192 Best Restaurants in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Geno’s, open since 1966, is a fresh-faced upstart compared with neighboring rival Pat’s, which has been slinging steaks since 1930. That gulf manifests itself visually in the contrast between Pat's understated aesthetic and Geno's over-the-top use of neon, which burns so brightly astronauts can probably see it from space, and the fact that Geno's meat is sliced, not chopped. Some aficionados claim that the two serve wildly dissimilar products; others just don't get it, but it's always fun to taste-test, as the buses full of tourists who frequently make their way down this way can attest.

What was once a Rittenhouse institution is now a Rittenhouse darling after the restaurant was sold to husband-and-wife team Chad and Hanna Williams and revitalized as a warm yet elevated space with boundary-pushing but still familiar food and drinks. The new American fare ranges from a curated raw bar, featuring oysters and caviar, to delicate pastas coated in punchy sauces with proteins like lobster and pork cheek. Equal attention is given to the bar, which offers well-thought-out cocktails that look like they’re ready for a photo shoot. The restaurant received the James Beard Foundation's Outstanding Restaurant award in 2023, which has made it hard to snag a reservation, though it's worth going out of your way for special occasions.

Smoke, coal, fire, and ash create a through line for the menu at a.kitchen, on the ground floor of the AKA Hotel. Attired in blond wood and Carrara marble, it looks like a spa in the Italian Alps, and its Rittenhouse address guarantees a scene, but chef Eli Collins has transformed it into a serious restaurant with an ace sommelier and a steak tartare that cannot be missed. The cocktail bar next door is also among the best in the city.

Above the Di Bruno Bros. Rittenhouse location lives Alimentari, a casual Italian restaurant with plenty of seating and enough space for large groups. As its name implies, it's a neighborhood gathering place with ready-to-eat food, with a menu that largely pulls from items that are available in the store below—cheeses, meats, crackers, breads—as well as pizza alla Romana (Roman style) and hot Italian small plates like gnocchi and meatballs. The food pairs perfectly with the extensive wine list, which features draft wine in addition to wine by the bottle and glass; craft-beer options round out the offerings.

At Amada, the first of chef-restaurateur Jose Garces’s restaurants, the Ecuadorian-American chef reinterprets regional cuisine with choice ingredients and a modern touch that feature in more than 50 tapas, from the crab-stuffed peppers with toasted almonds to the flatbread topped with artichoke, black truffle, and manchego. Many ingredients—including even more glorious cheeses—are sourced from northern Spain, the main inspiration for the menu. The large, festive front room can skew loud; for a quieter meal, ask for a table in the second dining room, beyond the open kitchen.

The sheer volume of Mexican restaurants on South 9th Street can be daunting—many are excellent, but how do you pick? The family-run Blue Corn consistently delivers, serving Pueblan cuisine with personality like tacos al pastor (taco made with spit-grilled pork) and queso fundido (hot melted cheese with spicy chorizo) alongside harder-to-find specialties like huaraches (crispy masa–pinto bean flatbreads) or whole fish stuffed with the corn truffle huitlacoche. Warm service and killer cocktails round out the experience. Note that it is cash only.

This charming Euro-like café does a wide range of sandwiches, salads, and breakfast dishes, but it’s best known for its shakshuka, the soulful tomato-and-egg stew made here in the Tunisian style. This cozy, bright corner spot is popular with locals and offers outdoor seating on the sidewalk during warmer months.

In a neighborhood full of beautifully designed restaurants with exciting food to boot, it's hard to pick favorites, but Condesa certainly holds its own. Inspired by the flavors and style of Mexico City, the restaurant expands over an outdoor space, indoor dining room, lounge, and a bar, seating 140 people. The centerpiece of the food menu are the Mexican heirloom corn tortillas, which are made in-house on a daily basis, and come as a base for the tacos or as a side for the more substantial entrées. Located within the Motto Hotel by Hilton, Condesa is one of three Mexican restaurants within the space—also there is El Cafe, a ground-floor coffee and pastry shop, and El Techo, a rooftop tequila and mezcal bar with a focus on Mexican street food.

A casual, fun eatery with a friendly ambience, Craftsman Row features elevated homemade bar food, including cheesesteaks, hoagies, burgers, chicken, fries, and salads. Throughout the year, the restaurant goes big on seasonal decorations filling the entire space with abundant festive decor, even creating seasonal menu items and cocktails to match.

A sleek new location for this Philadelphia stalwart means more space, a full bar, and less waiting for Dim Sum Garden's exemplary soup dumplings, but you can still sneak a peek through the window in the middle of the dining room to see the restaurant's staff fold the delicate wrappings around the porky fillings. The family-owned restaurant also does a brisk business in hand-stretched noodles, steamed chicken dumplings, and pan-fried beef dumplings. 

