Melograno

The Melgrano experience was good enough. The space is very open with few but interesting accents. The seating is cozy, which is a good thing because on a busy and loud Friday night, you’re practically screaming at your date/​friend/​or some combination of both in spite of the proximity. The pasta we ordered (wild boar and bucatini with pancetta) were actually quite good. However, the rest of the meal was nothing to write home or Unilocal about. The pizza desperately needed some salt and the service desperately needed to be less frazzled and a bit quicker.

Food is amazing, and the ambiance is great. The cheese plate is a bit low rent, but the mussels and octopus are staples.
If you’re going to helium, then this is the perfect place. Just tell the waiter — food flies out!
Want 5 stars? Carry some gluten free pasta. It’s 2016, half the world can’t eat gluten. You’re not too cool.

The only thing you need to know… The «olive oil» came out and was totally flavorless. Pretty sure it was cut with vegetable oil. No flavor, uninspiring menu, cheaply made. Don’t waste your money here. Philly has fantastic restaurants and this isn’t one of them.

I was expecting a great meal as Philadelphia has a solid Italian restaurant base. Melograno doesn’t live up to its peers as they offer bland flavoring, low quality olive oil and generally a poorly flavored meal. In reading the other Unilocal reviews, it appears there was a change in mid 2015 that precipitated a slow decline and eventual death.
This is a side note, but you can tell the care they put into their food based upon the care they put into trying to read the menu online:
I would suggest a chain restaurant over this location. BYOB and service were the only saving grace, but no, not really. Go spend your money around the corner.

My husband and I were very disappointed with the way we were treated after being loyal customers who frequented this restaurant most Saturdays and brought many of our good friends there on countless occasions. The food is excellent. I will say that. If you don’t mind paying a bit extra than Porcini or Giorgio on Pine and don’t mind being treated like GARBAGE. So much for taking care of your loyal customers. We were practically thrown out of there for questioning whether the special was an appetizer that we mistakenly ordered because the portion was so small (I’m talking a quarter of a plate of pasta for $ 27) We were pretty much thrown out by the other owner (sister’s it appears). What a sad way to run a business.
We’ve raved about you and your food and now we have to find a new Saturday night go-​to because of your failure to see that the customer is always right. If your ego is that important you shouldn’t be in this business. It’s not personal. If you’re in the restaurant business those are rules number 1 and 2. You lost a very loyal group of people who all live right next door in Rittenhouse.
If that wasn’t enough, the icing on the cake is when we inquired about doing a dinner party there for 20 people before we even sat down for dinner and the hostess/​owner? who knew us fairly well told us we could do it at one of 2 times, but couldn’t guarantee anything and gave us the runaround. Sorry for giving you more business! If you cared at all about your customers you’d make sure to get this done like all of your competitors who graciously took our reservation.
I know of a great food consultant as well, if you are interested in taking a deeper look at yourselves and why numerous reviewers have a problem with the way they were treated at your establishment.
Giorgio on Pine has twice the size of your entrees at a fraction of the price.

Since my first post, I’d been a few times and enjoyed it. However, the very last time, something had decidedly changed in the quality and portion of the meals. Is there a new kitchen staff?

A standout among Philly’s Italian BYOB scene.
Melograno’s interior is cute and cozy, but make no mistake — this is a BYOB, neither quiet nor romantic in the strictly traditional sense. But if you can avoid being seated near the token table of aging single women with more bottles of barefoot moscato than entrees, you’ll likely be pleased with the ambience.
The house bread is quite good, although I wish it were served warm. We started off our meal with polipo roasted octopus, served with paprika potatoes, bell pepper purée, and sliced celery. The octopus was among the best I’ve ever had — tender, savory, and seasoned just enough to enhance the natural flavor of the meat. The texture of the potatoes created a nice contrast in between bites of octopus.
Next came along a pappardelle with boar ragú. The shredded boar was melt-​in-​your-​mouth savory, almost like a fatty cut of pulled pork. The star of the show, however, was the house-​made fresh pappardelle, SO tender and delicious! We also tried Melograno’s shrimp risotto with fennel and goat cheese. The rice was creamy and light, but individual grains weren’t as fluffy as I would have liked. The shrimp were incredibly fresh and served head-​on. Their savory flavor permeated the rice, but simply overpowered the milder fennel and goat cheese.
For dessert, we chose a granny smith bread pudding. It came topped with salted caramel gelato — a great way to round out our meal. The sweetness was nicely balanced by the tartness of the apples, and the warm cake paired wonderfully with the cool gelato. Overall, although Melograno falls short of perfection, the experience is a cut above other neighborhood options. Come with a larger group, and don’t forget the wine!

