Spiga

Eh… there are too many awesome Italian options in Center City to give this one a try. I had an expiring $ 40 giftcard so I had to stop by but overall was disappointed in everything.
The drink special of a John Daly ($ 5) was tasty, but the food left a lot to be desired. All the pastas were WAY over salted and the portions were small. The caesar salad was $ 9 and teeny tiny and gross. The bread was stale and tasteless. The service was good, and the pizza was okay, but nearly good enough to make up for all the other mistakes.
It was sad to see the place empty at 7:30 on a Friday night, but it’s clear why. They’re right around the corner from 230 498 awesome restaurants on 13^th, and are about to share a corner with the future Italian spot that I’m sure will be amazing.
Sorry Spiga, but you just weren’t for me.

While my pasta was quite good (I had the lamb with brocoli rabe over pappardelle), I was overall unimpressed with Spiga. Our calamari was severely over breaded, the drink orders came out sporadically, and one (of four) entrée came out literally after everyone else was done eating. We’re talking 20 minutes late.
The food is good, but they didn’t seem to have their act together. Might have been an off night, or a new server, but I’m not sure I’d head back for a second try.

There was a rumor that they gave out free pizza during happy hour! I LOVE PIZZA!
Thank goodness that rumor was true because other than the free pizza, everything else was just average. The free pizza deal was only at the bar, but since the bar was crowded, my friend and I was still able to enjoy the special. We ordered a few of their specialty cocktails (do not remember the names), and they were just a tad too sweet for my taste. I think I remember one tasted exactly like the Hawaiian Punch that would make your tongue all red. The other had grapefruit juice in that made the drink a little too sour. Nope, not for me.
Since we were tucked away in the corner, I felt we were forgotten. Perhaps the server was new? There was only two other tables that were seated. Not sure, but it took some time for us to get our check.
I might come here again, but definitely staying away from those drinks!

We have not been here for a few months and we were surprised to get a reservation on Open Table as we walked over at 7:15 on a Saturday evening. We walked in and only 3 or 4 tables were taken. So no surprise now about the reservation.
We were told a brand new menu and a new chef of 3 days in the kitchen. Our waitress was very anxious o explain all the changes and just as anxious to hear our opinions. When we had questions about the menu most of the answers were «I just served it and it looked delicious» I guess the new chef decided not to have the staff taste the new menu so they could offer a real time opinion.
We were given fresh bread and asked for butter — The waitress said we don’t have butter but would we like oil. We said no thanks we wold like butter. She came back a few minutes later with a dish of butter and said it was fresh from the chef’s prep table.
Our appetizers were delicious. We both ordered pasta dishes at the the suggestion of our waitress. Mine was listed as a Trofie pasta with wild mushrooms and cheese. When it came it was topped was diced garden tomatoes which I can not stand — LOL — They were happy to take it back and make it fresh as explained on the menu. My partner had a fettuccine with a red sauce that he said was very simple and delicious but nothing special. Once I got my dish I will say it was outstanding.
The chef at one point came out to visit and asked how it was. I replied much better without the tomatoes. He explained he was only there 3 days and still working things out.
The staff could not have been nicer. Selfishly I hope they make it. Close to home — great prices and good food if they get their acts together.

Disclaimer: We didn’t end up eating here.
A friend and I decided to meet up for drinks and dinner. After checking out their website, the menu showed you could do X number of small plates for X dollars. (I just visited their website so I could list details, but the site isn’t up and running anymore.)
My friend got to the restaurant first, and when she asked about the small plates, the server told her that they don’t do it anymore, and that the website isn’t updated regularly. A few minutes later I showed up, we looked at the menu and decided it was to expensive for what we wanted to spend that night.
The server was visibly annoyed when we told her we were leaving, and not the least bit apologetic.
It was pretty crowded when we were there, and there isn’t much walking room between the bar and the tables to get to the back of the restaurant, so we really had to squeeze in between people. The crowd was definitely on the older side, I don’t know that there was anyone else remotely close to our age there.
Maybe I’ll go back for dinner with the parents?

