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The Infatuation
The Best Diners In Philly
By Candis R. McLean,
2 days ago
Diners are like the airport: when it comes to eating and drinking, there are no rules. From morning till night (and through the wee hours), you can find couples eating french toast stacked as high as their large glasses of OJ, babies super-gripping spaghetti noodles like their favorite toy, and old men going hog wild on meatloaf. For some reason Philly diners have it all—dance floors and boozy staff making boozier drinks at 6am, classic spots that stay open for 24 hours, and bakery displays that’ll reel you in when you’re on your way out. These are the 15 diners to head to when you’re looking for some comfort food or a cheap cup of coffee in the morning, noon, or when the rest of the world is asleep at night.
There are only a few places where you can get a drink at 6:30am: your kitchen, PHL, or on a stool at New Olympia House in the Northeast. That’s the prime time to complain about your love life to a margarita-making server before the 7am rush. The scene here is chaotically charming—beer-fueled commentary on the local news playing on TVs, kids using spoons as drumsticks, and regulars saying “get the fu*k outta here,” while rejecting a menu they’ve already memorized. Bring a group of friends and pass around thick crab cake sandwiches and crispy golden fries. Or come back in the morning and update your waitress on last night’s date over two shots of whiskey. Here, that makes complete sense.
People flock to Reading Terminal Market for everything from donuts to a lotion restock, so it’s no surprise that the blueberry flapjacks from Down Home Diner draw a crowd. It’s one of the largest vendors in the massive Center City market, with multiple wooden booths and metallic tables. You’ll see everyone from families to coworkers grabbing breakfast or a scrapple-topped burger (it’s dry, so skip it). Breakfast here is the winner—especially the scram bowl that’s pretty much a feast of eggs, home fries, and spicy sausage in one heap, and it’s served all day. Weekends are extremely busy, so stop by early or on a Tuesday afternoon while everyone is in a meeting that could’ve been an email with their boss.
Oregon Diner in Whitman is open from 10am-7pm, has a full bar, and is a five-minute ride from the stadiums. This makes it a cheap no-brainer before or after a game. The food here is classic diner stuff—jumbo burgers, triple-decker sandwiches, and butter-topped pancakes. With 60 or so menu items and tons of options for kids, you’ll see as many families inside the South Philly spot as you will Phillies, Eagles, and Sixers fans, seven days a week.
Penrose Diner is the kind of spot with worn-in booths and a crew in the corner stating, “I’ve been coming here for 30 years” like a badge of honor. Five dollar beers get chugged alongside juicy burgers while old guys rant about Broad Street being a parking lot because of traffic on the way in. On the weekends, the Packer Park diner is the primary breakfast spot for anybody within a 10-block radius. And that’s because everything, from the omelets to the french toast, comes in portions that will leave you full for the rest of the day. The cheap drinks are just a bonus for surviving the traffic jams.
A diner with an outdoor garden, multiple bars, and DJs might sound like a drunken fever dream, but in Philly, it exists on Spring Garden Street. Located in a renovated old-school diner, the menu cuisine hops. So you’ll see amped-up crowds sharing everything from solid burgers and glazed salmon to seitan wings pre- and post-dance floor. As a bonus, the kitchen closes at 1am on the weekends. It's that rare place where you can have a decent sandwich and dance to Backstreet Boys under hanging lights after midnight.
Fishtown Diner is at the bottom of a nondescript, gray apartment building. But the inside is bright with yellow and blue seating, specials written in neon, and an Eagles and Phillies mural with a massive Gritty featured in the middle, like the lead singer of a very weird band. On the weekends, it’s open for 24 hours. You’ll run into everyone from partygoers hoping an order of fluffy banana stuffed french toast can stave off their hangover (it can’t), friends coming from Les and Doreen’s (post-LITs), and construction crews going back to I-95 to do whatever they’ve been doing there for the last five years. Although the breakfast menu is consistently good, sandwiches like the tuna melt and gigantic roast beef shouldn’t be missed.
Tiffany on the Boulevard is enormous. It's where multiple worlds collide for all things cheesy, sugary, or meaty. We’ve seen a work husband audibly weep at his work wife’s retirement party (we know you secretly love her, Henry), while the bar has guys ordering Long Islands for Happy Hour and 12-year-olds gobbling up cannoli french toast as a reward for an A in English. And while the Northeast has a lot of stiff competition regarding diners, the ability to walk in with a large group and always find a table makes it one of our go-tos. Plus, the generously layered tuna melt on rye is one of the best we’ve had in a while—just save room for a chocolate cannoli or two.
