Stir Restaurant Reviews

We had a quiche and soup -- both much better than usually available in a museum restaurant. The restaurant is quite small; therefore, you need to go early or late to avoid peak periods.

We made a reservation.for a Tuesday lunch...and it was a good thing. the place is not big and it filled up quickly. attentive service and respectable menu. I had a salmon dish and my husband ordered a mixed salad with a piece of grilled salmon on top. Both were good. the museum is under construction and this is one of the parts that was redone.

Grabbed a quick lunch in Stir as I’d been wanting to visit this place in the PMA for some time. I was not at all disappointed. Lovely and friendly service as well as a superb quiche. I will be back.

We had lunch at this restaurant, while visiting the museum for the day. It was almost at closing, and we were afraid they may not seat us, but they did. We were not hurried at all, although we weren't happy with the location of our seats. Normally we would speak up, and we should have, but did not. Still, service was attentive, and the food was excellent -- organic, local and artfully prepared and presented. We shared a grilled chicken sandwich, which was served with a green salad. And we shared a crispy maitake mushroom, something we were unfamiliar with, and enjoyed very much. The honey lemon drop -- martini-like drink I ordered-- was a bit disappointing in that it had pieces of ice floating around, which I didn't like. The flavor was off, perhaps due to the city water used to make the ice.

Great place to meet up with a friend to have lunch while visiting the museum. Very good selection, priced appropriately for the location. Delicious food, beautifully served. Server pleasant and accomadating. Use you museum membership for a discount. Pleasant surroundings to dine in a non-rushed atmosphere.

My lunch was exquisite: perfectly cooked trout with a lovely sauce. Our waitperson was excellent; attentive and engaging. The only downside was the effort to be seated. 1. No reservations were available online at all for anytime the day of our visit. so 2. As soon as we arrived at the museum, we went to the restaurant to inquire and the persons at the podium was not welcoming; she seemed confused and told us to come back in an hour at 12:30 and we can be put on a waiting list. Why not put us on the list now?? no answer. We came back at about 12:30 and were seated immediately and the place never filled up. Something is wrong with management/reservations/hiring intelligent friendly people. Go anyway and order the trout.

Went to the museum and after a couple of hours decided to take a lunch break. It was Sunday so went to Stir which is in the Art Museum and open for brunch til 2:30PM. It had a modern open kitchen decor. Service was good. My friends had cocktails and there was a decent wine selection. I had the quiche, my husband the burger and our friends the trout appetizer and a ham/egg dish. The food was good and portions were huge.

Ridiculously disappointing. Ordered a vegan salad. Was advised they had no bread available that wasn’t slathered in butter. They were unable to provide an oil free dressing. I went with the elderberry dressing which sounded promising even if it did have oil. It tasted like straight canola oil. The waiter was nice enough. It wasn’t his fault. We left hungry.

My family and were very disappointed by "Stir" the replacement to "Granite Hill," the former restaurant at the Philadelphia Art Museum. While "Granite Hill" had innovative food prepared by a chef, especially it's daily chef's table, the food at "Stir" was carelessly prepared and run-of-the-mill. We came for lunch on Sunday. Only a brunch menu was available. I got quiche. ($14) It was burned on the top and the crust was hard not flakey.Unlike Granite Hill, no bread came with the meal. I ordered a side of biscuits ($5). They were overcooked. Our daughter got fried chicken on top of a waffle. She was disappointed because it came with 1/2 of a waffle for $17! The chicken was fried too crispy probably fried too quickly. We also got a flavorless chia seed pudding ($7), an eggnog bread pudding ($8) without much eggnog flavor, bitter coffee, an OK burger ($18) and a very hard pear cranberry tart ($8) and hard cookies. We paid over $100 for 3 people, with tip, and without drinks. It was overpriced for the quality. My general impression is that the line cooks were more concerned with getting the food out fast than carefully preparing the food so it tasted good. I agree with other reviews about the loud noise. We had to yell to be heard across the table. We didn't like the decor. I was facing the line cooks and a pantry area where the servers where bustling in and out. The restaurant had a jovial, bustling atmosphere more "Mel's Diner" than fine dining. There was lots of drinks on tables. People were dressed very casually in sweatshirts and baseball caps. It is a small restaurant with tables crowded to together. I am sure the owner is making lots of money. Another reviewer called the Granite Hill "stuffy". We thought it was charming and elegant. It was a quiet oasis with white table cloths and art on the walls where we could get fine chef-prepared food and the servers were very professional. We are sad that it is gone along with other fine dining restaurants in Phili such as "The Fountain" in the Four Seasons. I would have given "Stir" a 3 star but I gave it a 2 because I am disappointed that this is the replacement for "Granite Hill". We won't be back. Instead we will go to Zorba's up the hill excellent food, no pretensions and good prices or we will go to one of the cheaper options in the museum. We aren't willing to pay fine dining prices for poorly prepared food.

