Center City District Restaurant Week returned Sunday for the first time in a year, with 120 restaurants offering fixed-price lunches and dinners — the largest lineup since the pandemic.
This also will be 2026’s only restaurant week. After running both fall and winter editions since September 2003, a district spokesperson told The Inquirer that it will not return this fall and will remain an early-winter promotion “at this time.”
The fall edition disappeared last September as the district said it had shifted its focus to newer programs, such as Open Streets and Let’s Do Lunch, while keeping its popular Center City District Sips series. Restaurateurs had also been pushing back on the September restaurant week, arguing that it landed during an already busy month and that promotional dollars were better spent in January, traditionally the slowest stretch of the year.
For the 2026 restaurant week, running through Jan. 31, some restaurants will offer $20 two-course lunches in addition to three-course dinners priced at $45 or $60. (The lower-tier dinners were $40 last year.)
More than 100 of the participating restaurants are repeats from last January, including such popular destinations as a.kitchen, Barbuzzo, Del Frisco’s, Estia, Fork, Forsythia, Gran Caffe L’Aquila, Harp & Crown, Loch Bar, and Wilder.
Additions this year include the yearlings Rockwell & Rose (attached to P.J. Clarke’s on Washington Square) and Rhythm & Spirits (at One Penn Center, above Suburban Station), as well as established restaurants Ambrosia, Bar Bombon, Charlie was a sinner., Cry Baby Pasta, Farina Pasta Bar, Grandma’s Philly, Hi-Lo Taco Co., Kanella, Kirin House, La Fontana Della Citta, Miss Saigon, the Mulberry on Arch, Pub & Kitchen, Radicchio Cafe, Superfolie, Trattoria Carina, Umami Steak & Sushi Bar, and Vita.
Some 2025 participants are not returning, such as the shuttered Banh Mi & Bottles, Del Frisco’s Grille, Flambo, Iron Hill Brewery, Kook Burger & Bar, and Mulherin’s Pizzeria.
The district has arranged discount parking for $10 or less at participating BexPark by Brandywine Realty Trust, LAZ Parking, and Philadelphia Parking Authority parking facilities from 4:45 p.m. to 1 a.m.
The intimate dining room is hushed but for the clinking of glasses and silverware clattering on gleaming plates. There are only 32 seats. The polished wooden chairs are plushly upholstered. The paintings and a stylized metalwork map that adorn the room are tasteful. A glass wine room, lit golden from within, casts soft light on the silver damask-swathed tables, as do the Napa winery-esque modern chandeliers.
This is Carlton Commons, the heart of senior-living, life-planning community Waverly Heights in Gladwyne.
The mansion in which this dining room is housed was once the elegant Main Line estate of a railway baron. Now, it has the air of a very quiet cruise ship, complete with a dress code: dresses for women, dinner jackets for men.
Dining room at the Waverly Heights in Gladwyne, Pa., on Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025.
This is a restaurant that has a waiting list that’s ostensibly 710 people, about as long as Royal Sushi’s notorious Resy waitlist. But it‘s arguably far more difficult to get into. You need to be 62 years of age to be a resident (who can bring guests of any age), and the cost of admission for a one-bedroom dwelling requires a $336,000 minimum down payment. (Deluxe apartments start at over a million dollars — not a surprise for wealthy Gladwyne.)
An osso buco collapses into a tangle of tender fibers at the prod of a fork, melting into the slightly tangy goat cheese polenta puddled beneath. Crunchy fried potato slivers add pleasing texture to each bite. A butternut squash risotto is just as satisfying, a master class in texture, with creamy squash trapped in distinct grains of arborio, beset with balsamic-scented curls of slow-cooked sweet onion.
If I closed my eyes, I could very well think I was dining at Le Virtù.
Chicken cutlet with rigatoni and vodka sauce at Waverly Heights.
There’s a perfectly al dente rigatoni alla vodka upon which a crisp chicken cutlet is nestled, then topped with an oozing cloud of burrata. (It’s almost identical to the thoroughly satisfying one I just had at Center City’s Wine Dive.)
The specialty of the house is a curiously delicious tomato aspic, served with a tiny slice of cucumber and a dollop of Hellman’s mayo. No staff member was able to explain its origins, as it predated all of them. “It was always here,” said Waverly Heights’ white-toqued executive chef Michael F. Tiernan, 47. “And it is a fan favorite.”