I really wanted to love this place and there were some things that drew me in: the big glass walls that make the space feel open; the friendly owner and wait staff; the inexpensive beer with an additional $ 2 discount even on a Saturday night at 7pm; and the fantastic thin-​crust pizza. However, the other food was not as great: the John Daly was too lemon-​y; the Roasted Chicken was on the dry side; and the Fettucine and Calamari special tasted too strongly of seafood. This place has a lot of potential… I hope it continues to develop!

So my girlfriend and I went here with a living social deal about a month ago and was pleasantly surprised at how nice Spiga is. The décor was very inviting, however could be interpreted as romantic.
We started off with a Apple Pie Martini. please try it!!! Best martini to date!!! I am a martini girl and my martini has to on pint or i will return it!!! The bartender is a true mixologist and you can tell he enjoys his craft because it reflects in his drinks.
We head from the bar to get seated and our living social deal consists of an appetizer and two entrees and two desserts.
We ordered the fries for an appetizer, salmon and beef for main courses and chocolate cake and cannoli for a dessert.
The fries were fresh and hot, however the fries were too salty.
The salmon and beef were cooked well and tasted great!
The desserts were not so good. Both the cannoli and cake were very dry.
The service was good.
I would recommend this place to people who want a nice night on the town. Parking is on the corner, however the location is on a busy street.

PROS: Crispy pizza, decent portions, excellent service
CONS: Limited menu selection, okay desserts
I was impressed by the quality and portion sizes of the entrees and appetizers. If not for a LivingSocial deal, I would never have stopped by this cozy restaurant. Seemingly commercial on the outside, the food is surprisingly tasty. It’s not blow-​your-​mind great fare, but it’s decent albeit a tad pricy. The staff is excellent though.

after my friend and i failed to get a table at mercato for the evening, we decided to scope out this spot since neither of us had been yet. spiga has an inviting warm atmosphere. they are not a byo but there were some interesting cocktails on the menu. our server was attentive, not bothersome. i had the smoked scamorza (tomato bruschetta & crostini with vin cotto) appetizer which featured a generous amounts of scamorza. for my main dish the gnocchi was delightful, i just wish there was more of it! granted the bowl was very large/​deep, giving the impression the portion was on the small side. what i had was delicious but it felt sad to pay as much as i did for so little.
my friend had the arugula salad which was HUGE and a pasta special featuring pesto. the pesto was not in fact green but more of a blush color. we topped off the evening with cheesecake and a chocolate torta. so worth the calories! next time i’d try the cannoli trio. yum

Spiga has unique décor because I think the restaurant used to be a townhouse. It’s dimly lit inside and has a nice romantic atmosphere. We went with a LivingSocial deal for a 3 course dinner for two.
We ordered the grapefruit fizz cocktail and a dark and stormy, both of which were unimpressive. The amount of food was pretty decent because we were able to order a 12-​inch pizza as an appetizer to share between us. I don’t usually like thin crust pizza, but their «Red onions, pepronata, sweet fennel sausage & pecorino pizza» was exceptionally good. For our entrees, we ordered the «Cavatelli with oxtail ragù & citrus gremolata» and the «Ny strip steak, roasted potatoes & vegetable of the day». Our entrees took awhile to come out and the server came to apologize for the long wait. The strip steak was nothing out of the ordinary, and the cavatelli was interesting. It was sort of like a zesty but creamy meat-​flavored sauce over cavatelli. The portion of the cavatelli was tiny, but that was fine because the pizza was already filling.
For dessert, we really wanted to try their tiramisu cheesecake, but they ran out and offered us a complimentary drink instead (we chose the sage lemonade, which was surprisingly strong). So we ended up ordering gelato and cannoli. The cannoli was nothing out of the ordinary and the gelato was actually pretty terrible. It was chunky and almost sorbet-​like, nothing like gelato is supposed to be.
I’m glad I was able to experience Spiga, but if it were not for the LivingSocial deal, I would not go. I enjoyed my dinner, but I don’t think I will be returning.

