From the minute we arrived, it was all about us. We could almost swear there was no one else in the restaurant.
Our experience was like restaurant heaven.
When you’re celebrating 40 years of marriage, you want to pick the perfect restaurant. When one of your kids gives you a healthy sized gift certificate for what appears to be a fantastic venue, that seals the deal.
Vetri Cucina did not disappoint. It is over the top excellent.
Is there something better than excellent? If so, they’d be it.
As soon as we walked in the vestibule, we were greeted by Alec who immediately served us each a glass of spritzer.
The Restaurant
Vetri is located “in the intimate, historic townhouse that was once home to the lauded Le Bec-Fin.” If you click on the link, you’ll see from their inception they’ve received numerous awards, and will most likely continue to do so.
On the outside, one of the mural walls Philadelphia is famous for is painted on the west side. The front of the building is stately.
Inside, the building has a lot of character and charm. The woodwork is extraordinary.
While we were waiting for our table, Alec treated to us to a tour of the second floor. The second floor has a separate dining area for private parties with its own kitchen. The kitchen is also used for culinary classes that the restaurant has on a regular basis.
The first floor is where the day-to-day dining occurs. It seats 30 people. There is only one seating per table per night. There’s no rush to get you out of your seat for the next serving.
The attention to detail throughout was obviously well thought out. Everything from antique food equipment to their Vetri branding is impeccably placed and adds to the ambience.
Even the service was very specific. The plates had the Vetri logo.
Having traveled to Venice, we immediately noticed and quickly confirmed that the glasses and some of the bowls were made from Murano Glass. We confirmed that the glass came from Murano Island which is part of the Venetian Islands slightly northwest of Venice in Italy.
The Food
The first thing we were asked is did we have any food allergies, aversions, or foods we simply did not like. We don’t have allergies, but there were a couple items on the menu (not many) that we said we’d prefer to stay away from.
Vetri only serves using a prefix menu. There’s quite a nice variety in the offering of exquisitely fine portions. From their inquiries, they base their recommendations on of the diners taste in food.
We chose to let them select our food for us.
As for the wine, diners can choose to drink wine by the glass, select a bottle from wine cellar or choose to have the sommelier pair wine to match each course.
Normally we’ll select a bottle of wine after a quick discussion with the sommelier. In this case, we chose to add the wine pairing instead of simply ordering a bottle of wine. As self-describe wine snobs, we were pleasantly pleased. Tara, our sommelier, did an phenomenal job of pairing each course with a superb and appropriate wine.
They listened, heard and served us without a single error.
From start to finish we had numerous courses that night. They certainly didn’t need to be large. We were more than full at the end.
The Staff
Everyone with whom we interacted at Vetri was outstanding.
Christina was our server for the evening. Christina made it feel like ours was her only table, even though we’re sure she must have had other tables. She intuitively knew when to be at the table.
Domingo was quiet and reserved as he brought our dishes to the table with a great smile.
We didn’t get to meet the chef who created all our wonderful courses. But then again, we never told anyone we were reviewing until we were almost finished.
It would’ve been nice to have a conversation with the chef after the dinner service, but it was already late. As a matter of fact, we try never to do this because it’s just bad form, but we closed the place down. There was no one else in the restaurant when we left. If staff was eager to go, they certainly didn’t show it. In fact, they were incredibly nice and acted as if they had nothing to do for another few hours but make us happy.