Tomato aspic with mayo and cucumber.
When Tiernan interviewed for the position in 2017, he was expressly told to not touch the tomato aspic. He could change the shape — the kitchen’s cookie-cutter collection forms it into hearts, circles, and triangles — but he was not permitted to riff on the recipe, which consists of unflavored gelatin, tomato juice, vegetable juice, celery, onion, and olives. “It’s a very traditional, Old World-style recipe,” said CEO Tom Garvin.
Tiernan has worked at Waverly Heights for eight years, with a cumulative 18 years under his belt cooking at continuing-care facilities. In addition to managing Carlton Commons and changing its menu every three months, he cooks for a packed calendar of special events. On one of my visits, he was preparing for New Year’s Eve with poached lobster and filet mignon for a dinner that would be a prelude to dancing. The only major difference between a New Year’s party at Waverly Heights and a typical one: Their ball drops at 9 p.m. “We celebrate like we’re in Australia,” Garvin quipped.
Executive Chef Michael Tiernan at Waverly Heights in Gladwyne, Pa.
I dined at Carlton Commons twice, once as a guest of a friend’s parents who are residents and again after I contacted the life-plan community (the preferred term over retirement community, as I was informed by Garvin), who indulged my request for an interview with no small amount of incredulousness. But I loved my first meal there.
And I was deeply curious. A bookshelf in the community’s library is stacked with books written by residents, including volumes on psychology, cardiovascular disorders, and politics. Carlton Commons’ regular diners had careers as physicians, ambassadors, and scientists. How does one cook for residents like those of Waverly Heights?
Well, first, by changing the menu every 90 days, and then by packing it with global influences, frequently rendered into Italian-rooted comfort foods. And hosting lots of themed parties and events.
Wine cellar displayed near the entrance of the dining room at the Waverly Heights in Gladwyne, Pa., on Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025.
The back of house is, by necessity, an institutional operation. Carlton Commons and Waverly Heights’ other dining rooms and cafes are executed in partnership with Unidine, the life-plan community’s version of Aramark, though Carlton Commons’ chef has significant creative control over the menus. The pasta that winds up on my plate tastes far less institutional at many places I’ve eaten, including the 100-layer lasagna at Borromini in Rittenhouse.
The prices for me, a single guest, are shockingly low. It’s $37.50 plus tax for a full meal, including an appetizer, soup or salad, entree, and dessert. No tipping is permitted. I am unable to pay more than $5.75 for a glass of chardonnay, and a nip of Maker’s Mark costs $4.75. (There’s no sommelier on staff, but there is a wine committee consisting of opinionated residents.)
My first dinner there had some slight hiccups. One of my dining companions ordered a steak “still pink inside” that arrived well done, but it was swiftly replaced by an appropriately cooked one. Another dining companion was startled to discover that her iced tea was presweetened, which took more than a few minutes to rectify.
The butternut squash risotto at Waverly Heights in Gladwyne, Pa., on Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025.
My edamame dumplings swam in a too heavy-handed pour of bracingly salty soy sauce that would have worked better as a dipping sauce, but the dumplings themselves were delightful crispy golden pockets of gently mashed soybeans. My miso sea bass was pristinely roasted, flaking apart into succulent morsels with a gentle nudge.
Overall, the food is comforting, gently refined, and on trend in every which way, even to the surprise of Waverly Heights’ staff (down to the baked potatoes, available as a side every night). And the veryearly reservations — Carlton Commons seats diners between 5:30 and 7:15 p.m., and everyone is asleep by last call — reflect recent data that indicate diners are eating out earlier than ever. And I assure you, many of those residents listen to vinyl records, just like in Philly’s listening bars.
Dining at Carlton Commons reminded me that sometimes, the best meals aren’t found in the places you’d expect.
As anyone who keeps tabs on their bottle shop selection knows, craft beer has seen better days: Sales are down, and, in an industry now rife with consolidations and acquisitions, more breweries are closing than opening.
The outside of 4323 Main St., an 1880s-era Manayunk grocery store turned five-and-dime that was most recently home to Fat Lady Brewing.
But the taps in Manayunk won’t be dry for long: Love City Brewing signed a lease on the historic two-story building at 4323 Main St. last week. The Callowhill brewery is targeting a spring opening following some cosmetic changes, according to co-owner Melissa Walter.
