Restaurant Aleksandar

Restaurant Aleksandar is right in the heart of the city with a very hip and elegant feel to it. My partner and I went for a date night and shared the bread rolls as an appetizer and 2 entrees. The butter that comes with the bread is seasoned and very delicious. The entrees come out beautifully plated as if they are art pieces. Both seafood entrees were cooked and seasoned well but my favorite were the scallops. The service was great and they were attentive to course timing and refilling our waters. They also do a happy hour during weekdays. Would recommend checking out this place!

We tried this spot on a whim, and left thoroughly impressed with their food and atmosphere. The service here was great - thorough, on point, and over extended on helping us navigate the menu (we were a party of 11.) I will say, this was literally the first place that I've been to where they clearly let you know in the reservation that you have a limited seat time (for our size it was 2 hours) and when the two hours hit, they made sure we got up and went to the bar to create space for the next group. Not a knock, they should hold groups accountable to the standards they set, but just literally the first time I experienced that first hand. So if you do go, just be prepared for that. Their menu is huge, and will definitely have you leaving like you want to come back and try more. They have an interesting "chefs tasting" deal, which is 4 plates for $70 - it felt reasonable, but they could only accommodate if the entire table committed to that. So we went more a-la-carte, and tried the milk buns, kale caesar, pork belly, mussels, and brussel sprouts. I thought their brussels were the clear winner for the table. Everyone loved these - they were perfectly fried and they really mastered the sweet and sour sauce. They are also paired with shishito peppers, which was a nice touch. Biggest surprise for me, was the pork belly. I hardly ever order this type of dish because I have had it where it is just too chewy. Not here, and I would highly recommend. Moist and tender body, with a crispy skin finish - delicious! Even the little polenta cake served with it was fire. For dinner, I loved my short rib pasta. Contrary to pork belly, when I see a short rib pasta dish, I usually order it because we just wouldn't make it at home. It was a healthy portion and good ratio of pasta to meat, but their use of the horseradish creme fraiche was unreal. Added such a nice kick to each bite, and they plated it beautifully. Their bar seems like it even has it's own vibe, and over dinner I did have their dirty martini, which was very good! Easily a place you could come to just for drinks and apps.

0 star for poor customer service, management and 2 star for foodIt was a rainy windy day Saturday ( Feb 24). The food was not its best, the soup was served a bit cold. However, we got really mad when we found out the cocktail was served in a broken glass. The drink was a bit dark so we did not know until my husband drank 2/3 of his drinks. We told the server but he just apologized and left with the drinks. When we asked what happened with our drinks, he said he thought we finished. It was the manner of the server that made the situation worse. With the price tag they charged, it was so unprofessional that they gave us attitude and poor service. The manager was not so helpful. He just ran around while the restaurant was not even that crowded. When I told him about the situation, he kinda brushed it off and just gave me the feeling that he just wanted me to go away without apologizing. Never come back again!!!

Great atmosphere and drinks. There is a welcoming vibe and staff is very efficient and friendly. Annalisa was a great bartender. The two appetizers I had ,(beef tartare and pierogies) were "busy" with a lot of ingredients and competing flavors. Otherwise everything was very nice. I might return for the tasting menu.

We came here for our annual siblings holiday dinner and had an amazing experience. While we had a reservation (for 5), luck was on our side (twice) as we arrived early (thanks to finding good parking easily) and they were able to seat us a few minutes early.I'll shake things up by talking about service first. From end to end, service was top notch. Our waiter seemed to know perfectly when to swing by to check in and take our orders versus giving us room to talk. The bartend was on point with the making of our drinks even with the busy dinner crowd. We never reached the bottom of our water glasses. And they provided honest and accurate recommended for us to enjoy.The cocktails were fun and tasty. The presentation, including smoking at the table, of the One slip at a Time was unique. Certainly worth getting if you like whiskey or bourbon. The Midnight in Budapest was such a hit we ended up getting about 3 over the evening. If you like sweeter, the Passion Lounge is for you.Food quality was great and the portions more than fair. If I had to pick just one app to highlight it would be the Octopus. Likewise, for mains, I'd recommend the scallops.We usually try somewhere new for our annual siblings dinner, however, we might repeat Aleksandar at some point. I know I'll certainly be making around reservation for myself sometime well before than. Enjoy!

