Lark, a rooftop Mediterranean restaurant located just outside of Philadelphia in Bala Cynwyd (pronounced Ba-lah Kin-wood), has been on my list of places to try for what seems like forever. So when my birthday rolled around, I knew exactly where I wanted to go. I will say, I didn’t expect to find such a highly rated restaurant situated at the end of a windy road, tucked back behind a few business parks and dentist offices!

Take the branded green elevator up to the 7th floor, where you’ll find yourself in a space that somehow feels modern and spacious, but also cozy and romantic at the same time. The floor to ceiling windows really highlight the rooftop terrace and Susquehanna river views. Top Chef fans may recognize Lark’s chef Nicholas Elmi, who won season 11 of the competition show!

Not in the mood for Mediterranean? Check out my other restaurant reviews here!

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A Multi-Course, À La Carte Meal

Before big dinners like this we always make sure to have a super empty stomach, so we were starving by the time we sat down. The menu at Lark reminded me of restaurants we went to in Italy, with the option to eat multiple courses or just go with a mix-and-match. We ordered the way the waiter recommended: two starters and a pasta course to split, and then separate main meat dishes. I definitely recommend making a reservation, because even though it’d cleared out by the time we left around closing time, the place was pretty full for a Wednesday night.

Starters

There were so many different starters that sounded amazing, but we opted to go with the Gnocco Fritto and the Puglia Burrata. The gnocco were delicious pockets of dough, but I was honestly a little unsure of how to best eat it with the prosciutto and ricotta. While it took a bit of trial and error, we figured it out. The burrata came with panzanella, cucumber and Biquinho peppers (the latter I’d never had before, but really liked) and was a nice acidic contrast to the heavier gnocco dough.

First Course

After finishing the starters, I was a little worried waiting for the first course to arrive thinking we were going to over-do it before we got to our main dishes. Thankfully the pasta was super light! We decided on the Taleggio Agnolotti with smoked caramelized onion and thyme honey. Jasper isn’t usually the biggest fan of onions but even he enjoyed it.

Second Course

We rounded out the savory portion of our evening with the meat courses. For me that meant scallops with black rice and sunchokes, and for Japer the sourdough crusted halibut with summer veggies. The sunchokes in my dish were another first, and I was pleasantly surprised. I was very anti-veggies as a kid (and much further into my twenties than I’d like to admit), so while many are still foreign to me at least I can happily say I’m making progress!

Dessert

We were celebrating my birthday, and somehow still had room in our stomachs, so we splurged some more with two desserts: the Malt Soft Serve with pretzel crumble and bourbon salted caramel, and the Chocolate Budino mousse with rum whipped cream and a coffee crumble. The soft serve may have been the best thing I ate all day, and I’m not the biggest dessert person. They brought out the mousse with a candle for me to blow out, which was a nice touch.

Drinks

When we go to a new restaurant, we always try as many different drink options as we can. I started with the sparkling chenin blanc, then ordered a glass of rosé to pair with my scallops, and finally the Lark After Dark espresso martini with dessert. Jasper on the other hand stuck strictly to cocktails: the Himilayan and the Pump House (both tequila-based), and the Boule-Noir after-dinner bourbon cocktail with dessert.

Since it was our first time eating here and it wasn’t a busy weekend night, our waiter recommended we head outside and snag a table to finish our dessert drinks. I’m so glad we took his advice. The rooftop terrace at Lark is beautiful at night, with a great view overlooking Bala Cynwyd, the Susquehanna River, Northwest Philadelphia and beyond.

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The Landing Kitchen

Lark has fairly limited hours, so if you’re looking for a casual breakfast or lunch then their sister restaurant The Landing Kitchen is a great option. We’ve already been here a couple times for breakfast/brunch. They have a variety of choices on the menu ranging from breakfast sandwiches, burgers, smoothies, coffee, and even cocktails. The outdoor space has a ton of seating as well as games like ping-pong, bocce ball and cornhole.

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Things To Know Before You Go

– The restaurant is located above the Residence Inn Philadelphia Bala Cynwyd, and like us you may have trouble finding it if you’re not dropped off on the side of the building where the Lark sign is. Our Uber let us out in front of the hotel and we had to ask the front desk staff to point us in the right direction.

– It was a little on the pricier side, but definitely worth it for a special occasion. Our whole meal cost a little over $300 with tip. There were so many things on the menu we still want to try, so we will undoubtably stop back in for happy hour sometime soon.

– A lot of the menu items are in Italian, so if you’re not familiar with the language it wouldn’t be a bad idea to take a peek beforehand and look up any unfamiliar words. As someone who likes to have an idea of what I’m getting myself into, I almost always look at menus in advance anyway!

Have a favorite Philly-area special occasion restaurant? Let me know in the comments!

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