PHLGuide
The Best Restaurants In Queen Village
photo credit: GAB BONGHI
Queen Village isn’t very large. You could walk the entire neighborhood and your smartwatch would still ping you later asking if you’re getting off the couch today. But running a marathon isn’t the reason we all head there. It’s because they have some amazing BYOBs, Italian spots, and sushi restaurants where you can dive into hamachi hand rolls topped with caviar or Detroit-style pizza.
THE SPOTS
photo credit: Jesse Ito
Royal Sushi & Izakaya two distinct moods. In the izakaya section, you can sit in a booth and watch anime, pay as little as $4 for a beer, and eat things like chili beets covered in miso or pan-seared pork gyoza. But when you want to have a night where you're catered to like Oprah’s favorite spaniel, try their 17-piece omakase menu. It includes things like Washington state kumamoto oysters and their chutoro caviar–a mix of fatty Spanish bluefin and Osetra caviar. Each option works for different occasions, but they’ll both give you a memorable experience.
If breakfast for you means a bagel stacked with smoked fish, you should start your morning at Famous 4th Street Delicatessen. The Jewish deli is one of the best in Philly, and definitely our favorite place for brunch in Queen Village. It can get as loud and busy on weekend mornings as 30th Street Station, but you can always order your enormous pastrami specials, challah French toast, or matzah ball soup to go.
photo credit: GAB BONGHI
There’s gas station sushi (get over it, we’ve all done it), and then there are high-quality omakase meals that can cost as much as a pair of over-ear headphones. Sakana is the latter. The BYOB sushi restaurant in Headhouse Square is the perfect place to bring a bottle of sake to pair with one of their two omakase options ($98 for 13 courses or $148 for 20 courses). All the raw fish is stellar, whether you’re eating Japanese scallops, toro topped with caviar, or sweet shrimp with gold leaves.
photo credit: RACHEL LERRO
When the seasons change, one of the first things you want is a bowl of hot soup to warm you up. Neighborhood Ramen, one of the best ramen spots in the city, has you covered. When you stop by the cozy noodle shop, try the shoyu ramen. Each bowl has a couple of juicy pieces of pork chashu seeping with flavorful chicken broth, house shoyu, and toppings like scallion, menma, and ajitama. It’s a comforting blend that will make you feel almost grateful that the temperature dropped below 50 degrees. Almost.
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Sure, Isot is where you go when you want incredible Turkish food or can’t get into Zahav. But this cozy spot also has a lot of things that Zahav doesn’t, like plates of grilled chicken and lamb kebabs served with sides of vegetables and about five different Mediterranean salads. The portions are massive, so you can reheat the rest the next night and further delay cooking that salmon filet that’s been in your freezer for the past two weeks.
photo credit: RACHEL LERRO
Little Fish is a small corner BYOB with a menu made up of creative seafood dishes like salmon with creme fraiche, grilled octopus in a hot mustard vinaigrette, and sashimi platters with a house soy glaze. Although the dishes on their rotating a la carte menu can be hit or miss, it feels like you’re part of a test kitchen—where everything you’re eating is coming straight from the chef’s mind (or the sea) and onto your plate.
Cry Baby is one of the only places in Queen Village that you can walk into on a weeknight with friends for plates of crab linguine, rigatoni with smoked chicken, and great wine. It’s in an absolutely made-up category we like to call “Nice Looking Places To Eat Pasta With Your Friends On A Tuesday'' (NLPTEPWYFOAT). Unlike a lot of other spots in this category, Cry Baby has a big personality–the walls are lined with leather jacket-printed wallpaper and a banner reading “I’m so tired of being good” printed in black gothic script.
Emmy Squared, a restaurant that hails from New York, is one of the best places for pizza in the neighborhood. They focus on crispy Detroit-style pan pizza, with options like a margarita with piles of creamy burrata, and the hot chicken (which packs enough heat to have you reaching for a few extra sips of your sangria), topped with white barbecue sauce and Nashville-style hot chicken. Arguably the best thing on the menu, though, is the “Le Big Matt” burger. It’s a double patty with American cheese, pickles, and something called “sammy sauce,” and it’s our favorite burger in the entire neighborhood.
Like vegan meatballs and Happy Hour during spin class, Passyunk Avenue’s Square Pie isn’t quite what it seems. Their pizzas come in all shapes and sizes, but no matter what your personal preference is, you’ll always get a pizza with a sweet and savory sauce and crispy edges. Since there’s no wrong answer here, try the pancetta with leeks and rosemary potatoes, or the spinach that’s dotted with Calabro ricotta.
photo credit: KERRY MCINTYRE
There are a few places where you can eat outside in Queen Village, but nowhere has a better patio than Southwark. The French-American restaurant has a plant-filled backyard where you can order things like savory crab and corn hushpuppies, buttery shrimp and clam bucatini, or the juicy 26oz dry-age ribeye. Inside, there’s a large bar area that serves impressive cocktails named after famous lines from movies, and a dining room for when you want to share a bunch of their half-sized pasta dishes in the AC. For a date night that feels both casual and intimate, Southwark hits the spot.
photo credit: Neal Santos
Ambra is Southwark’s sister restaurant–right next door and owned by the same people– but this one serves Italian food and is much more upscale. The tiny 16-seater has a few options, all of which include multi-course tasting menus, wine pairings, and face-to-face time with the kitchen staff starting at $280 per person. Expect things like squid-ink spaghetti and Sicilian lamb breast, though the menu changes seasonally.
Marrakesh, Queen Village’s Moroccan restaurant, has been a stalwart of Philly’s dining scene for over three decades. Come here to recline on low couches and admire the traditional Moroccan decor while eating things like spicy cumin chicken, eggplant and carrot salads, and Moroccan pastries (and on Fridays and Saturdays, watch belly dancers do their thing). You’ll have to make a reservation at least a week out, especially if you’re coming with a big group, but for a birthday dinner or reunion with friends, there aren’t many places in the city where you’ll have more fun.
Bistrot La Minette has all of the fixtures of a classic French restaurant. Sidewalk seating? Check. Framed black-and-white photos that look like they were screenshotted from a silent film? Check. Escargot in garlic herb butter? Check. The menu has other staples like crispy pan seared duck and a savory beef bourguignon that we think of with great affection on a rainy day. Head here for a casual date night, chat with friends, or during Happy Hour when glasses of wine cost $7.
photo credit: Candis McLean
Eleven Eleven is a carefree spot where you can have an incredible meal while Jazmine Sullivan plays in the background. At the small Queen Village BYOB, the gold clocks on the wall are set to 11:11, and the light fixtures are clouds, so you kind of feel like you’re dining in Wonderland—until you hear someone yell “shots!”. From the fluffy Make-A-Wish Funfetti cakes topped with a gold candle to the deep fried brioche cinnamon crunch french toast, everything here is pillowy perfection on the inside, party on the outside. The place can get packed and you may have to wait, but for a solid brunch place that feels more like a birthday celebration, it’s worth it.
photo credit: Fitz On 4th
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Fitz On 4th is a relaxing plant-based restaurant with lots of greenery and loungey earth toned couches that give you the feeling that the only thing that could rush you out is the Meter Up app. This makes the intimate space the opposite of South Street’s chaos nearby. When dining here on a casual weeknight, go for the edamame dumplings, chickpea meatballs, and sweet potato rigatoni; you won’t have any complaints. Most dishes are large, so bring a friend who doesn’t mind splitting things and gets super jazzed about mushrooms (there are lots on the menu).