After my third time at Spiga, I feel like I can write an educated review.
The first time at Spiga for me was really «Meh». Aaliyah and I had a free pizza coupon, AND it was «Wine Down Wednesday,» so we couldn’t go wrong. The pizza was good — thin crust, nothing special, but good. I ordered the NY Strip. The steak was really mediocre. Tough, even for a strip, and pretty bland. I liked Aaliyah’s porcini gnocchi more.
A month or so later, we returned, this time for Aaliyah’s birthday with a big group. We had 11 of us and they had no problem getting us in with no wait. Not sure if it was the several drinks I’d had at the Happy Hour before, but everything this time was AMAZING. We ordered a few pizzas to share, and I ordered the gnocchi as an appetizer and the pork chop special. I have since had dreams about this gnocchi. Pan seared in brown butter, the gnocchi melted in my mouth.
So when my boyfriend suggested we go there last night, my stomach got very excited to be reunited with those gnocchi again. Unfortunately, they were not on the menu anymore. Given that we were starving and my stomach was already angry, we found some other things to order. We started with the charcuterie, which came with a selection of 3 (DELICIOUS) meats, some small toasts and parmesan cheese. Would definitely recommend the charcuterie. Then I ordered the roasted chicken (with a red pepper sauce) and my boyfriend got the gnocchi. The gnocchi on the menu now is with cheese and a tomato sauce, and is served extra boring. Don’t bother with the gnocchi. The chicken was good — a bit on the small side, served with grilled veggies (squash, peppers, etc) and fingerling potatoes. The chicken was very well prepared and had a lot of flavor.
Overall Spiga is a solid Italian option in the neighborhood, with a few WOW dishes from time to time.

Came here with the LivingSocial deal in hand and no expectations; left with a solid «that was an a-​ok meal» mindset.
For the appetizer, we split the beef carpaccio, which was fine, but there was significantly more arugula than beef carpaccio. At the end, I kind of wished we had just ordered a salad so that we would feel better about the whole thing.
We then ordered the pork chop and the marinated chicken. The pork chop blew the chicken out of the water. Flavorful, juicy, and tender, I would concur with the waiter that this dish was uh-​mazing. Unfortunately, I was the one stuck with the chicken, which was tender but absolutely flavorless. Even the sauce that came with it didn’t taste like much. I eventually resorted to dipping the chicken in the pork chop sauce to make it all go down more easily.
For dessert, we chose the gelato trio and the tiramisu cheesecake. I personally really enjoyed the cheesecake, as it was less cheesy, more cakey. The gelato was pretty delish as well — really strong flavors but still light enough to make you feel like it was a relatively healthy dessert option.
Service was friendly and quick. No complaints.
Overall, I’m glad I tried Spiga, but I won’t be rushing back anytime soon. With entrees being on average $ 22, there are better (and more delicious) deals in the city.

When we got in, there were two tables seated and seven by the time we left, no more than 4/​table and a few bar stragglers. Our appetizer, the polenta fries, was timely served and was very good. We did wait a good 35 – 40 minutes for our meal for which our server apologized and explained it was because the kitchen was slammed. Seven tables on a Saturday night and the kitchen is slammed? When our meal came, we asked our server if we got bread because every other table had it and he told us he doesn’t bring out bread when a table has an appetizer but he’d be happy to if we still wanted it. We got the bread halfway through our entrees.
My entrée was the fusilli with sundried tomato and basil pesto — very tasty. My husband had the stuffed pork chop which really wasn’t stuffed with anything. It was thick and well done with a sauce but not stuffed. As we were leaving, I overheard another server rattling off the evening specials to a table next to us, something our server never got around to. All in all, don’t have any inclinations to return.