My friends and I went here for New Year's Eve dinner and it was a major letdown in terms of the food and service. We did the Chef's Tasting Menu ($120/person) and the additional wine pairing ($90/person). With a price point this high, I expected the food, service, and overall experience to be of quality, especially for a NYE dinner. The Chef's Tasting Menu was a five-course meal, which was SUPPOSED to be paired with five different wines. However, each course did NOT come paired with a wine. We actually got to the last course (dessert) and were still missing three wines, which is unacceptable. Even worse, our waiter rudely put down the check on the table and even acknowledged that we still had three wines coming and was just leaving the check in the meantime. I had two big problems with this. 1. How does a food establishment expect its diners to pay WITHOUT serving all food/drinks that were promised? 2) It seemed like we were being rushed out when we had made a reservation for a HOLIDAY DINNER. The shift manager or GM came to pick up our checks shortly after, and we expressed that we were still waiting for our last three wines (and that our waiter was aware of this). The shift manager or GM apologized and told us that our remaining drinks would be coming out right away. He then asked us if we could move to the bar area in the meantime, which we absolutely refused since again, we had made a table reservation for NYE dinner! It wasn't our fault that our drinks were slow to arrive, and now we were being asked to move to the bar area to free up space essentially? Absolutely not. The shift manager or GM was apologetic again and said that part of our checks would be comped. This did NOT happen. He came back later with our three remaining wines, which included the Moet rose champagne (listed as the fifth course wine pairing). However, he very enthusiastically expressed that the mini Moët champagne bottles were on the house for the poor service when the MOËT CHAMPAGNE IS PART OF THE WINE PAIRING MENU THAT WE PAID FOR. This "nice gesture" was basically a scam.Lastly, overall, the food was not good. The Norwegian king crab that I had for my first course was very over cooked to the point that the crab's texture was rubbery. The knife could barely cut through it. I got the sea urchin bucatini for my third course, and the noodles were sticking together and clumpy, which again is completely unacceptable. The wild stripped bass (fourth course) tasted very gamey and unseasoned to the point that my friends and I could not eat the course at all. The only quality course was the second course, specifically the scallops. Between courses, silverware was not replenished efficiently. Multiple times, our courses were served with no silverware. We physically could not eat until we got the attention of our waiter and requested for silverware. In addition, a worker spilled a glass of water at our table, which got all over my coat.My friends and I were very disappointed with our experience here and would not recommend this place at all. We left with a bad taste in our mouth (literally and figuratively).

Great restaurant In Rittenhouse area. Service has improved over the last year. Menu is diverse enough be to interesting each time. Great cocktails and bar.

Beautiful restaurant inside. Classy elegance make it good for nicer occasions but it's also good for casual meet ups. I tried during restaurant week. I was a little disappointed that the vegetarian meal listed wasn't available when I arrived but they were able to change the pasta dish to make it vegetarian. The pierogies were delicious and cooked perfectly. The pasta was basic but had a really good flavor. Desserts were ok, but not fantastic. Worth another visit to see if the full menu has more veggie options.

This was my first time at Restaurant Aleksandar and it was a great experience. The service was friendly and they provided great recommendations. The atmosphere of the restaurant was enjoyable with low lighting, upbeat energy and quiet considering it was a busy dinner rush. The food was amazing as the flavors matched the freshness of their ingredients.

I have been to Alexsandar a few times for happy hour recently. Very nice waitstaff, unique menu with great deals (esp loved the perogies!), and an varied cocktail selection. Would highly recommend for people in the Rittenhouse area!