Philadelphia dining?

My daughter, a violinist, is playing with her orchestra group at the Kimmel Center in a few weeks. My husband and I will be going to watch her, though she won't be traveling with us. We plan to have a nice evening on our own before her performance (the following day). I've never been to Philly.

I'm considering the Westin in Rittenhouse Square. Also looking at a few other hotels. I reserved a table at Le Bec Fin. It looks like a nice date night dinner choice. We enjoy fine dining. Have I chosen well or is there something else you would recommend? Anything else we can't miss in Philadelphia? Where are the best cheesesteaks?

Thanks for any advice!

Sherri, you will really enjoy Philadelphia, though I am biased. Le Bec-Fin is like dining at Victoria and Albert's, with the same sort of dress code, though it is listed as business casual. My parents used to go to a dinner there every year and they loved it. I have yet to have the pleasure of dining there, but hope to do so someday.

The Westin used to be the Ritz Carlton until they built a new hotel. I love that location right by Liberty Place. Other hotels I can recommend are the Loew's, Rittenhouse Hotel, the Sofitel, Ritz Carlton and the Park Hyatt at the Bellevue. All are in a 6 block perimeter of the Kimmel Center.

Choosing where to go for cheese steaks is pretty subjective. You will get many different responses. How long will you be in town? I can give you some other dining choices which are fine dining, but not as formal a setting as Le Bec Fin.

Thanks, Christine! We're just around for two days. My husband liked that Le Bec-Fin was business casual, so I will tell him to add the jacket or we'll have to change restaurants. Thanks for the tip. It does look very elegant. Any other dining ideas are welcome in case we make the change to more business casual dining.

We have stayed at the Omni in the historic section and like it alot. If you have time for sightseeing it is a great location because it is just one block from Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. The Constitution Center is two blocks away. Two blocks in the opposite direction is Penn's Landing and you can catch the ferry over to NJ and see the USS NJ Battleship. The ferry ride is appox 5 mins and when you land you are right at the battleship complex. If you stay in that area there is a walking show tour at night called the "Lights of Liberty" which is very good.


If you like museums the Philadelphia Musuem of Art is an excellent way to spend the day. It has so much more than just paintings. It has an actual cloister brought over from France and a Japanese Tea House just to name a few.

I'm a vegetarian so I don't eat cheesesteaks but the two big names in Philly are Pat's and Gino's.

I have never been to the restaurant that you selected but I do want to suggest "Mama Maria's" if you like Italian food. It is a very very small place and you need reservations. It doesn't look like much but the food is great. Mama Maria is the cook and she is from Italy. It is $55 per person and you get antipasto, soup, a pasta, a meat or fish, stringbeans & potatoes, a salad, a dessert tray, coffee & tea. Red & White wine is unlimited during dinner. During dessert homemade coridials are also brought out. The meal is all done in courses so you will be there for a while but the food is really good. The main courses you choose from are things like filet mignon, salmon, shrimp & calamari, swordfish, chicken etc. You will leave there bursting at the seams!

Most of the times we eat in Philly we like to eat in the low key "hole in the wall" places. I think they have the best food. Alot of these restaurants have homemade food that is really good.

I hope you have a great time!

My mom took me to Le Bec Fin last year for my birthday. It was wonderful. Beautiful chandeliers and very ornately decorated. If you want to send me your email address, I can email you photos that we took. The food was delicious -- the desserts were incredible.

Philly is a restaurant town. There are literally hundreds of first rate restaurants here. Le Bec Fin is, however, one of the most famous restaurants in the world, and it is worth trying at least once, just for the experience.

For other really wonderful, infamous restaurants, you may want to look up restaurants owned by Stephen Starr. He's got a ton of them, and they are all first class. Philly also has a really great Chinatown that is fun to go to.

Last year for my birthday, my husband took me to a lovely restaurant in Rittenhouse called Devon. And, I believe we stayed at the Westin.

Thank you for the suggestions. My husband now thinks maybe we want to keep it more casual and save Le Bec-Fin for another time. So any more casual suggestions for an evening/weekend dinner in Philly are welcome.

Sherri, if your husband wants a less formal atmosphere, but still excellent dining, I would go to any of the Steven Starr restaurants. I've not had a bad meal at any of his restaurants. My personal favorite is Alma de Cuba, but I love Cuban/ Latin fusion food. I'll send you a PM with a link to he restaurant group's website.

Thank you for the links, Christine. I see some good possibilities there.

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Originally Posted by SBETigg

My daughter, a violinist, is playing with her orchestra group at the Kimmel Center in a few weeks. My husband and I will be going to watch her, though she won't be traveling with us. We plan to have a nice evening on our own before her performance (the following day). I've never been to Philly.

Anything else we can't miss in Philadelphia? Where are the best cheesesteaks?

Thanks for any advice!

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My cheesesteak vote would be Rizzo's, but they closed. My 2nd choice would be Jim's on South St. Never been to Pat's or Geno's (they are located amlost accross the st from each other in So. Philly at Pasiyunk Ave) - although I have plenty of friends who will give you the pros & cons. They are both supposed to be good, and the big difference is that one serves the meat chopped and one doesn't (kind of like a Steak'Em, but much better - get it?).

My museam suggestion is the Mummer's down at 2 & Washington. You won't see anything like it anywhere else!

Enjoy your stay - while I miss living there, I don't miss the cold or snow.

Try going to the Reading Terminal Market, at least for lunch. You probably remember it from the scene in National Treasure where she hides behind the flower counter. Lots of local specialties in there, including cheesesteaks, Amish foods, etc...

I still maintain that Chinatown is wonderful and highly recommend that. A fantastic one for dinner is called Tai Lake. Very authentic. If you like Irish food, there is a really nice place called The Plough and the Stars at 123 Chestnut St. There is another fun one at the end of South Street by the river called Downey's.