Before I write my review, I will preface it by saying that I came for restaurant week.
You are given the choice of 2 of the 4 offered appetizers and I went with the Wood-​fired Eggplant Caponata and Polenta Frieswith garlic aioli. Both were actually really good. The fries were a really light serving, I would’ve liked to have more with more dipping sauce, I probably should’ve just asked for two orders of fries.
2^nd course was Arugula Salad: oven-​dried tomatoes, red onion & shaved pecorino with balsamic glaze. This was actually really good, the balsamic glaze was flavorful without being too over powering and I love arugula.
The Main course: Cavatelli with oxtail ragù & citrus gremolata. I knew Cavatelli was probably some type of pasta, but it was just shells. The oxtail was shredded meat which was actually pretty flavorful but it was all shredded and lumped together in a soggy soupy mess. The sauce was really watery and I couldn’t seperate the meat! I basically finished it in 4 bites because it was so tangled and lumped together. The rest of the pasta with the sauce was pretty un-​eventful.
Dinner was finished with two small servings of desserts. Chocolate Mousse Cake and Tiramisu Cheese Cake. The tiramisu cheese cake had a nice flavorful and the body of cheese cake. I’d have prefered if it was tiramisu or cheese cake, not together. The chocolate mousse was not very mousse like, I actually forgot what it was and thought it was just a mini brownie.
It’s a nice romantic spot, but I probably wouldn’t go back.

I’m going to have to plug LivingSocial here because I would have not tried Spiga, if I did not snag this great deal. I honestly think these deals are the best way to try new places. My man and I went last Saturday night and had three courses each (well, we shared the appetizer, so 2 and a half) for 40 dollars. AND we got to chose from the every day menu, not a fixed menu.
To start, we shared the Charcuterie Chef’s Selection. It was a moderately sized plate full of thinly sliced meats like salami with hints of fennel, salty prosciutto and I believe speck, but I am not positive. Olives were sprinkled about the plate and one of my fave parts were the pickled vegetables.
For my main, I had the carbonara. It was more of a deconstructed carbonara, in that instead of mixing the egg in the sauce traditional-​style, the egg came poached on top of a generous heaping of papparadelle! I LOVED it. The peas were nice and sweet and the pancetta was cooked perfectly and wasn’t fatty at all. My mans had the steak, which was also cooked to perfection. It had a nice little crust on the outside, while the inside melted in your mouth. He loved it so much he went as far as to say that dinner at Spiga was one of his all time favorite meals, and he can be pretty picky!
Dessert was great too. I had the gelato — chocolate, vanilla and espresso — he, the chocolate cake. The cake resembled the chocolate lava cakes that spill gooey chocolate from them, but this was better. The cake was like a brownie, and the sauce inside was more like hot fudge: thicker, sweet, just enough! A scoop of gelato was the perfect companion for the cake ;)
Oh! For drinks, I had a dark and stormy — so good, and pretty potent. My man had a tequila mixed drink, which I did not care for, but he guzzled down.
The décor is simple, yet lovely. The exposed brick warms up the place and the hand-​painted murals make you feel like youre in a trattoria in Rome. Can’t wait to go back!

