Food Fight: Where Delco Diners Go to Debate
A look at the Facebook group where the battles happen.
In celebration of Delco restaurants and the people who make them great, we are declaring this Delco Eats Week. Check back daily for stories from the sprawling print feature on the county’s food scene in the October issue of Philly Mag.
Delco has a not-at-all-undeserved reputation as a bellicose community. And Facebook is, of course, a place where people love to go to fight. So it’s not at all surprising that a local Facebook group called Delco Restaurant Review would have its share of beefs and battles among its 42,000 or so members.
“I find that anytime someone says that this place is the ‘best’ at anything, the situation can devolve quickly,” says Frank Naimoli, moderator of the circa-2013 group. “People in Delco are fiercely loyal, so if you say that some new place has the best whatever and that’s not someone’s place they’ve been going to for years, they will come after you, even if the place they’ve been going to for years is no good.”
Or you might leave a bad review of a place that is a local favorite that has been around forever — say, Erin Pub or Pica’s — and an army of fans will be ready to attack, and not gently, regularly throwing around terms like “idiot” and “loser” and expletive-filled phrases, all because you expressed your opinion about a pizza or a prime rib.
This is why group admin Kara Cusick, who lives in Primos, started allowing reviewers to post anonymously, a decision that has had no shortage of criticism and complaints of its own, since many members believe you should be willing to put your name with your critique and stand behind what you say. Still, Cusick says the anonymous feature is here to stay.
“People are crazy,” Cusick observes. “Members have actually doxxed people and called their jobs because of bad reviews they’ve left.”
Cheesesteaks and pizza tend to be the biggest flashpoints in the group. When Delco Steaks opened its first location in Broomall in 2020, they were either the best or the worst cheesesteaks. (We were on the best side: We awarded them Best of Philly in 2021.) You could feel just how much people hated them, it seemed to me just because they were the new guys in town — and not cheap. Plus, they had the audacity to use “Delco” in their name, basically declaring that they are the Delco steak place. It got so bad that one of the owners of Delco Steaks asked DRR’s admins to just ban any posts about Delco Steaks, positive or negative.
Cusick and Naimoli also spend time breaking up fights and suspending or permanently banning members. Things that can get you in trouble include saying anything remotely political or being outright nasty and rude. The ban list now numbers in the hundreds. “It’s one thing to tell someone that they don’t know what they are talking about or that they have no taste buds,” says Naimoli. “It’s quite another to call them an effing idiot.”
After this story went to press, Cusick posted an update to the group rules that read, in part: “Moving forward, we’re adopting a zero-tolerance policy on bashing anonymous posters or bullying anyone for sharing negative reviews. If you disagree with a review, you’re welcome to share your own experience or engage in polite, respectful debate. But harassment, personal attacks, or dismissive behavior? That’s a one-way ticket to a ban—no warnings, no exceptions.”
Delco Shout-Out!
We asked the people who run Delco Restaurant Review to plug their favorite local restaurants.
Big Joe’s in Essington / Photograph by Ed Newton
Frank Naimoli: “Big Joe’s in Essington. A totally unassuming place, a throwback to the Italian delis of my childhood in Southwest Philly. I just love the smell there. And I almost always get the Big Joe’s Special Italian, which tastes exactly the same as every other time I’ve ordered it over the last 10 years. Consistency!”
Pepperoncini in Havertown / Photograph by Ed Newton
Kara Cusick: “It’s really a tie. First, the Broadway in Clifton Heights, across from the Clam Tavern. It’s owned by the same person, and you can get the Clam menu there but also they have amazing pizza and chicken parm. And Pepperoncini in Havertown, because when you eat there, you feel like you are at home.”
Published as “Food Fight!” in the October 2025 issue of Philadelphia magazine.
