Winthorpe & Valentine Bar & Grill

Sad to say but the picture on groupon (big juicy steak) was NOT on menu.
Definitely a bar setting not so much a lounge.
So if you’re expecting a nice, somewhat peaceful quiet dinner… You won’t be getting that. The area echoes like crazy & it’s hard to carry on a conversation if there’s a lot of people there.
Food was ok… thank God had a groupon.
Our waitress was excellent & the manager appreciated hearing that.
Unfortunately while finishing up dessert a very large roach came through across the banquet.
Not good…

The bar area is fine. I probably would not be super excited about the restaurant side of the house. If you are looking for a quick meal at the bar or just some drinks then this is a good option. I mainly had drinks. The bartender was friendly enough. I was just a fan of the name more than anything since Trading Places is one of my all time favorite movies.

What a disappointment. First, we arrived at the restaurant only to find it is really a bar with a couple of dining seats. There was a hostess stand but nobody was at it. The bartender stared at us but did not say anything. We waited at least 3 minutes before the hostess/​waitress came and asked if she could help us. We explained that we wanted to have a drink before we sat for our reservation.
We had a drink at one of the long tables before we took our seats. (Note: Props to the restaurant for having lots of power outlets throughout the place so guest can charge their electronics.) They were good, but for such a small place it took way too long for us to be served. In addition, the table was not flat, so we had to search for a place to put our rather full glasses.
Once we were seated we explained to the server that we had a Groupon. She said we could pick any 2 appetizers, any 2 entrees, and any 2 desserts. We selected the shrimp cocktail, the flatbread pizza, the brick chicken, the steak frittes, and 2 molten cakes. We also ordered a bottle of wine. The shrimp (4 of them) were cooked nicely, but the cocktail sauce it came with was bland and runny and did not stick to the shrimp. The sauce was served in a glass that was way too large for the portion of shrimp served. The flatbread was soggy and tasteless. The chicken was good, but it was served with mostly tasteless asparagus and underdone fingerling potatoes. The steak was cooked well but under-​seasoned (salt, pepper, and A-​1 had to be added), and the frittes tasted stale. The best part of the dinner was the desserts: the molten cakes came with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream, and they were very good.
The waitress was very personable, but she was very slow. It was also clear she did not know anything about serving wine. The bartender must have opened it for her, because it came tableside with the cork stuffed in the neck. She did not offer a taste, and instead poured each of us a glass. It was a red wine, and rather than leave the cork out so that the wine could breath she stuffed it back into the bottle.
When the waitress brought the checks (for some reason the bottle of wine was separate from the rest of the check) she explained that she subtracted the promotional value of the Groupon from the check and charged us the difference. We explained that the Groupon said we were covered for the 3 courses. We asked to speak to her manager. The waitress disappeared for at least 5 minutes. When she returned she said we would be charged for our drinks, the bottle of wine, and the tax on our dinner. We asked if she would put all of the charges on one bill, and she said yes.
Will we return? Probably not. The waitress was nice, but the service was slow and the food was only so-​so.

Decided to try out this restaurant inside the Westin hotel when I cam across a Livingsocial voucher. Overall it feels more like a hotel bar with seating than a restaurant, but the décor was nice. Wednesday nights they have bottles of house wine (both white and red) for $ 35 so we tried a Cabernet Sauvignon from CA which was nice. We waited by the hostess stand for 5 minutes before a waitress noticed us and came over to help us. She sat us and explained the voucher. To start my boyfriend got the Crabcakes and he said they had a nice kick to them, but they seemed too pressed and the crabmeat used was finely shredded and looked like it could have come from a can. I wanted to try the Slider Trio, but our waitress talked me out of it since she said the restaurant didn’t have slider buns currently and was trying to use the dinner rolls as buns. I went with her suggestion of the Mushroom Flatbread, but I was upset with my order as the flatbread was overcooked and didn’t have much flavor. The saving grace was the buttery Parker Dinner Rolls. (I wish I had just tried the sliders…) We both tried the Freshly Smoked Salmon for our entrée and it was a nice light dish. It was different to try a cooked salmon filet that had been smoked, but it seems like a healthy option over a salty seasoning or buttery sauce. The basil aioli on the plate was nice, but I wish there was a bit more since the steamed green beans and roasted fingerling potatoes didn’t have too much flavoring besides salt. For dessert we tried the Molten Chocolate cake and Bread Pudding, both which were overcooked. I’m sure this restaurant is convenient for those staying in the hotel and maybe its better for lunch, but I wouldn’t come back anytime soon.

