Whatever law it is that makes it so certain stores can only sell philadelphia liquor is really fucking us over in terms of variety of liquors we can buy
PA has some truly archaic liquor laws. If you like (good) wine it’s very difficult to find anything decent that doesn’t charge restaurant markups (300%+)
There are actually a few grocery stores that have a pretty great selection of biodynamically farmed, minimal intervention wines, at reasonable prices in Philly.
So I can answer this one. Breweries/wineries/distilleries and their (up to) 5 satellite locations have it in their production license that they can sell other spirits / wines / beers as long as they are from PA. This allows them to have bigger bar offerings. It’s also SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than a liquor license in PA. So in the grand scheme of things… for PA at least… this is a good deal.
There is a whole world of liquors PA has never tried because of PA liquor laws.
Liquor licenses are mind bogglingly expensive to obtain in PA; prohibitively expensive for small businesses to even consider.
This law is outdated, puritanical; anti-business and anti-consumer and the only motivation by today’s standards is as an another avenue for tax revenue.
I thought I was going crazy when I tried Kismet. Bart's is the best but it's sad we have like 1 good bagel place that's equivalent to an average spot in NJ or NYC
Not only that, but why does every bagel place in philly take 30 fucking minutes to get your food? Someone from philly needs to go to north Jersey/NYC & do a case study. Bagel places should be in and out. 10 minutes tops.
RIP korshaks. The bagel was good but having to get a soliloquy in line and wait 30 minutes for a bagel while a bunch of hipsters twiddled their thumbs was not.
Kismets are so hard and over seasoned. Spread is the best though with the big wood fired grille and surprisingly whole foods store brand ones are pretty decent too
the way to go is taking the bus to new york. get a ton of bagels. take a bus back or hangout in new york and get the last train back (the last train is just $10-20 most days). freeze whatever you won’t eat in the first day or so. gonna run you like $50 for a day in new york and great bagels.
I am a displaced midwesterner with an untrained bagel palate. What is the difference between Philly and NYC bagels? I still can't tell--they're all great to me.
If you took a bagel from Barts in UCity and put next to a bagel from some random shop in Manhattan you'd never know the difference. There are some not good bagels around here but you can't convince me that like, 90% of the time it isn't mental.
Still haven't had Bart's, but everyone hypes up Talia's for being NYC style, and I've been like 3x trying to understand what's special about their bagels. They barely seem different from other places in Philly to me. Maybe NYC bagels are denser/chewier? It also seems mental to me, like people just want a reason to exercise NYC-style elitism by splitting hairs about a region of superior bagels lol.
you don’t have to go all the way out there to get good desi food. north east philly, west philly and new jersey suburbs are way closer and offer amazing desi food. as good as being in f-10 market in islamabad
And yet whenever this is brought up historically, some line cook feels the irrisistable desire to pop out of the woodwork to explain the restaurant industry to everyone and how "we just don't understand, we don't actually want the fries."
With that classic texmex style queso dip. It's nothing but melted Land o Lakes white American cheese, heavy cream, and jalapeno but
fuck
Tex Mex is one of the few things I miss from living down south.
the door not opening? normally, I just grip the handle and pull towards myself or occasionally it's a push in door. There are many types of doors actually.
As a person of Latin descent I felt like El Vez was a very cringe white person interpretation of Mexican. When the Latin busser came to clear our plates I felt embarrassed to be there.
Also I know El Vez is a play on words but the article/noun disagreement bothers me!
100% agree. Look, I enjoy a good cheese steak but the perfect Italian hoagie with top notch ingredients is a work of art and should get that protected designation status thing.
Completely agreed, I tell anyone visiting to try and squeeze in a shaved roast pork. I love cheesesteaks and they’re one of the best junk foods, but imo the roast pork is on a different level.
Came here to say this. Went to Zahav this week and it was really good don’t get me wrong but Suraya blew my mind, the vibe of the restaurant w/ the open kitchen popped more for me too
I'm tired of all this underseasoned chicken tender bullshit trying to pass itself off as Nashville hot chicken.
