On Point Bistro? More Like Off Point.

May 17th, 2022

Authored by Dynisha Murray and Nina Wilson

Pictured from top to bottom “The Clucker” ($18), in the top left corner, “The Farm omelet” ($14) in the lower left corner and “The Breakfast Burger” ($18) in the bottom right corner. Photo courtesy of The Brunch Besties.

On a bleak and wet Sunday morning in January, we embarked on the grand adventure of starting this blog. We researched restaurants in our neighborhood, in anticipation of what we would find. Enter On Point Bistro, a restaurant that opened on September 13th, 2016 (Philadelphia Inquirer). Which is located in the heart of the Point Breeze avenue at 1200 Point Breeze Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19146.

The 44-seat bistro is owned by Juan Lopez Fernandez, who is a former Garces Chef (Philadelphia Inquirer). The Garces group is named after Chef Jose Garces, who own restaurants in the Philly area such as Amada, Buena Onda, and Distrito to name a few. Given this, along with the extremely appealing breakfast/ brunch menu, we set out with umbrellas and empty stomachs.

We visited On Point Bistro on Sunday, January, 9th, 2021. Secured reservations in advance, and arrived a few moments late to our 10:45 am reservation, arriving around 10:50. Upon arrival, we were asked for copies of our vaccine cards and identification, before getting escorted to our table. Despite the small space, it felt open due to the light that came in from the large windows that framed the restaurant. There was a slightly cold but homey vibe to the atmosphere. The restaurant has a theme of cool whites, pale blues, distressed woods, and antiques.

Soon after we were seated, we were advised that gratuity was automatically included and introduced to our server who took our drink orders. I ordered a coffee and Dynisha, an orange juice. We grazed over the menu and decided to order The Burrata as an appetizer ($12), Farm Omelet ($14), The Clucker ($18), and The Breakfast Burger with fries ($18).

The Burrata

After about 15- 20 Minutes The Burrata, pictured above, was brought out, which according to On Point’s menu is “served with grilled rustico, lemon truffle honey, and agrodulce figs.” The presentation was beautiful. However the taste was not. The cheese was bland. Burrata is meant to be creamy and rich in flavor but this burrata was not. The rustico bread, although crisp, was drenched in an oil or butter which made it a tad salty. There was an oil at the bottom of the bowl, and I was unsure if that was the Lemon Truffle Honey or not. However it all paired decently with the burrata and figs. Contrary to my opinion Dynisha believed the figs overpowered the dish and that the Burrata had a subtle flavor to it. She too could not detect the Lemon Truffle Honey, and in her words “ forgot that it was a part of the dish.” However, she felt that the rustico bread was crunchy and crisp, which she quite enjoyed. In total, we rated this dish 3 stars out of 5.

As we waited for our entrees, more families poured into the restaurant and filled the bistro to maximum capacity. We waited 30 more minutes, to get our appetizer plate cleared from our table, and for our server to refill our drinks. To provide perspective, this puts us at about 40-50 minutes into our reservation. Meaning that besides taking our drink and entree orders, our server did not touch base with us. Also, we began to notice that groups that were seated after us, were receiving their entree orders before us. I am unsure if these dishes were prepared based upon the seating chart, however there were 4 separate groups of people, who came after us, who were all served their entrees before we received ours. Nonetheless, we were not swayed and we hoped that the entrees would be worth the wait. However we were terribly mistaken.

The Clucker

The most vile dish we consumed was, The Clucker. Pictured above, the restaurant’s menu describes the dish as consisting of a “Homemade sweet potato waffle, 8 oz fried chicken, 2 poached eggs, honey mustard hollandaise sauce and maple syrup.” Myself and Dynisha both agree that the presentation of the dish was not appealing. It looked like a chicken had given birth over a waffle, while it was in the process of being deep fried. The taste of the dish matched the appearance. The chicken was bland, and overcooked to the point it was dry. Likewise for the poached eggs and the hollandaise sauce, both being bland and having no remarkable traits. The sweet potato waffle was undercooked to the point that it was gummy, especially so towards the center of the waffle. The maple syrup was present, but much like the poached eggs and hollandaise sauce contributed nothing of value to the dish. Thus why we rated The Clucker a clucking 1 out of 5 stars.

The Breakfast Burger

Moving on to a dish that was slightly better, The Breakfast Burger, pictured above, which is described as an “ open faced 8 oz burger, sunny side up egg, avocado, bacon, and chipotle mayo.” The presentation was decent. My main critique is that the sunny side up egg was served on top of the opposing bun, which made it messy to combine with the other components of the burger. In terms of taste, Dynisha felt that the burger patty was under-seasoned, the bacon was overcooked, and the avocado did not add anything besides color and texture. She would prefer to not get the avocado with it if she were to order it in the future, and the chipotle mayo and fried egg created a weird flavor that was difficult for her to get past. I myself felt similarly, and the only thing that added any flavor to the burger was the chipotle mayo. The fries that accompanied the dish were extremely salty, so much so that I got sick of eating them after a few moments. Overall, we rated this dish 2 stars out of 5.

The Farm Omelet

Saving the, slightly, better for last, is the Farm Omelet which the menu described as “ 3 eggs with sauteed mushrooms, spinach, corn, manchego, truffle aioli, confit potatoes, and toast.” The presentation was nice, it looked very appetizing, so we gave it 5 out of 5 stars. In terms of taste, I felt that the veggies were fresh, a bit bland, and salty. The confit potatoes were forgettable. Dynisha felt similarly, about the dish. However it was still better than the other two dishes we had, thus why we gave it 3 out of 5 stars.

In Closing

We give On Point Bistro 2 stars out of 5. This was due to the atrocious service and poorly executed dishes. A lot of the plates that we ordered, pushed the envelope to the point that it was no longer an appetizing meal. For instance, The Clucker, was a food crossover gone wrong between eggs benedict and fried chicken and waffles. If just a bit more energy had been focused on making sure the chicken and waffle was properly cooked and seasoned, that would have been a good enough dish on it’s own. Likewise with The Breakfast Burger. It had a lot of potential, but just had too many things going on with the dish, and clearly none of those things ,with the exception of the mayo, were executed properly.

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XOXO,

The Brunch Besties