Gosh, I hate giving a new spanking establishment that is just starting out such a meager rating. I really do. Like, another half star might have made a difference? Probably not. Nothing horrendous happened here. The service, though slightly uninformed, green and overeager, was very much present, friendly and attentive. The restaurant, with brand spanking lovely new interiors was warm without being cheesy, and really quite nice. The food, ah, the food, is really why this restaurant gets one star. The food was downright disappointing and just not good. at all Across the board. For that, Spiga gets only one star, maybe a 1.5’er to be generous.
I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again, this city is not short on Italian eateries. If you want to be competitive, charge the prices you charge and want to have a repeat clientele, you need to do pizza, pasta and all that it entails and you need to do it well.
Started with a pizza (Spiga has its own wood-​burning pizza oven) — a strawberry, balsamic onion and robiola cheese. Though strawberries are going out of season, I was tempted by this savory offering — the pizza was entirely unmemorable and not even worth the carb ingestion — it seemed as though the toppings were added in a way to make the pizza pretty, but not tasty. The three main elements did not work together, because the flavors did not meld together, each bite was full one of thing, and not full of the three things. A ring of strawberries encircled the pizza with balsamic onions in the middle, and far too little (if any) robiola cheese was on the pie. This pizza set the stage for everything that was to come after, that is, the actual flavor of the pie was really non-​existent, with no spices or herbs, and even too little salt to actually elevate this potentially interesting pie. A total dud.
This was followed by a selection of Assagi picks that ended up being as disappointing and flavorless as the pizza. Only highlight being the polenta fries with the garlic aioli — otherwise, the white bean rosemary and truffle spread was cold, too heavy on the rosemary and nothing else (with but a splash of truffle oil), the wood fired eggplant caponata followed suit lacked dimension with not enough eggplant, the rolled zucchini with lemon and ricotta lacked the zing of citrus and not enough ricotta and again lacked salt and the caprino crocante (fried goat cheese with a forgetful tiny red purée) topped off the snoozer of appetizer offerings.
After this introduction, I still had not given hope, there was still pasta coming! My fave! A daily special of parpadelle, smoked tomato pesto and ricotta salata, along with a very autumnal gnocchi with brown butter, sage and prosciutto awaited us. What we got was the nail in the coffin. Oh my. I don’t remember ever not finishing a pasta dish, but I know I did not finish mine at Spiga.
The gnocchi turned out to be heavy, doughy bits (all different sizes) dropped atop a tiny lake of butter, some sage and extremely crispy prosciutto bits. The ‘sauce’ puddled at the bottom of the bowl while the hefty gnocchi dough sat atop not becoming one with the dish (the serving dish might be a bit to blame as well, why such a deep dish for this type of serving of gnocchi?). Each bite was as depressing as the next, and chewy as hell. Next the parpadelle, toothsome is almost too generous to describe it. The pasta was beyond al dente, it was tough and stuck to your teeth. Again, the flavors did not meld at all, the dish lacked depth and salt, the pesto pooled at the bottom of the dish and they were extremely chintzy with the ricotta salata, which is to say it barely made an appearance at all.
Had there been a highlight, or a slight glimmer of sunshine (or flavor in the food), I might have been reticent in awarding so little stars to newbie Spiga — but one course after the next was blandness and disappointment central. In this city, if you come out with Italian cuisine, you better be swinging and out swinging to beyond the outfield. Spiga simply strikes out.

More like, engh-​OK (instead of A-​OK), but I’m feeling generous today. The night started by trying to get a reservation on Opentable only to see the time I wanted booked, so I called and was able to get a reservation at that time anyway. Funny, when we arrived there were only two other tables seated… and this didn’t really change (maybe topped out at 4 tables) throughout the night. Odd.
You know that terribly awkward moment when you order a bottle of wine, the waitress brings it to your table and presents it, then acknowledges that she’s never opened a bottle of wine before… yah…it happened. Luckily, it didn’t happen to me but to the table beside me and it was literally the longest two minutes of my life watching her battle the corkscrew and the insistence of the diner to help. Eventually… success…the table got their bottle of wine, the waitress a (small) victory, and everyone had a good laugh…
Unfortunately, my table had the same waitress and I’m not sure if it was her first night working or the first night out of her house, but she wasn’t very good — at all. She mispronounced three or four items when describing the specials. She didn’t bring us spoons with our amuse-​bouche (which she butchered the pronunciation of naturally.) The drinks took forever to get to our table and our entrees ended up being served by another waitress when ours disappeared.
Onto the food. The amuse-​bouche was a nice touch and very good — a chilled soup with a poached mussel. We opted for the three-​choice appetizer platter (assaggi) — the fried goat cheese with beet purée, grilled zucchini with lemon & ricotta, and white bean truffle dip. These all were the highlight of the meal — the fried goat cheese being my favorite. I was in a group of four so we sampled a good bit of the menu: the burger was very good, probably the best entrée on the table, the oxtail cavatelli was good but could have been a bit deeper in flavor, the gnocchi was tasty but needed something more (without a bit of prosciutto it was bland — the brown butter sage sauce just didn’t add enough flavor,) and the orecchiette with basil & tomato was extremely bland (the lowest marks.) The cocktails were very good however across the board.
The issue here is that there are so many great italian restaurants in Philadelphia and between the food and the service, Spiga just didn’t add up to me. If you’re in the mood for italian I’d seek out somewhere else; if its raining, you don’t want to walk a long way, or can’t get a reservation elsewhere — Spiga will suffice in a pinch.