Champ’s Diner is smack in the middle of Temple University’s campus. And because of this, you’d think it would be full of overflow from the Liacouras Center or the second-worst AMC Theater in town that’s across the street (yes, we ranked them). But this small corner spot is only open from 6:30am-2pm daily, so it’s more of a meetup for students cracking open an art book they can’t afford while downing a fruit-topped waffle. The daytime menu isn’t just surprisingly impressive breakfast sandwiches and western omelets; they have quality seafood—think peppery salmon cakes and shrimp—and egg platters for under $15. That’s a price tag that can come in handy, especially for undergrads who have more books to buy next week.
Quaker Diner in Fox Chase is a BYOB and one of the classic metallic diners that looks like an oversized toaster. Open since the 1930s, it has arched ceilings, locals ordering their usual, and servers dropping the word “hon” every two minutes. It’s a sugar-lover’s paradise—with towering chocolate milkshakes, french toast buried in powdered sugar, and a bakery making one of the best strawberry cheesecakes in town. But their stacked turkey club is so good that regulars have it three times a week.
There are mornings when you feel invincible. You know, green juice at sunrise, early morning spin, and you’ve checked off four things on your to-do list before noon. And then there are mornings when you only want a plate of cheesy eggs and a stack of pancakes. On mornings like this, Sam’s is here for you. This Bella Vista brunch institution usually has a long line on the weekends, so Mondays are an ideal time to go and avoid the wait. Just don’t schedule any plans for after plates of monkey french toast and veggie frittata, unless those plans include a nap.
This cash-only diner in Fishtown looks like it was decorated with a haul from a 1970s garage sale—meaning kitschy floral tiling and metallic fish. And the menu is just as old school. It’s full of comfort dishes like blueberry pancakes that are worth splitting—regardless of whatever else you get. On weekends, it’s the first stop for hungover friends who are told to “sit wherever you want” as soon as they walk in. And while it’s the buttery biscuits and gravy, berry french toast, and scrapple that bring them back to life, the staff instinctively knowing that hazy mornings call for a round of Gatorade also helps.
Finding great Korean fried chicken wings at a diner is like discovering an autographed Elton John album in a box marked “for free” on the street. But that’s exactly what they’re serving up at Mama’s Diner in Cheltenham. The wood-filled space has plenty of tan booths for groups and counter space along the wall—ideal when the only conversation you want to have is with a plate of chicken and waffles. Your meal can be brought over by the owner, a sweet old lady, or a smiling robot with a red apron painted on it. Either way, it will get to your table within 15 minutes of ordering, and you’ll leave the homey restaurant satisfied—especially if you order anything that involves super crispy chicken.
The Dining Car has been around since the first man went to space in 1961. And if you come at night when its chrome exterior becomes neon-lit, you’ll feel out of time. But there are some things that draw you back to the present when you walk in, like a book trolley in the dining room with Outlander on it. Like most places on this list, this Holmesburg diner serves heavy, “Am I seeing double?” portions. You can order a three-egg Spanish omelet or signature apple walnut stuffed french toast (our favorite) and have enough leftovers for lunch, or dinner when you wrap up the rest of Outlander on a Kindle at home.
Dutch Eating Place is as essential to Reading Terminal Market as the middle finger is to driving in Philly. Park up on a stool and get plates of scrapple, creamed chipped beef, and warm blueberry pancakes. It’s a main attraction for locals and tourists alike. This means you may have to small talk with someone who moved to Philly two days ago and heard about the flaky pot pie, or tolerate your cousin pounding her fifth coffee of the day on a lunch break. But that’s a small price to pay for your best meal of the day.
Sure, this Northeast diner has a menu so cheap that you could pick up the tab for everyone’s breakfast, lunch, or dinner and barely crack $100. But it's the 4am arguments at this 24-hour diner over the Phillies rotation and theories on how to survive a zombie apocalypse that keep us coming back. Plus, the four-egg omelets that topple over the plate like a blanket and one of the neighborhood's largest salad and pastry displays. Come in for a casual meal when you want to be surrounded by 20 families or a late-night crew vacuuming up chicken tenders while wondering aloud if zombies sleep.
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