#6 - L2 Restaurant & Bar - Guest Blogger Evan's synopsis

Sam and Sandy saunter with guests! Hi all, we are honored to be the first guest bloggers on Sam and Sandy’s Saunter Down South Street. This time, our intrepid duo invited one or two friends to come partake in their meal and wound up with three extra’s including, Sandy’s brother and girlfriend, as well as my brother-in-law from NY.  Our port of call this particular evening was L2 Restaurant & Bar, which is an establishment in need of Robert Irvine for all of you Food Network fans out there because those mediocre reviews on Yelp! are indeed warranted.

Upon entering L2 at around 7pm, we walked in from a beautiful sunset to near total darkness. This might have been the dim lighting or the heavy drapery treatments throughout the establishment. However, we were promptly seated (or at least I assume we were as we were a few minutes late per usual!) at the only large table on the first floor of the building. Once seated, I had a prime view of the bar where I discovered the shelving in the bar looked like an actual earthquake hit it.

That earthquake hit bar. Slanty.

For an appetizer, I had the shu mai, which was actually pretty good. The appetizer portions were small, so we had to order a few for a table of our size, but they were all pretty delicious. The fried zucchini was a bit oily, likely because the oil in the pan was not hot enough when they threw the zucchini in. Note for all of you at home users, the oil should be hot and ready to go, otherwise the zucchini will just absorb the oil! Zucchini is also filled with water so it’s a good idea to pat down the zucchini with a paper towel or with a little flour before breading it. However, the folks at L2 did manage to keep the breading on at least, and the dipping sauce was actually pretty dynamite.

Zucchini. So this is where the parmesan went. 

Shu mai dynamite

For the entrée course, I had the Pasta Mikie which is billed as penne pasta with rose sauce and prosciutto. Though it took about nine years for the food to arrive, mine was delicious. The penne were cooked to a perfect al dente, the tomato based sauce was good (though tasted like it came from a can, which is probably did. Not hard to make your own sauce!) and the prosciutto was a nice bit of crunch and salt which the dish needed. The dish needed even more prosciutto in my opinion, and less of it mixed in. When you are trying to give texture to a dish with crispy elements and then bury the crispy elements in a sauce laden dish, what you actually wind up with is a soggy element. Still, the dish was not bad for the $12.00 and I left full and satisfied. My husband was not quite so lucky. He ordered the Chicken Parmesan, which he thought was a safe choice. Not so, dear reader! It was literally a frozen, pre-breaded chicken cutlet that had been deep fried and then drowned in a sauce with mozzarella cheese on top (which everyone does, but no one stops to realize that Chicken Parmesan is supposed to be made with Parmesan cheese. You know, like it says in the name of the dish.) It was bland, tasteless and they can do better with fresher ingredients that would likely save them on overhead and attract more customers.

Marilyn Monroe
Sorry, I (Sandy) didn't have a photo of Evan or Zach's entree.

Lastly, I had a gin and tonic, which was not bad, but didn’t blow my socks off either.

On technical merit, I would have to give L2 Restaurant & Bar a lukewarm review and maybe 2.75/5 stars. However as any diner knows, even the worst dining experience can be made whole if shared with the right people and while L2 Restaurant & Bar was lacking in some key elements, the conversation and friendship shared were absolutely delicious. We hope to saunter with Sam and Sandy again in the very near future!

L2 Restaurant & Bar

2201 South Street

Philadelphia PA 19146

215-732-7878