Sampan

great spot for happy hour, n awesome drink n food prices .Service is excellent except one bartender on the outside part a little rude n pretenous. The girl real sweet n excellent service. Brian bartender a awesome guy! but i would most def go back

Cold, rainy miserable thursday working from home, I decided to try Sampan for lunch. What a happy surprise! I had the Chef's Tasting which for $14 with an appetizer, entree and mini dessert was beyond great value. Then the food came out. Crab tacos were perfectly delicate but filled with lots of crab and it was so very delicious. I decided on the shrimp pad thai which was the best I'd had anywhere that I could remember, ever. The soft serve for dessert wasn't ready, so they brought me 2 mini valrhona chocolate mousse, topped with pretzel dust and freshly made whip. So delicious, I could only finish one, and then the soft serve started going again so they brought me out this extremely precious dollop of an orange creamsicle on a sugar cone. The tiniest thing I'd ever seen but it just was the frosting on an otherwise splendid lunch. On top of all of this the service was impeccable. I will be going back for lunch, cocktails, dinner. I'm sold!

Sat at the bar for drinks & apts it was our first time. I agree with Lorraine we didn't have a guest bartender but she was very slow and seemed preoccupied doing anything but making drinks. We shared two apts and two drinks decided to leave service was not acceptable. Went across the street to where the bartender could handle it more efficiently.

This place has a really cool atmosphere. The graffiti room is interesting and the inside is even better. The happy hour food specials are hit or miss, value wise, but here is what I learned. GET THE HAPPY HOUR Banh Mi sandwich. It's the same size as the full price on one the menu, except it's super super cheap AND amazing. When I went for happy hour, this place had two guest bartenders who never bartended before and they were a bunch of duntzes. Disappointingly so were the rest of the real workers. When you asked for something they stare at you as if you have two heads. Weirdos. The happy hour drink specials are super unclear and I ended up spending full price on drinks because it wasn't explained well. Again, duntzes. At least they got the food and the look going for them.

What a nice surpise, to happen upon this lovely, trendy place walking through Philly on a Friday night. It struck me, with its wooden boards nailed together as outside decoration and no visible sign. 4 of us sat outside and chose a cornucopia of items: vegetarian, meatatarian, fish, other... What really blew us away were the oxtail dumplings, the crispy black bass, and crispy quail. All 3 had amazing texture and flavor. All the items we ordered were presented like fresh little delicacies. A lot of thought goes into the prep and presentation of the food. The filet mignon satay was lovely, and the "cold" tuna was magnificent. Slightly disappointed in the edamame dumplings - too much truffle oil, were hoping for actual truffle. Also, we didn't love the Mao Pao Tofu- odd flavor. The restaurant was beautiful inside, although while using the powder room, I listened to the drill sargeant's rant from Full Metal Jacket- may cause an old lady to pause, though I don't care. Next time, I would definitely sit at the chef's bar and watch the masters cook; and I would NOT miss the Peking Duck! All in all- fabulous, beautiful food.

I went to Sampan on a whim when my friend from out of a town visited Philly for dinner. The outside decor of the restaurant is very different and compelling; with bright wood paneling the upper half of the restaurant. It was a Wednesday night around 7:30pm and Sampan was packed. It is sleek and sexy inside with a large bar and plenty of room to dine in. This is a tapas-style Asian fusion restaurant and you are encourage to order many dishes and share. I ordered the short ribs and she ordered the petit filet. The short ribs were really really good; tender and flavorful. I was also happily surprised when the sous chef came out to give us our entrees and let us know how much he, personally, loved the short rib dish. The mixture of lo mein and pieces of apple really made this dish excellent. The filet was not as great -- dull on the plate with a side of fries in a bowl. The fries, however, were crispy and also really delicious. Overall, a fun dining experience that it worth many revisits.

This place is awesome. Really liked the Pork Banh Mi and the Steak. Appetizers were fantastic as well. There were 8 of us so we tried a bunch of different things and everything was very solid. Least favorite was the duck (but it's still pretty good as well) Cool atmosphere as well.