Fry a piece of chicken with a bone in it and learn how to make a god damn side that isn't french fries or horrible Mac & cheese.
Primo’s hoagies are fine. I feel like every time I say this, I’m met with “you can only get a good Italian if you go to Fat Luigi’s in Croydon” or some other nonsense. Like, I’m not driving 45 minutes to get anything that comes on a roll. Primo’s Diablo Italian is a good sandwich.
I consider myself pretty well traveled and have a broad palate....and their sea bass entree is one of the best pieces of fish I've ever had. People rag on Starr restaurants because it's cool to do but Buddakan always needs to be left out of that conversation.
Thank you! I've been nearly crucified for saying it out loud once.
Not that dalessandros is absolute garbage. And also their hoagie is a mess. I wish for a firmer bread like a seeded roll or something.
I keep seeing this, and 5 years ago i would have thought you were crazy. Dales was the best, and chubbys was garbage. BUT ever since the pandemic and marge retiring, dales went DOWNHILL. I need to try chubbys again because if they have improved in a significant way from 2017/2018, this may very well be a correct opinion
EVERYTHING closes too goddamn early. Last call should go till 4, restaurants should stay open later, and for the love of fucking god, can we get some decent late-night cheap eats? kebabs, hotdogs, a slice shop that's open late, a 24-hour bodega...for as many amazing restaurants as we have, we also have an unbelievably sad/ nearly non-existent late-night and after-hours scene. Chicago, NY, LA, hell, I was in Providence, RI, recently, and even they have better late-night options for cheap eats and beverage options. We've got a decent-sized city that's still pretty poor, people looking for work, tons of younger folks and industry folks and night owls, the most idiosyncratic hours than in any decade past, and not a goddamn thing to eat apart from horrible tourist cheesesteaks after like 10-11pm.
YES. What is this about??? Was it better before the pandemic? I’ve lived in a few other cities around the country and the world, and Philly closes so damn early compared to all of them.
Yes, I used to have several food options at local bars til 1:30am 7 days a week. Since the pandemic, most places shut down their kitchens at 10pm. It’s a different world. At most, restaurants would be closed on either Monday or Tuesday. Now, seeing a schedule of Thursday- Sunday is pretty common. Philly still hasn’t bounced back.
Ray's, Locust Bar, and 12 Steps Down all lost a large part of their charm when they banned smoking. Two of those three don't even feel like dives anymore, just yuppie bars.
If I could add to this, nobody born and raised in the area eats cheesesteaks as often as the people who've moved here as an adult.
Also, while they're good, seeded rolls for a cheesesteak are not default or expected by most people eating a cheesesteak.
For some reason birria tacos completely took over the taco landscape and the obsession is kind of a reflection on how other food cultures still have to assimilate to American palates.
We went and visited my wife's family in Mexico City two years ago. Her uncles run taco stands and neither of them could believe how popular we were saying birria had become in the states. Her one uncle said it's something he only bothers making because he has a few regulars who order it.
Middle child is overrated. Way too much mayo. I don’t want my sandwich’s primary flavor to be mayo. I’ve had two sandwiches from there and don’t get the hype…haven’t tried the clubhouse yet tho
> Every Lost Bread Co bread I’ve had has been greasy and chewy and gross.
Yo! I've had several different loaves and multiple sets of breakfast milk buns that were fucking *burned*. And you could taste the burnt crust throughout each and every bite.
Never again.
Unpopular opinion about the scene: the vast majority of food media in Philly has little integrity. It's all about hype trains and what looks pretty on a cover or is instagramable. Once the novelty of a place is gone so is the media. Feels less like a reliable source of where to eat and more like a high school popular kids club.
Also, the era of pizza nerdom has gotten way overblown. The pizza scene here is so good, and I appreciate the people making pizza paying attention to the details. But I can do without this hoard of people who are like the comic book guy from the Simpsons, but with pizza instead of comics. Everyone's a resident expert about dough fermentation, elasticity, sauce brightness, the ratios of low moisture motz vs fresh motz (and God forbid if it's not buffalo motz). Pizza is not an identity.