I have been coming to melograno since my first run in phl and when tasked with planning our work holiday dinner I thought this would be a great place.
Yes, it’s a bit on the pricey side. But the food is consistently good. The service is lovely. They’re prompt and accommodating and even as my party got tipsier and louder they remained patient with us.
Their small plates are yum. I usually get a pasta but you usually can’t go wrong with the specials – this last time was a melt in your mouth short rib.
And of course, as a byo you can pair your meal with your beverage of choice. With a ton of other restaurant choices in the area I would not stand and wait hours… But I’ll definitely be back.

Horrible service.
As soon as we were seated our very cold and awkward waitress rushed to tell us the evening specials because they had «other large reservations this evening so let’s get going» excuse me?
Ridiculous. I can’t even rate the food because I was too annoyed at how we were treated to even enjoy the meal.

Excellent food! I’ve tasted a few dishes (entrees and appetizers) here, and no additional seasoning required. I believe that the chef intends for you to eat the food as is, because you will not find salt and pepper at your table.
One annoyance is that the restaurant has a policy of charging you $ 3.50 per person if you bring a cake to eat, as part of a birthday celebration for example, to the restaurant. Their reasoning is that it isn’t a Melograno dessert. However, you can have them present the birthday cake and have the birthday celebrant blow out the candle. But they will immediately take it away and pack it up. Compromise, I guess. But this will deter me from hosting birthdays and other celebrated events at this restaurant.

The day before a race in town a few weekends back, my wife and I grabbed dinner at Melograno. When we were in school in Philly, we walked by this restaurant several times on the way to Vic’s down the street, but I had never made it in before this year. It was quite packed on Friday, and a reservation was definitely a good call for this cozy restaurant that has NYC-​style spacing between tables (read: not much). The upshot of being close by to others is the table next to us did not finish their bottle of wine — so they offered us a couple glasses! Unfortunately the service was less hospitable, with menus taking a while to arrive and our waitress being inattentive in general. Perhaps it is better in a slower environment, but it was quite impersonal and at odds with the atmosphere of the restaurant.
We started out sharing the meatballs. While the tomato sauce was rich, I found the meatballs to simply be overdone — they were dried out and a bit on the rubbery side. While it still had decent flavoring, the texture was simply not up to snuff given the overcooking. My wife and I both ended up doing the pappardelle; she went with the truffled mushrooms, while I did the wild boar ragu. Mine was the worse of the two; I felt the ragu did not stand out at all in terms of flavoring, as it tasted like a generic tomato-​based sauce with pieces of meat here and there (and let me tell you — there was very little actual meat in the sauce, as far as I could tell). The pappardelle with the wild mushrooms, though, was delicious; I really enjoyed the walnuts that added a bit of crunchy texture to each bite, and the truffle oil added that nice richness as a bit more of a bold flavor on top of the wild mushrooms.
While my wife’s dish was impeccably done, I couldn’t really understand why the rest of the meal was pretty disappointing overall. The value is decent, and I like the old-​school feel of the restaurant, but the quality definitely came off as inconsistent. Combined with service that didn’t really seem to care, and you have an experience that I probably wouldn’t be seeking out that much.

Really disappointing experience. After seeing the menu online, I was pretty excited to try this place for our anniversary. We had reservations for 7pm on a Sunday. When we arrived we had to wait a few minutes for someone to actually come to the front of the restaurant and help us, even after a few staff members clearly noticed us standing up front. A little offputting, but not the end of the world.
We ordered the octopus and a special of the day salad, both of which were okay. We split the boar pappardelle for a first plate, and the pasta was overcooked and there was almost no boar in the dish. I got the bucatini for a main dish, and I didn’t bother finishing. It was waaay to saucy (coming from someone who loves sauce) and the pasta was overcooked and goopy. Much like the pappardelle, there was almost no pancetta.
As for the service, our waitress was very cold. Not bad service, but she was just awkward to interact with. Overall it was a pretty negative experience. Food wasn’t awful, but for the price is was incredibly disappointing.

