The restaurant is located in the luxurious Four Seasons hotel in downtown Philadelphia. The interior design emphasizes classic oak paneling, bronze and brown colors, and features lovely paintings with brightly colored flowers to offset the modestly dark interior. Just outside, the bronze Swann Memorial Fountain can be enjoyed, while inside the cuisine is cited as Modern American with French influences. Our helpful sommelier assisted in the selection of a fine Burgundy wine, and tried to help us better enjoy the meal to follow.
We opted for the tasting menu, which unfortunately did not live up to our expectations. Most dishes seemed poorly conceived and in general were not well executed. Overall, the featured ingredients and flavor combinations were just not complex enough for 5-star dining.
We started with an amuse bouche, comprising a morsel of pear with balsamic vinegar and a shaving of goat cheese. In most cases, the idea of such a tiny bite is to wake the taste buds. In this case, the goat cheese seemed well chosen as a sharp and possibly flavorful option. However the pear was rather soggy and surprisingly tasteless, and there was so little goat cheese that it too could not really be tasted in this combination.
The first course was Poached Maine Halibut with Pickled Beets and Citrus Dressing. The halibut was plain and under-seasoned, with the effect that the dish was unusually bland. The pickled beets accompanying the dish were pleasant and added most of the flavor for the course. However, the citrus dressing didn’t contain enough acid or flavor for the dish. In combination, the fish and beets were tasty but not extraordinary.
Next, a Grilled Swordfish Medallion was served with Ratatoille and Tomato Olive Oil Emulsion. Sadly, both our portions of swordfish were very gristly and nearly half was completely inedible. The emulsion was not very flavorful. The Ratatoille was the only tasty element on the plate.
At this point, it must be noted that the service at the Fountain Restaurant was quite good. They noticed right away that we were not enjoying our dinner and tried as hard as they could to make things more pleasant. For the third course, Duet of Rabbit Tenderloin and Legmeat Galette, a portion of seared foie gras was added to our plates. Unfortunately, even that gourmet addition didn’t greatly improve the dish. This may have been the best conceived course; however, the legmeat was a little too tough, and the rabbit tenderloin was simply overcooked. Almost comically, a limp green onion accompanied the dish as a visually unpleasant and unnecessary addition to this plate. Still, this was the course that we enjoyed the most because it succeeded in being the most flavorful, with rabbit, mushrooms, mustard white wine sauce, and the addition of foie gras.
Unfortunately, the next course of Grilled Veal Tenderloin was a disaster. The veal was overcooked on the outside and undercooked on the inside. We couldn’t eat most of it. The dish was served with chickpeas and a bell pepper sauce that were completely unappetizing and again surprisingly flavorless. A sweet pea falafel cake with Indian spices was interesting and provided more flavor than anything else on the plate, but it seemed out of place, and more of an oddity than a compliment to the dish.
At this denouement, we had to acknowledge that we had only been able to eat one of two fish dishes, and only one of two meat dishes, and neither of the dishes we had been able to enjoy had been particularly successful. The original menu as conceived offered up a single piece of Roquefort Blue cheese to follow, but thankfully our kind servers rescued us from this simplicity by providing a full cheese cart, from which we selected a cheese plate that we really enjoyed. We also enjoyed a dessert wine, the Elderton Botrytis Semillon, with a lovely flavor profile described by Robert Parker as “mango, apricots with hints of mixed nuts with an amazing explosion of pineapple flavours which give way to fantastic lemon like acidity”.
Two desserts were provided to conclude our meal. A “pre-dessert” consisted of vanilla bean rice pudding with cinnamon raisins. As a dish with textured chewiness and little sweetness, it was comforting although a little too simple.
For our last offering, a chocolate peanut butter tart was not very tasty or particularly delicate. As prepared, the chocolate was too dense and the crust was too dry to enjoy. Served up with a plain whipped cream, it may have been better with a scoop of ice cream to mellow the flavor.
Our dining experience was a disappointment overall, but it could have been much worse were it not for high quality service improving aspects of our enjoyment. The tasting menu, however, cannot be recommended.
Overall, the Fountain Restaurant did not successfully deliver a 5-star level of dining and we cannot recommend it to others.
***
We have now enjoyed dining at 13 of the Forbes Travel Guide rated 5-star restaurants. To see how Fountain compares with the other 5-star restaurants, please check out my 5 Star Rating page.
