JL Sullivan’s Speakeasy

My friends and I went there on a Friday night to celebrate her birthday. The bar was loud and overcrowded. The bartenders don’t know how to make drinks. We left after I contested the size of the shot that was poured for me.

I went here to meet some co-​workers for Center City Sips. The specials were pretty good. I think we had $ 2 miller lite and yuengling pints. There was a weird mix of people and the lighting down there is off. I had trouble finding the place because I don’t travel down Broad often and thought it was still Zanzibar Blue. I had an equally hard time finding the bathroom and exit. There was an over the hill rock and roll guy playing all your favorite 90’s alternative hits on acoustic.
I didn’t eat any food but saw the nachos and didn’t want to eat any food.
With all that being said it’s so close to the subway and bus for me that I’ll probably be back to get some cheap beers before I go home or over to a phillies game.

My friend had won a happy hour here and until the days of Zanzibar Blue, I forgot it even existed! In any event, I was split with this place… One because the menu is so-​so… Nothing impressed me and the wings (which we ordered) were OK, probably wouldn’t order again but I will mention they were on the larger side. A friend ordered the shrimp app which only came with THREE SHRIMP! I thought that was crazy since they didn’t seem like jumbo shrimp… Anyway, there was a DJ that was pretty good which added to the «chill» sportsbar/​loungy atmosphere.
The problem our private table had was finding someone (while it was slow mind you) to take our dinner & drink orders. We must have sat in the large club-​style booth for 15 – 20 minutes before we went up to the bar to ask. Sort of annoying… Afterwards they were pretty good with refills and clearing plates, etc.
I give this place a 3 out of 5 because its decent at best but not anything special… I want to try it again for dinner earlier and then return for drinks without the «VIP» booth seating/​happy hour and then re-​think/​re-​write my review.

Service was awful despite the lack of diners. We got 5 of 6 meals and the 6^th took another ½ hour. The fastest thing that came was the check. At that point we just wanted to get out of there. They must have burned a steak in the kitchen because the dining room filled with smoke. Unfortunately, we had to endure the place while we were there and left smelling like we had worked a shift in the kitchen. Happy hour — maybe ok, late night — ok if you’re in college, dinner — stay away.

Came here for birthday festivities. I didn’t really mind the place.
Yea, the floor can get sticky. Yea, there are young professionals getting drunk and what not. Yea, there’s a lot of room to dance. There are some TV’s around to watch your games. But I really like comfy seating and JL Sullivan’s had plenty of it :) It’s like one of those bars that those frat boy-​business type men frequent, like in «30 Rock».
I think I had a little too much fun trying to get my order to my already wasted bartender. At least he gave me my Grey Goose.
The bathroom was pretty clean from what I remember. Yes, that’s important to me when I drink a lot.

went here for a joint bday party last night… we had a private room and it was fun at first — but once it got busy it was impossible to get a drink — I just don’t get how a place this big can only have one bar.
We tried to order food before everyone got there and just about everything we ordered they were out of since they are changing their menu — why they did this on a sat night is beyond me. we even tried to order bottles of champagne but of course they were out of just about everything.
Our server gets points for putting up with our antics and I am sure it wasn’t her fault drinks took forever — the bartenders were horrendous.

One tripping waiter
Don’t forget your BK Crown
Food looked like Sam’s Club
A few Unilocalers showed up for an unofficial happy hour Friday night. We paid $ 15 for the «all you can drink, and ½ price app. special for 2 hrs.» deal. I think the fact that we wanted to leave right at the 2hr mark speaks volumes… I’m not sure why they offered us one more round to stay, but they did and we did, then ran away. :)
The music was way too loud, the crowd was the «cover the toilet in paper then piss all over the seat» type of crowd… oh and a «birthday boy» a table over getting wasted with his own Burger King Crown! Aaron, would you hand that man a «Be Quiet» card please!
My big turn offs:
1) Even though I did see one waiter loose a tray about 20 ft away, there was no reason to mop the floor 2 ft behind our table TWICE with bleach water that seemingly had the bleach to water ratio reversed!
2) Our waiter was a «one tripper», meaning he’d get one person’s order, then turn and leave. It was too loud in our corner for him to here us call after him to let him know we needed more… inefficiency bothers me :(
Oh, and he insisted I had to add water to my bourbon on the rocks to qualify for the special VIP deal we had? I suppose this is to prevent me from drinking a bottle of Beam in 2hrs? This may be policy, but it rubbed me the wrong way…
This has no reflection on the idea to get together here or the company of people I enjoyed. This is strictly my Unilocal opinion of JL Sullivan’s, which is that this place is like a swanked up Hooter’s without the strip club reject waitresses.

JL Sullivans is a bar that looks pretty but lacks personality, and the same can be said for its staff. Service is so slow at the bar you’ll sober up between drinks, and if you’re lucky enough to get an attentive server at your table, just remember they also get their drinks from the bar.
The VIP happy hours are a good deal: from 6−8pm, $ 15 all-​you-​can-​drink draft beers, house wines, and well drinks. I wouldn’t come back from any other reason.