I agree that Steven Star restaurants are a good choice. I personnally love El Vez (11th & Samson) Very casual and great food.

A great little Italian place is La Famiglia at 2nd & Market Streets. It is somewhat formal, but casual is allowed. It is about 4 blocks from Independence Mall.

For cheese steaks, many love Pat's & Geno's, but I find their steaks stringy. Jim's on South Street is very good; my favorite though is Tony Luke's at Front & Oregon (no inside seating).

We traveled on March 12-14, which ended up being a wild, windy, rainy weekend. We stayed at the Westin on South 17th Street. Great experience there (well-appointed rooms, comfortable bed, good service and location), walking distance to a lot of things in Rittenhouse Square and to Broad Street and City Hall.

We did afternoon snacks at Irish pub Fado, which was fun-- they were getting decked out for St. Patrick's Day. had a yummy cheese dip with some pita-like potato wedges and Guinness. Cheers.

We had our Friday night "romantic" dinner at Tinto, a Spanish tapas restaurant. We got the Chef's Tasting Menu, with an upgrade (better ingredients in some of the dishes, like filet and lobster instead of lower grades of meat) and wine pairing, which was fun. They just kept bringing out interesting new dishes. Three different wines. But it was too much food! To do it again, I would skip the tasting menu and just order two things per person to share. Loved the live guitarist, classic Spanish guitar. I would recommend Tinto.

We were going to do a cheese steak tasting (Geno's and Pat's) on Saturday after my daughter's performance at the Kimmel Center (which was amazing-- she's a violinist in her high school orchestra. They're Grammy-award winning, and you would think they were all much older) but it was so windy and rainy that we skipped that, caught the Picasso exhibit at the Phil. Museum of Art, and had another dinner that night instead.

We ended up at Continental, which was a little too "hipster" for us but we enjoyed anyway. You can sit in swinging bamboo chairs, LOL-- we chose to stay grounded. Martinis and old-fashioned cocktails are their thing, so we each tried something new and shared finger foods (tapas style again). This time, we didn't get overstuffed (cheesesteak egg rolls, yum). I would actually go back to Continental if I was looking for a fun place to hang out with friends in Philadelphia. Or maybe a good first date atmosphere. But not really a great place for a regular grown-up (read boring old married people) dinner.

Loved Philadelphia! We're planning a future trip back for when the weather might be more cooperative. Wish we could have just put on rain ponchos and ran with it, like we do at Disney, but the cold wind was a bit much when combined with torrential downpours. Thanks for all the tips and advice! We do want to hit Le Bec Fin next time, and cheese steaks for certain (not at Le Bec-Fin, of course, haha). :)

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Originally Posted by phillydan

A great little Italian place is La Famiglia at 2nd & Market Streets. It is somewhat formal, but casual is allowed. It is about 4 blocks from Independence Mall.

For cheese steaks, many love Pat's & Geno's, but I find their steaks stringy. Jim's on South Street is very good; my favorite though is Tony Luke's at Front & Oregon (no inside seating).

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Another vote for Jim's. :thumbsup:

I didn't realize that La Famiglia was still there. I went there last about 20 years ago. It was good then too.

I've been living at the NJ shore for over 16 years, but I still miss Philly. :(


Sherri - I'm glad that you had a great visit. Many people don't know how great Philly is (I'm clearly biased). They just know it from Rocky (and I bet you ran up the Art Museum steps), which was filmed in the 70s when Philly was a wee bit dingy. Philly has wonderful restaurants, museums, universities and shops. I hope that you enjoyed the Picasso Exhibit at the PMA. I'll be going there next month.

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Originally Posted by diz_girl

Sherri - I'm glad that you had a great visit. Many people don't know how great Philly is (I'm clearly biased). They just know it from Rocky (and I bet you ran up the Art Museum steps), which was filmed in the 70s when Philly was a wee bit dingy. Philly has wonderful restaurants, museums, universities and shops. I hope that you enjoyed the Picasso Exhibit at the PMA. I'll be going there next month.

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I loved it. I love New York and Boston, too, so I expected to enjoy Philly. It has a very cool vibe and I will be happy to go back and explore some more. It was raining so hard that we didn't really think about the Rocky steps. I think we went in a different entrance. And when we came out, it was windy and raining even harder. I actually got in a fight to keep my cab-- and won. That was my big Rocky victory at the PMA. My husband was very impressed. :D The Picasso exhibit was great, though. Crowded, but you can take your time. I enjoyed the other exhibits, too.

So glad you had a good time! That was a crazy weather weekend. We didn't leave the house at all that Saturday. Sounds like you went to some great restaurants. There are so many to choose from :)

Wow - Philly sounds great! We are living about 40 minutes from downtown and haven't gone yet - need to start exploring the area a little. We have been going to Baltimore and the Jersey shore on weekends and just drove right past Philly.

The flash mobs sound really scary though. They have been on the news a lot lately. Are there neighborhoods we should avoid or is the area with museums and historical areas safe?

The areas with the museums and historical areas (most of Center City and Old City) are generally pretty safe. I generally avoid North, West and South Philly as a rule, as I am not familliar with these areas. I'm more familliar with Northeast and Northwest Philly.

As for flash mobs, the one last week (and in June 2009) was on South Street, which has a more partying atmosphere. Last month's snowball fight was smack dab in the middle of center city, on Market Street, but away from the museums and historical areas.

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Originally Posted by SBETigg

Loved Philadelphia! We're planning a future trip back for when the weather might be more cooperative. Wish we could have just put on rain ponchos and ran with it, like we do at Disney, but the cold wind was a bit much when combined with torrential downpours.

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We had a wedding that Saturday so I feel your pain! I'm glad you had a good time.