Philadelphia's most democratic food destination, Reading Terminal Market has been feeding the city since 1893 — a 78,000-square-foot indoor bazaar of 80+ independent vendors under one historic train shed roof. Grab a Tommy DiNic's roast pork with sharp provolone and broccoli rabe (more on them below), a PA Dutch soft pretzel from Fisher's, a scoop of Bassetts ice cream, and a bag of Old City Coffee to go — all in a single loop. Farmers, butchers, bakers, cheesemongers, and prepared food vendors from across the region set up here daily, making it as much a living market as a lunch spot.

Fans Recommend: Roast pork at DiNic's. John's water ice. Cannoli from Termini Bros. Reuben at Herschel's. Dutch Eating Place. Down Home Diner. 4th Street Cookies. Saami Somi Georgian cheeseboats. Uncle Gus' cheesesteak

The Travel Channel called it the Best Sandwich in America in 2013 and the verdict hasn't aged a day. DiNic's roast pork with sharp provolone and broccoli rabe is the sandwich that Philadelphians use to settle the cheesesteak debate — because this is better, and they know it. A fourth-generation family business going back to 1954, DiNic's runs a stall inside Reading Terminal Market that routinely has the longest line in the building. Go before noon. Order the roast pork. Do not deviate.

Fans recommend: Roast pork with sharp provolone and broccoli rabe. Roast pork with long hots.

Five-time Best of Philly winner and a South Street institution since 1976, Jim's is the cheesesteak spot that Philadelphians actually point tourists toward — not for the mythology, but for the execution. The line wraps around the corner on weekends, moves fast, and the result is a properly seared, thinly-shaved ribeye on an Amoroso roll that earns every minute of the wait. Jim's famously burned in a 2022 fire and reopened stronger than before, which tracks: this place has the resilience of the city itself.

Fans recommend: Cheesesteak with cheese whiz.

Middle Child is what happens when someone who grew up eating Italian hoagies, Jewish deli, and Greek diner food opens a restaurant — and does all three better than almost anyone else in the city. Founder Matt Cahn makes every condiment, pickle, and meat in-house, which sounds precious until you actually taste the difference. Come for the breakfast sandwiches and the stacked lunch hoagies, leave wondering why you'd ever eat a cold cut from a plastic package again. Philadelphia Magazine ranked them #25 on the 50 Best Restaurants list and the regulars would rank them higher.

Best Fans recommend: BLT.

Named after the owners' daughter, Sabrina's has been feeding Philadelphia's brunch obsession since 2001 — long before brunch became a category unto itself. Robert and Raquel De Abreu built a family-owned daytime institution across five locations without losing the warmth that made the original a neighborhood fixture. Condé Nast Traveller named it the best brunch in Philly, and the menu earns it: challah French toast that could be dessert, stuffed French toast that absolutely is, and savory egg dishes that justify every queue.

Since 1997, Monk's has been one of the most serious beer bars in the country — full stop. Tom Peters and Fergus Carey built a temple to Belgian brewing with 20+ rotating taps and 300+ bottles, and they host Cantillon Zwanze Day, one of the rarest beer events in the world. But don't sleep on the food: the mussels and frites are the real thing, served in proper Belgian fashion with a rotating selection of preparations that would make Brussels nod. Note a 2.5% card fee, disclosed upfront.

Fans recommend: Mussels and frites. Burger. Steak frites salad.

Open every single day of the year — including Christmas — Parc is the French bistro that Rittenhouse Square didn't know it needed until it arrived and became instantly irreplaceable. Sidewalk tables overlooking the park, proper steak frites, a full raw bar, and a breakfast service starting at 8am that draws the kind of crowd who has strong opinions about their croissant. Stephen Starr's restaurant group is Philadelphia-born and Parc is the crown jewel: the place the city keeps for itself and pulls out for every occasion.

Fans recommend: French onion soup. Brunch.

Named after the owners' grandmother in Beirut, Suraya brings Lebanese and Levantine cooking to Fishtown in a space that feels genuinely transportive — all-day café in front, dinner restaurant in back, outdoor garden through the middle. The mezze is excellent, the whole-roasted cauliflower is quietly one of the best vegetable dishes in the city, and the wine list features the largest selection of Chateau Musar in Philadelphia. Michelin has taken notice; the regulars had already known for years.

Honey's Sit 'n Eat has one of the city's most specific and lovable identities: Southern comfort food filtered through a Jewish deli sensibility, BYOB, in Northern Liberties, with portions that explain the name. The matzo ball soup could anchor any Jewish grandmother's reputation. The brisket Frito platter is the kind of thing that takes a minute to compute and then makes complete sense. Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives came, filmed, left — Honey's kept doing exactly what it was doing.

Chef Greg Vernick won the James Beard Award for Best Chef Mid-Atlantic and Michelin recognized the restaurant — but Vernick Food & Drink earns its reputation meal by meal, not accolade by accolade. The menu is modern American, rooted in whatever's best at the moment, and the crab toast has quietly become one of the most talked-about single bites in Philadelphia. The bar area takes walk-ins and is one of the city's better-kept secrets for a serious dinner without a weeks-out reservation.

