Guides

Best of Philly Spotlight: Where to Make Reservations Right Now

Every year, when our Best of Philly list comes out, we hear the same thing from readers: reservations at our featured restaurants are becoming harder and harder to get. So if you want to snag a table, set your alarm, sign up for notifications, and act fast — because reservations at these top spots will be picked up as quickly as they’re dropped.

BEST NEW RESTAURANT, CITY
Little Water

Randy and Amanda Rucker’s new Rittenhouse spot explores everything the couple loves about a life spent close to the land, close to food, and in those intersections where earth and water meet. The smartest dish on a menu full of culinary digressions is the highbrow/lowbrow combination of an excellent peekytoe crab salad mounted atop a sharp-edged, perfectly architectural block of golden hash brown. The best is a piece of halibut, beautifully cooked and set adrift on a cloud of aerated potatoes. There’s nothing here that isn’t brilliant, considered, and heavy with personal history. 261 South 20th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103

BEST NEW RESTAURANT, BURBS
La Baja

Dionicio Jiménez made a name for himself at Cantina La Martina, doing a recognizable, fairly traditional Mexican cafe menu touched here and there with bursts of international fusion. But at La Baja — his new restaurant in Ambler — he has found the freedom to cook a menu built entirely around his varied history. From burratina cheese with black mole and kampachi tostadas with uni and Persian cucumbers to risotto with short rib braised in Mexican chocolate, it is a one-man canon, a purely biographical cuisine. 9 North Main Street, Ambler, PA 19002

BEST SPECIALTY HAPPY HOUR
Kiddo

You just left the office. You need a little something to take the edge off. You roll up to Kiddo, sit at the bar, and let your cares fall away with half-priced seasonal pastas like green garlic ravioli and ramp and smoked garlic pesto bucatini, plus a drink that costs $10 or less. The happy hour carbs are on offer four days a week. 1138 Pine Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107

Best Dinner Party
Carl

Dine like an industry insider in the home of husband-and-wife duo chef Ian Moroney and neuroscience professor/serial restaurant-goer Sharon Thompson-Schill. The menu: an elaborate and ever-changing scavenger hunt featuring the region’s best ingredients. The dinner party: an intimate meal shared with like-minded gourmands who enjoy what’s on the plate as much as the stories behind it. Come for a thoughtfully crafted meal. Stay for the jovial company.

BEST EPIC DINNER SPLURGE
Provenance

Twenty or so dishes; artistic, architectural plates; top-shelf ingredients; complex flavors; a kitchen built around a custom imported stove with a price tag like a luxury car; and a staff featuring some of the most talented cooks in the region — all these hallmarks make for one of the most daring (and expensive) tasting menus in the city right now. Is it a marathon? Absolutely. But it’s worth experiencing for yourself, if only to see how remarkable Philly’s food scene has become, and to get a glimpse of where it’s headed. 408 South 2nd street, Philadelphia, PA 19147

BEST ROME DUPE
Fiore

In a city filled to the brim with excellent Italian fare, Fiore has carved out its own niche. The modern Italian cafe serves some of Philly’s most beautiful (and technically perfect) pastries, pastas, and gelati. Go for a chocolate cream-filled bomboloni and a shakerato at breakfast, or a chicken parm on rustic bread at lunch. And go back for dinner, order all the house-made pastas, and BYO bottle of Trebbiano to feel fully transported to the Eternal City. 2413 Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19125

BEST NEW COCKTAIL BAR
Almanac

Imbibing nature’s rhythms is at the core of Almanac’s ethos. Almanac captures the gradual changes of the seasons with creations built around ingredients that are foraged or harvested locally. But beyond the rotating menu of meticulously crafted drinks, the izakaya-inspired bites, swanky decor, moody lighting, and buzzy atmosphere make for a captivating experience. 310 Market Street, 2nd Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19106

BEST SPOT FOR PIZZA AND COCKTAILS
Sorellina

The sister operation to chef Joe Cicala’s fine-dining restaurant Cicala at the Divine Lorraine couldn’t be more different from its sibling across the lobby. Where Cicala is slow, Sorellina is lively. Where Cicala is formal, Sorellina is drop-in casual. Where Cicala glorifies the history and traditions of Italian cooking, Sorellina embraces the anarchy and street-punk sensibilities of young, revolutionary Italian pizzaiolos with its all-electric ovens, high-hydration crusts, and Italian hip-hop on the radio. Drop by for a burrata, mortadella, and pistachio pesto pie, a couple of Aperol-heavy cocktails, and a plate of ’nduja battered and fried like sweet-and-sour chicken. 699 North Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19123

Best Cooking Class
Midnight Pasta Party

There comes a point in the night, between sips of wine and crooning along to Sinatra, when the pressure to master your pasta-making technique fades and you begin to fully embrace imperfection. Sure, your pappardelle may be misshapen, but that doesn’t matter when owner Natalia Lepore Hagan (pictured left) dramatic­ally unveils a long table (with a red-and-white checkered tablecloth) and invites the class to sit for a candlelit Italian meal of focaccia, seasonal salad, and, of course, midnight pasta. 5401 Tacony Street, BLDG 39 at the Arsenal, Philadelphia, PA 19137

BEST PLACE TO ROLL WITH A CREW
Jaffa Bar

Michael Solomonov’s towering two-story oyster bar was built for large parties. Upstairs has a chilled-out, fine-dining vibe; downstairs is all gin cocktails, soul music, platters of oysters, and yellowtail crusted in pastrami spice. No matter what kind of night you’re looking for — or how deep you roll — Jaffa has a place for you. 1625 North Howard Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122

BEST EASTERN EUROPEAN COMFORT FOOD
Little Walter’s

The contentment that comes from chef Michael Brenfleck’s ode to his family’s Polish home cooking isn’t just about the food on the plate. It isn’t all about the delicious, handcrafted, smoky pierogi, the thick slabs of roasted pork shoulder, the marinated heirloom tomatoes and cubes of pickled beet dressed in dill pesto. It’s also the laughter in the dining room, the heavy pours at the bar, the Grandma’s-china-hutch feel of the mismatched plates, and the honest enthusiasm of the staff, who know how good your dinner is going to be before it ever hits your table. 2049 East Hagert Street, Philadelphia, PA 19125

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Published in the August 2025 issue of Philadelphia magazine.