The new taproom will have room for about 60 seated (more standing) and an upstairs space used mostly for private events to start out with. An in-house food partner, like Love City has with Old City’s Viva Pizza, has yet to be determined. All beer will still be brewed in Callowhill.
Walter said she and her husband/co-owner, Kevin, have been on the hunt for a second location for about two years, prompted by the desire to expand their own retail business.
Love City produces about 2,900 barrels a year at its Hamilton Street home, which opened nearly eight years ago. Around 60% of that liquid is funneled to beer stores and other bars. But the profit Love City makes off the beer it distributes pales in comparison to its margin on beer sold from its own taproom. “That’s a big part of the thought behind this expansion,” Walter said. “It’s always going to be good for us to sell our products over our bar. So how can we make that happen? Where can we make that happen?”
Love City Brewing owners Melissa and Kevin Walter. The couple is expanding to a second taproom in Manayunk.
When the Walters first scoped out Fat Lady’s space in the fall, it met all their criteria for a second location. “We wanted to be in a place that already had good energy and good foot traffic,” which Main Street brings in spades, Melissa Walter said. Add to that the physical space itself — an 1880s-era brick-faced storefront with towering curved-glass windows outside and tin ceilings and hardwood floors inside — and the Walters were sold.
Another point that resonated, on both sides of the deal, were the two breweries’ mutually shared values: “I’m super-excited to be able to not only carry on an awesome historic building, but to carry on the torch of this small, woman-owned, queer-friendly brewery,” Walter said. “We’re like, ‘Yes, we can do that! We are that.’”
Fat Lady Brewing owner Jane Lipton, whose mother bought 4323 Main St. in 1986, said she feels equally positive about passing the baton to Love City. “From the moment they came and looked at it, I was really hopeful, because I thought it was such a good fit,” Lipton said in an interview this week. “In their beer and their brand and how they operate, I just feel there’s some kind of symmetry.”
Inside the Fat Lady Brewing space at 4323 Main St. in Manayunk.
A brewery for all
Lipton has been a fixture in Manayunk’s business community for 40 years — ever since her mother deployed her to oversee a second location of her South Street antiques store, Two By Four. “My whole life was around that South Street corridor then, and mom said, ‘I’m moving you to manage Manayunk and I want you to do in Manayunk what you did in South Street,’ which was her way of saying, get involved in the business association, get involved in whatever way,” Lipton recalls. “And I was like, ‘Oh my God, Manayunk?’”
In the years that followed, Lipton did just that, eventually serving as the executive director of the Manayunk Development Corp. from 2009 to 2019. Aside from running Two By Four, she also launched her own antiques business and a co-working space in the 6,000-square-foot Main Street building before leasing it as a satellite taproom to Bald Birds in 2019. When the pandemic forced the Audubon brewery to break the lease, one of the owners suggested Lipton get her own brewery license when she had trouble finding another tenant.
Thus in 2021 they launched Fat Lady, a pet project that was immediately near and dear to Lipton’s late, beer-loving wife, Karen Kolkka, an artist and art teacher. The couple threw themselves into making the brewery a warm, community-oriented space: “We picked the circus theme because everyone’s welcome at the circus,” Lipton said. “I just wanted Fat Lady Brewing to be a place where everybody and anybody could feel good and happy and safe and accepted.”
Over its four years, Fat Lady hosted scores of events. Lipton rattles off a long list: speed dating, fashion shows, live music, open-mic nights, bingo, Quizzo, dance parties, drag shows, and burlesque shows, and community beef and beers, among others. “It was really fun,” she said.
“And then in 2023 my wife’s cancer returned, and I had to step away, and the rest is kind of history, and it’s not the same without her,” Lipton said. “It took me a year to come into the taproom that she had picked every color for and every paint. She hung every light bulb in this beautiful fixture that we made ourselves.”
After Kolkka’s passing, Lipton decided it was time to retire. She wound down Fat Lady’s operations at the end of 2025, just before the lease with Love City was finalized. She’s confident Kolkka — who had been to Love City with her in years previous — would strongly approve of the coming transition for the space.
“She would be very happy about this, and that makes me feel good,” Lipton said.
There are plenty of value-priced wines to choose from these days. Indeed, there are so many that it can be a challenge to select a bottle with any confidence, since wine quality can range quite dramatically within each price tier. It’s tempting to simply spend more to increase your odds of drinking a well-drafted wine, but if you are willing to do a little homework, there is a reliable way to identify wines that are likely to overperform.