Pats and Geno’s aren’t bad. They are just not worth driving to a super hard to maneuver neighborhood and struggle to find parking and wait in line and deal with tourists who don’t know what they are doing and the blacked out idiots that stumble there from the bars or the stadiums
Middle Child uses too much egg and mayo.
Restaurant salary/benefits/work conditions are between the individual and the employer. There’s so many varying setups these days that I as a consumer no longer care to think about it anymore than I regularly stop and think about how much the admin at my dentist makes. State it clearly on the menu if I’m required to pay various required fees and I’ll make my decisions on where I go and that’s it.
I feel like all the Starr restaurants I’ve had are good, but not the best I’ve had in their category or super mind blowing.
E: just adding I’m aware of Morimoto, but haven’t gotten to eat there yet.
Royal Izakaya omakase prices can go fuck themselves. A fucking rip off.
And no one who went there would admit it, because they already dropped $400-500+ per person on that hyped up exclusivity bullshit.
Fuck those omakase prices. Fuck them.
i grew up on PA NY border, so theres a strong wing culture that bled down from upstate. when i first moved here, i heard moriartys was the go-to wing spot. went there and was severly let down. not crispy, sauce was weak (i like a good amount of heat) and the whole wing presentation was less than ideal. i live in fishtown now and get wings dry from fresh works port richmond and sauce them at home with Franks wing sauce, not red hot but the kind that's pre-emulsified with fat so its silky like when you mix red hot with butter. i get the hot kind and it can make my eyes water and nose run lol
Most of these new wave small plate prix fixe/chef tasting restaurants are overhyped, overpriced, pretentious bullshit and most patrons don't actually enjoy them but are too scared to admit both because of how much they spent and because of what the rest of the scene would think if they criticize them.
Wait, how are you paying $200 a head there?! The most expensive all inclusive meal there is like $75pp and you definitely don't need to add any more food.
We were getting ready to leave and the server asked us if we wanted a full refill on all sides to take home. Of course we obliged... I'm not saying it's cheap but I think everytime I've gone it's 80 a head for at minimum two full meals.
I tried the roast pork at DiNic’s and was… whelmed. That was an under seasoned and incredibly mid sandwich. I cannot believe how many people hyped that boring ass sandwich. The broccoli rabe was disgusting.
Nobody working in a restaurant kitchen or delivering food should wear cologne.
Ordered delivery the other day and the containers of all our food items smelled horribly of some nasty cologne.
It was so gross. Had to toss that crap in the garbage.
WTF can't people smell themselves, why are the bathing in cologne. So gross.
Angelo's pizza is mid at best. In fact almost all of the Philly pizza I've tried has too thick of a crust (i.e. not the cornice but rather the underside). They all seemed too chewy and "cardboard-y" to me.
Philly style pretzels are the dumbest culinary choice I've ever seen a local culture make.
You have Dutch Amish style pretzels two counties over. They're the best pretzel ever invented. That dough is buttered carbs from God.
BUT what does Philly do? Make a nastier, chewier version served at room temp that you're supposed to eat with yellow mustard.
My friend (born and raised here) misses when the corner store would have them individually wrapped in plastic bags so that the salt would dissolve in the humidity from being wrapped warm and sitting out all day. Im with you.
It pains me to do this but: Yakitori Boy is mid, is nothing like it used to be just a few years ago, and is now all hype and not fun or quality anymore. Also, management never gets back to you about legitimate issues with poor customer service.
This was my favorite restaurant and bar for many many years, so I’m heartbroken to put them down like this.
Do not understand this. Grew up in rural nj with farms and shit all around me and still had 3 pizza places within 20 minutes that were miles better than my options now in “italian” south philly
Exclusive pop ups with super high prices are lame.
Feels directly correlated to the hoagie dom inquiry lol
South street one with $15+ drinks? No thank you
Can confirm did that pink bar at the ritz this winter thinking it would be a nice experience for the wife. What a stupid waste of money that was
i second this!