This is a favorite of mine! Every time I go the the food and service has been wonderful! The chef changes per season and everything is fresh and delicious. Will be returning soon with a very large group of family and friends.

This restaurant is visually appealing, almost small and easy to find in a gigantic maze of galleries and hallways. The menu is inspired with enough variety to please most tastes. Service is friendly and watchful without encroaching. The food is surprisingly good. Prices are acceptable. Noise is very high, and diners accommodate to it by talking too loud. Hard surfaces abound.

We were tired and badly in need of sustenance while traipsing through the Philadelphia Museum of Art. We picked Stir in lieu of the cafe because we wanted to relax and enjoy a meal and cocktail. The restaurant has a modern look with clean lines and interesting dinner service. The food is locally sourced as much as possible. We ordered bacon cheeseburgers and they were the best burgers we have ever eaten. They were cooked all the way through as we requested and remained very juicy. The servers were personable and efficient. It was the best meal we had on our vacation in Philadelphia. It was a little pricey, but well worth it.

This new high-end, Gehry-designed, sit-down restaurant offers visitors a pleasant meal within the museum itself. The offerings are upscale, including chopped salad with heirloom carrots, currants and quinoa, a fancy burger, grilled vegetables, and similar choices. We were fortunate that the restaurant wasn’t crowded, so we had no problem hearing each other.

Stir seems to have worked the kinks out of their service and we were served a very good lunch on a Tuesday afternoon. The Cobb salad sandwiches on toasted sour dough bread with Dijon aioli and roasted tomatoes were very tasty. The white chocolate cheesecake was even better than expected - very creamy and not overly white chocolate flavored. Th cappuccino was excellent and the tea served in a stylish claylike pot. Service was excellent. I would definitely return.

A very welcome addition to the museum. We took a chance of getting in on a Sunday and they were able to accommodate us. It was about 12:15 and it soon filled up so we were lucky. It also got quite noisy and they were playing music above the noise level. It is new so they need to work that out. Food was lovely. Very brunchy menu. I had poached eggs on avocado toast with some salad on the side. My husband had an omelet. (They charged extra for toast.) We will go back to try it for lunch.

We were very much looking forward to the opening of Stir. Unfortunately, we were disappointed. The restaurant was loud to point where I could not hear my partner across the table, I could not hear the server, and the server could barely hear us -- the restaurant is full of solid surfaces with nothing to govern the noise level. We had a full menu to experience a complete meal, not just a "lunch." The end cost was $158.56 for two for lunch (w/o tip). My plum dish starter was somewhat interesting, but just ok, not as flavorful as I expected, my seared Barnegat scallops with crispy potato dish was not; the bacon was hard bits of rubber, and each scallop (5) had a single "crispy" potato next to it - essentially a potato chip leaning on the scallop, I regretted ordering it with its $29 cost. It seemed to me my partner had the better meal, the foie gras and fig starter was very good, his main was the pork tenderloin, which he said was ok, except the grits were too salty and the chard was just blah. The hazelnut crumble was well made and delicious, though, if you enjoy hazelnut, which I do, it was full of real hazelnut flavor. Coffee was not hot enough, but drinkable. Our main complaint was the service, for those meal prices, we expect service to match. It seemed to us proper guest service is not their priority -- it just ended up feeling like an overpriced cafeteria. We would not eat there again, unless it was just to try a salad, but never again their meal offerings, not worth the cost. We often ate in the prior restaurant, Granite Hill, which was quieter, more civil, and a good meal for a good price.

My spouse and I had eaten at the cafe before, which we definitely enjoy, but never at Stir. It has a lovely ambience, to which the interesting wood ceiling by Frank Gehry is a major contributor. The dinnerware was interesting, and table setting was, like everything there, very tasteful. Service was professional and courteous. We got a reservation for 1:15, which was a bit late, but we failed to make reservations ahead of time. We enjoyed the creamy chicken liver mousse as well as the Stir Chopped Salad with heirloom carrots, celery, radish, dried currants, crispy quinoa (which was a delicious, crunchy highlight) and champagne vinaigrette. We thought the serving size of the former to be a tad small, and of the latter to be more than adequate. They actually brought bread and butter to the table, at NO CHARGE, which was welcomed. In restaurants at home in San Francisco, I've seen prices as high as $6.00 for something which always had been and still should be free. All in all, this was a very pleasant meal and a great way to break up the nonstop visual stimulation of the museum exhibits.

