Continental

[bestgirlkk]

Hi,

We are thinking of coming to Philly this weekend for dinner and my new fave obsession - Capogrio. Has anyone been to Continental, and if so can you tell me what you think?

Thanks,

Kristen

[KatieLoeb]

Hi,

We are thinking of coming to Philly this weekend for dinner and my new fave obsession - Capogrio. Has anyone been to Continental, and if so can you tell me what you think?

Thanks,

Kristen

Kristen:

It's typically "sceney". Had drinks on the roof deck at the new Continental Midtown and it was fun but typical of any of the Starr restaurants. The waitresses uniforms look like field hockey uniforms as envisioned by a porn producer. Short short pleated denim skirts and supertight striped rugby shirts. A little precious for me. <yawn>

Food is the same menu as in Old City. They only serve $7 Hot dogs and $8 burgers on the roof.

[sara]

If your point is to go to Capogiro, then make it easy on yourself and have dinner at the lovely place across the street-- Lolita. Bring some tequila!

Edited September 1, 2004 by sara (log)

[KatieLoeb]

If your point is to go to Capogiro, then make it easy on yourself and have dinner at the lovely place across the street-- Lolita. Bring some tequila!

Ladies and Gentlemen - we have a winner!!

If you're that jazzed about doing the "scene", then go to El Vez and then stumble across the street to Capogiro. It's a lot less effort.

The Lolita suggestion is a far better one. How can you not love the idea of a "BYOT"?

(Bring Your Own Tequila)

[stephenc]

Continental is full of hot girls and pretentious dudes.

Except for the dudes, I recommend it.

[JennyUptown]

I had a last minute business trip to Philadelphia yesterday and somehow managed to spend time in two Continental locations (are they more than two) in the same day.

It was a bizarre little trip with my boss comprised of lunch with the client (at his hotel, the Four Seasons - nothing to wow the palate, nothing gross either). We had time to kill and decided to see a movie at one of the Ritz theaters, but got there so early that we wandered around, looking for a place to sit for a bit. This Continental (apologies for not knowing which neighborhood...perhaps near Penn's Landing? Totally guessing.) was diner-like. I had a glass of Riesling; dieting no fun boss had Diet Coke. We sat at the counter and our server was friendly and charming. She didn't mind at all that we were just sipping and chatting so we tipped her accordingly.

Post-movie, we took a cab back to the Four Seasons to get the car and wouldn't you know, there's another Continental.

Living in DC now (where stylish tends to mean the most expensive place in town), and having lived in NYC, I feel like I've experienced the full range of hole-in-the wall, stylish and/or pretentious places. But I felt very comfortable in the Continental Midtown.

Sure there were contrivances like the swing-chairs upstairs, and the server uniforms. But the food and drinks were pretty good and moderately priced. Our server was pleasant and when we gave her a sense of our timing, she responded accordingly (e.g., not too much time between courses and no disappearing at check time).

Overall I thought the place was really fun as well as a good value.

[mrbigjas]

thanks for the note, jennyuptown. i think that often we locals get too caught up in searching for the next little-known but great tiny BYOB, and in the 'stephen starr owns everything and we're tired of his corporate theme restaurants' mentality, and make it sound like they're bad places to go, when they aren't.

the first continental you went to was indeed down near penn's landing; it was the first one, and one of the places credited with starting the restaurant/nightclub boom in old city. the other is newer; it opened this past august (?). there are only those two of them... for now.

[MarketStEl]

The original Continental at 2d and Market in Old City--which was indeed a diner in its former life--not only sparked the restaurant boom in Old City (which already had a handful of decent eateries at the time, but the Continental put the neighborhood on the map with an exclamation point), but it also launched Stephen Starr's career as a restaurateur with a flair for creating great scenes that serve good food.

And as for the quality of the food at Starr's restaurants: What James said. None are bad, and some are very good indeed. We locals may be a bit jaded because by now, we've seen all the tricks in Starr's bag and they're getting a bit too, um, familiar, but visitors to the city ought to check them out, for they can be highly entertaining.

[JennyUptown]

Well, feel free to send him down here to DC. I'm looking for some new places with fun atmosphere.