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Paradigm 239 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106 |
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Location: Olde City, Philadelphia, PA
Phone: (215) 238-6900 Overall Rating (1 to 10): 7 What I’d Do To Improve the Place: Give me something on tap! Charge admission to the bathrooms: that's probably illegal, so you'd better scrap that idea. A little jazz combo set up in the corner might draw in a crowd to fill up the bar area.
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| The Paradigm is one of Olde City's upscale bars that is a fairly quiet place to take a date or to rendezvous with a friend. The atmosphere of the bar and restaurant is very conducive to conversation. The basic set-up of the
Paradigm is: bar in front and restaurant area in the rear. And the bathrooms, ooh, the bathrooms, but more on that later.
The bar is conservative and avant garde in design, lighted by tiny halogen lamps suspended from the ceiling overhead. If you park your ass at the bar all night, you'll probably get a tan. The bar can accommodate about 15 patrons and about 10 more in the tables that make up the remaining bar area. Behind the bar is a backlit liquor rack stocked with a generous supply of single malt scotches. Don't get upset, but there are no beers on tap. Luckily, the Paradigm keep a decent supply of bottled beers within arms reach of the bar tenders. During my hour or so at the Paradigm, the clientele at the bar seemed to rotate rather frequently. The Paradigm isn't the sort of place that you are going to spend an entire night grazing at the bar, there isn't enough to keep you occupied. The restaurant area contains about 20 tables and the wait staff seemed fairly attentive to their charge. The tables and chairs are packed in there tight, so negotiating some of the peripheral tables can get tedious. The Paradigm gets the award (if there were one) for having the swankiest bathrooms in town. There are 3 unisex bathrooms located at the rear of the dining area. They have clear glass doors revealing all when in the OPEN position. When you close the door to the bathroom, the glass magically fogs up and you are given your privacy to go about your dirty business. The bathrooms are spacious, brightly lit and practically every fixture is made of stainless steel. If you're planning to be in the Olde City area and you prefer to hob-nob with the cultural elite, stop in at the Paradigm and have a bottle brew or martini. And for God's sake, don't forget to use the bathroom before you leave, you won't be disappointed - now how many times will you say that in your lifetime?
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