Since 2011, Emei has been serving the city's best Sichuan food, sizzling and hot with the region's signature mouth-tingling peppercorn. Chef Yongcheng Zhao guides the kitchen crew each night, satisfying the city's need for wok-seared green beans, rich mapo (spicy sauce) tofu, and addictively salty fried chongqing (dried red chilies) chicken. The restaurant does a brisk takeout service, so tables are typically available and the large space is comfortable for groups.

Cakey doughnuts are the star at this local-to-Philadelphia chain run by chef Michael Solomonov and Steven Cook of the celebrated CookNSolo restaurants. The menu includes both a "fancy" doughnut menu, which has daily and seasonal specials, and a hot doughnut menu with includes staples that are available throughout the year. In addition to doughnuts, the shop is also known for its Korean-style fried chicken and fried-chicken sandwich.

This comfortable, elegant eatery is one of Old City’s most respected and longest-running dinner destinations. For more than 25 years, this award-winning kitchen has been known for its innovative pastas, delectable dishes, in-house fermentation, incredible homemade breads, and the celebration of local meats and produce.

Well traveled and well trained, award-winning chef Christopher Kearse presents his unique take on French cuisine at the modern Forsythia. Start with shareable canapés, like fresh local oysters and pickled deviled eggs, before digging into small plates, pastas, and shareable mains (try the trout grenobloise or rabbit with foie gras for two) that split the difference between edgy and accessible. The space is decorated with a sophisticated, somewhat tropical feel; the long, narrow barroom, which leads to the intimate dining room and open kitchen in the rear, is an excellent stop-in for a quick cocktail or snack.

Vietnamese food is very popular in Philadelphia, and many people have a local pho spot that they frequent multiple times a week. Gabriella's, though, showcases regional dishes with light, flavorful, and addictive menu items like steamed water fern dumplings, savory crepes wrapped in herbs and lettuce, and stir-fried soft shell crab. 

Chef-partners Omar Tate and Cybille St.Aude-Tate present this buzzy new incarnation of their Afro-centric Honeysuckle Projects in an elegant but accessible space that complements the stellar four-course prix-fixe menu, shaping the wood-lined room into a bar, a lounge section with sofas, bookcases, and the chefs' thoughtful art, and a good-size dining area with an industrial look. Music (jazz, soul, and more) adds to the ambience as diners make their choices for each course from a seasonally changing menu that highlights the global culinary influences of the Black American diaspora in dishes such as a Daily Harvest starter with black-eyed pea spread and vegetables and an epis (a Haitian seasoning base) roasted chicken with grilled collards; one limited-quantity special item attracting attention is a $65 burger, complete with caviar, gold flakes, and truffles. It's hard to go wrong with any choices here, but oysters (broiled or however presented) are a don't-miss when they're on the menu. The knowledgeable servers can answer questions about ingredients and flavors: this is a place to learn and be nourished while enjoying food that delights the eye and palate.     

Of the Four Seasons Philadelphia's three restaurants, JG Skyhigh is the most approachable; it's the place to go for a drink while you take in the stunning city views from the 60th floor. The dinner menu includes modernized versions of hotel restaurant standards like a good burger, black truffle–topped pizza, and pumpkin-seed crusted salmon as well as a selection of high-end caviar. The waitstaff is as attentive and helpful as you'd expect from the Four Seasons brand.

Housed in humble digs next to a defunct railroad crossing, John’s doesn’t wow with curb appeal, but wise eaters know the close-to-centenarian grill spot turns out some of Philly’s best sandwiches. Newbies and lifers alike line up in a zigzag along the counter, grabbing outdoor picnic tables after paying for their roast pork, roast beef, or cheesesteak. The namesake sandwich, a Philly Italian signature, is juicy, garlicky, and herbaceous; sharp provolone and sautéed spinach (no broccoli rabe here) are common add-ons. The roast beef and cheesesteak rival the pork in popularity, earning owner John Bucci Jr. loyal fans and national awards. They’re not open late but do start early; staying true to their beginnings feeding Delaware River dock workers, they also do fluffy egg sandwiches layered with pork roll or crispy fried scrapple.

Part of James Beard award–winning chef Michael Solomonov's CookNSolo group, K'Far is an ode to the all-day bakeries that populate Israeli mornings with traditional baked goods, coffee, and Jerusalem bagel sandwiches; lunch also features grain bowls and salads. There are so many options, you could easily visit multiple times a day to try them all.

