Meritage

[mrbigjas]

woo... got that right. sounds like an early birthday prezzie for me...

[sockii]

Oooooh...a week late for my birthday but I will definitely use this as an excuse for a return visit...thank you!

[Buckethead]

Going Bottomless at Meritage Philadelphia

Since wine is such an important part of what Meritage Philadelphia  is all about, we are offering a special way to help celebrate our first year anniversary of business: For the week of May 23-28 2005 we are offering bottomless glasses of wine.  Simply order a glass of wine from our list, and your glass will never be empty for the rest of your meal.  It’s our way of celebrating the special place wine has at Meritage Philadelphia, as well as a way of thanking our guests for their support. 

I take it that means that you can only get refills of the same wine, and not try different ones?

[sockii]

I just wanted to say thanks to James, Taylor, and everyone else at Meritage for another wonderful dining experience last night. We definitely did not mind lingering in the lounge over cocktails and that wonderful Tapas plate, and everything we ate & drank was truly exceptional. So glad you are in the neighborhood, and I'm looking forward to bringing some friends to enjoy it with us in a couple weeks.

Cheers and congrats once again on the approaching 1st year anniversary!

[terra]

After reading so many wonderful things about Meritage, my partner and I decided to celebrate our anniversary there a couple of weeks ago. I must say, the food was superb. However, I was very, very disappointed with the delivery. It started out poor and got worse from there. Here are some examples:

We arrived in time for our 8:30 pm reservations Saturday night. We were seated in the lobby and told our table would be ready shortly. Shortly after our arrival, a group of 4 came and were also asked to wait for their table. After waiting 1/2 hour, the group of four was approached with a profuse apology for their wait and seated. Immediately after, we were told that our table was ready. No apology for the wait. This made us feel crappy. While the other table, clearly two high powered male doctors and their wives deserved an apology, a couple of women got nada.

We sat down at the table and our menus didn't arrive for what felt like an eternity. It must have been at least 10 minutes. We then had our menus for another eternity until our orders were taken.

My partner asked for the ceasar salad. I told the server I was not having a starter because I prefered to save room for dessert. Our wine came promptly, a superb Puligny Montrachet.

We saw the table beside us (with the two doctors) finish their appetizers and have them cleared without any sign of the salad. Finally we spoke up and were told that the kitchen was confused and thought the salad was for another table. At 10 pm, the salad came. The server proceeded to divide it in 1/2 and give us each a plate, in spite of my clear direction otherwise. I put the plate he gave me aside. The server asked if I disliked my salad. I politely told him that I didn't order a salad. He apologized and said he thought we were going to share. He didn't take the plate. The owner came by a few minutes later and asked the same thing. He finally had the wisdom to get a large plate so my partner would not have to eat two separate servings of salad.

Our entrees showed up at 10:30, two hours after our arrival. I was about to pass out by that time. Thank goodness the food was great. There were other mishaps after that, but as I write this I realize how annoyed I am that this happened, it's not worth continuing. What makes the situation even more annoying is how pretentious the service seemed.

Anyway, this is one of those experiences that confirms for me that men are treated much better in restaurants. Two women are invisible and not worthy of the same treatment... even though our money is just as green.

I would like to recommend this place and can highly recommend the food and the wine list, but for those prices and even had they been lower, we deserved better.

[Andrew Fenton]

Ooh, that's bad. Reminds me of a similar incident at Salt, from a while back.

[James Colabelli]

I must say I'm dissappointed that an experience at Meritage Philadelphia was not all that it should be. We certainly try our best to treat all of our guests like the valued customers that they are - and I'm sorry that this didn't come accross as such. I am glad that the food was found to be enjoyable at least.

We do welcome comments and criticism, as this helps us to improve and to do our job of service as best as possible.

James Colabelli, Sommelier - Proprietor

Meritage Philadelphia

[James Colabelli]

To all food and wine lovers:

Do you ever have difficulty deciding on what glass of wine you want with dinner? Do you enjoy trying several wines so you can compare and contrast them?

Now you can try as many (and as much!) of the 16 or more wines we serve by the glass at Meritage Philadelphia for the single fee of 20.

We call it the Weekday Wine Pass - it's available Monday-Friday with dinner.

Hope to pour some wines for you soon!!!

-James Colabelli

Sommelier-Proprietor, Meritage Philadelphia

[jelly]

Sounds like a great deal. I look forward to trying it. BTW, James, we had a wonderful meal at your place Saturday night. Two very interesting salads, recommended by our personable young waiter. We both had the Argentine steaks. Delicious. And what a treat to have a "bottomless" Malbec to go with it. This Malbec wasn't as heavy as those I've had in the past, and I meant to write the name down but didn't. Could you please tell me what it was. I think it began with a "G". Thanks.

[James Colabelli]

Jelly,

Thanks for your kind words. It is great to eat an Argentine steak and wash it down with an Argentine Malbec, I agree. That's the kind of experience that Meritage Philadelphia is all about.

I'm glad you enjoyed the wine (and the food!). The wine is a great Malbec - full and rich, but not overpowering and too heavy. It was Bodega Catena Zapata 2002. (The "C" on the label might be what you mistook for a "G"). It's available by special order from the PLCB for 18 bucks, and it's worth every penny.

Hope you make it in again to enjoy another dinner and a "Weekday Wine Pass".

Please let me know who you are next time you stop in!

-James Colabelli

Edited June 1, 2005 by James Colabelli (log)

[jelly]

Will do. Thanks for the info.

[Buckethead]

To all food and wine lovers:

Do you ever have difficulty deciding on what glass of wine you want with dinner?  Do you enjoy trying several wines so you can compare and contrast them?

Now you can try as many (and as much!) of the 16 or more wines we serve by the glass at Meritage Philadelphia for the single fee of 20.

We call it the Weekday Wine Pass - it's available Monday-Friday with dinner.

Hope to pour some wines for you soon!!!

-James Colabelli

Sommelier-Proprietor, Meritage Philadelphia

←

Hi James:

Will this be going on indefinitely? It's hard for me to get down to the city for dinner during the week as I live in the 'burbs, but I will be moving to the city in July and am looking forward to drinking you out of house and home.. er, I mean sampling some new wines! Yeah, that's the ticket...

[James Colabelli]

To all food and wine lovers:

Do you ever have difficulty deciding on what glass of wine you want with dinner?  Do you enjoy trying several wines so you can compare and contrast them?

Now you can try as many (and as much!) of the 16 or more wines we serve by the glass at Meritage Philadelphia for the single fee of 20.

We call it the Weekday Wine Pass - it's available Monday-Friday with dinner.

Hope to pour some wines for you soon!!!

-James Colabelli

Sommelier-Proprietor, Meritage Philadelphia

←

Hi James:

Will this be going on indefinitely? It's hard for me to get down to the city for dinner during the week as I live in the 'burbs, but I will be moving to the city in July and am looking forward to drinking you out of house and home.. er, I mean sampling some new wines! Yeah, that's the ticket...

←

We will be offering the "Weeday Wine Pass" for at least the next few months.

See you soon!

-James Colabelli

[shacke]

Santa gave me a "defrayment" for Meritage. I will have to start planning when the eggnog wears off

Evan