The lowest-priced wines from respected, top-notch winemakers will almost always be superior to similarly priced wines from less ambitious competitors. This entry-level Willamette Valley pinot noir from Ken Wright is a perfect example, offering a wine that is more nuanced, more complex, and has far more integrity than most pinot noirs available at this price.
Ken Wright was among the earliest Oregon winemakers to earn recognition for the quality of his wines. A stint working in high-end restaurants inspired him to study winemaking in California in the 1970s. There he made lifelong friends, some of whom made the trek north to Oregon in search of terrain and climate that could produce better pinot noir than what was then possible in California. Inspired by their experiences, Wright brought his family to the Willamette Valley in 1986 and quickly became one of the region’s rising stars. Ken Wright Cellars was founded eight years later and to this day is revered for the richness, grace, and fine-tuned balance of its single-vineyard pinot noirs.
This wine is their most modestly priced cuvée, a blend that includes barrels that don’t make the cut for the winery’s top bottlings. Wright’s wines are known for their plush generosity of fruit and lithe, food-friendly balance. This dry, midweight red offers bright blueberry and cherry flavors that feature a faint whiff of cinnamon and cocoa rarely found in wines that see no aging in new oak barrels.
Ken Wright Pinot Noir
Ken Wright pinot noir
Willamette Valley, Oregon; 13.8% ABV
PLCB Item #100032864 ― on sale for $22.99 through Feb. 1 (regularly $24.99)
Mac Mart, the mac-and-cheese cafe, has left its Rittenhouse storefront location of nearly a decade in favor of a kiosk three blocks away.
Mini Mac Mart — as sisters Marti Lieberman and Pam Lorden call their Center City stand — soft-opened Thursday at 18th and Arch Streets, outside the Comcast Technology Center and down the block from Biederman’s caviar kiosk.
Marti Lieberman (left) and Pam Lorden outside the Mini Mac Mart kiosk on Arch Street near 18th.
Although they’re working in a smaller space, Lieberman and Lorden have expanded their product line beyond their various mac-and-cheese bowls to include snacks and foods from local businesses, such as cinnamon milk buns from Huda, cupcakes and sweets from Sweet Box, fresh fruit lemonades from Dillonades, hoagies and wraps from Marinucci’s Deli, and salads from Big Bite Salad Co. (the sisters’ in-house brand). The lineup will vary depending on availability.
Lieberman, 36, launched Mac Mart in January 2013 as a food truck on the Drexel University campus, and Lorden, 39, joined her soon after. The store opened in May 2016 in a former shoe-repair shop on 18th Street near Chestnut; it closed last month.
Assorted refrigerated items are available at the Mini Mac Mart kiosk.
Lieberman said challenges on 18th Street forced them to rethink the storefront. Since the pandemic, she said, foot traffic and catering orders from offices had dropped. With fewer people on the street at night, she said, the business’ front door and window became a frequent target of vandals.
Besides, Lieberman acknowledged, “we’re very niche. People have to really want a one-pound bowl of mac and cheese, and that narrowed our audience.”
A BBQ Bacon Bowl and Mart’s Mac (plain) at the Mini Mac Mart kiosk.
In response, Lieberman and Lorden launched Munch Machines, a vending-machine operation that stocks with food from local small businesses.
The machines are located at Evo at Cira Centre South, an apartment complex near 29th and Chestnut Streets, and at Motto by Hilton in Rittenhouse.
“That model has continued to grow for us over the past 4½ years,” Lieberman said. “So when it came time to close Mac Mart, rebrand it, or pivot, we leaned into what we knew worked.”
Mini Mac Mart draws directly from that vending-machine approach, combining Mac Mart’s core product with a broader mix of ready-to-eat food in a kiosk that can be buttoned up tightly after hours. Customers can see items through the front window and order off the side window.
Mini Mac Mart kiosk near 18th and Arch Streets, as seen on Jan. 12, 2026.
Over the next year, Lieberman and Lorden plan to focus on refining the kiosk model while continuing catering, market pop-ups, and Munch Machines.
“If this small model works, which we’re confident it will, we could bring it into other small spaces — airports, amusement parks, college campuses,” Lieberman said. “This time, we know we don’t need 400 square feet or more. We can operate efficiently in a very small footprint and still serve a quality product.”
Mini Mac Mart, 18th and Arch Streets. Hours: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Friday.