Gotta say I was pleasantly surprised by this place. Stopped in after Sips for a lighter meal since we had apps elsewhere.
Had the burger which was, for not just an Italian place but for any place, damn good. Burger itself had nice saltiness and played well with the goat cheese and onion. Just enough of each. Really great stuff.
Also tried some of the white bean and truffle spread, polenta fries, and caprino croccante… the latter in particular stood out, but all were above average. All in all a great place to stop into and a worth addition to the neighborhood. Drink menu wasn’t anything special but I was in beer mode at that point and my Abita Purple Haze hit the spot.

The sign read: Wine down Wednesdays plastered in big letters across the chalkboard as we crossed the st onto Locust a few nights ago. If we weren’t already coming to Spiga we would have stopped for the wine if nothing else.
The décor of this place is trendy yet casual and the exposed brick walls made it very sultry. KP and I were sat at a two top in the main dining room. The atmosphere was nice, well with the exception of a large table that extended HH (I think they took it too far).
Obviously we would be having wine I mean not only was I with KP but a pretty good size list had bottles 25 and under. After choosing a funky not so common Italian Red we perused the menu.
We decided to use our coupon code for a free pizza, since I do not consume animals our server let us swap out the arugula and prosciutto pie for the margarita pizza. The pizza came out a few minutes later and was a good size. The crust was slightly chewy but still crispy and there was a good ratio of sauce to cheese. It wasn’t the best restaurant pizza I’ve ever had (see Zavino). I would eat this pie again and I would also be very happy to try the pizza that has strawberries and ribiola cheese. YUM.
I was torn between the mussels or the gnocchi but finally chose the gnocchi’s per our servers recommendation. My dining companion did the steak. The gnocchi’s were light, fluffy and buttery and the porcini cream was that just cream not really any mushrooms to speak of which was fine but I asked if there were whole shrooms in the sauce. There could have been more sauce for the ratio of pasta but what sauce I had was flavorful.
I liked the layout of the menu they offer small plates, various snacks and pizzas. Price point seems to be spot on for food and drinks for the area and though service was a little off everyone we encountered was very nice. I will definitely return.

I appreciate few things more than a restaurant that can gracefully remedy a mistake, especially in its first few weeks. Spiga pretty much nailed it.
My date and I came about 8 PM on a Friday and the place was bustling with at least three large parties. We were seated immediately somehow, and then for about 15 minutes that’s about all that happened. Receiving menus and ordering took quite a while, but as someone who has worked in a restaurant during their opening week, I’m extremely sympathetic. They didn’t even seem to hate me too much when I apologetically sent back my cocktail for being half lemon juice. NOTE: Order The Hepburn with caution, or at least ask for them to go easy on the citrus. The description was amazing (Bluecoat, St. Germaine, Rhuby, grapefruit juice, lemon) but something clearly went awry. Ordered a cucumber John Daly instead. Two thumbs up.
Our appetizers took quite a while to come out but were taken off our check as an apology, and holy cats they were worth the wait. The caprino croccante with red beet purée was so delicious and rich I was sent into a giggle fit.
The cavatelli with oxtail ragu was a good main course though I don’t quite understand the citrus gremolata. Then again I demolished it, so what do I know.
I’ll definitely be back for happy hour as the assaggi/​app menus are just fantastic and the prices are extremely reasonable. I have no doubt that after they iron out the kinks they will do wonderfully.