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I attended a large business dinner at Urban Farmer recently. The hotel looks really nice and the restaurant has a good vibe, but the service was slow and generally terrible, the steaks (grass fed NY strip) were noticeably under seasoned, and the rest of the food was nothing out of the ordinary. I did have brunch here on a different occasion and had a much better experience.

We were excited to try Brick and Mortar after Eater named it one its five finalists for Philly 2015 restaurant of the year - along with Aldine, one of our best dining experiences in the city so far. After dining there last night, I can tell you the inclusion on that list does Aldine a great disservice. Brick and Mortar is housed in the first floor of the Goldtex apartment building - it's an oddly shaped, generic space that is really devoid of any character whatsoever. There's an enormous TV that had sports on when we got there although to their credit they did turn it off once the dinner crowd really started to roll in. This restaurant continues an annoying trend of playing loud pop music while you're trying to enjoy dinner. They have a number of crescent-shaped tables that are totally awkward and make you feel like you entire party is sitting on the same side of the table - they tried to jam us into one and then made kind of a big deal about accommodating our request to sit at a regular 4-top. The food is your standard charcuterie, cheese boards, small plates, yada, yada that you see everywhere these days. I would say everything we ate was enjoyable though nothing to write home about. The oysters were just OK, the lamb was pretty nice, as were the rock shrimp. All in all, just not a standout restaurant - there are plenty of better places to go.

My wife and I dined at Aldine last night and had one of best restaurant experiences we've had since we moved to Philly this summer. Despite the abandoned, boarded-up store downstairs, the upstairs space is great with a small, but very nice bar and lots of windows overlooking Chestnut Street.. We ate at the bar where the bartender made great cocktails and we enjoyed a nice selection of beers and wines by the glass. The menu is nicely curated and highly seasonal with most ingredients sourced from local PA farms. Highlights were the crudo of the day - a cured tile fish with grapefruit. The curing gave the fish a really interesting firm texture - great dish. The pork belly was probably the highlight of the meal - also cured on-site it was smoky and was so tender it flaked apart almost like a piece of fish. We also enjoyed the fresh pork sausage, the oysters, and the trout. All around great meal and great spot.

My wife and I had dinner at Laurel last night, which I've seen consistently seen reviewed as one of, if not the best, restaurant in Philadelphia. We had a positive experience, though it definitely did not live up to the hype. On the positive side, it is rare to dine at a restaurant of this caliber that is also BYOB, and the $85/8-course price fix is exceedingly reasonable by the standards of refined dining in major American cities. The restaurant is a tiny hole-in-the-wall place devoid of any character or ambiance whatsoever, and it's a pretty tight squeeze. The service was good - servers were attentive, provided a helpful explanation of each dish, and weren't overbearing when monitoring our wine glasses. Generally speaking, Laurel tends more toward the food-as-art concept than food-for-enjoyment. The first two dishes were frozen - hamachi with frozen horseradish powder and green apple and shaved frozen foie gras with granola and champagne grapes. These were two of the most unusual dishes I've ever eaten with very complex flavors and textures that would be a challenge for even the most refined palette, but I would be hard pressed to describe either as "delicious". The high points were the smoky sea scallop with ginger and the arctic char with seaweed butter, and the pork cheek with blueberry miso to close out the savory portion of the meal was also a nice dish. In summary, Laurel is good value, lacking in ambiance, and best suited to adventuresome eaters who are really into refined, experimental cuisine.

We've lived in Philadelphia for just over a month now and have sampled three pizza places so far. Pietro's is solid family fare and Nomad Pizza makes excellent artisanal pies, but the standout so far is definitely Pizzeria Vetri. Other than the unnecessarily loud music - which was all 90s rap, so a plus or minus depending on your taste - the place is fantastic. We had the arugula salad with cold potatoes, pesto, and parmesan and the tuna (tonno) pizza - both were excellent and we will certainly be going back.

My wife and I had a great meal at Townsend last month - low-key setting, good service, great cocktails, and for the most part, excellent, interesting food. I had the hamachi, the escargot, and the swordfish, while my wife had the gazpacho, crab risotto, and the skate. The hamachi, swordfish, and risotto were standouts, while the gazpacho was a bit underwhelming. I had a phenomenal cocktail called the One Block Down with an unusual combination of mezcal and bourbon.

Hello- My family and I moved to Philadelphia from New York City this summer and are looking forward to exploring the local dining scene. We ate our way through NYC for nine years so I can comment on many of that city's restaurants as well.