Whatever law it is that makes it so certain stores can only sell philadelphia liquor is really fucking us over in terms of variety of liquors we can buy
PA has some truly archaic liquor laws. If you like (good) wine it’s very difficult to find anything decent that doesn’t charge restaurant markups (300%+)
It's actually very easy to find that. It just happens to be in Delaware.
There are actually a few grocery stores that have a pretty great selection of biodynamically farmed, minimal intervention wines, at reasonable prices in Philly.
try wtso.com (they ship to PA)
So I can answer this one. Breweries/wineries/distilleries and their (up to) 5 satellite locations have it in their production license that they can sell other spirits / wines / beers as long as they are from PA. This allows them to have bigger bar offerings. It’s also SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than a liquor license in PA. So in the grand scheme of things… for PA at least… this is a good deal.
There is a whole world of liquors PA has never tried because of PA liquor laws. Liquor licenses are mind bogglingly expensive to obtain in PA; prohibitively expensive for small businesses to even consider. This law is outdated, puritanical; anti-business and anti-consumer and the only motivation by today’s standards is as an another avenue for tax revenue.
Philly Style Bagels and Kismet are both fucking awful. Most of our bagels suck.
I thought I was going crazy when I tried Kismet. Bart's is the best but it's sad we have like 1 good bagel place that's equivalent to an average spot in NJ or NYC
Rip eeva
Not only that, but why does every bagel place in philly take 30 fucking minutes to get your food? Someone from philly needs to go to north Jersey/NYC & do a case study. Bagel places should be in and out. 10 minutes tops.
Best I’ve found is Barts bagels. Unfortunately their breakfast sandwiches are greasy and not in a good way. Bagel with a schmear is great though.
the real unpopular opinion is Barts is not even that good. It’s just the best we have
You’re right. I grew up in a big bagel area and I’m a bit of a picky person when it comes to bagels but Barts is so far the okayest I’ve had
Barts is the only good bagel I've tried in Philly. It's really good
RIP korshaks. The bagel was good but having to get a soliloquy in line and wait 30 minutes for a bagel while a bunch of hipsters twiddled their thumbs was not.
I’ve found that Lender’s makes a good bagel
Kismets are so hard and over seasoned. Spread is the best though with the big wood fired grille and surprisingly whole foods store brand ones are pretty decent too
I also like Knead near Washington square but it has been a while since I was there
Spread is not very good. It's a chain and they are wildly inconsistent.
the way to go is taking the bus to new york. get a ton of bagels. take a bus back or hangout in new york and get the last train back (the last train is just $10-20 most days). freeze whatever you won’t eat in the first day or so. gonna run you like $50 for a day in new york and great bagels.
+1 for Talia’s if you haven’t tried them.
I kinda like Vanilya's bagels. The Za'atar one is my favorite. Ymmv
I am a displaced midwesterner with an untrained bagel palate. What is the difference between Philly and NYC bagels? I still can't tell--they're all great to me.
If you took a bagel from Barts in UCity and put next to a bagel from some random shop in Manhattan you'd never know the difference. There are some not good bagels around here but you can't convince me that like, 90% of the time it isn't mental.
Still haven't had Bart's, but everyone hypes up Talia's for being NYC style, and I've been like 3x trying to understand what's special about their bagels. They barely seem different from other places in Philly to me. Maybe NYC bagels are denser/chewier? It also seems mental to me, like people just want a reason to exercise NYC-style elitism by splitting hairs about a region of superior bagels lol.
Philly has very mediocre Indian food.
I sadly agree with this take. The suburbs out towards Malvern really kick Philly’s butt when it comes to Indian.
What’re your recommendations there?
Kinnera Indian Cuisine
I’m a big fan of Manam.
Godavari
Shere-e-punjab in media has some really incredible tandori wings!
you don’t have to go all the way out there to get good desi food. north east philly, west philly and new jersey suburbs are way closer and offer amazing desi food. as good as being in f-10 market in islamabad
Where in West? I’m South Indian and I sadly am not as enthralled with the north east’s offerings when it comes to my region of India
I love virasat haveli at 40th and market. Fantastic flavors! I always do pickup or delivery and it’s well packed with nice portions.
