Philadelphia Restaurant Guide

I really enjoyed my time at Relish my daughters and I went for our monthly girls night out and we were overly impressed with the food and the service. If you are in that part of town definitely drop in for a meal or make reservations to catch the soul stirring music well worth it.

If you want EXCELLENT FOOD and great music,with a romantic atmosphere RELISH if you want great cat fish, and cornbead. The drinks are great try RELISH on me..

My wife and I celebrated our 22nd anniversary on 11/19/2010 at Relish and it was a wonderful Relish to us.
The food was excellent and the service was all I needed to surprise my wife for our 22nd anniversary, and the live jazz was all that and the prices were medium to high, but you get what you pay for so I couldn't complain at all. I will return soon for just a night out on the town for good food and entertainment and the way the staff pays attention to you as a guest to show they want you back.
Keep up the good work.
Randy

Sadly, out of business as of today, Nov 9 2010.

My girlfriends and I have enjoyed going to Relish/Sadikis for the past two years. Friday night for Jazz and appetizers and on special occassions for dinner. However, our recent experience last Friday was not good. When I made the reservations I asked for a table in the Jazz Cafe and was told that they don't reserve the tables but every other time we had been there we definitely saw reserved signs on the tables. We actually showed up 20 minutes early so we could get a table for five in the Cafe and sure enough there were two reserved tables. Ok, after being seated at a nice table we ordered our drinks and trust me when I say they were not what we were paying for. The straight glass of liquor that was ordered was watered down and so obvious that it was sent back. The mixed drinks barely had any liquor in them so we sent them back also. This isn't the first time this has happened but it was just worse this time. One plate of food was sent back twice because it wasn't what was ordered. They actually brought out an extra serving to make amends. When given a bill for $203.00 whe did not think it was worth it at all. As usual the waiter was excellent but why wouldn't he be since gratuity was included in the bill..in fact he was the only thing were happy with that night. In the past we have enjoyed ourselves at Relish but sadly,that will be the last time we patronize them.

My dining experieince at relish was delightful. However, I have tried to purchase their red velevet cake for Thanksgiving. ( The cake is excellent!!!) However, I called them 5 times within a 5 day period and no one never bother to respond to my request. This has been a great disappointment, I was willing to travel from Hainesport, NJ in order to get this cake. Inside of their establishment my party of 8 were well taken care of, but on this occasion I was disappointed when they failed to respond and to display good customer service. Beth W. 11-24-09

This location of Ogontz Avenue has had many owners and has been many different food venues. When Relish came I thought this is just another food spot that wont last, boy was I wrong. Everything about my experience was excellent. The Customer Service and the Food was superb. The live band was just an extra treat. I am so happy to have such a nice establishment so close to home. This is a nice spot for all occassions. Excellent job to these brothers. Keep up the good work, food, and service.

Love this place! When I heard Relish was owned by the same brothers who own Warmdaddy's and Zanzibar Blue I had to come. It was truly a PERFECT evening. Great service and great music. Love the crab cakes, just needed more spinach.

The customer Sservice was excellent our hostess was very friendly and helpful. I will be sharing my experience with other friends and family.

The customer service was excellent our hostess was very friendly and helpful. I will be sharing my experience with other friends and family.

My husband and I have had 2 dining experiences at Relish, once for dinner and the most recent was for brunch. The dinner experience was much better than the brunch. Dinner was okay. Brunch not so much, For $20.00 a head, the food on the plates were just not worth it. My husband ordered the waffle with berries and turkey bacon. He was presented with one waffle, 3 slices of wilted strawberry and turkey bacon on the side. There was no garnish and syrup was in the tin foil packets. I have had more luscious looking breakfast meals from Denny's. It was truly insulting that they could put a meal like that in front of a patron and charge $20.00 for it. I must admit that the manager tried to make it better and we did appreciate his efforts, but what came in place of the 1st mess was a $4.00 meal instead of a $2.00 meal. Trust me, you can go to a local diner and or deli and get so much more for your money and palate. It really is not worth it at all. The restaurant could stand some cleaning and sprucing up also. At night, it is hard to tell, but during the day, you really see the flaws. The walls in the bar area are dirty and when you are looking at dirt while you are eating, it can make swallowing a bit difficult. I admit, there is one redeeming factor, the music. That is what you are really paying for. If you want good food, Relish is not the place to go. If you want good music and so-so food, you can enjoy the experience.