Nice location; rather overpriced. But the 2-star comes from some of the worst service received in a restaurant recently. Cold coffee; no silverware; mixed up orders; poor communication...etc etc. Not worth it.

Our third visit for Friday night dinner. Staff very pleasant and wait staff very willing to negotiate with the kitchen about my wife’s food allergies. Terrific roasted cabbage app, sea bass flavors wonderful. The sauces are always a bit different but not “trying too hard”. The portion sizes are not huge but the ingredients and preparation are excellent. 10% off for Museum members. (Also $10 parking for members, and great art too.)

Make a reservation! The cafe had no seating so we went to the restaurant around 1230. They had nothing open until 230 pm but said our timing was good and got us seated right before a wave of people got turned away. Nice place, great service, burgers were good and my son loved their Mac and cheese. Pricy for what it was. Unless you bring your own food, you only have 2 choices!

We had reservations at Stir for the Saturday after Thanksgiving. My millennial daughter wanted to go for brunch. However, when we got there we realized that brunch is only served on Sundays. We looked at the lunch menu, and neither one of us saw anything we wanted to order. I don't eat trout at lunch. Dishes seemed very heavy and the prices very high. We left. This past Sunday we had a 12:15 reservation (Open Table) for brunch at Stir after seeing two exhibitions at PMA. Service was outstanding throughout our meal. Some of us started with the bacon-infused Bloody Mary--very spicy, but very good! All our brunch entrees were excellent: burger with a jalpeno on top and fingerling potatoes, avocado tartine with poached eggs, French omelette, and grilled cheese. Each of us received a complimentary pine nut cookie at the end of the meal. Yum! Prices overall were very reasonable and a good value. I am giving Stir a 4 rating rather than a 5 for two reasons: the lunch menu still looks very heavy and expensive, and the noise level is terrible. We definitely had trouble hearing from one end of our table to the other as the restaurant filled. Rather ironic that so much design thought went into the architecture of the space but not to the soundproofing!! However, we would definitely go back for brunch, especially in the very hot and very cold weather when it is easier to stay in the building than brave the elements and walk elsewhere. Note that museum entry is necessary to go to Stir.

After a great experience years ago eating at the Philadelphia Museum of Art's restaurant, we booked a table for four for lunch on a cold Saturday. I looked forward to a gluten-free meal. We arrived an hour early, and we were seated right away, the restaurant being nearly empty at 12:45. Three of us had salads with protein adds, one of us had the pork belly. Food was very tasty, but we all still felt hungry after the meal ($55.28 per couple before tip). Perhaps understandable on the pork, but why skimp on salad greens? Service was fine, but next time we're at the museum, we'll eat somewhere else before or after the visit.

We had a gourmet lunch at Stir before heading out to see The Philadelphia Show on the East Terrace of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Ryan was a great waiter and the food was delicious.

I’m not sure where the negativity is coming for this new restaurant in the PMA. We had an absolutely delicious mid-day lunch. Superb, perfectly cooked salmon and a sweet potato gnocchi that my daughter described as one of the best things she had ever eaten. Yes, the place is small, perhaps a bit loud and some of the chairs don’t look up for comfort but the service is pleasant and we thought the food was excellent - light and fresh. I trust our fellow TA reviewers to see maybe they haven’t mastered brunch yet but you’ll enjoy a lunch. Promise. Make a reservation and ask for one if the leather booths in the back - a bit quieter and certainly more comfortable.

Not impressed. Food is overpriced and not terrific. Noise level is distracting. More like a cheap restaurant than what is trying to be an upscale restaurant.

Take your time touring the exhibits and then relax in the stunning atmosphere of this Frank Gehry-designed restaurant. A friend and I enjoyed the brunch menu still being offered late in the afternoon on New Year's Day. We arrived just before the last seating yet were warmly welcomed, received excellent service (thank you, Scott) and relished our respective dishes. I had the fresh and zesty small Smoked Trout Plate; my companion was impressed with her Avocado Tartine. Splitting a fruit tart for dessert added to our fun - all under the watchful eye of manager, Billie Flenders who checked on guests to guarantee our satisfaction. You must be admitted to the museum to access, or we'd be going back sooner!

