Daniel Stern owns and runs two restaurants in Philadelphia. R2L was established in 2009 on the 37th floor of Two Liberty Place on 16th Street in downtown Philadelphia. As my daughter and I were eating out together, it seemed like a good booking choice combining food with the chance to see Philadelphia from a completely new angle. Unfortunately, on the day of lunch, the clear bright weather from the day before had disappeared and Philadelphia was shrouded in thin mist. Just perfect.
Anyway, we had reservations so went ahead regardless. The restaurant has its own lift that goes directly between the reception area and the 37th floor. Entering the restaurant, you are ushered past the open-plan kitchen before moving into the dining-room. The restaurant itself is a huge open-plan space and the decor is “interesting” with the interior decorator seemingly channelling Elvis’ tastes. L-shaped black vinyl benches with zebra-patterned back cushions are placed round circular tables. Metal sculptures are suspended from the ceiling and boxes with decorative rocks are distributed round the room. The set-up of the room means that the windows overlook west and south of the building with the west view more of a short straw. We got the west so combined with the mist it wasn’t shaping up to be a total success but hopefully the food would compensate.
Anyway, we had reservations so went ahead regardless. The restaurant has its own lift that goes directly between the reception area and the 37th floor. Entering the restaurant, you are ushered past the open-plan kitchen before moving into the dining-room. The restaurant itself is a huge open-plan space and the decor is “interesting” with the interior decorator seemingly channelling Elvis’ tastes. L-shaped black vinyl benches with zebra-patterned back cushions are placed round circular tables. Metal sculptures are suspended from the ceiling and boxes with decorative rocks are distributed round the room. The set-up of the room means that the windows overlook west and south of the building with the west view more of a short straw. We got the west so combined with the mist it wasn’t shaping up to be a total success but hopefully the food would compensate.
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The lunch menu is a mixture of appetizers, salads, sandwiches and mains. Cheesy crusted foccaccia and olive oil was delivered to the table after orders were taken and this was nice light bread. Chosen starter was lobster & crab spring rolls with Chesapeake mousse. Presentation was not great mainly because the rolls looked like they’d been slapped on the plate and squashed the mousse. Not to worry, the rolls tasted really nice. The crab and lobster was blended with leek and spring onion, the mix was nicely seasoned and the rolls were not at all greasy. The “mousse” was curry flavoured and was alright but did not add a great deal to the rolls. This was a reasonably good start to lunch.
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For main I went with Roasted Beets, Goat Cheese & Chestnut salad supplemented with grilled salmon. The salad was listed as being dressed with citrus vinaigrette. Beetroot and goats cheese has become one of my favourite flavour combinations so I was really looking forward to it. Then unfortunately the salad actually turned up. It was an utter, utter embarrassment of a dish.
The menu didn’t mention that whatever beetroot and goat’s cheese you might get would be buried under a mound of harsh, bitter frisée that took up at least half of the plate. The frisée acted to disguise how small the beetroot portion was with the goat’s cheese being strictly rationed too. However, there were other bonuses. The dish thoughtfully included red onions to combine with the frisée and overwhelm the beetroot. Other unbilled “stars” of the dish were the croutons that may have had some crunch early in their life, but that was some time before they appeared on my plate. The salmon was tolerable but the salt crust was too much for the size of the fillet. The chestnuts added nothing, just acting as chewy tasteless lumps that weren’t obviously croutons.
This salad was so bad that there was no point in trying to tell the wait staff how poor it was. Each time someone came up to ask how the food was I resorted to the classic British description of it as “fine”. They didn’t realise that the subtext of that comment was that it was truly awful.
The menu didn’t mention that whatever beetroot and goat’s cheese you might get would be buried under a mound of harsh, bitter frisée that took up at least half of the plate. The frisée acted to disguise how small the beetroot portion was with the goat’s cheese being strictly rationed too. However, there were other bonuses. The dish thoughtfully included red onions to combine with the frisée and overwhelm the beetroot. Other unbilled “stars” of the dish were the croutons that may have had some crunch early in their life, but that was some time before they appeared on my plate. The salmon was tolerable but the salt crust was too much for the size of the fillet. The chestnuts added nothing, just acting as chewy tasteless lumps that weren’t obviously croutons.
This salad was so bad that there was no point in trying to tell the wait staff how poor it was. Each time someone came up to ask how the food was I resorted to the classic British description of it as “fine”. They didn’t realise that the subtext of that comment was that it was truly awful.
 Salad as it came to the table |  Salad with frisée removed |
There was no need to think about dessert. After my daughter’s very average burger and the salad from hell we couldn’t wait to get out of R2L.
Overall verdict.
The setting of R2L is good but, based on our experience, the food does not justify paying a visit. The dishes we had were expensive considering what we ate although the overall experience was poor regardless of price.
Would I revisit R2L?
There are so many other restaurants, bars & street vendors in Philadelphia, I’m not sure why I would want to go back there in preference to other choices. That would have to be a no.
Overall Rating - 2/5
Overall verdict.
The setting of R2L is good but, based on our experience, the food does not justify paying a visit. The dishes we had were expensive considering what we ate although the overall experience was poor regardless of price.
Would I revisit R2L?
There are so many other restaurants, bars & street vendors in Philadelphia, I’m not sure why I would want to go back there in preference to other choices. That would have to be a no.
Overall Rating - 2/5