With early sunsets persisting for the next few weeks, the 4 to 6 p.m. hour can feel pretty grim. If you’re looking for a drink-sized pick-me-up or a discount on some tasty bites, there are plenty of places in and around Media to choose from. Here are eight restaurants in the Media area doing happy hours right now.
Internationally inspired restaurant Departure is serving hits from around the globe. Their happy hour includes select wines for $7, beers for $4 to $6, house martinis for $9, mixed drinks for $7, and featured specialty cocktails for $11. Small bites also abound. Think tandoori chicken dumplings for $8, jerk shrimp for $10, or hummus for $5. Happy hour is available Monday through Friday from 4 to 6 p.m.
Maris is the new kid on the block in Media’s dining scene. The Mediterranean restaurant opened on State Street in November and has been serving up fresh seafood and Greek-style dishes since. Maris’ happy hour deal includes buck-a-shuck oysters, half-priced calamari, and half-priced spreads. Drink options include $4 Miller Lites, $10 glasses of wine, and $10 “bartender’s choice” cocktails. Happy hour is Monday through Friday from 4 to 6 p.m.
Buck-a-shuck oysters at Maris Mediterranean Seafood in Media, Pa. Maris offers happy hour Monday through Friday from 4 to 6 p.m.
Spasso Italian Grill is a Media icon. The beloved restaurant serves up Italian comfort classics, from wood-fired pizzas to homemade pastas and hearty salads. Spasso’s happy hour menu features a wide-ranging list of beers for $4 to 5, wine by the glass for $8, mixed drinks for $7, and martinis for $8. Pick from the $8 small plates menu, including arancini, meatballs, and tomato bruschetta, or try a pizza or heartier dish, like eggplant parmesan or steamed mussels, for $13. Happy hour is Monday through Friday from 4 to 6 p.m.
Ariano is a cocktail bar and restaurant in downtown Media specializing in Southern Italian cuisine. The restaurant is offering both an early and late happy hour through Jan. 18. Every day from 4 to 6 p.m., enjoy $4 off wines, cocktails, pizza, and appetizers and $2 off draft beers. On Friday and Saturday, get the happy hour deal from 8 to 9 p.m.
The Old State Tavern has taken the moniker “Media’s best neighborhood bar.” The laid-back bar is a local favorite, complete with darts, a pool table, bar food, and lots of beer. Take 50 cents off domestic beers and $1 off craft beers during happy hour, which takes place Monday through Friday from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Media’s la Padella is home to comforting Italian dishes, steaks, chops, and desserts. Their happy hour menu features $7 starters, from mussels to fried ravioli and truffle fries. House wines and cocktails like the Tuscan Sunrise or Penn Martini are also $7, and a rotating selection of draft beers is $1 off. Happy hour runs from 3 to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday.
Stephen’s on State prides itself on high-quality, fresh steaks and an “exquisite” ambiance. Looking for something more casual than a full steak dinner? Pull up a seat at the bar for happy hour, Monday through Friday from 4 to 6 p.m. Get your first two drinks half-off (excluding top shelf liquor), and try some bites like the cheesesteak nachos for $7, jumbo wings for $8, or margherita flatbread for $8.
Located off Middletown Road, La Porta Ristorante is a family-owned restaurant serving wood-fired pizzas, pastas, and Italian-inspired small plates and mains. Happy hour is available at the bar, Monday through Friday from 4 to 6 p.m. Order a Stella Artois for $3.50, liquor drinks for $4, or wine by the glass for $5.50. Small bite options include scotch eggs for $5, mussels for $8, bacon-wrapped bleu cheese-stuffed dates for $6, and deviled eggs for $5.
This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.
Third culture bakeries have seen a meteoric rise recently and are a significant part of the bakery boom fueled by the “little treat culture” that has swept cities from New York to London to Philly.
The linked story of Mexican conchas and Chinese bo lo bao predates “little treat culture” by hundreds of years.
Crackled, cookie-like crusts sit on top of round, fluffy milk bread, sometimes filled with cream, jam, or custard, or char siu, a vibrant red Cantonese roast pork.
At dim sum and in Chinese bakeries, they’re the other mainstay classic, along with egg tarts. At first glance, the bo lo bao and the concha might not seem to have that much in common, aside from both being buns. Conchas are staples of the Mexican bakery, bo la bao are popular at dim sum houses.