Excellent bartender and the bar itself can be quite comfortable. I have eaten here twice. Both times I felt the bartender was the best «sort», very traditional almost therapeutic. The first visit the food was delicious. The second visit I had the worst steak I have ever had in a restaurant. The open design of the resto and harsh noise and lighting during a private event drags this down to 2 stars. Compare Bank and Bourbon, the Loewe’s resto: food infinitely better but drafty with chilly indifferent service. Next time I’m going to the Rittenhouse!

A great classy business lunch option, and it has an entrance right in Two Liberty, perfect for cold winter days. It’s really beautiful inside, with a lot of small tables around a bar area, so it feels private. My crab cake sandwich was pretty good, but there were just a bit too many onions on there that I actually teared up. I loved the side salad it came with. All of the lunch options are also under $ 15 which is great. The service is fast and efficient, definitely an underrated little place!

Rather unimpressive. Hotel– bar and restaurant. I eat out frequently. Luckily, I can scratch one place off my future reservation list. Crab cake appetizer was good. Smoked salmon was very smokey. Roll on burger was excessively toasted or stale. Couldn’t tell.
Only positive was that I used a living social so I didn’t pay full price, conversely, without living social… I would have never eaten there.

Went for late lunch. Sat in an empty bar, they did not Know about Groupon! Only had a lousy bar food lunch just to use up my Groupons. Manager was gracious but still sucked!
Recently UnRenovated. Only menu they had was far from depicted

This place was awful. I have never before left a 2 star review. The service was unbelievably slow, and the food left much to be desired. Everything took forever. The flatbread was cold, undercooked, and blah. The calamari was unpalatably salty. The truffle” fries were crunchy as potato chips and did not taste at all of truffle. The sliders were cold. We ordered the steak medium rare, but it was served well done, and cold! The «Study in Beets» salad was a pathetic joke. The shrimp cocktail was fair. The deviled eggs were good. The spinach salad was fair. Sterile ambiance. The lighting was cold, harsh, and artificial. The server apologized repeatedly about the slow service, but failed to bus the table. Horrible experience.

Visited the night before thanksgiving, was a little wary by how un-​busy it was. We were seated immediately and the bartender was very attentive. Gave a great recommendation of the chicken under a brick. Everything was hot, fresh and delicious. The skirt steak came with a mound of fries. I asked for the steak to be medium and it was perfect. Tender and lots of flavor. Would come back again.

I like it, but I think I preferred the old Winthorpe and Valentine better.
The old one was stately and quiet; this one is open and merges restaurant with bar and lobby area, with tries to be cool but can be problematic because all the bar conversation and lobby noise filters down the the restaurant. The menu appears somewhat limited in terms of choices/​options, but the food itself – when it arrives – is good. It’s not ⁵⁄₅ good, but it’s above average and at the very least a three and a half, if not a ⁴⁄₅.
I think the new W&V is a work in progress.

Came here for drinks during Center City Sips. To get to the main lobby, you have to take the elevator up one floor. No big deal. Once in the lobby, the bar is directly to your left. There is what seems to be a casual lobby, then the restaurant, then the bar. The flow of the place was weird and the lighting was very bright, but whatever — they had booze!
Many business-​type people were crowded around the bar and surrounding tables; some were on laptops and others were drinking impressive drinks. My friend and I sat at a small table near the bar. Service wasn’t over-​the-​top, but it was timely and what you’d expect for a hotel bar.
Around 7:00, the place pretty much cleared out, or at least, most of the business people left, which made you realize that the majority of the bar’s patrons were there for business rather than pleasure.
A decent bar if you’re staying at the hotel, but as a local, I don’t see myself running back to this place.