i love this place it was sister's night out and this place waas so perfect for us. it's so hard to find a resturant that is clean and have great service... if your reading this and you never been there befor go,go,go please its nice

I have been to Relish a number of times - for the Jazz Brunch and dinner - and each time has been a great experience; the food is great + and there is not enough space to give all deserved praises! The last time I attended was Sun., 09/17/09 with some members of my family, and they kept saying - THIS PLACE IS THE BOMB - THIS PLACE ROCKS - I was treating, and not being up-to-date on 'sayings',I was very glad to know that was good - everyone was enjoying themselves; they said that they would certainly return, and of course so will I! I have one request - I think the food would be a little more enjoyable if some type of bread is offered with the meal; then if someone wants the cornbread, then I like having the choice of ordering it as a 'side'! Keep up the good work, and I think you will be very successful in this location!

We took my mother to dinner on Mothers Day. We loved Relish. The food was outstanding and the atmosphere was cozy and relaxing. Keep up the good work. Can't wait to go back next week.

Relish is amazing..Great food, Great service and the updates to the place are amazing. So glad to have them in the neighborhood. Will be going back soon. A major step up from the previous places that were in this spot. Relish is on a whole other level and you can't beat the prices. Treat yourself.. you'll be happy you did.!

I went in on Friday and the service was excellent and the food is to die for. The jazz area could be a little bigger but overall you get the best for your buck and you are catered too. This was a wonderful experience and I would do it again and take friends.
Debbie from West Oak Lane

i have dined at this restaurant on three occasions since they opened last month. the food, ambiance and service was excellent.
The live jazz music made the experience that much more enjoyable. There is a charge of three dollars per person for each set if you are fortunate enough to be seated in the jazz room.

My husband and I had the fortunate pleasure of dining at Relish via an invite by Respected Friends of ours to celebrate a birhtday...Happy Happy Margaret!!

The ambience was delightful, service was impeccable and the food...FABULICOUS!!

We started out with a delicious sweet non-alcoholic beverage called crazy juices and it was sweet and delicious with an assortment of fruits lacing the brim of our glasses.

Next, we enjoyed the favorful taste of fried oysters and Gullah Shrimp and Grits for our appetizer, which really simulated our desire for what was to come next. For our entrees, we relished on deliciously prepare crab cakes sliders, and perfectly seasoned freshly tasting salmon. We had sides of collard greens seasoned in smoked turkey and Maple Sweet Mashed potatoes...YUMMY!! The portion sizes were GREAT allowing us room for dessert...The awesome taste of Southern delicious Bananna Bread Pudding and Peach Cobbler topped with vanilla ice cream left my husband with a sense of nostaglia for his Southern roots.

My husband and I concur our experience at "Relish" was exceptional and we will KEEP COMING BACK!!

P.S. We will share our experience with family and friends.

Stan & Peggy

Relish is an exciting addition to the Philadelphia dining experience. The Bynums upscale twist on southern favorites excels in dishes like seafood mac and cheese, crab cake sliders, and scrumptuous banana bread pudding. The night I was there, Brenda Smith's soaring jazz vocals reminded me of everything I loved about Zanzibar Blue. I can't wait for Summer nights on the hugh breezy veranda, sipping mojito's and tapping my feet. I love this place.