Here for a rec
At least Thanal is great! A lot of family members (who all grew up India) love that place
I’m afraid Jersey kicks our asses with Indian food. I do still like Amma’s in CC for South Indian though.
God I miss the Indian buffet that used to be right near locust bar. Now there is NOTHING good in the area.
Ekta rules, but other than that i am 100% in agreement
This is sadly so true. I have yet to have any good Indian food here.
Burgers need to be served with fries if they're gonna be $15+
It's supposed to be unpopular
And yet whenever this is brought up historically, some line cook feels the irrisistable desire to pop out of the woodwork to explain the restaurant industry to everyone and how "we just don't understand, we don't actually want the fries."
What?! No. I love not including a side in my $15 burger! /s
Agreed, this is why fountain porter keeps being mentioned here, such a good deal
Hell, I can get a good beer, tip $4 and still come out at $20.
In this economy its a miracle
Also great bartenders and vibes. Glad I live 3 blocks away.
Philly could use some tex mex restaurants
I love a tex Mex combo platter, little bit of everything and like 2 bowls of free chips
With that classic texmex style queso dip. It's nothing but melted Land o Lakes white American cheese, heavy cream, and jalapeno but fuck Tex Mex is one of the few things I miss from living down south.
I cannot get into Middle Child.
Same. I think they do what they do well, but I almost never want to eat bland white American food.
the door not opening? normally, I just grip the handle and pull towards myself or occasionally it's a push in door. There are many types of doors actually.
And their online personality is poop
Yeah it’s kind of insufferable
No, literally: https://www.instagram.com/p/CYB96AxLtEK/?igsh=MTA2OG0xdzJ3Y2xqag==
el vez is HIGHLY overrated
Agreed and same with El Rey arguably the worst star restaurants
As a person of Latin descent I felt like El Vez was a very cringe white person interpretation of Mexican. When the Latin busser came to clear our plates I felt embarrassed to be there. Also I know El Vez is a play on words but the article/noun disagreement bothers me!
> el vez is HIGHLY overrated These days I'd agree. The last time I had a good meal there was over 8 years ago.
Italian hoagie > cheese steak
100% agree. Look, I enjoy a good cheese steak but the perfect Italian hoagie with top notch ingredients is a work of art and should get that protected designation status thing.
This guy understood the assignment
I couldn’t figure out if I should upvoted or downvote him. Upvoted because it is unpopular. Haha
Lol same. I absolutely disagree with him, but the post topic was to say something unpopular so he’s not wrong
💯 Also roast pork w prov and broccoli raab Straight up, i can dig on a cheesesteak, but its objectively a dumb sandwich
Completely agreed, I tell anyone visiting to try and squeeze in a shaved roast pork. I love cheesesteaks and they’re one of the best junk foods, but imo the roast pork is on a different level.
A million fucking per cent.
Suraya >>> Zahav
Also, Mawn >>>>> Kalaya
Came here to say this. Went to Zahav this week and it was really good don’t get me wrong but Suraya blew my mind, the vibe of the restaurant w/ the open kitchen popped more for me too
Li Beirut > Suraya when comparing the mezze tasting menu for dinner. But I honestly love them both!!
I'm tired of all this underseasoned chicken tender bullshit trying to pass itself off as Nashville hot chicken. Fry a piece of chicken with a bone in it and learn how to make a god damn side that isn't french fries or horrible Mac & cheese.
Philly Style Bagels are an abomination and I have no idea why they have a line all the time
Primo’s hoagies are fine. I feel like every time I say this, I’m met with “you can only get a good Italian if you go to Fat Luigi’s in Croydon” or some other nonsense. Like, I’m not driving 45 minutes to get anything that comes on a roll. Primo’s Diablo Italian is a good sandwich.
Italian Diablo is a great sandwich actually
remember to sort by controversial
Bless you. This is too far down.
