Notch Modern Kitchen & Bar - Allentown (PA)

4 /5 Verena Aibel: An interesting upscale restaurant that had an intriguing fusion menu with classic Thai dishes, savory soups, exotic and traditional handhelds, shareables and entrees. Came during lunch in the winter and a nice server gave me a tour of the private dining room upstairs (no elevator) and the private “Chef’s Table” room for up to 10 people, offering a 5-course meal and you can watch the chef preparing the food through the adjoining kitchen, view through large windows. Novel! Our food was delicious but it took a really long time to get our meals. Surprising since we were the first people there, and even though we took our time deciding, we spent 2 ½ hours for lunch. So, if you’ve got time to chill, no worries, just note that this was a slow kitchen in our case (soup, chicken burger and a Thai entree). The bartender/server was attentive and friendly. He said they have an unusually large offering of drinks, compared to their sister property in Centre Valley, PA.

2 /5 Cave Arnold: Will not be dining here again. Our waitress was stellar! The decor was on theme and upscale. The food was just ok. Lemongrass soup had one sprig of lemongrass and very little lemongrass flavor. The calamari coating was flavorless and puffy. The calamari was too chewy. For the price charged the food quality was lacking.

2 /5 Bryan Seidel: I don’t know. I’ve tried this place a few times now and it’s very underwhelming and expensive for what it is. It tries to be upscale but it’s just not and I really like white orchid who owns this. $19 for a woodford Manhattan that barely filled half a martini glass.. maybe 1.5oz? I ordered the fried rice bowl I asked for it medium spicy it barely had any spice at all. Friend ordered a noodle dish medium and it was almost unbearable spicy. Fried rice bowl is not fried rice at all it’s steamed rice with veggies. Bartender had to take our drink orders after waiting 15 mins because the server was backed up but we literally were only 1 of 4 tables in the entire place. Half a dozen staff standing around. Server took our food order almost 35 mins after we were seated. This place is just always meh. Especially for the prices.

3 /5 Jen Garone: Let’s start with the positives. It was clean and quiet at 6pm on a school night. There was plentiful, free parking. You get 5 small dumplings for $14. I live in Philadelphia, this is inexplicably more expensive than Philly. We did the Thursday night dinner special - 2 for $45. Great value. But….The chicken was dry. The halibut had no flavor. Wine list is small but the quality was good.

5 /5 K Surace: Upscale modern atmosphere and great service. Lunch hours were very quiet. Easy parking. Stopped in for lunch; really enjoyed the smash burger and order of hand cut style fries. Strawberry salad with added chicken was delicious. Prices seemed reasonable for quality of food.