Fans recommend: Beef tartare toast. French scrambled eggs with sea urchin.

Husband duo Brian Oliveira and Brian Mattera opened Gilda in 2023 in the same Fishtown corner space where they first met, cooked together, and fell in love — and the restaurant carries all of that warmth. The menu is Portuguese-inspired: pastéis de nata made from scratch in limited daily quantities (come early), egg sandwiches with housemade linguiça and Cooper Sharp, salt cod fritters, piri piri chicken. Philadelphia Magazine gave it a Best of Philly nod; the Fishtown regulars are more territorial about it. Closed Tuesdays.

Fans recommend: Antonio sandwich. Portuguese breakfast sandwiches.

The co-founders of Rival Bros. Coffee took an Art Deco space on Spruce Street and built something that does everything: morning espresso, lunch, dinner served family-style, brunch on weekends, and a full cocktail program developed in partnership with New Liberty Distillery — Philadelphia's own. There's also a New Liberty bottle shop up front, so you can skip the state store on your way out. Philadelphia Magazine named it Best All-Day Cafe, and the crab hashbrowns alone are worth the detour.

Fans recommend: Crab hashbrowns.

Silk City is the kind of place that makes Philadelphia feel like the city it actually is — not a cleaned-up tourist version of it. A diner-bar-beer garden-nightclub hybrid on Spring Garden Street, it's been doing its own thing since reopening in 2007: elevated diner classics alongside pork belly empanadas and kabayaki-glazed salmon, a heated outdoor beer garden, weekend brunch, and DJs later in the night if the mood strikes. Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives came through early; the locals have made it a permanent fixture.

Fans recommend: Brown sugar bacon pancakes. Chicken wings.

Technically not Philadelphia — but Philly fans have been crossing the Ben Franklin Bridge for this since 1943, and Anthony Bourdain called it his single favorite cheesesteak anywhere. The twist: Donkey's serves theirs on a round poppy seed kaiser roll with white American cheese and browned onions, no substitutions — a Jersey riff on the Philly classic that many argue wins the whole debate. It's a proper dive bar, cash or cards, founded by Leon "Donkey" Lucas, a former heavyweight boxer whose punch was compared to the kick of a mule. About 15 minutes from the Linc, 10 from Center City.

Fans recommend: Cheesesteak on the kaiser roll.

Women-owned since 2003, Good Dog is the kind of three-story neighborhood bar that Philadelphia does better than anywhere — one where the food is actually great, the crowd is genuinely mixed, and the vibe is reliably warm without trying too hard. The blue cheese-stuffed burger, featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, is the anchor, but the kitchen earns its keep across the whole menu. LGBTQ+-friendly and running strong for over two decades, Good Dog has become as much a community institution as a bar.Fans recommend: Vegan cheesesteak.

Open since 1860 — the year Lincoln was elected — McGillin's is the oldest continuously operating bar in Philadelphia, tucked down a tiny alley just off City Hall. The brick walls are plastered with Philly memorabilia, liquor licenses dating to 1871, and vintage signs from department stores long gone, and the bar pours its own house-brewed 1860 IPA. It's the rare place that earns both "best dive in the city" and "historic landmark" in the same breath.

Two floors of sticker-covered walls, no-TVs policy, pool tables, cheap PBRs, and a rotating cast of Philly's most eclectic regulars — Tattooed Mom has been the unofficial living room of South Street for over 25 years. It doubles as the city's foremost street art gallery, with thousands of local and international artists having left their mark on every available surface. Come on a Thursday for the longest-running drag show in the city; come any day for the pierogis and an Ass Basket.

South Philly's platonic ideal of a neighborhood bar: 20 rotating craft taps, a $6 burger that writers have burned considerable ink trying to describe, and a 100% vinyl soundtrack selected personally by whoever's behind the bar. It's an old man bar for people of all ages, the kind of spot where you walk in a stranger and leave knowing everyone's name.

Fans recommend: The $6 cheeseburger, pickled green beans

Two high school friends opened this place with serious coffee credentials and one very Philly idea — use a soft pretzel as the bread. The pretzel breakfast sandwich became the thing people line up for on weekend mornings, but the coffee program (built by a former La Colombe roaster) is equally legit. Two locations: Fitler Square and East Kensington.

Fans recommend: The Philly pretzel breakfast sandwich; the iced Americano

At the corner of Frankford and Girard in the heart of Fishtown, Johnny Brenda's is bar, restaurant, and intimate concert hall all under one roof — downstairs a full menu and all-local draft list, upstairs a 250-cap venue that has launched more Philly indie bands than anywhere else in the city. The food is genuinely excellent for a bar (seasonal, locally sourced, full kitchen until 1am), and the vibe threads the needle between neighborhood regular and curious visitor without missing a stitch.

Proudly TV-free in a city obsessed with its sports teams, Fergie's is the antidote to the sports bar — a proper Irish pub on Sansom Street with serious Guinness, live traditional Irish music, and a room full of people who are here to actually talk to each other. It's a locals' bar in the best sense: unpretentious, warm, and genuinely its own thing in a neighborhood where bars tend to blend together.