My sister and brother-in-law were here visiting from Atlanta. We went to Relish last night without realizing we needed a reservation. The host and hostess were so gracious in accomodating us, as my relatives were leaving the next morning and would not have the opportunity to come back.
Excellent is the word I would use to describe the entire dining exoerience. The workers are warm and friendly. The service was perfect. The food was absolutely wonderful. The music was most enjoyable. What a wonderful addition to West Oak Lane. How wonderful to have a restaurant of this caliber in our neighborhood.

My best friend and his wife came to visit me in Philly and I took them too Relish. I say this without hesitation, it was the best resturant choice I have ever made. The food was spectacular, the jazz was great, and the service was the best. Went back the next evening and everything was just as good as the day before.The apple cornbread was "Oh My God Good." This place has feel of something special. My friends were calling other friends around the Country raving about Relish, and without a doubt you will be seeing me their again soon!

I was surprised to ride down the street and see Relish rather than Sadiki's. Something told me this was a colab with the Bynum bro's and I was so pleased when I found out my assumptions were true.

The night I went I didn't go late enough to experience the band I enjoyed the ambience and conversations around me. I'd ordered the Gullah Shrimp & Grits appetizer and oh my goodness it is so so good!!!

The dish had shrimp and grits of course with cheese in the grits an a tomato confit (off their menu:)) very tasty my only complaint would be that I'd like to taste more grits in the dish, the cheese and tomato overpowered them and if I didn't taste a grain or two I wouldn't believe there were any yet it is a minor issue I'd order it again in a heartbeat.

For my main dish I ordered the catfish which came with maple sweet mash potato's and greens with smoked turkey, I ordered an extra side which was very reasonable btw, of mac and cheese. Out of all of that I liked the mashed sweet potato's best, the greens fish and mac were good but my motto is if it takes like something I could make at home i need to make it at home, as far a soul food goes at least and those three items came off that way for me. Someone else may disagree.

Lastly I had for dessert decadent chocolate cake....I shared all of this with my daughter btw who ate most of my main entree when we got back home:) Anyway it was very good as well.

My daughter had their burger and fries the burger was good but it's grilled so it had that slightly burned taste to it, common for those types of burgers but not always appealing to me. And it came with parmesan fries which were okay, I'd had similar fries a few weeks earlier and felt the same about them so probably me more than the fries.

The restaurant was beautiful, the waiter attentive and the menu has a lot of choices let me add.

Looking forward to going again possibly this weekend for the brunch or Saturday night, hoping to catch the jazz this time.

On 2/13/2009 Me & my husband had dinner @ Sadiki's for the 1st time. The food was great. I had the Salmon,mash potatoes,greens. The salmon was the best n the greens were to die for. Me& my husband are Muslim n we enjoyed the food n atmosphere. It was a D.J there n he was great also. The waitress was great. N the owner came to our table to ask was everything fine. We really enjoyed ourselves n I told my friends to check it out also.

I arranged for our church group to celebrate the holidays with a dinner together. The food was excellent, the service was very good, everyone enjoyed it.
No more bring covered dished in the church basement for us.

We had our sister's 50th birthday luncheon at Sadiki's with approximately 50 guest. The service, food and atmosphere were superb.
We all had a wonderful dining experience.

I just want to commend the owner of this restaurant. I have 3 words to say, I LOVE IT. I have been there twice and every time I've been there I loved it. The food, the atmosphere and the workers. It is just amazing how the food can be sooooo good. Each time I've come there I had something different. And enjoyed it every time. The collard greens are cooked to perfection. Not to over seasoned or under seasoned. I tell everybody I know about this restaurant. I will be back.