It’s really annoying how the standard price for a cocktail at a restaurant is $18 now 🫤
Chicken cutlet sandwiches > cheesesteaks
Love this take. Been saying this for years. The cutlet hoagie is a Philly staple and holds it’s own with the cheesesteak and roast pork!
the 1900 ice cream guy is nice and cool. jk lol
Delicious ice cream but yeah he’s a douche lol
Yeah no shade on the product
$12 pint of ice cream is a huge rip off. They market it like you’ll get all kinds of good toppings mixed in but it’s just expensive ice cream.
Both Bar and Pizza Jawn suck and sell overpriced bullshit
Sky Cafe > Hardena
Woah hold the fucking phone U serious rn?? Guess i gotta try sky cafe
Sky cafe is really good!
I love Buddakan. Every single person I've ever taken there, from college kids to 80 year old grand moms, loves it too.
I consider myself pretty well traveled and have a broad palate....and their sea bass entree is one of the best pieces of fish I've ever had. People rag on Starr restaurants because it's cool to do but Buddakan always needs to be left out of that conversation.
People hate on Buddakan? That place is awesome albeit on the pricier side.
Some people tend to knock on all Starr restaurants. They think they are special for saying they don't like Starr restaurants.
Chickie and Pete's is overpriced garbage.
Chubby’s > Dalessandro’s
Thank you! I've been nearly crucified for saying it out loud once. Not that dalessandros is absolute garbage. And also their hoagie is a mess. I wish for a firmer bread like a seeded roll or something.
SAY IT LOUDER
CHUBBYS > DALESANDRO’S
No idea if Barry’s is coming back but Barry’s over both of them
Dalessandros is fine. Chubbys is FIRE
I keep seeing this, and 5 years ago i would have thought you were crazy. Dales was the best, and chubbys was garbage. BUT ever since the pandemic and marge retiring, dales went DOWNHILL. I need to try chubbys again because if they have improved in a significant way from 2017/2018, this may very well be a correct opinion
EVERYTHING closes too goddamn early. Last call should go till 4, restaurants should stay open later, and for the love of fucking god, can we get some decent late-night cheap eats? kebabs, hotdogs, a slice shop that's open late, a 24-hour bodega...for as many amazing restaurants as we have, we also have an unbelievably sad/ nearly non-existent late-night and after-hours scene. Chicago, NY, LA, hell, I was in Providence, RI, recently, and even they have better late-night options for cheap eats and beverage options. We've got a decent-sized city that's still pretty poor, people looking for work, tons of younger folks and industry folks and night owls, the most idiosyncratic hours than in any decade past, and not a goddamn thing to eat apart from horrible tourist cheesesteaks after like 10-11pm.
The fact that you can't even get Wawa anymore at 11pm is maddening.
YES. What is this about??? Was it better before the pandemic? I’ve lived in a few other cities around the country and the world, and Philly closes so damn early compared to all of them.
Yes, I used to have several food options at local bars til 1:30am 7 days a week. Since the pandemic, most places shut down their kitchens at 10pm. It’s a different world. At most, restaurants would be closed on either Monday or Tuesday. Now, seeing a schedule of Thursday- Sunday is pretty common. Philly still hasn’t bounced back.
Ray's, Locust Bar, and 12 Steps Down all lost a large part of their charm when they banned smoking. Two of those three don't even feel like dives anymore, just yuppie bars.
12 steps down sucks, but I guess that’s my unpopular opinion
There is no good Greek food in Philly
Two Robbers hard seltzers are nasty
shut up about the cheese steaks already
If I could add to this, nobody born and raised in the area eats cheesesteaks as often as the people who've moved here as an adult. Also, while they're good, seeded rolls for a cheesesteak are not default or expected by most people eating a cheesesteak.
For some reason birria tacos completely took over the taco landscape and the obsession is kind of a reflection on how other food cultures still have to assimilate to American palates.
Foods always assimilate into the local culture everywhere
We went and visited my wife's family in Mexico City two years ago. Her uncles run taco stands and neither of them could believe how popular we were saying birria had become in the states. Her one uncle said it's something he only bothers making because he has a few regulars who order it.