We have a 'thing' for art gallery restaurants and Stir lived up to the expectation for healthy, well prepared food in a pleasant, calm space. it made for a relaxing break in the middle of our visit to the museum. Although a small room, they were clearly understaffed for the mid-day rush, but the service was perfectly acceptable if a bit rushed. Good selection of wines/bubbly by the glass.

Great service, lovely seating environment. Ordered the eggs benedict potatoes cake which was done just right. The salmon roulette was so-so. Would come back!

Chef is very creative. Everything is make with seasonal fresh ingredients. The Quiche was full of fresh vegetables and the highest lightest I’ve ever had! Blueberry pancakes were wonderful. The French omelet was superb,

Enjoyed Sunday brunch at this cafe. I started with a delicious bacon-infused Bloody Mary. The coffee was excellent. The whole egg frittata with broccoli, red peppers and spinach was slightly dry but still very good (I would have preferred cheese). The side of fingerling potatoes was huge but delicious. Service was attentive.

This would probably be a great place to unwind after touring the galleries at the museum - if you are a meat eater. It was very challenging to find something non-meat to eat other than salad. I tried the pretty expensive celery root dish - expecting it to be more than just the hunk of celery root with a light sauce that it was. Wait service was good, but the hostess was a bit condescending. We requested a banquette and she refused. I figured that we were not fancy enough, but she later gave the banquette to a couple who were equally “not fancy” so not sure what she had against us!

My wife, a friend, and I went here for lunch on Thursday of the last week of September 2023. We had just spent several hours walking the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and we were foot-weary and in need of fluids. My wife ordered their Angus burger (absolutely perfectly cooked and delicious), our friend ordered the artisan quiche (beautifully light with subtle spices and herbs), and I ordered the spiced carrot soup (subtly seasoned and not too spicy-- a delight). For dessert, we shared a flourless chocolate cake with chocolate mousse atop. It was fabulous and just the right amount! Service was prompt and exceedingly friendly. One of the main reasons we chose Stir over the museum's Cafeteria was the comfy seating, and after 30 minutes or so, we were well recuperated to start again on our museum viewing.

The rolls were very tasty, as well as the appetizers. The pasta was over cooked, but the quiche was nice. It’s expensive, but it was a nice break between our lengthy museum visit and it was a comfortable place.

Have always loved the Philly Art Museum. Stir is a wonderful addition with a seasonal menu that makes creative use of locally sourced ingredients. For starters, my friend and I shared the Marinated Jersey Plums with stracciatella cheese, arugula, and pistachio pesto, that was highly recommended by our server, Shay. My friend then had Pan Roasted Pennsylvania Trout (something you do not often see on any menu) and I ordered a PMA Dry Aged Farm Stand Burger (very rare exactly as I like it) that was served with Pommes Souffle. The finale, also shared, was a Pear Cranberry Crumble Tart. There was a cocktail menu as well plus a nice selection of wines and beers. The wait staff also aims to please. They knew the menu and took time to answer questions. Yes the noise level is a bit high but I had no problem hearing. We both loved everything. One of the best museum restaurants I've ever experienced.

As a few others said the prices are high. We did not mind eating here, but I think there are enough other places around that we think you can do better. Again nothing really wrong, but I regret not going elsewhere.

Stir Restaurant has innovative & tasty lunch items inside the Philadelphia Art Museum. I stopped by for lunch while visiting the Museum, and had a delicious ox-tail lasagna (the pasta was nice & thin, with a gravy topping instead of tomato) followed by an apple tart. Service was prompt (I wanted to get back to the galleries) on an otherwise slow midweek lunchtime.

We finished at the Philadelphia Museum and were very hungry. We walked by this small modern polished restaurant and asked if they had space. To our surprise we had one of the BEST hamburgers I have ever eaten anywhere. Bread, meat, fries were perfection and our server was great.

Nice decor, pleasant server, sloooow food delivery. Started with room temp, stale, oily focaccia. Partner had the pork belly, which was tasty. However, only accompaniment was a palmful of greens and radish. Mediocre presentation. I had the ‘Chop Salad’ with $8 chicken breast add on. Salad was passable, but chicken breast was most certainly cooked yesterday and rewarmed. Tiny, stringy, tough, dried out. I should have sent it back. Wanted to order dessert but dreaded the inevitable wait. Word to the wise, don’t eat at museums.

