62 Best Restaurants in Pennsylvania, USA

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.

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.

At this waterfront spot in historic Wrightsville, across the Susquehanna River from Columbia, you can enjoy a breathtaking view of the river while seated outdoors eating wood-fired pizzas topped with ingredients grown on-site. The popular bar and restaurant (reservations strongly suggested) also has a glass-walled dining room to take in the scenery year-round. Several menus are offered, from lunch (cream of crab soup) and dinner (house sausage platter) to a mammoth fixed-price Sunday brunch buffet complete with a prime rib carving station, omelets made to order, and a make-your-own Bloody Mary bar. Look for weekly dinner specials and seasonally inspired favorites.

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.

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.

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.

Farm-to-table dining is the focus of this restaurant in Hawley. Seasonal breakfast (brunch on weekends) and dinner menus focus on locally sourced produce, some of which is pulled from the inn’s own on-site herb garden. The dinner menu is divided into elements—earth, wind, water, and fire—designating vegetarian, poultry, fish, or red meat dishes. It includes a locally raised buffalo bolognese served with handcut tagliatelli, and grilled quail with cranberry walnut compote. The restaurant takes the farm-to-table concept seriously, and is fully transparent with where it gets its ingredients; it even goes so far as to list the produce farms, cheese makers, and butchers it uses right on the menu.

Chef Cristina Martinez specializes in barbacoa, the succulent, slow-cooked lamb of Martinez’s Mexican homeland. The staff chop the meat with cleavers and pile it on fluffy corn tortillas, which you top at the salsa station with strips of fried cactus paddle, onion-laced pickled jalapeño escabeche, chopped cilantro, and fresh lime; go early, as they usually sell out of barbacoa. A flavorful consommé soup made from the lamb’s drippings is a must-order, too. 

The pricey, farm-to-table eight-course prix-fixe dinner at this cozy, cult-favorite market and eat-in spot in the heart of Kennett Square requires advance planning, but fortunately Talula's offers its own artisanal cheeses, house-cured meats, and handmade breads and pastas throughout the day, along with a coffee bar and prepared meals for takeout. Breakfast and lunch at the communal table feature seasonal soups, salads, and sandwiches using local ingredients, or you can just pick up the makings for a picnic. The four-hour-long dinner—about 20 people maximum at two tables—is a special treat that is so popular you have to book a year in advance, making it one of the Northeast's top restaurant reservations since 2007.

When the Reading Company opened its train shed in 1892, it was the only one in the country with a market tucked away in its cellar. The trains are long gone, but the food remains. And while disagreeing over the best cheesesteak is a popular pastime in Philly, pretty much everyone can agree on pancakes at the Dutch Eating Place, the roast pork sandwich at DiNic's, whoopie pies at the Flying Monkey, and double chocolate-chip cookies at Famous 4th Street. Recent years have seen worthy newcomers to the entrenched mix: German deli Wursthaus Schmitz, Valley Shepherd Creamery's grilled cheese counter, and La Divisa Meats, for example. Get here early to beat the lunch rush. Seventy-five-minute tours every Wednesday and Saturday highlight the market's history and offerings (call 215/545–8007 to make a reservation).

A photo-ready interior invites guests to La Colombe's world headquarters, a sprawling space covered in artsy graffiti and crusty brick walls, that offers food, drinks, and ample space for hanging out. Communal tables stream down the center of the space, so grab your spot before you order at the counter: savory scones, sandwiches on excellent baguettes, sweet pastries, and coffee, of course. Ask for a Black & Tan (half Pure Black cold-brew, half nitro-draught latte) and no one will know you’re not a local.

Within Stoltzfus Meats, a meat-centric supermarket selling all things sausage, cold cuts, and cheese, is Amos' Place, a popular deli serving breakfast and lunch. A surprisingly lengthy menu includes cheesesteaks, subs, and broasted chicken (similar to fried chicken), and there are salads for the cholesterol-challenged. Order at the counter and snag a table, or grab something to go.

Far below the Ritz-Carlton's 140-foot-tall rotunda sits this Latin-inspired grill by chef Richard Sandoval, who creates meals that match the grandeur and excitement of the historic building. Many visit Aqimero for its wood-fired meats and fish, as well as its endless Champagne weekend brunch.

Housed inside a former greenhouse, Cake is a refined setting for breakfast and lunch, where light streams in through the greenhouse glass and a fountain occupies the center of the room. The menu offers a number of tasty, fresh salads to complement the atmosphere, yet also serves a Philly cheesesteak marsala and a croque monsieur brushed with apricot mustard for those who want heartier fare. The sweets and pastries are still a highlight at this former bakery. 

The exterior resembles a diner, but don't be mislead: this BYO restaurant—helmed by former Marsha Brown executive chef Caleb Lentchner—serves not only breakfast and a variety of sandwiches and salads, but also locally-inspired New American fare at dinner in a country-village setting. Ladies who lunch come for the harvest chicken and "big" apple salad, avocado toast, fish tacos, or the signature burger.

This converted 1902 Catholic church offers a variety of brewed-on-site ales and lagers (the brewing equipment sits front-and-center, on what was once the altar) and a satisfying menu. The original stained-glass windows are still in place. Buffalo-and-wild-mushroom meat loaf, wood-fired pizzas, black pepper glazed pork chops, and pierogies are on the menu. The wide central aisle and kid-friendly menu make it a good place to come with children.

