11 Great Restaurants Where You Can Watch Sports

There are times in life when a date night , anniversary, or long overdue catch up with friends falls on the same day as a key Eagles, Phillies, or Sixers game. So when you need a place with a few TVs where you can watch the innings go by but also fulfill your social obligations, there are plenty of sports bars in town you could visit. But what if you're looking for an actual restaurant where you can eat something better than stale chips and peanuts? That's what this guide is for.

THE SPOTS

Paulie Gee’s Soul City Slice

With orange tables and someone tossing dough in the air like it’s a frisbee, Paulie Gee’s Soul Slice in Center City looks like a classic pizzeria you could find in any East Coast city. The difference here is the slice shop has a full bar with multiple TVs, a pool table, records for sale, and a little area where you can play Duck Hunt on an old tube TV. Get a Hellboy Squared—the upside-down Sicilian pie comes loaded with sweet tomato sauce, mozzarella, pecorino romano, pepperoni, and hot honey—and try to tune out the one Cowboys fan who somehow made it through the door.

Urban Saloon

This Fairmount spot has about 300 things on the menu, including classic pub food like burgers and wings, as well as unexpected options, like a Korean BBQ steakhouse sandwich that goes well with beer. And since it's full of large communal tables, there's not typically a wait to get inside. Expect to see friends watching the game in one corner and families watching a projected movie in another. This means you’ll hear fans and kids yelling with the same level of excitement at all hours.

New Wave Cafe

This Queen Village gastropub may seem like a harmless place to get a beer—there are 20 on tap. But when it’s game day, the entire neighborhood flocks to the corner spot to boo or cheer in unison. There’s a large u-shaped bar inside—with multiple TVs on each side—where you’ll always find half-empty beer glasses and friends eating nachos. The food here is better than your average bar, so if the teams let you down, you’ll always have a gooey short rib grilled cheese and blackened chicken sandwich to comfort you.

La Llorona Cantina

We mostly come to La Llorona Cantina on Passyunk Ave. for delicious tacos , margaritas , and a long tequila and mezcal list, but they also have a bar inside with a few TVs where you can pray for a Sixers win while biting into a quesadilla. It’s where you should come to watch sports if you're in the mood for shareable dishes like pan-seared branzino and chicken breast in a super smoky mole sauce. But if you’re not in the sharing mood, it's an ideal place to hang out inning after inning with some juicy asada tacos and a cocktail.

Other Half Brewing Co.

Thanks to its massive outdoor astroturf situation with corn hole and other lawn games, Fishtown’s Other Half Brewing Co. can quickly turn into an adult amusement park—especially when the Phillies play in the summer. The menu here is full of solid bar food like pulled pork sandwiches, wings, and brussels sprouts coated in garlic-soy sauce. It’s a fun place to sip on some hazy IPAs, imperial stouts, and sours, and you'll definitely see fans getting excited enough to start quoting the “need for speed” line from Top Gun and high-fiving strangers when anyone scores.

Libertee Grounds

Whether you’re in their beer garden, dining room, or mini golf area downstairs, you’re never too far from a TV at Spring Garden’s Libertee Grounds. At the American-Asian fusion spot, you’ll find people sharing an order of wings and watching the Phillies near a mural of Ben Franklin grabbing a beer. There’s lots of space and tables, so it’s great for a last-minute option when you want as many screens as a sports bar but not the rowdiness. Plus, if the Sixers or Flyers let you down, you can always head to the board games and mini golf downstairs to feel like a winner for the night.

City Tap House

City Tap House in Logan Square is an ideal spot to watch a game that wins on crowd alone. It has an enormous dining room, tons of beers on tap, and a bunch of TVs. It’s a staple for the Center Center post-work crowd, and no matter what’s on, there’s always a big group of people staring intently at a TV while blindly feeling around the table for a rogue wing.

Butcher Bar

Since Butcher Bar is such a great group dinner spot , grab a couple of friends when it’s game time and head to their outdoor patio that has a few TVs. The Rittenhouse BBQ restaurant has a bunch of delicious things you can pass around the table, like confit duck wings, rack of ribs, and sloppy joe poutine. But if you bring a Celtics fan here and can’t bear to be associated with them, you can go for their royal with cheese and a handful of hand-cut fries just for yourself. It’s one of the more affordable places in the neighborhood—they have $20 pastas and $40 steaks—so consider spending a few extra bucks on something from their beer and whiskey menu that has over 100 options.

Urban Village Brewing Company

Urban Village Brewing Company has everything you want in a gameday setup: an enormous space full of long tables, lots of beer options, and a few TVs around the bar that you can see from any seat in the house. The food here is also better than your standard gastropub dishes—they've got burgers, wood-fired pizzas, perch po’boys with a spicy peach remoulade, and some smoked wings. While there might be a dozen beers on tap and plenty of can options, they also have a solid whisky, wine, and cocktail list if your version of a gameday routine includes a few Old Fashioneds.

Sancho Pistola's

Sancho Pistola’s isn’t so much a sports bar as it is a restaurant that happens to have a TV within view of every table, but that’s exactly why we like it. There’s never really a huge crowd here, so if you want to watch the Flyers lose in peace while you taste test a bunch of way-above-average tacos, nachos, and margaritas, this is the place to do it. They also have other locations, Jose Pistola’s in Rittenhouse and Pistolas Del Sur in South Philly, that are equally as good.

Tradesman’s

Tradesman’s is a massive place that's both a BBQ spot and sports bar, but really feels like more of a restaurant. It can seat over 200 people between its two floors and has one of those enormous multi-screen TVs behind the main bar that makes you feel like you’re being brainwashed a la A Clockwork Orange . But especially during March Madness and playoff season, it’s one of the best places to multitask while sharing a plate of brisket, a bunch of imperial stouts, and smoked chicken with your 10 closest friends.