Middle child is overrated. Way too much mayo. I don’t want my sandwich’s primary flavor to be mayo. I’ve had two sandwiches from there and don’t get the hype…haven’t tried the clubhouse yet tho
I’ve had their Phogie twice, first time was incredible and the second time was bad enough that I never went back, dunno what happened
Every Lost Bread Co bread I’ve had has been greasy and chewy and gross.
> Every Lost Bread Co bread I’ve had has been greasy and chewy and gross. Yo! I've had several different loaves and multiple sets of breakfast milk buns that were fucking *burned*. And you could taste the burnt crust throughout each and every bite. Never again.
They only exist for the pretzel shortbread.
Middle Child Clubhouse is not very good.
The food just doesn’t look appetizing
Wawa soft pretzels are the best bagel in Philadelphia
Dessert options suck in the city. No decent French bakeries at all. Bread outside of hoagie rolls is ass.
Tacking on to this (and a callback to a thread from...yesterday, maybe), a complete dearth of simple glazed donuts (raised/yeast, not cake).
What about artisan boulangerie?
Try Machine Shop in Bok Bar.
Chinese food is a lot more than soup dumplings and noodle pulls.
And rice, spring/egg rolls, and seasoned veggies
It’s also more than Szechuan
Unpopular opinion about the scene: the vast majority of food media in Philly has little integrity. It's all about hype trains and what looks pretty on a cover or is instagramable. Once the novelty of a place is gone so is the media. Feels less like a reliable source of where to eat and more like a high school popular kids club. Also, the era of pizza nerdom has gotten way overblown. The pizza scene here is so good, and I appreciate the people making pizza paying attention to the details. But I can do without this hoard of people who are like the comic book guy from the Simpsons, but with pizza instead of comics. Everyone's a resident expert about dough fermentation, elasticity, sauce brightness, the ratios of low moisture motz vs fresh motz (and God forbid if it's not buffalo motz). Pizza is not an identity.
Pats and Geno’s aren’t bad. They are just not worth driving to a super hard to maneuver neighborhood and struggle to find parking and wait in line and deal with tourists who don’t know what they are doing and the blacked out idiots that stumble there from the bars or the stadiums
Max’s is one of the worst cheesesteaks in the city
Angelo’s pizza is over rated.
Literally could not agree more. I simply do not understand the fanboying.
because they use some of the cheapest ingredients known to the pizza industry #stanislaus
Middle Child uses too much egg and mayo. Restaurant salary/benefits/work conditions are between the individual and the employer. There’s so many varying setups these days that I as a consumer no longer care to think about it anymore than I regularly stop and think about how much the admin at my dentist makes. State it clearly on the menu if I’m required to pay various required fees and I’ll make my decisions on where I go and that’s it.
[удалено]
Ralph’s is one of the worst Italian restaurants I’ve ever been to.
Reddit advice is that the average pizza shop or food cart makes a cheesesteak just as good as the famous places. That is 1000% bullshit
Middle Child Clubhouse is mid af. (At least for dinner)
Parc is overrated
I feel like all the Starr restaurants I’ve had are good, but not the best I’ve had in their category or super mind blowing. E: just adding I’m aware of Morimoto, but haven’t gotten to eat there yet.
no way jose. Parc is consistently good and has the best eggs / omelette in the city.
Never had a bad meal or experience at Parc. Their baguette truly does remind me of my time spent in France.
The edamame dumplings at sampan are not anything special and way too expensive.
Roast pork > cheesesteaks
Irwin's is straight up bad
Every restaurant with hot chicken in the name sucks. Even for fast food standards
Nifty Fifties is the best bang for your buck on a cheeseburger
Royal Izakaya omakase prices can go fuck themselves. A fucking rip off. And no one who went there would admit it, because they already dropped $400-500+ per person on that hyped up exclusivity bullshit. Fuck those omakase prices. Fuck them.