Spend a morning tucking into pancakes, breakfast sandwiches, and bottomless coffee at this little neighborhood spot and you'll find yourself ready to move to South Philly. Those in the know line up to wait for an outside table, but the wait is worth it for the hot, buttery pancakes, fluffy eggs, and the Pennsylvania delicacy known as scrapple (somewhere between a breakfast sausage and a hash) that help nurse your hangover or feed your kids.

"Good food, good drink, good karma" is the slogan of this well-worn, no-frills café in Fairmount Park that focuses on fresh, healthy local food produced sustainably and prepared on-site, and it delivers. Outdoor and indoor seating make this a convenient choice for coffee and fare such as breakfast burritos and egg sandwiches; wraps, smoothies, deli sandwiches, and a good veggie burger; and desserts and snacks. Free parking at Lloyd Hall is convenient, and seasonal bike rentals from Wheel Fun Rentals are steps away.

Named for the Delmonico Brothers, early pioneers in the establishment of fine dining in the United States, this elegant hotel restaurant serves breakfast, dinner, and weekend brunch throughout the year. The classic interiors are characterized by molded windows, high ceilings, dark-wood furnishings, and ivory tablecloths. Dinner is served as a four-course fixed-price menu with optional wine pairing; two additional courses can be added on upon request. Breakfast (brunch on Sunday) is served à la carte, and features interesting takes on morning fare, such as blue-crab Benedict and quail eggs with bacon and toast.

This two-level gourmet shop has a dazzling array of prepared foods, mouthwatering pastries, and creamy gelato. Sampling the wares can make for a good snack, but if you require something more substantial, grab a sandwich or something from their hot bar, or sit down in the café upstairs.

Babka, bagels, rugelach, and challah are but a few of the specialties at Tova du Plessis’s “little Jewish bakery,” where everything’s handmade in small batches. In addition to these tasty artisanal items, Essen doles out traditional neighborhood bakery options like cookies, croissants, coffee, and simple sandwiches.

In 2011, the owners of the acclaimed Zahav partnered with a team of Philly food entrepreneurs to open the first Federal Donuts, and Philly quickly fell in love with the whimsical doughnut-and-fried chicken concept. The mini-chain now runs many shops throughout the city, but this tiny flagship, on an unassuming corner in quiet Pennsport, is still going strong. FedNuts, as locals affectionately call it, offers both hot fresh and “fancy” doughnuts in an ever-changing array of flavors, plus fried chicken prepped in a variety of styles (za’atar-dusted; Korean-style chili garlic). They do excellent coffee and simple sandwiches, too, making it an everyday stop for neighborhood folks.

Philly culinary stars Michael Solomonov and Steve Cook have kept this Philly-area mini-chain going strong since 2011 with a sometimes quirky but delicious short menu of fresh doughnuts and fried chicken, as well as good coffee drinks. The Parkway location, toward the rear of the building, is open into the early evening and has indoor and (in season) outdoor seating.

Open all day, Gran Coffee L'Aquila is the perfect spot for grabbing an on-the-go cup of house-roasted espresso first thing in the morning or sitting down for a nightcap and dessert at the end of the day. They also serve panini, which can be eaten at one of their sidewalk tables or taken to go, as well as a full lunch and dinner menu and award-winning gelato in flavors like torrone (nougat), citrus-vanilla, and cannoli.

This little café in the center of town serves crepes and coffee—what more could you want? Breakfast crepes are filled with omelets or scrambles, lunch crepes have savory insides such as cheesesteak or caprese, and dessert crepes include the classic Nutella. In fair weather, you can sit on the shaded patio or the front porch of the 1880s building.

Rebuilt and reopened on its original site in 2025 after flood damage in 2021, this casual comfort-food icon, in business since 1950, has embraced a more modern, airy look with a soaring, light wood-lined ceiling with a chandelier made by a local artist, light wood floors and tables, and a long wraparound counter. The welcoming vibe remains strong as locals and visitors rub shoulders all day in the expanded space, ordering favorites like an omelet stuffed with roasted Kennett Square mushrooms and cheese, corned beef hash and eggs, French dip, mac and cheese, and shrimp and grits. Photos and art still recall the days when Andrew Wyeth popped over from his nearby studio; he might be surprised by the modern space but likely happy to see this incarnation raised up for better protection from more Brandywine flooding.     

Part of the Hershey Farm hotel complex, this is a huge smorgasbord of Pennsylvania Dutch and American dishes. The bright, airy space underscores the freshness of the buffet, most of it scratch-made on-site. There's also a grill where you can get made-to-order burgers and sandwiches. It's a satisfying stop before or after a show at nearby Sight and Sound Theatre.

This family-friendly restaurant is a beloved favorite among locals for its hearty breakfast lineup, probably one of the best in Pennsylvania. The menus are huge, portions are generous, and the food is unpretentious in a good-ole-diner sort of way. Reservations are not taken, and the restaurant closes at 3 pm.

Coffee shop, creperie, purveyor of baked goods, and local gathering spot—at the High Point, you can become part of the convivial picture of Mount Airy life. Daily pastry offerings are posted on their Facebook page. During the summer, every other Sunday at the Allens Lane train station location there's a small craft fair with music in the parking lot.