Edge - Bethlehem

The food is really well prepared and the menu is creative which I love. The interior design is cool and edgy-no pun intended-ok it was intended. The service is fab. The prices-well-they are a bit high. In the last 10 years, the Lehigh Valley and Bethlehem in particular has had an influx of New Yorkers and Philadelphians and suddenly really high-end restaurants came too! Thankfully. This is one of those. Its competition across the street is also very good but it is loud and the interior design is lame. Between the two-go to Edge.

The first time I went here during Restaurant Week on a date with my significant other, I thought the atmosphere was great, the food wasn’t too bad, and the drinks were made very well. In fact, we liked this restaurant so much that we suggested having a company party here so others could try it, as well. Needless to say, that was a horrible idea. As we learned, this restaurant doesn’t know how to accomodate large parties. Our party included about 11 adults and we had made reservations at least two weeks in advance, maybe more. We willingly changed our reservation time to a later time to better accomodate the restaurant and they still did an awful job at accomodating us. They have a party room, but we were not offered to sit in there despite the fact that it was empty when we got there- and still empty when we left. When we got there, our table wasn’t ready and what they finally arranged for us was cramped and uncomfortable. It would have been nice to be able to talk with the rest of the people sitting at the table; however, it wasn’t really possible given the seating arrangements. As far as the food was concerned, the tuna tartare appetizer was the standout of the evening, and everything else was sort of mediocre. I ordered salmon and it came with potato and vegetable sides, all of which were cold or lukewarm when I got my plate. From what I heard from a few people around me, everyone else enjoyed what they got, but it wasn’t memorable food by any means- standard fare like crab cakes and steak. Boring. For dessert, quite a few people at the table ordered the chocolate pot du creme- which turned out to be a generous portion of thick, heavy CHOCOLATE GANACHE that was way too much to eat for a dessert portion. It might have been good if it was a smaller portion, or used to top a cake, but they served it in what looked like a small soup bowl. Ugh. During the course of our stay, everyone had at least 2-4 cocktails, an appetizer, main course, and dessert. You can do the math to roughtly figure out what the bill would be for 11 people before tax and tip. Keeping that in mind, not 10 minutes after we had finished our desserts, the manager came over and we were conspicuosly ASKED TO LEAVE because a party of 12 had just arrived. REALLY?! I looked around as we were walking out and noticed that more than half of the tables on the one side of the restaurant were EMPTY. The arriving party could have easily been seated in that area, and our party would have probably ordered at least a few more drinks per person!! The way I see it, they lost out on maybe an extra $100 or more for the bar – and future business – because of how we were innappropriately rushed out the door. The restaurant is OK for couples, but I wouldn’t consider going back with a group- if at all. I frankly haven’t been back there since this experience. It is a damn shame that we reccomended going there because I know it would have been a much better experience at the place we usually go to. The GM wouldn’t dare to kick paying customers out, especially a party of people, 10 minutes after they finished their dessert because they know how to plan reservations accordingly.

Enjoyed tasting our way through the menu. We sampled the Frites, Tarragon Gnocchi, Pork Dumplings and Pulled Pork Sandwich and loved every bite. The service was great too. Will be back

The menu is rather small, but everything came out great. Usually for a fine dining resturant I like to try lunch first to see if it’s worth comming back for dinner and premium prices, so it took me a long time to finaly make it to The Edge. I will definately be back, but I don’t think it will make it into my heavy rotation of favorite resturants, as I can get a meal I am just as delighted over for half the price across the street at Apollo Grille. I had the Cipollini Smoked Gouda Ravioli with Squash Tagliatelle and Sage Brown Butter. It was fantastic, and I’ve had cravings for it a few times since.

Michael, our waiter, was fantastic... especially given what he has to work with. the gnocchi with duck confit and fried shallots had 5? gnocchi that wouldn 't approximate bad frozen gnocchi, shredded duck, and onion rings. the beet salad was a large mound of iceberg lettuce with a small mound of oily beets and goat cheese. the filet mignon was ok. a bit flavorless despite being drowned in some mushroom sauce. would we go again? most likely not. would we recommend it? onlyto people we don 't like.