Philadelphia Trip

If you like the "pulled pork" type of pork sandwich, both Paesano's and Dinics have a good version. If you go to Dinics, it tends to be very crowded around lunch time so go early. I also like Dinics' meatball sandwich (a new-ish addition to their menu).

Both John's and Dinics have good "normal" roast pork sandwiches. Heck, go to both and compare...

 

Go to John's for lunch.

 

Devils den is a real nice cozy bar with pretty good food. They also have a nice double sided fireplace.

I love monks. Go.

Standard tap has good food and lots of local beer.

Tony Luke's has good food if you are in the area and want a good sandwich.

Capones I would pass on. No atmosphere, average to less than food and the ladies at the bar have no beer knowledge. Stay in the city if its your first time. Do not know where you are staying but you can walk all over and take a taxi to your next spot if needed.

Have a great time. If you find a spot and you like it and are having fun stay there. So many bars with good beer and food but I see no good reason to leave just to go to another bar if you get to a good place.

Enjoy

 

ditto the above ^^^^

And go to Monk's cafe also, it is a must stop.

 

Parking in Center City (did you say where you're staying?) is not fun. Many lots are upwards of $30 per day and the street parking you can find is usually a few bucks an hour with 2-4 hour limits. I think some kiosk spots are metered 24/7 while others have nights and Sundays off. I would check with your hotel to see if they have a lot and for pricing.

Our "pubic" transportation is good, not great, but you can definitely get around the best parts of the city on trains and occasionally short cab rides. You can even take the Regional Rail to some of the better suburban spots like Tired Hands and Teresa's. All the public transit info you need is here.

 

There's a 25 minute commuter rail from the airport terminal to center city. Public transit within the city is "gritty" but certainly extensive, but you can probably get away with walking and cabbing as necessary within Center City. If you are keen on Tired Hands and/or Teresa's, they are both quick walks from the commuter rail.

 

Also - having a car downtown is miserable.

 

These were my two favorite stops last time we went to Philly.

I would also add that if you are looking for some awesome dinner-- and given you are carnivorous-- I would called Fogo de Chao a must-stop.

 

If you've never been you must go to Monk's...of all the places in the city I think it's the only one that should be an absolute must on anyone's list. As for other places, it depends where you want to go the most and what types of places you want to go to.

For instance, if you want to go on a brewery tour, go to Philadelphia Brewing Co and have lunch at Memphis Taproom afterwards since its within walking distance. If you want to go to the Italian Market you can go to Hawthorne's, Bella Vista and Devil's Den since they're all in that neighborhood as well. A trip to West Philly would be good to hit up Local 44 and their bottle shop as well as Dock Street (avoid City Tap House, nothing special despite the crazy number of taps). Some places are more out of the way than others so they might be more for a return visit.

Just my two cents. I lived in Philly for a few years and most of the places I mentioned are places I make sure to visit when I'm back in town. I always hit Tired Hands on the way in or out of town too.

 

As everyone else is saying, you can't come to Philly and not go to Monks

 

I would agree with that. They sometimes have a meh taplist, but the bottle list is always sick, the food is good, and it's Philly's signature beer bar...our Toronado, if you will, though I believe Monk's came first.

I would strongly suggest going around lunch time as it's relatively small and pretty much wall-to-wall **** on nights and weekends.

 

Definitely check on the parking. Like others have said, you could be spending $30+ each day on parking. If you fly and need SEPTA to get around, it's gonna be tough to get to John's, Tony Luke's, and a couple other places in South Philly. Most places will be simple enough to get to though.

 

Even the South Philly places aren't too bad to reach via Septa though. John's is accessible via the Broad Street Subway, then the 79 eastbound bus, which is fairly painless. I can't think of any well-known place that in South Philly that Septa doesn't service.

 

I hear what you're saying, but if he wants to maximize his time in Philly, John's or Tony Luke's may not be the places to go. Not much else down that way.

 

The cheapest parking garage [in a good central location] I have encountered in the city and always refer people to is the Latimer St garage on Latimer st between 15th and 16th. Its right around the corner from Monks. I'm kinda anti garage but if I had to, I'd park there. I'm sure you can Google their daily rates or something.

 

Depends on the street and the day. Some are free all day on the outskirts of the city but anywhere near downtown will have a time limit til say 10pm or midnight unless you have a permit. You just have to look at the signs. You should have no problem finding a spot during the day but if you have to move it at say, 10pm, you might be circling for a while and/or end up quite a ways from where you want to be.

 

Basically every street downtown is permit parking or it's metered. You will only be able to sit there for 1-3 hours until 10 or so. Then you can stay there all night. The only problem is that there a TON of cars looking to park, especially on the weekends.

 

If you do park on the street, triple-check to make sure it's OK. I've parked in the city hundreds of times, checking for signs, yet I've seen many a parking ticket on my car anyway. The Parking Wars TV show isn't based in Philly for no reason.