I visited Sadiki's on 8/21/08. I had an 8:00 reservation and arrived at 7:45. Was told by the hostess that she could not find my reservation and I would have to wait. I asked how long the wait was and she indicated she didn't know and was seating tables as they opened up. Strange, but okay. I asked how many parties were ahead of me and she said 3. So at 8:30 after the 3rd party had been seated, I asked if I was next, she then advised there was 1 party ahead of me that had a reservation. I did not complain, I just allowed her to seat them prior to me. Finally at 8:40, I am taken to a table by the kitchen that had a wobbly leg. I noticed another table for 4 that was available and asked if I could be moved to that table. She said she needed to check and would let me know. My friend and I waited a moment for her to come back before we took it upon ourselves to move to this table. A manager comes over and tells me I could not sit there because he needed the table for a party of 3. I explained how I had waited nearly an hour and was not happy with the table I was given and would really appreciate it if I could sit where I was. He said I could not, but did find another table for 2 for me.
Once seated at my new table, my server made an appearance 20 minutes later. I had some specific questions about the menu and he did not know the answers. He advised that he was new, which I completely understood, but he made no attempts to find out the answers to the questions. I had to ask him to go in the kitchen and ask the chef, which he did reluctantly. Our orders were taken and our drinks arrived. Once we finished our drinks, it was impossible for us to find our waiter to order more. So i went over to the bar which was 2 feet away and placed my drink order there. I asked the bartender to make my drink with fresh lime. Once the drink was made, I asked about the fresh lime and he told me he used a bottled lime juice. He thought I wanted him to use the fresh lime as garnish and didn't realize my request was for fresh lime juice in the actual drink. Once he understood my request, he told me he could not do it because it would cost too much. I told him limes were 10 for a dollar. He then said it would take too much time and he was not able to do it. Another bartender behind the bar overheard this and told him to give me what I wanted. So reluctantly, he made the drink to my satisfaction. I could not believe that he had actually refused to make me a drink.
Once my meal had arrived I was frustrated and I just wanted to enjoy some part of this experience. I asked my server for freshly ground black pepper for my Caesar salad 3 times before he advised they did not have any. I also had the coconut shrimp, bbq wings, catfish fingers, mac & cheese and collard greens. I was not impressed with any of my selections. Most of the food was cold when I received it, even though I requested the server to bring out each dish as it was prepared and not all at once. None of my selections were anything special. Just average food in a beautiful restaurant.
Sadiki's claims to be a "fine dining" restaurant. I have been to many fine dining restaurants and Sadiki's does not come close at all. This restaurant is borderline "ghetto." This is a word I hate to use being an African-American woman, but I use it when necessary. Just because you hang some fancy curtains and a few pieces of artwork on the wall, does not give you the right to classify yourself as a fine dining establishment. This restaurant has the potential to be great, but the staff is doing it a disservice. The hostess team needs more training-specifically customer service realtions, the bartenders should never refuse to make a drink if they are capable of doing so, and the manager should care more about the customers. The manager did not even check back to make sure I was okay, knowing the challenges I had experienced. No one ever apolgized for any of the trouble I encoutered during my 3 hour long dinner experience.
What a waste of such a beautiful space. The Ogontz Grille was located here before Sadiki's and I wish they were still there. I will never return to this restaurant and I will share my experience with as many people as I can.

I had dinner at Sadiki's tonight. The food and service was very good. Our waitress "Donnisha" was very attentive and helpful. The food was hot when it arrived and I had a great non-alcholic fruit punch. It was full of fresh fruit. Great Experience. Jean

I enjoy every thing I ordered. The portion were just right and the food quality was terrific. The environment was very pleasant, giving an carribean mood setting. Overall, a great place to dine. The prices were a little costly at first sight, but after you taste and see your food you orders it's worth every dime! As for children didn't really see an attractive selection for them. I guest really suited for adults.

I was very impressed with Sadiki's Soul Food Sunday's. Collard Greens seasoned with smoked turkey, Potatoe salad seasoned to perfection, southern fried chicken, Mac & cheese the best...Just like Sunday dinner's at Church when I was young. Great atmosphere & decor.

My daughter and son-in-law took my mother and I to celebrate her 96th birthday. First time there and we were greatly impressed of the overall dining experience. My daughter and son-in-law was there during the Ogontz celebration and suggested that we go there again. I will recommend it to my friends who like to eat out often. The Sunday Sole Food fried Chicken menu was hot when served and very tasteful. Just like mom used to make.