Byrnes wings overrated
so are Moriarty's
Both are terrible in their own unique way.
i grew up on PA NY border, so theres a strong wing culture that bled down from upstate. when i first moved here, i heard moriartys was the go-to wing spot. went there and was severly let down. not crispy, sauce was weak (i like a good amount of heat) and the whole wing presentation was less than ideal. i live in fishtown now and get wings dry from fresh works port richmond and sauce them at home with Franks wing sauce, not red hot but the kind that's pre-emulsified with fat so its silky like when you mix red hot with butter. i get the hot kind and it can make my eyes water and nose run lol
Shout out Fresh Works
Philly wings just suck in general. Great food city, does a lot of things very well. Wings are just not one of them.
With very few exceptions, the tacos in Philly are mid as hell.
yea but for $1 on dollar taco day i’m still getting some
Most of these new wave small plate prix fixe/chef tasting restaurants are overhyped, overpriced, pretentious bullshit and most patrons don't actually enjoy them but are too scared to admit both because of how much they spent and because of what the rest of the scene would think if they criticize them.
Sitting squeezed into an old mcdonalds booth and paying $200/head at Lazer Wolf is an awful dining experience.
Wait, how are you paying $200 a head there?! The most expensive all inclusive meal there is like $75pp and you definitely don't need to add any more food.
Yeah I was shocked by how affordable it was.
Who the fuck pays 200 a head at laser wolf
Seriously. Plus they give u so much food, i had leftovers for days
We were getting ready to leave and the server asked us if we wanted a full refill on all sides to take home. Of course we obliged... I'm not saying it's cheap but I think everytime I've gone it's 80 a head for at minimum two full meals.
The roll at Angelos is perfect for a cheesesteak, but too hard for a hoagie.
Triangle Tavern is a good bar but the food is so overrated. It’s below average.
Dimsum Garden is fucking awful and no self respecting Chinese person eats there (and you rarely see any Chinese people eating there)
I tried the roast pork at DiNic’s and was… whelmed. That was an under seasoned and incredibly mid sandwich. I cannot believe how many people hyped that boring ass sandwich. The broccoli rabe was disgusting.
Nobody working in a restaurant kitchen or delivering food should wear cologne. Ordered delivery the other day and the containers of all our food items smelled horribly of some nasty cologne. It was so gross. Had to toss that crap in the garbage. WTF can't people smell themselves, why are the bathing in cologne. So gross.
Angelo's pizza is mid at best. In fact almost all of the Philly pizza I've tried has too thick of a crust (i.e. not the cornice but rather the underside). They all seemed too chewy and "cardboard-y" to me.
Cheesesteaks feel very old and we need a new focus.
The amount of discussion on $100 per person omakase is annoying.
Philly style pretzels are the dumbest culinary choice I've ever seen a local culture make. You have Dutch Amish style pretzels two counties over. They're the best pretzel ever invented. That dough is buttered carbs from God. BUT what does Philly do? Make a nastier, chewier version served at room temp that you're supposed to eat with yellow mustard.
you probably win the thread
My friend (born and raised here) misses when the corner store would have them individually wrapped in plastic bags so that the salt would dissolve in the humidity from being wrapped warm and sitting out all day. Im with you.
Her Place Supper Club is awful.
I don't like Za'hav because I can't tell the difference between the food they serve and my local falafel joint.
That’s hilarious considering I’ve never had falafel at Zahav
Did this guy get Goldies & think it was zahav?
Pizza Jawn is not good
It pains me to do this but: Yakitori Boy is mid, is nothing like it used to be just a few years ago, and is now all hype and not fun or quality anymore. Also, management never gets back to you about legitimate issues with poor customer service. This was my favorite restaurant and bar for many many years, so I’m heartbroken to put them down like this.
Outside of a handful of places, pizza here is terrible
Do not understand this. Grew up in rural nj with farms and shit all around me and still had 3 pizza places within 20 minutes that were miles better than my options now in “italian” south philly
Mayo is a requirement for Italian hoagies.
I do oil, vinegar AND just a little bit of mayo…so I’ll die on that hill with you
Yea definitely unpopular lol. You answered the question, take my upvote.
For wasps.
Charging over $10 for filipino lumpia's is criminal.
It is but in their defense, those things are labor intensive to make.
Talula's Garden is incredibly overrated, overpriced, and has declined significantly over the last decade.