over a dozen visits I have not had anything but a stellar, incredibly classy dinner here. Mmmmm

Ristorante Panorama is a little bit of a throwback — the ambiance is wonderful and you do not feel rushed to start, or complete your meal. The waitstaff is well trained and are quite familiar with the menu.
We started our meal with a wonderful antipasto platter which easily served the four of us — very nice presentation. The ladies brought their wine flights from the bar (they have a system that provides 150 different wines by the glass) while Charlie and I sampled their selection of Craft beers on tap.
Entrees consisted of:
Gnocchi con Provola Affumicata homemade pillows of potato and ricotta gnocchi with fresh basil and fresh & smoked mozzarella
in a light San Marzano tomato sauce
Vitello Mandolese thinly pounded veal medallions stuffed with prosciutto and fresh mozzarella in a sauce of porcini mushrooms
Orecchiette housemade pasta (two).
We finished off this perfect meal by sharing two orders of excellent cheesecake.

Its true, they have an unmatched wine by the glass selection. And they do a great job at selecting flights of five wines to try.
The first thing you notice when you go up to the bar is a thick manual on wines. The manual lists countless of possible wines and possible flights. Of course you can make up your own flight but I decided to go with one of theirs. After about 20 minutes of serious study, and a glass of wine, I finally made a selection.
The wines came out and were lined up in front of me. About 1.5 oz each sample and the flights cost about $ 20 – 30. There were some pricier ones as well. Ill save those for next time. It was a great combination so someone definitely did a good hob on their homework.
While sipping away, I tried a couple appetizers (escargots, beet salad) and a desert (pear). Everything was in the damn thats good! to amazing! range. I wonder if they ever do wine/​food pairings?
Lets see, what else would you want to know. Happy hour is 5 – 7. When I arrived at the end of happy hour, the place was pretty quiet and empty. By 7:30 it filled up with several groups of tasters, dinner goers, and who knows what. It looked like everyone was having a great time.
So, if you are into wine, this is a must go. If you are not but like good food, this is a must go. Guess what, that means you must go! Have fun.