I remember this hotel and restaurant when they were the Ritz Carlton. It’s now under the Westin brand. Same lovely property but it’s definitely not the Ritz Carlton. That said, I got a great room on Hotels Tonight for $ 120 and the dinner was pretty good. If you find yourself staying at the Westin and don’t want to go out it’s a good choice.
I travel to NYC a lot but went to college and live near Philadelphia. I feel MUCH safer and comfortable in NYC than in Philly. The NYPD is on the ball. During my stay at the Westin during the summer of 2013 I was walking up a major street (Chestnut) to get back to the hotel late at night when I heard the loud voices of a fight about to break out. As I got closer, I saw the posturing — one jackass taking his shirt off getting into fighting mode. In a comparable area in Manhattan he would have been in handcuffs before his shirt hit the sidewalk. In Philly I crossed the street and could only wonder what eventually happened.
Prime example of why «Stop and Frisk» WORKS!
Funny thing, in all my travels to NYC I’ve never been stopped or frisked — wonder why.

The best name for a bar in the business.
But otherwise than that, a fairly average hotel lounge with three glaring exceptions.
(1) An absolutely wonderful bartender.
— He’s been there forever. Knows the place and the people inside and out.
(2) Truly terrible food.
— You’re better off eating beforehand. Or at one of the 50 spectacular places within a mile of here.
(3) Horrible people smoke in the washroom.
— For whatever reason, socially unconscionable people choose to smoke inside the washrooms in the hotel lobby. It’s just nasty.

Apparently they’re renovating so if you eat here you eat in the freakin’ hotel lobby.
The food was subpar. I should have gotten a refund on my pork chops (tough, not so good, and advertised as coming with mashed potatoes but instead came with slimy sweet potatoes and beets) but instead just tried to eat the mess.
Service was okay – scattered, obviously, because they’re trying to manage in a freakin’ hotel lobby.
But the food was so poor I see no reason to return.

I’m giving Winthorpe & Valentine Bar & Grill four stars because of the service first and then because of the food.
I first noticed the restaurant while walking down 17^th Street. I love the name, as it is based on one of my favorite films made in Philadelphia — «Trading Places.» So based on that alone, I wanted to go. I learned last night that the restaurant was named after the owner’s /​owners’ favorite move.
The opportunity presented itself during Restaurant Week. The menu was incredibly generous — shrimp cocktail was a first course item, filet mignon was a second course item (along with salmon and I think a chicken dish) and carrot cake, sorbet and bread pudding were on the menu for dessert.
They even had a drink called the Ophelia (she was Winthorpe’s girlfriend in Trading Places). I ordered that. It was delicious! Champagne, pineapple juice, grapefruit juice, grenadine and perhaps one other ingredient.
The Service –
Before I talk about the food, I must mention the service. Our server, Corinne, was awesome! In fact, Corinne is the one who another reviewer calls the «New waitress,» who had no clue about steaks and «would not listen.»
In my experience, not only did she listen, she offered recommendations, and was very attentive and friendly. In addition to Corinne, the manager delivered our meals and was also extremely friendly. And then later in our meal, the sous chef came by to talk and laugh and joke with us. Just an overall lovely experience!
The Food –
For dinner, I ordered the chicken noodle soup (first), filet mignon, medium (second), and bread pudding:
– The chicken noodle soup was full of flavor.
– When I asked Corinne if medium or medium rare was a «little pink,» she knew which from which and was spot on. And when my steak came, it was hot, tender and juicy. (i should’ve asked for a bit more sauce, though.)
– Thanks to the server’s reco, I chose the bread pudding for dessert and it didn’t disappoint. But, by the time it came, I was stuffed and could only enjoy a few bites after dinner. I ate the rest today. So yummy!
Based on my experience, I definitely recommend Winthorpe & Valentine. Go!