A side-by-side comparison of the “pineapple” bun and the Mexican bun at Bread Top House in Chinatown.
This popular item at East Asian-leaning bakeries, both new wave and old school, shares its origins with traditional Mexican bakeries. While in Spanish it’s the concha, named for its shell that resembles the outside of the seashell (though it also can be manipulated with crosshatching to look more like tic tac toe), in Chinese, it’s “bo lo bao,” which translates to “pineapple bun,” though the bun never contains any pineapple. Rather, its namesake gives the bun a way to describe its crusty, often cross-hatched texture.
It’s a narrative that has been trending on social media, as people of Chinese heritage dig into the origins of their favorite foods.
One theory on how these buns evolved in separate cultures is that after Chinese immigrants built railroads in Mexico in the early 1900s and returned to China, they brought conchas with them. Chinese bakeries are also heavily influenced by the Portuguese, who ruled Macao and also introduced egg tarts to Chinese cuisine.
There’s another bread narrative that has been simultaneously making waves on social media. British baker Richard Hart, co-owner and founder of the lauded Copenhagen bakery Hart Bageri and the Green Rhino bakery in Mexico City, insulted the entirety of Mexican bread culture on a podcast, dismissing it as nonexistent. His words incensed the internet. And you’ll find that by tasting through even the Mexican breads available in Philly, he’s quite incorrect.
At Tequilas, an airy concha, flavored with hoja santa and filled with avocado whipped cream, is a coda to dinners of teeming molcajetes and similarly light tamales. At the adjacent La Jefa, you can pick up jam-filled concha, made by the same kitchen, to pair with your morning cappuccino. They’re the work of pastry chef Jessica Delgado, who comes from a baking family in Mexico City; the first taste of them nearly brought Tequilas founder David Suro to tears. “She said when she was a little kid, she helped her uncle deliver bread in big baskets and her pay was a concha,” he said.
In Mexico City, conchas abound. At traditional bakeries, grab a pair of tongs and heap them onto a plastic tray to bring them to a cashier. Repeat the process at any traditional bakery in Philly’s Chinatown, whether it’s Mayflower or Bread Top House (where you can get both bo lo bao and a “Mexican bun.” Dodo Bakery also makes them, though its diminutive footprint means you order from a counter).
In each case, a layer of fat (butter, shortening, or lard) is mixed with flour and sugar, and placed over a bun prior to baking. The Chinese versions are also brushed with egg yolk for a lacquered finish. The coating splits apart in the oven, sometimes eased along by delicate cuts made on it, to create the buns’ unique crusts.
The “pineapple” buns at Grand Palace Restaurant.
Some of Philly’s best versions are found at dim sum parlors like Grand Palace on Washington Ave and China Gourmet in Northeast. Go easy on the siu mai and congee during dim sum so you can save some room for bo lo bao.
OpenTable has begun adding a 2% service charge on transactions made through the reservations site, including no-show penalties, deposits, and prepaid dining experiences such as special events.
An OpenTable spokesperson said the restaurants can absorb the 2% charge or pass it along to customers. The fee is part of what OpenTable called an overhaul that began rolling out to most U.S. restaurants in the second half of 2025, with the remainder scheduled for early 2026.
As before, patrons are not being charged directly for ordinary reservations; the restaurants continue to pay OpenTable to use the platform as part of their service agreement.
Davide Lubrano of Pizzata Pizzeria & Birreria with a Roman pizza, topped with mixed organic wild mushrooms, organic leeks, low-moisture mozzarella, prosciutto cotto Italian ham, stracciatella, pickled chiodini mushrooms in oil, chives, aged Parmigiano Reggiano, and truffle caviar pearls.
“Online payments are important for restaurants and, together with our restaurant partners, we’ve learned that they help reduce no-shows, improve cash flow, and increase revenue,” the OpenTable representative said. “By applying a standard service fee structure across all transaction types, we can continue to support new tools that help restaurants protect and unlock revenue.”
At Pizzata Pizzeria & Birreria on East Passyunk Avenue in South Philadelphia, co-owner Davide Lubrano said the restaurant recently turned to OpenTable in an effort to control persistent no-shows.
With just 48 dining-room seats split between two floors — plus a 12-seat bar that is first come, first served — missed reservations ripple through Pizzata’s service.
“What was happening is that we were turning away walk-ins, and then the reservation wouldn’t show up,” Lubrano said. “We ended up losing tables, basically.”
