#5 The Palm

DATE NIGHT! I get way too excited about date night. Especially when planning date night pre gift cards consisted of a Friday afternoon text from my boyfriend saying "Want to just get a case and crush beers here?". Post gift cards, we live large. Like we go to the Palm in the Bellevue Hotel for drinks before 8pm dinner reservations. The decision to do pre dinner drinks here was perfect. My gift card to the Palm expired May 1st, so I really wanted to get this one off my back. We walked into the Bellevue and found the restaurant pretty easily. 2 seats at the bar were open, just waiting there for us, the universe aligned.

I have to admit I was a bit nervous to go here. I mean, it's "The Palm" in "The Bellevue". I didn't know what to expect. I kind of figured that the rich people of Philadelphia would scoff at us while they drank their 16 year old scotch. But I was wrong. The atmosphere was really welcoming and low key in the bar area. We had an awesome bartender who ignored the fact that I said "Arrowhead" chardonnay instead of "Arrowood" while ordering our drinks. I get nervous when I order nice wine, okay! He asked 6oz or 9oz, and since it was Friday date night and we had to spend $50 in 45 minutes, I said "9!". He decided to finish off the bottle and gave me about 11oz glass of wine. Fine by me.

Brendan ordered a Kettle on the rocks with a twist. See we're getting there. Then we ordered bacon wrapped scallops as an appetizer. Brendan doesn't typically like seafood, but little by little I am getting him to try it. It doesn't hurt when said seafood is wrapped in bacon either. But these were DELICIOUS. Shout out to my CHC peeps- Chartwells has nothing on these. The scallops were tender and the balsamic reduction on the side was a perfect addition.

I gave our gift card to the bartender before we ordered, and after the scallops came out he said we were up to $49 dollars. So two drinks one app, another gift card down. Yes, good decision to come here for just a drink. Overall it was great food, atmosphere, and company. The bartender was really friendly and we had a great conversation. I typically don't tell the people working at the restaurant the story of my contest prize, but I felt like it was okay to tell him. He probably got a few tips from retelling the story to his customers later on in the night.  Really thankful we got a chance to experience the Palm! 

Okay guys on to the next!!