Family and friends went there for Brunch on Sunday. Everything was superb! The food and drinks were wonderful. We ordered a variety of things and everything was superb. The Chef Mark Tropea is outstanding! We will definitely return in the near future

We had a great post Thanksgiving lunch here at the museum. I was looking forward to the new PMA dining venues and I wasn’t disappointed by my first meal. It’s smaller than the old restaurant & the decor is much less stuffy. The new interior is white walls, lots of wood elements - be sure to admire the lovely ceiling installation. Marble tables and a hard surface floor though definitely create the restaurants main problem - a very loud noise level at peak times. I’m hoping that at some point they will install a sound absorption system to help with this issue. Our server was gracious, efficient & displayed great warmth. So appreciated that she let us have tastes of the wines by the glass before making a final choice. At $12 a glass you really do want to make the right selection. I simply loved my parsnip and pear soup with a side of warm quinoa for lunch. The salads were a good size & both gentlemen were happy with their choice of the chicken Cobb sandwich.

Once a year we visit Philly and this is a must stop, and usually the restaurant is excellent and worth praise. This time. something was off. Oxtail Lasagna $26 was nothing like lasagna and disappointing. Nothing else that we ordered was outstanding and even the service was a bit slow and unfriendly. Hopefully next year it will be better otherwise the cafeteria might be a better option.

My sisters and I wanted a nice lunch after spending the afternoon at the museum. We intended on going out but decided to try Stir, mainly due to the convenience. The atmosphere is very nice, albeit a bit noisy. Wait staff was great and the food very good. We enjoyed the sweet potato gnocchi in a brown butter sauce with kale and fresh salads with grilled chicken. We finished our meal with a good cup of coffee and a pear cranberry crumb tart topped with gelato.

First of all, make a reservation for lunch or brunch on the weekend as the new Stir restaurant fills up quickly. The design by Frank Gehry is attractive with an interesting ceiling done in wood, but the room lacks soft fabrics to absorb the noise. We were seated immediately and given menus and water, but after over 15 minutes our waiter had not appeared. There were three waitstaff handling the entire restaurant with many tables seating large groups. More staff was definitely needed. Once we ordered, our food arrived quickly and it was very good. My friend said her breakfast burger was probably the best burger she ever ate. I felt the same way about the quiche Lorraine as it was a thick cheesecake style slice well browned on the top, bottom and sides. The coffee was good, but we had to remind the waiter to bring it. I'll return after giving them a chance to improve their service.

We visited the Philadelphia Museum of Art followed by a nice lunch at Stir Restaurant.It was an intimate dining experience with home made potato chips served while waiting for your meal to arrive.The artisan menu had many local ingredients and we each chose the shrimp salad. We wished the chef would have served the salad with a few more items.

We had heard about the recent renovations to the museum, and the addition of a Frank Gehry designed restaurant. You already had our attention! We checked out the new location of the restaurant, the menu, and the cafeteria offerings, and we were delighted to be able to have lunch at Stir. Our server, Scott, was very low key, personable and professional...making our lunch a very enjoyable one. We both had the parsnip and pear soup (which was not too sweet), and comfortably hot on a cold Thanksgiving weekend. I had the salmon entrée with brussel sprout slaw, and my "date" had a kale and squash salad from the small plate menu and a single crab cake that was pure crab and no filler. The choice we loved the best, though, was the scorched broccoli with parmesan cheese and chilis side dish. We were licking the dish! (The bread service was a rolled brioche type bread with salted butter. More, please.) Too bad there was no seasonal fresh fruit dessert offered, we would have gladly lingered over a cup of (non-citrus) chamomile tea. If an Uber ride wasn't so expensive from NJ, I would be lunching here on a regular basis.

We are repeat offenders of Stir's Sunday brunch. The ricotta pancakes are legendary - light and fluffy and full of flavor. As for the ingredients, you can tell they are hand-selected with care. The executive chef, Mark, is a delight and takes pride in the food preparation and service. Stir is within the Art Museum, which is appropriate, as it serves an artful experience. Worth the visit to the museum for brunch. But see the museum, too (especially the top floor).

My husband and I had lunch last Saturday. It had gotten good reviews and I though it would be a good place for nice lunch as we were visiting the museum The quality of the food was excellent. Creative and fresh salads. My chopped salad was anything but ordinary with a crunchy topping of quinoa and pine nuts. The carrot soup was excellent. Full of flavor with nice toppings. Same with the beet salad that my husband ate. Creative use of ingredients My hard to please husband was very impressed with the service and the food. Highly recommend eating there