Pizzata just began requiring a credit card to hold OpenTable reservations, which call for a $15-per-person no-show fee.
But Pizzata is generous about it. Lubrano said customers get a 20-minute grace period, along with three reminder texts and a courtesy call. “If you don’t respond to the texts and don’t answer the call, that counts as a no-show, and that’s when the charge applies,” he said. “But if you answer and say you need to cancel, there’s no charge.”
As for the new 2% fee that would be tacked on to the $15 no-show charge, Lubrano emphasized that OpenTable and not the restaurant is assessing it.
He added that diners who prefer to avoid entering a credit card online can still call the restaurant directly. “You can always call us and avoid a credit card fee, and we put a reservation in for you,” he said.
Together, Northern Liberties Business Improvement District and Fishtown District are hosting a massive, two-day bar crawl of more than two dozen restaurants, bars, breweries, wineries, distilleries, and hospitality spots offering discounted zero-proof cocktails. The event runs Saturday, Jan. 17 and Sunday, Jan, 18, allowing participants to explore the two neighborhoods at their own pace. No tickets or check-in are required.
“We are excited to kick off 2026 with our close friends in Fishtown for a post-holiday reset,” said Sydney Rexroad, Northern Liberties Business Improvement District executive director. “The Dry January Crawl … is a great opportunity to see a different side of creativity from your favorite spots.”
Bar Palmina will participate in the Northern Liberties/Fishtown Dry January Bar Crawl.
“This is the perfect way to start 2026,” said Marc D. Collazzo, Fishtown District executive director. “Our close connection provides a full, fun wellness experience in the hottest neighborhoods in the city. Come join us to sip, savor and smile.”
Along with a slate of regularly priced nonalcoholic cocktails or specialty beverages, folks can expect each participating establishment to have one or more special happy hour-priced nonalcoholic beverage, from $6 to $10.
Bar1010 will offer strawberry matcha mocktails for $10, beers and Moscow mules will run $6 to $8 at BarPalmina, and smoked mixed berry spritz will go for $10 at Jerry’s Bar, just to name a few.
But remember: “Mocktails are what you’ll see mostly on menus — they’re made up of syrups, shrubs, soda, juices, and the ABV falls at 0.0,” according to Nikki Graziano, owner of Bar Palmina. “Zero-proof cocktails are made with complex nonalcoholic spirits and bitters. They provide the same balance and craft as a regular alcoholic drink and their ABV ranges from 0.0-0.5% ABV.”
“There’s no better or worse, but the distinction is important to note for sensitivities as well as price points,” she said.
Front Street Cafe will participate in the Northern Liberties/Fishtown Dry January Bar Crawl.
In Northern Liberties:
Amina:1102 Germantown Ave., 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Bar1010:701 N. Second St., 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Bourbon and Branch:705 N. Second St., 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
El Camino Real:1040 N. Second St., 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Jerry’s Bar:129 W. Laurel St., 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Standard Tap:901 N. Second St., 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The 700: 700 N. Second St., 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Urban Village Brewing:1001 N. Second St., noon to 5 p.m.
Yards Brewing Co.:500 Spring Garden St., 11:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Expect nonalcoholic cocktails like this one, from Bar Palmina, at happy hour prices on Northern Liberties-Fishtown’s inaugural Dry January bar crawl.
In Fishtown:
Bar Palmina:1306 N. Front St., 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Brewery ARS:2223 Frankford Ave., 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Evil Genius Beer Company:1727 N. Front St., noon to 5 p.m.
Fette Sau:1208 Frankford Ave., noon to 5 p.m.
Fishtown Social:1525 Frankford Ave., noon to 5 p.m.
Frankford Hall:1210 Frankford Ave., noon to 5 p.m.
Front Street Cafe: 1253 Front St., 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Garage Fishtown:100 E. Girard Ave., noon to 5 p.m.
Johnny Brenda’s:1201 Frankford Ave., 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Mamajuana Cafe Philly:1000 Frankford Ave., noon to 5 p.m.
Meyers Brewing:436 E. Girard Ave., noon to 5 p.m.
Mural City Cellars:1831 Frankford Ave., noon to 5 p.m.
Nut Hut Saloon: Corner of Frankford Ave. and E. Norris St., 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Pearl’s Fishtown:1444 Frankford Ave., 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Percy Diner & Bar:1700 N. Front St., Saturday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Stateside Vodka Bar:1700 N. Hancock St., noon to 5 p.m.