Restaurant Review: MELEGRANO
Good food. WORST SERVICE I’VE EVER HAD IN Philadelphia. I Had dinner there 10÷24÷15. good food but It’s not an exaggeration to say I’ve had more friendly and competent service at the TGIF on JFK.
First. I had a 6:30 reservation. I was running a few minutes late so called at 6:30 on the dot to say I was running late but was on my way for my reservation. Was quite bruskly told they only hold reservations for 15 minutes. Really??? Even though I bothered to call you personally, at the time of my reservation, to say I was on my way… But no; you still won’t hold my table?
When we arrive (luckily 1 minute before our deadline) the hosted was on the phone. She didn’t acknowledge us at all. She didn’t even bother to smile or nod, much less ask the person on the phone to hold on for a second and greet us. We stood there for a good 4 – 5 minutes not being greeted as the phone conversation continued.
We were finally seated. I have a timer on my watch so I’m not exaggerating when I tell you it was 19 minutes before anyone came over to the table to say hello, much less take our order, read us the specials, etc.
Now you may think I’m being super picky. I’m not. I worked for 16 years in fine finning restaurants in NY, Phila, and DC. There are certain rules to fine dinning service to which there are no exceptions. (1) A guest coming into the restaurant will be greeted by a hostess within two minutes. Period. (2) after a guest is shown to their table they will be greeted by their waiter within 7 minutes. Period.
At the restaurants where I worked, people were fired for behavior like I experience from the hostess and our waiter on Saturday (and yes I still tipped over %20 because I’m not a jerk).
It’s a real shame that such a fine restaurant is being destroyed by terrible staff/​employees. They need to fire the hosted from Saturday 10÷24÷15 and hire a real GM who will bring the level of service at that place up to the level of the food.
PS. If the owner reads this. I volunteer to consult for you and get your staff up to snuff… for free, in my spare time (nights and weekends) that’s how much I love food, your food, and fine dinning service.

Great local BYO with a cozy ambiance, good food, and attentive service. We came on a Tuesday night and it was packed, even at 9 pm. I highly recommend getting the pre fixe, which comes with an appetizer, entrée or pasta, and dessert.
Some menu highlights:
1. Roasted octopus: This was very tough and not my favorite although octopus is one of the hardest dishes to make, to be fair.
2. Beef and pork meatballs: Great and very flavorful and juicy. Portion was generous too.
3. Roasted lamb shank: This was HUGE but juicy, tender, and flavorful. It’s served on a bed of polenta and spinach, which is great for absorbing the jus. Definitely a must-​try. The taste of lamb was also not very noticeable so you will like it even if you are not a huge lamb fan.
4. Roasted halibut fillet: Decent but didn’t really stand out.
5. Spaghetti: Solid with a robust tomato sauce.
6. Parmesan truffle fries: AMAZING! Crispy and savory. Must-​try!
7. Dark chocolate lava cake with vanilla gelato: Very good and rich.
8. Granny Smith apple bread pudding with gelato: Amazing. The pudding is creamy and paired perfectly with the gelato.
9. Panna cotta: The tried-​and-​true classic. This is a staple and it didn’t disappoint.
The bread was pretty meh and it is served with plain EVOO rather than butter. The restaurant itself was very hot today and stuffy so try to go on a semi-​less humid day as they tend to leave the windows open until October. Overall a great BYO with fantastic entrees and desserts!

Came here with a group on a Friday — yay for BYOB! The bread was probably the best part, and it wasn’t even warm. I ordered the wild boar pappardelle, which was very meh. The pasta was a bit overcooked and actually clumped together. My friend who ordered the mushroom pappardelle didn’t even bother to finish it. The calamari was decent. Heard the salmon and lamb were also decent.
The ambiance is cute, but it gets super loud. It was often difficult to hear the person sitting right next to you. Service was fine.