The most-recommended soccer bar in our survey by a considerable margin, and the passion in those recommendations tells you everything — one respondent wrote their entry in all caps to make sure we got the message. An authentic Irish pub in Fairmount run by Irish owner Aidan Travers, it's the official Philadelphia home of the Leeds United supporters group (30–40 fans per match), plus regular crowds for Crystal Palace, Liverpool, and more. The Guinness pours are consistently cited as the best in the city, and the chicken fingers — described by one regular as "like schnitzel" — have their own cult following.

Fans recommend: Guinness, chicken fingers, fish and chips

The spiritual home of Tottenham Hotspur supporters in Philadelphia, Founding Fathers on South Street is a proper soccer bar with 13 TVs, 20 taps, and a crowd of regulars who care deeply about what's on the screen. Multiple respondents signed off their survey answers with "COYS," which is all you need to know about the energy in the room on match day. It's also conveniently positioned on South Street, making it an easy stop before or after exploring the neighborhood's bars and restaurants.

The official bar of the Philadelphia Union supporters and home of the Bundesliga Fan Coalition, Brauhaus Schmitz is the only German beer hall on this list and one of the most distinctive soccer watching environments in the city — 34 rotating draft lines of imported German beer, Haus-made sausages, and a room that fills up fast when Germany, Austria, or the Union are playing. Owner Doug Hager was born in Germany and makes regular visits to cultivate direct relationships with the brewers, which is why you'll find beers here that exist nowhere else in the country.

Fans recommend: Stammer Max, Schweinhaxe, Haus-made sausages

Philadelphia's official Manchester United supporters bar, tucked into a gorgeous three-story colonial townhouse steps from Rittenhouse Square — antique bars, working fireplace, and an owner who is reliably present and clearly loves the place. The Black Sheep has been a neighborhood anchor since 1999 and earns its rep not just from Man United fans but from anyone who wants a proper Irish pub atmosphere for a match, with 80+ beers from around the world and food that punches well above bar-grub expectations.

Philly's Arsenal bar, full stop — "The Armory" as regulars call the Locust Street location, and the COYG energy on match days is something to behold. Beyond the Gunners faithful, it's a solid all-around soccer bar with a nautical theme, 12 taps, a 50+ bottle list, and upscale pub food that takes actual effort. Rob's survey response said it best: a visit to Misconduct will show you the depth of love for Arsenal in Philadelphia.

Opened in 2025 by a team of local restaurant owners including Annie Chi of Yamitsuki Ramen, Lions is the only sports bar in Chinatown — 35 screens, a DJ booth, half-price Guinness for every Premier League match, and a food menu that bridges pub staples and Chinese-American classics (the General Tso's nachos and soup dumplings are not an afterthought). Opens at 7am on weekends for early EPL kickoffs, making it the right call when you want to catch a 7:30am match with a proper crowd and a pint of something cold in hand.

Fans recommend: Soup dumplings, General Tso's nachos, beef skewers

The neighborhood where the United States was invented — Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and Elfreth's Alley (the oldest continuously inhabited street in the country, dating to 1703) are all within a few blocks of each other. But Old City isn't just a history lesson: cobblestone side streets give way to galleries, bars, and restaurants that fill up at night. Do the obvious stuff in the morning, then just wander south toward Queen Village and see what you find.

Fans recommend: Elfreth's Alley for the architecture; the walkable loop from Independence Hall → Elfreth's Alley → the riverfront → back streets

A locally-owned independent bookstore tucked just off South Street near Headhouse Square, sitting between Society Hill and Queen Village since 2005. Strong general selection, regular author events, and the kind of staff-picks culture that actually means something. If you're wandering the South Street corridor, this is the right detour.

Fans recommend: Browsing the staff picks; checking the events calendar for author readings

A South Street institution since 1986, Repo is the kind of record store that still matters — new and used vinyl, CDs, cassettes, tees, posters, and a $1 LP basement that could swallow your afternoon. The selection skews punk, indie, and rock but runs deep across genres. If you're walking South Street, you're walking past it anyway; go in.

Fans recommend: The $1 LP basement; new vinyl releases; band tees and patches

Started by two Temple grads in 2005, South Fellini remixes Philadelphia iconography into tees, pins, prints, and merch that could only exist in this city. The Passyunk Ave shop has a free Blockbuster section, free comics, and a mannequin named Emmy. If you want to take something home that has nothing to do with a Liberty Bell, this is your place.

Fans recommend: Philly-themed tees and enamel pins; the free comics bin

Yes, run up the steps. Yes, do the Rocky pose. Then go inside — because this is one of the great art museums in the world, with 240,000 objects across 200 galleries covering everything from medieval armor to Duchamp to a 16th-century Indian temple hall. Locals will clock you as a tourist the second you turn around and leave after the photo. Free guided tours daily, free Wi-Fi, and Friday evenings stay open late.

Fans recommend: The medieval galleries; the Impressionist collection; the Marcel Duchamp collection; the Rodin Museum next door (included with admission)