As nice of a hotel this place is, Winthrope and Valentine bar and grill fail miserably as a restaurant. Among the many mis haps that took place:
1. New Waitress which had no clue about steaks or the menu. The special on the menu was prime rib, which got many of us excited. However, when the dishes came out, they were all rib eyes. My co-​worker tried to tell our waitress the order was wrong, but would not listen.
2. My order the rib eye came out well done and tough as a belt. I didn’t even care for returning my plate because it was so awful
All in all, it’s almost as though the restaurant was put hap hazardly after the hotel was completed. The restaurant is a mirror of the hotel itself, and in this case Winthrope and Valentine do not belong in the Westin

I’m giving this place four stars because the appetizers, entrees, and desserts were delicious. We came for restaurant week and collectively ordered the slow roasted pulled pork cigarras, tuna tartare, filet mignon, scallops, chocolate crème brûlée, and churros. All were excellent, and the tuna and scallops in particular were out of this world. My steak came out a little overcooked for my taste (I ordered medium rare), but the waitress inspected it, immediately apologized profusely, and placed a replacement order. We were also sent a free round of drinks in apology, which I really appreciated.
I have to take away a star, however, for the bread and for the wine list. The bread was cold and hard, and the butter wasn’t softened, and buttering the bread proved to be so challenging I eventually gave up. The wine list was pretty dismal — consisting entirely of cheap bottles I could purchase at the wine store for $ 5-​$ 10, marked up to $ 40-​$ 50. I expect markup at restaurants, but this was just ridiculous. We ordered cocktails instead, which were good, but I was sad not to have a hearty glass of red wine with my steak.

It’s OK. For the price, I’d expect something really great, but it’s just average. The filet mignon was tender, but somehow tasteless — almost as if it were nuked. The cheesecake and chocolate cakes were fine, but just fine. And the salads, bread, and butter were just salads, bread, and butter — no excitement.
I suppose if you’re staying at the hotel and are looking for something easy for dinner, this might be the place for you. But with all Philadelphia has to offer in truly exceptional restaurants — especially at this price point — I’d suggest you dine elsewhere.

This place is VERY expensive and I only got the privilege of going because of an amazing Travelzoo deal. I will never be able to go again unless another deal pops up! It was very quiet. There were a few people at the bar, but we pretty much had the restaurant to ourselves.
Four of us went and had an absolute great time! The deal was dinner for two– two drinks, two soups/​salads, two appetizers, two entrees AND two desserts for $ 70! THE BEST DEAL I HAVE EVER PURCHASED.
The soups and salads were good, nothing special. For the appetizer, I ordered a hummus sampler which I really liked. It was pretty big and I needed to beg my dinner pals to help me finish it!
The best part of this dinner… and I will say one of the best dinners I’ve ever had in my life… was an aged steak that all four of us ordered. It came with some carrots and fingerling potatoes. My friend was raving about aged steak, so we all wanted some. It was easily the most delicious steak I’ve EVER had in my life. I have eaten steak a few times since then and it is extremely disappointing! There was a delicious glaze on the meat that added so much flavor!
For dessert, I was SO stuffed that I had to take my chocolate cake to go. When I got around to eating it later that night, I did enjoy it. Not the best chocolate cake I’ve had, it was a little dry, but still good.
When we received our bill, they showed the real total and then the Travelzoo total. Without the voucher, our meal would have been over $ 300!!! Since we had already paid $ 140 for the two Travelzoo vouchers, we had to pay a little on top of that for extra drinks we had ordered.
I will seriously dream about that steak. If you ever have the chance to try aged steak here or anywhere, DO IT! If there is ever another deal for this place, I’ll buy it right away!