Distrito opened near the University of Pennsylvania sometime in the fall. It appears to be copying the concept of El Vez across town. Both have overdone decor and serve Mexican food. The main difference is that Distrito is apparently a small plate or tapas restaurant.
After being ignored for 20 minutes, the waiter came to take our lunch order. When I ordered, I was cut off and told that it was a "small plate" restaurant and that one order of carnitas tacos wouldn't be enough for lunch. The lunch menu says nothing about being small plates. I know that Jose Garces has been successful in the Philadelphia with his tapas restaurant Amada. I love tapas, but the lunch menu at Distrito referred to courses in a way didn't suggest that it was tapas restaurant. If you look at the dinner menu, it doesn't seem to convey the information either.
Honestly, we thought about leaving the restaurant. We were put off by being ignored and further annoyed by the menu. At that point, I didn't like the place, but felt that I needed to try the food before entirely writing off the place. So, I ordered the carnitas tacos and the chicken tacos. My lunch companion ordered the Blue Demon Special with a first course of guacamole and a second course of hamachi tacos. Neither of us were satisfied by our meals-- starving and disgusted at the end of the meal. Guacamole and two appetizer sized tacos and a drink for $15 versus my order of four appetizer sized tacos for $12 bucks. It is odd, according the small plate rationale and the Blue Demon Special menu, meal elements are salsa and guacamole. Aren't these items typically something that people share? These aren't entrees or . I just don't get it.
I understand that restaurants are businesses, but the Blue Demon Special defies logic. If you look at the possible combos of items, you can make several combos that cost less than $15 by ordering ala carte. If the goal of the business is to get you to spend $15 on lunch, they don't provide much on incentive with the pricing and two course structure. That said, many of the two course combos don't provide enough food for a complete lunch. Several people seemed to order the soups or salads which were large portions, exceeding the size of the "small plates" that the waiter told us we would be getting. Had we known the portions of soup and salad were larger than tapas size, we would have ordered them. I mean, who wants to go out to lunch and leave hungry? We felt misinformed by our waiter.
Sitting in the restaurant, it appeared that a number of people ordered the Los Hongos, priced at $12 ala carte. Looking at this item, the profit margin must be enormous. People choosing to do the Blue Demon Special would feel that since the ala carte price was high selecting this item meant working the system to get a good deal. But I think it is pretty clear that the $12 price was set artificially high, so that people would think they were getting a good deal. In reality, choosing the Los Hongos meant overpaying. What a mess.
The erratic approach to pricing irks me. It shows a pessimistic view of the restaurant's customers-- like someone at GRG said: we will confuse and misinform people to take as much money as possible. I don't like restaurants that are so concept driven that they complete miss the fact that they ought to be serving their customers to build repeat business and positive word of mouth. The waiters and customers seemed confused.
I will post more on the design issues and the food-- the particularly bad horchata.
Overall-- bad service, mediocre food, questionable design and bad value.
