10 Great Restaurants in Philadelphia

Butcher and Singer is a top restaurant in Philadelphia that offers a pretty standard steakhouse dinner menu. While the menu itself doesn’t make the restaurant stand out, it’s the high quality and excellent experience that do.

The limited menu at Butcher and Singer offers all your favourite cuts of steak and chops, alongside classic salads, a few seafood options, and multiple potato-based sides. This is surely the place to go if you (or someone you’re travelling with) have a preference for a meat-and-potatoes kind of meal.

Vernick Food & Drink is situated in Philadelphia’s swanky Rittenhouse Square neighbourhood, and this restaurant serves up the elegance as well. Even so, the menu features well-known dishes made with the finest ingredients.

Expect a small, seasonal menu of small and large plates that include options such as sea scallops with ginger rice porridge and mustard-brined pork chops with polenta. Limited vegetarian options are also available, as are craft cocktails and temptingly rich desserts.

Zahav is one of the most well-known restaurants in Philadelphia where you can experience traditional Israeli flavours. With a James Beard Award-winning chef at the helm, Zahav has consistently received rave reviews from a variety of publications.

The restaurant offers a dining experience that’s imbued with a strong sense of Israeli culture. Find the most authentic menu items, from the Laffa bread to the pomegranate lamb shoulder, served alongside equally authentic cocktails and Israeli wine. The menu changes seasonally and includes a handful each of appetisers, small plates, entrees and desserts. Entrees are served family-style for the table.

Barclay Prime in Philadelphia brings the steakhouse dining experience into the modern age. Called one of the best non-chain steakhouses in the United States, the restaurant is owned by the same group that oversees Philly’s famous Butcher and Singer, so you can expect similarities.

Even so, the Barclay Prime menu is just a little more updated for the modern diner. This means you’ll find things like Japanese and American Wagyu options, as well as expanded side and salad options, beyond your typical steak-and-baked-potato meal.

Estia sits across the street from Philadelphia’s Academy of Music, making it an excellent pick for dinner after a show. Regardless of when you visit, though, you’ll find deliciously fresh Mediterranean fare made with seafood that’s flown in from the Mediterranean.

In contrast to a lot of the limited menus that you’ll find at high-end restaurants around the city, Estia’s is rather robust, with whole fish options, lots of entrees, and a range of first courses. There’s even a separate theatre menu if you do decide to catch dinner and a show.

Vetri Cucina in Philadelphia isn’t your average Italian fine-dining spot. Set within a small townhome, the experience is intimate and the menu is prix fixe, as the restaurant doubles as a test kitchen and cooking school. You can expect your meal to come with your choice, however, of several antipasti options, pasta, second courses, and dessert.

Depending on the day or season of your visit, you might expect options like spinach gnocchi with shaved ricotta and brown butter, or roasted baby goat with house-milled soft polenta.

Royal Boucherie is a conveniently-located brasserie in Philadelphia, just a few blocks from the Museum of the American Revolution. It’s a great spot for a meal if you’re already in the area to view some of Philadelphia’s most popular historical attractions.

At the European-inspired restaurant, the award-winning chef is serving upscale versions of menu items you might already be familiar with, such as a grass-fed burger with bone marrow, watercress and gruyere, or spaghetti with shellfish and lobster fumet. If you’re in the area on a Sunday, consider stopping by for brunch.

Lacroix Restaurant at The Rittenhouse is a stately hotel restaurant in Philadelphia with a global menu. While that might turn some travellers off, rest assured that this is one of the few places in the city where you’ll be able to enjoy breakfast every day of the week in an upscale setting.

The award-winning restaurant offers a breakfast menu that features a range of classics as well as a few menu items with international flairs such as the galette Bretonne, a savoury crepe with a fried egg, ham and gruyere.

The Love. is a great spot to go in Philadelphia if you’re hungry for some artistically-prepared eats at lunchtime. The lunch menu features a range of light delights like sandwiches and salads, alongside some southern-inspired staples such as shrimp and grits, and a fried Nashville hot chicken sandwich.

Come dinnertime, the menu at The Love. likewise features a few southern favourites. You can’t miss the restaurant’s staple Lovebird, a buttermilk-fried chicken served with grits and collard greens.

Laurel Restaurant is a modern French eatery in Philly that sits far away from the downtown hub where you’d expect to find most high-end dining options. The small bistro offers an intimate environment where you can enjoy a menu of prix-fixe offerings.

The 6-course chef’s tasting menu changes seasonally and, in the past, has included a range of scrumptious dishes, such as a brown butter-roasted monkfish with fermented chanterelle mushrooms, and autumn poultry sausage with a honeynut squash custard.