My family and I went to Sadiki's to celebrate my birthday on Thursday, June 19, which was the day before the start of the West Oak Lane Jazz Festival. The service was awful. The servers were not familiar with the table grid so they walked around with food asking different tables if it had been ordered by anyone at the table. The food we ordered came to the table lukewarm. I ordered the Hennessey wings with greens and macaroni and cheese which would have been excellent had they been hot. On whole, it was a dissatisfying visit. I'm not sure I want to go there again.

Let me start by saying, I AM IN LOVE WITH Sadiki's!!! I am 6 months pregnant and VERY particular about food. I have absolutely no complaints about the food. It was fresh, piping hot, and cooked to perfection. I had the catfish and grits..MAGNIFICENT. My friends had the salmon and a seafood combo special of the day. You MUST try the honey mustard wings as an appetizer. Surely, you haven't had wings like this. ENJOY!!!! Our food was served promptly, as well.

I'm an event planner and was there for a lunch meeting with others in the business. I enjoyed the ambience very upscale. The menu is limited but if you go must try the grits(make sure the butter is on the side)a bit expensive for a waffle but through it all it was a great experience. If the restaurant managers or owner read here is an advice tell you waitress & waiter not clean the tables until your guest are done, I felt like I was getting pushed out. I will still go there again and possibly used as a venue.

I live in the area and was excited about the opening of Sadiki's restaurant. I thought the food was great, but the menu did not have much of a selection and it took FOREVER for the food to be prepared. The service was great and the management staff are all awesome as well. I would rate my experience a 5 had it not been for the lengthly wait and the limited menu.

I was really excited to find out about Sadiki's opening in my neighborhood. I hate to do the comparison to my south st favorite so I won't:) But I'll say I hoped for something similar in my area for quite some time not just food wise but ambience as well, and so I was glad to hear of Sadiki's quick arrival on the scene.

However my 1st visit was less than pleasant from the very expensive yet very small salad that I ordered for my daughter to the waiter spoiling us then circling the tip line on my check at the end of the experience to the running out of what seemed like every food that I wanted to order, to the chocolate cake that left something to be desired and the list goes on. Needless to say I was disappointed with my first visit.

However I decided not to leave it at that because as I said I wanted this type of place in my area plus the decor was beautiful and the waiter although tacky at the end excellent otherwise. I found out about Soul Food Sundays and went after church. I was not disappointed everything was good from the fried chicken to the mac and cheese to the potato salad to the corn bread with strawberry butter to the greens and I'm sure I'm forgetting something because there was so much food for a very reasonable price. This time opting to share a plate with my daughter I was beyond stuffed even with doing so.

Lastly my third visit I again opted for the soul food Sunday visit and was told to expect a 20 minute wait before placing my order due to the brunch that wrapped up. I was a bit disappointed that this wasn't better planned out, that guests who came after brunch could be serviced right away. Yet the staff was beyond hospitable and my waiter made sure I knew how appreciative she was for my waiting. I was again happy with the Soul Food order however unhappy with the coconut shrimp which for the price was no where near worth it. Oh but the carrot cake I had this time around made up for the chocolate cake from the 1st visit.


So as you can see I have mixed reviews for Sadiki's yet I see myself eating there time and time again. Once I figure out my favorites and perhaps call over a manager next time a tacky move like that is made regarding tack-less wait staff.

I ate at Sadiki's about a month ago. The food was exquisitely prepared and the service was excellent. Sadiki came out to greet me and my family and was a delightful host. I can't wait to get back to Philadelphia to eat there again. It was a wonderful experience and I highly recommend the restaurant to anyone who likes excellence in dining.

Sadiki's is a unique dining experience from start to finish. The decor is appealing to all of the senses, and so is the food. Sadiki himself is everything you would want in a restauranteur and more. Truly delightful.