Melograno looked so great on paper. From the time of reviewing the menu online, getting each course and paying the bill, the experience declined.
My husband and I were looking for a BYOB Italian place to celebrate our anniversary. We wanted to try someplace new and probably reviewed like 15 menus before landing on Melograno.
We were seated immediately on arriving at a nice two-​person table towards the ramp to the restrooms. The table wasn’t large but we weren’t really close to other tables so we had our own cozy nook. I enjoyed the open-​style kitchen in what was an initially brighter dining room. The lights were dimmed several times during the course of our meal so the mood did vary a bit.
Our anniversary happened to fall on restaurant week this year and we initially weren’t feeling a three-​course meal. However, when we saw the entrees and appetizers of interest were included on the RW menu, it made sense to go that route.
I started with the Calamari Inzimino, which included sautéed calamari, cannellini beans, diced tomato & lemon over baby spinach. This was your best of all worlds’ appetizers. The combination of all elements made it like a soup and a salad, with seafood. The calamari was a little chewy and the dish wasn’t the most flavorful, but it was a great concept.
The Risotto ai Gamberoni was actually one of the reasons I wanted to dine at Melograno in the first place. I’m a huge fan of goat cheese so a dish containing fresh shrimp & fennel risotto, goat cheese in marsala wine reduction really intrigued me. Unfortunately, I could barely taste the goat cheese. I was expecting it to be creamy, as dishes with goat cheese typically tend to be. I mentioned this to our server and he offered to get me a new dish, but I ended up sticking with what I had. While it was different than what I expected, it was tasty enough to continue eating. Be warned, the shrimp still has its tail. I’m not a fan of this in a pasta/​risotto dish.
Speaking of our server though, he was great the entire time. He was attentive and took the time to answer our questions– even as the restaurant began to grow more crowded. My husband originally went with the Panna Cotta for dessert, but decided to go with the Crème Brulee. Our full order was taken at once due to restaurant week but our server was still able to make the switch.
So the hubby went with the Crème Brulee and I went with the Tiramisu. Both were fine, but nothing too remarkable.
So the meal was fine, although nothing extraordinary. The real trouble came when it was time to pay the check. Melograno is an
restaurant so we planned on using a $ 20 dining cheque to help with the bill. We were told we couldn’t use it, despite the fact that the cheque said it was valid at any Opentable restaurant. We had to talk to our server, a manager and then the owner. The owner finally agreed to honor it. What a buzzkill for our anniversary. If they can’t accept the terms that come with being an Opentable restaurant, maybe they shouldn’t be on it in the first place.
Aside from the billing issues, I just wasn’t overly impressed. It’s a shame because we were in the market for a new BYOB that we could call our Italian restaurant. I’ll meet you anytime you want… just not in this Italian restaurant.

Is it me, or are really good BYOBs becoming scarce? As I consult my list of really kick-​ass BYOBs in the city (that once prided itself on such BYOBS), there have been few that have stood the test of time and maintained impeccable service and food (thank god for HELM, but I digress).
Melograno is like any other run of the mill Italian BYOB. Not amazing, not bad. It’s better than some, but nowhere near Monsu, Modo Mio or heck maybe Ulivo? I’ve said it time and time again, if you do Italian in this city, you better knock it out of the park, because there’s competition a plenty. The new location (and yes, I know it’s not new, new — but the newer location) is lovely, airy and ample, but like any good BYOB, I like a smaller, cozier space. I love this stretch of Samson though, so it’s better than the old space. The service is good, generic. The menu is straight forward, without any surprise offerings. The food is not terribly memorable or inventive.

Delicious Byo.
The rustico platter was great to share. Nice spread of cheeses, meats, veggies, and etc.
Cozze mussels were scrumptious in a nice broth but a bunch of mussels were not opened up.
Great golden beet salad. Nice and light. Golden beets were very thinly sliced.
Pappardelle Tartufate with wild mushrooms and walnut in a light truffle oil was amazing. Best pasta.
We had another pasta in a red sauce that was also very good. Pasta is definitely fresh!
We also had a lamb entrée with polenta that was tender and flavorful.
Great food here. Service is nice. The place gets VERY noises on a busy night though.

This is one of the best restaurants we’ve ever been to. Not for the ambiance or environment but for the delicious food. The place was nice and simple but the food was so flavorful.
I had been recommended to try the rustico platter and we did. My husband wanted to lick the platter once we finished lol
I went on to order the
tortufate pasta, divine! My husband ordered the lamb for his main course and I, the smoked Porkchop. Both very tasty and cooked to perfection. Although, between the two of them, I preferred the lamb.
I wish I lived nearby so I could dine here more frequently. Definitely worth it.

I went to Melograno on a double date recently. I had to make reservations with only a few days notice, but luckily I was able to score a reservation for 8 PM. Most of the other restaurants I called only had 5 or 10 PM reservations left.
I started with the Calamari Inzimino Salad. It was good but not 5 stars. My date had the Polpette (meatballs), they were really good and so was the sauce. The other couple shared the Rustico (platter of assorted crostini, cured meats, cheese & vegetables). It was huge so I had a few samples. The vegetables were char grilled to perfection! And of course the cheese was delicious; it is hard to go wrong with a cheese board.
For my entrée, I had the Pappardelle Tartufate (wild mushroom, walnuts, truffle oil, pecorino) as suggested by our server. OH. EM. GEE. This dish was full of earthy flavors, I could not get enough of it. It was very unique, I recommend it to everyone that dines at Melograno!
My date had the salmon special; he was very happy with it. My friend got the Pappardelle Al Ragu di Cinghiale (braised wild boar ragu) and she did not seem too impressed with it. I believe her husband had some sort of surf and turf special, and he was very pleased with his selection.
If for nothing else, you must go to Melograno just for the Pappardelle Tartufate!!!