Vetri is a tiny place with amazing food! It is a tasting menu format but a little different. They present you with a menu and you can choose anything that sounds particularly good or veto the opposite for your particular dinner. We also chose an option to split a couple of the pasta courses so we could try more things. They offer wine pairings which were basically well chosen and good quality but very short pours, so many times the pour didn’t accommodate the entire course (this is one of my pet peeves!

I understand that restaurants don’t want to waste wine but it costs them little to make sure the guest gets a top off if needed). Otherwise the service was well paced and pleasant. Even with two seatings for the evening we did not feel rushed to make way for the next guests.

Everyone starts with the crudite bowl, savory amuse bouche plate and lovely bread and olives. There were no “forgettable” courses but some absolutely stood out. The watermelon and fluke were quite refreshing and a nice light beginning. The sweet onion crepe was one of the standouts with the caramelized onion portion being so sweet it seemed like something else was in it besides onion. The spinach gnocchi were light and airy as they should be and the almond tortellini was divine. The duck fazzoleti was ‘lick the plate’ type food – what more can I say? Vetri is a master of pasta and sauces. The veal was very tender and the goat was delicious presented with one ‘fall apart’ portion and another crispy. But if the secret of a happy patron is to end the meal well, they did that well. The pistachio flan ranks up there in my all time favorite desserts- sweet, chewy, buttery- in just the right combination!

All in all, if you’re in Philadelphia get a reservation for this place! It is a treat!