3000 Market Street

Philadelphia, PA 19104

The Main Post Office is right accross the street from 30th Street Station, and it's open late, so sometimes when Brian and/or I have something we need to mail and can't get it out during the week, we'll meet up in town, mail out our stuff, and get something to eat.

Brian wanted to go to a place we like that's about ten blocks away. It's a nice walk, but it was stinking hot, oppressively humid -- and it had been cold that morning, so I was wearing a jacket besides (and my keys, phone, and iPod were in the pockets so I could avoid carrying a purse, so no, I couldn't just throw the jacket over my sholder). In other words, I was not going to be walking ten blocks. I wasn't going to be walking three blocks if I could help it.

Fortunately, slainte is right accross the street from 30th Street as well. OK, we'd just missed happy hour by about ten minutes, but still. It was worth checking out.

Our waitress was so attentive that she came for our drink orders before I even got to look at the beer menu. This kind of ticked me off (to be fair, I was also a little ticked at Brian, who was drooling over the awesome choices instead of letting me see what was on tap...), but fortunately, they had Woodchuck Cider on tap. Virtually no one does, so that was a no-brainer.... except after I ordered, I saw that they also had Ace Pear Cider on tap. I think I've seen pear cider on tap exactly once in my life prior. Well, I ended up getting one of those after I was done the apple -- hey, I was taking Septa home!

Brian got a Carlsberg, which he had enjoyed when he did study-abroad.

Then we looked at the food. Brian offered to split an order of nachos, but as much as I love a good plate of nachos, you can get them -- even the good ones -- a ton of places. And under the sandwich listings was a Salmon BLT (grilled salmon, crispy bacon, lettuce and tomato with a sweet apple mayo on whole wheat ciabatta, $9.99). So Brian ordered the Loaded Baked Potato Soup ($3.99).

Brian reported that his soup was just OK. My sandwich...

Well, first of all, my sandwich came with my choice of fries or salad, so I asked for the salad. She brought it out with the fries, and I said, "I'm sorry, I ordered that with the salad." She looked at me and said, "I'm so sorry! I thought you ordered the Salmon BLT!"

...yeah.

So I explained that I did order the Salmon BLT, but with salad as my side dish. She apologized again, and said she'd be right back with my corrected order. A good five minutes later, I had my salad... and my sandwich was getting tepid.

The fish was a tad dry, and they did this thing I hate where all the sauce ends up in one giant glob on one side of the sandwich, so two bites are nauseatingly covered with mayo or dressing or whatever, and the rest is bone dry. And no, I don't check before I eat it, because every time I disassemble a sandwich, it promptly falls apart the second I eat it. If I'm going to disassemble and reassemble a sandwich, I might as well order a platter, since I'll be eating it with a knife and fork anyway.

So the sandwich was on this nice, thick, whole-grain ciabatta bread -- whch crumbled in my hands when I picked it up. I'm sorry, bread that's thicker than the fillings should not crumble the second it's touched!

Did I mention I was painfully hot and annoyed about the drink at this point? And the bit about going to the post office? So I was Not Happy with my sandwich. I woudln't have been thrilled anyway, but I was pretty displeased.

Then again, both the appetizers and the desserts looked good, and I can't complain about the drink list. I'll probably go back for drinks and snacks. Not for dinner though.

Again, the drink selection was great -- maybe a tiny bit on the expensive side, but you'll see that when you go to places that specialize in unusual beers on tap. This is quality, not quantity. And, again, I'm willing to give them a chance on appetizers or desserts. Plus, you can take the bus or train in really easily. But don't go for a meal.

Not much out there, but you can at least see a picture of the interior here.