Chef Nok Suntaranon shares a wealth of Thai family recipes at Kalaya, which began as a BYOB in South Philadelphia and has now been expanded into a large, modern space with a full bar in Fishtown. Addressing Philadelphia’s dearth of authentic Thai restaurants, she offers curries, soups, and noodle dishes that don’t skimp one bit on real-deal fiery, fishy flavor.

Adjacent to City Hall, the 9-to-5-ers flock to locally based La Colombe Coffee Roasters for their morning, afternoon, and evening cup of coffee among the hustle and bustle of Center City. The shop is small, but the staff is efficient, which keeps the line moving no matter how busy it may look from the outside. In addition to hot coffee, lattes, and breakfast pastries, the café also serves oat-milk-based draft lattes, draft cold brew, and more.

Located inside the posh Rittenhouse Hotel, this elegant dining space has a view overlooking Rittenhouse Square park. Afternoon tea is available in the Mary Cassatt Tea Room, and there's an à la carte menu that features dishes like aged duck, Berkshire pork, and King crab, but if you really want to indulge, try the Carte Blanche, a full tasting menu (wine pairings possible) that includes dishes like risotto of new potatoes with caviar, smoked king salmon, and bluefin tuna carpaccio. The wine list is also lengthy and impressive, with a broad range of impressive bottles from around the world.

The area's one true destination restaurant has perfectly prepared plates that make you close your eyes in appreciation after every bite, all within a gorgeous setting on the seventh floor of a Residence Inn. Seafood offerings are where the delicacy of its flavors excel the most—the sumac octopus, the dorade with a hint of chili, but the "simple" small plates like the grilled artichoke are worth investigating. In fact, like many such restaurants, you can do well by ordering lots of small plates and a pasta dish or two (also on the smaller side) to experience as many flavors as possible and forgo the mains. The restaurant is part of the Ironworks at Pencoyd Landing complex, and across the river in Bala Cynwyd, but a (mostly) pedestrian bridge connects it to Manayunk from a free parking lot.

Like many of CookNSolo’s places, Laser Wolf focuses on an aspect of Israeli cuisine, this time the grill or skewer house. Meals are prix-fixe, so diners pick their protein to grill (beef, lamb, chicken) and the rest is taken care of. First comes the salatim (salads) and then the freshly baked pita and hummus followed by your grill choice. The icing on the cake? A homemade ice cream sundae is included.

Philadelphia native Alex Yoon is the chef and owner of the tiny but beloved BYOB where creativity and inspiration run the show. The menu changes all the time, but the scallop toast, where raw scallops are shingled across a thick slice of sesame sourdough and topped with chopped herbs, is a favorite that diners return for over and over.

A Spruce Hill staple, Manakeesh specializes in the Lebanese flatbreads of the same name. Served warm from the oven, the puffy, round loaves come with both traditional toppings (za’atar, kafta) and nontraditional ones (turkey bacon–egg–cheese, cheesesteak), which speak to the diverse crowd that fills the café-style space. Encased behind glass along the front counter, fresh-baked Lebanese pastries are some of your best bets. Stop in for a snack or a full sit-down, share-many-dishes-style meal.

Within the highbrow Rittenhouse neighborhood, Mission Taqueria is the cool kid in town. Its neon signs, colorful digs, and collaborative games draw the crowds, while the fresh tacos, delectable dips, and margaritas in a multitude of flavors keep them full and happy. The weekday happy hour, with $6 margaritas and $3 tacos, makes it a go-to spot for post-work hangouts.

Brass rails, silvered mirrors, claret-hued banquettes, and oak wainscoting reclaimed from now-shuttered Parisian restaurants imbue patina—while small touches like newspapers on wooden poles create extra realism—in the meticulous stage set placed on Philadelphia's most desirable corner by restaurateur Stephen Starr. Similarly, standard menu items (roast chicken, trout amandine) hold their own, but the little things—desserts and salads, fresh-baked goods (including house-made macarons), and excellent onion soup—stand out. Ask for an indoor-outdoor table overlooking the park: you'll get generous views and the pleasant din of the 150 diners behind you without the deafening buzz that is the restaurant's one true downside.

The juxtaposition of bamboo and exposed pipes is indicative of the surprising mix of flavors in this perennially busy Malaysian restaurant. A taste of India creeps into a scintillating appetizer of roti canai, handkerchief-thin crepes served with a small dipping dish of spicy chicken curry, and the wide variety of soups are tasty and filling; satay, Singapore rice noodles, and chow kueh teow (Malaysian stir-fried flat rice noodles) are among the other popular dishes.