Definitely an interesting bar overall. there are things that I’m a fan of, and things that leave me generally nauseated. So overall I’m middle ground. The décor is snazzy pants with swank looking marble everywhere. and the fact that it’s an underground basement bar is kind of cool, but it also sucks because it might end up being a no cellphone zone like it was for me.
JL Sullivan’s is semi formal sports bar, so it brings a swanky side that most other sports bars don’t (or would never) offer. So fans of Strikes Lounge and it’s formal bowling might be right at home. But traditionalists will find themselves screaming. All of it’s 12+ TV’s were also tuned to one channel. I didn’t really have a problem since I could still roll casual, and wasn’t vested in any game. But with so many element’s of swank, dive, gastropub, and sport’s bar to it, JL Sullivans looked like a bar that had no clear identity. All I could figure out was that it certainly wasn’t a legit speakeasy.
I was here because my friend won an incredible Happy Hour package. She was a VIP sipping on fine champagne infused with elderberry, and her friends who came enjoyed 2 hours of all you can drink domestic beer, house wine, and well drinks for $ 15. They also had discounted appetizers for it, But from what we had they were pretty average. The fries came in a swank looking metal dish designed like a big martini glass, But they tasted like Wendy’s fries.
Overall It’s pretty good for the occasional beer, especially since it had a well rounded offering. But it’s superfuntastic for those Happy Hours and they have sign ups for them pretty frequently.

OK, my once-​private happy place is starting to catch on, so I can give up the formerly closely-​guarded secrets, I guess. lolol.
Great specials, including 25 cent wings and $ 2 or $ 3 beers during all sporting events (Monday Night Football, Saturday College Football and Sunday Football) as well as all these other specials like 2-for-1’s on Tuesdays, and BOTTOMLESS WINE WEDNESDAYS (!!!) and 2-​for-​1 entrees, and just all kinds of stuff! lol.
More bang for your buck, and the food is pretty good, to boot.

A woman that I work with arranged for a happy hour here and I thought hey this will be a good opportunity to check the place out since I had been getting numerous emails and advertisements about the opening.
Myself along with 2 friends walked in around 5:45 (the happy hour was set to start at 5:30) we were the ONLY people in there except for the staff!!! kinda strange for a place that also serves dinner. We were seated in the «VIP» section where a waiter came over and offered us drinks from the special happy hour drink menu. The $ 5 BIG beer was a great value and the cocktails that I tried were pretty good – had to wait a decent amount of time though after ordering another drink.
The part that really turned me off was the food. I was with a happy hour group so there were about 15 people. The chef sent out some complimentary appetizers for us to try out. I was shocked at the selection of foods that were served to us to share. 2 meatballs in tomato sauce in a small pot (no bread or anything with it), truffled mac and cheese in a small pot, chicken thighs or breasts on the bone can’t remember which it was, and some weird pizza that had what they called lobster on it which was green. I know these dishes were complimentary but who in their right mind would serve any of those dishes to a group of diners at a happy hour (besides the pizza) to share with each other. All of the food I had tasted was so-​so if just not plain unappealing.

The Speakeasy is under the Bellevue, in the space that used to be Zanzibar Blue. It can be a little hard to spot– we actually had to phone the bar from the corner and ask where they were!
Drinks were pricey, at least for me. We got a glass of prosecco ($ 10) and a special star-​anise cocktail ($ 12) from their extensive drinks list. Sadly, the star-​anise drink was pretty foul, though the bartenders were very nice about it. We stayed for longer than the drinks warranted, just chilling.
The air-​conditioning, quiet room and dim lighting alone make this a relaxing underground hideaway in the summer.

I had very high hopes for this place. A speakeasy, a swanky lounge, and a sports bar all combined into one… J.L. Sullivan’s was an interesting place. Since it’s new (opened mid-​May), it’s not too crowded, though it has great potential to accommodate a large group.
The «plates» are small dishes like tapas, intended for sharing. The orders were somewhat small, and I recommend at least getting 5 plates for 3 people if you’re going for dinner… or consider including a platter (entrée size) if you’re planning on being full.
We tried the Boston Salad (gritty boston lettuce, rather underwhelming), the Buffalo Monkfish (a fancy take on buffalo wings, but with fried fish… spicy and quite good, though we only got 5 pieces and wished there were more), the duck nachos (not a pile of nachos as we’d hoped, but rather about 15 evenly spaced, blue corn chips with duck and green apple… again we wished there were more), and the truffle mac n’ cheese (very rich and wonderful fontina with mushrooms packed in a cute tiny casserole dish! I recommend it). Good food, but we should have ordered more than 4 plates for 3 people.
A few complaints:
1. There was a small, dead bug in one of our water glasses!
2. The plates were smaller than we’d hoped.
3. The automatic flush toilet sensors in the ladies room are obstructed by the toilet seat lids. I know this has nothing to do with the culinary aspect of the restaurant, but what’s the point of an auto flush if you have to touch the lid to activate it?
A few raves:
1. Attentive service
2. Clean, modern décor creates an upscale lounge feel.
3. There are 34 flat-​screen HD TVs… perfect for co-​ed nights when the guys want to see the game but the girls want to meet for cocktails or a glass of wine in a more upscale setting than Champps or Fox and Hound.
4. They support natura water, a green approach to drinking water
5. The breadsticks! Warm, soft and perfectly balanced with seasoning and oil. Grab the bigger, softer ones first… they’re the best!
This place has lots of potential and I think is a great place to go for drinks and to watch the game. I see it serving as a great post-​wedding afterparty bar location for anyone getting married at The Bellevue or Union League. The best deal may be during Happy Hour from 5−7pm, which has $ 5 beers, cocktails and small plates!