Flip a reservation and find out — or at least that’s how the warning goes at South Philly’s acclaimed Cambodian restaurant Mawn.
Last week, the restaurant’s owners, Phila and Rachel Lorn, took to Mawn’s Instagram to lambaste a woman attempting to sell coveted dinner reservations on the “Buy, Sell, Trade” section of Philaqueens, a private Facebook group with 75,000 members.
“Selling a Mawn dinner reservation for this month and February if anyone is interested,” read the since-deleted post, which did not specify a price. Commenters were split on the unorthodox offering. Three people immediately replied to say they were interested, while another didn’t mince words.
“Selling a free reservation?” she wrote. “Horrible.”
The Lorns agree.
“Eww. Gross … Don’t play with us,” they wrote, sharing a screenshot of the Facebook post that included the seller’s name. “All 11 of this person’s reservations are canceled.”
The “all star seafood rice” at Mawn, an acclaimed South Philly restaurant targeted by reservation scalpers.
The interaction was a glimpse into the burgeoning underbelly of restaurant reservation scalping, in which enterprising individuals can make a lucrative side hustle using bots and other means to snap up free reservations at in-demand restaurants, then selling them at a premium.
The reservation black market is more established in New York City, Chicago, and Miami, where tables at celebrity-favorite Italian restaurant Carbone or Ralph Lauren’s notoriously exclusive Polo Bar can fetch between $350 and $1,700 on the third-party website Appointment Trader. One Brown University student told the New Yorker in 2024 that he made $70,000 just by using fake phone numbers and aliases to book reservations to flip on Appointment Trader. The website itself claims that sellers average $172 per reservation.
The practice has spread to smaller cities, too: During Super Bowl LIX weekend in New Orleans, a once-free reservation for a table at the French Quarter restaurant Antoine’s went for $2,138.
As reservation scalping becomes more widespread, so has legislation attempting to guard against it. Philadelphia City Council unanimously passed a law in Decemberthat would prohibitthird-party websites from selling reservations without a restaurant’s consent, fining platforms such as Appointment Trader $1,000 per violation. The bill was signed last week by Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, who joined leaders in New York, Louisiana, and Illinois in banning the practice.
Still, these bills do not prevent savvy foodies from making under-the-table reservation deals in, say, a Facebook group.
‘Nobody should be making money off a free reservation’
Rachel Lorn said that she and husband Phila found out about the offending Facebook post from several back-to-back direct messages tipping her off.
Mawn co-owners Phila (left) and Rachel Lorn, who say reservation scalpers are unwelcome at their James Beard-award winning restaurant.
“It’s disrespectful. Nobody should be making money off a free reservation. … We felt like we had a responsibility to [say to] all the people who can’t get a reservation, ‘This is not OK,’” said Rachel Lorn, who oversees front-of-house operations for Mawn, including the restaurant’s packed guest book.
Customers wait in line for Mawn to open for lunch.
Mawn draws lines that wrap around the block for its first come, first served lunch service, but dinner reservations are the hotter commodity. Rachel Lorn uses OpenTable to drop reservations at noon on the first of every month, making roughly 650 total tables available at once. Customers are allowed to book multiple reservations, Lorn said, and many regulars manage to do so. It’s a pain point for would-be diners who miss out, whom Lorn said she hears from nonstop.
“I watch [the reservation drops] from our computer. They sell out in seconds,” she said. “We never imagined that this would be the response to our restaurant. … It’s amazing, but it’s also a really tough position to be in. There isn’t much I can do with our small restaurant and how many seats we have.”
Upon learning of the attempted black market deal, Rachel Lorn checked OpenTable and found that the Philaqueens poster had dined at Mawn six times prior and had 11 dinner reservations booked on different days throughout January and February. Lorn canceled them all immediately.
Mawn’s dining room, which has only 32 seats. The restaurant is first come, first served for lunch, but dinner reservations are snapped up in seconds.
She also reached out to the seller directly, who Rachel Lorn said didn’t respond but did manage to change the name and email associated with her OpenTable account. The Lorns said they would ban the seller, if only they could figure out a way to do so; OpenTable currently does not allow for restaurants to prevent specific users from making reservations.
“It felt like she was trying to trick us further,” Rachel Lorn said. “She shouldn’t be coming to our restaurant.”
The reservation seller declined to comment to The Inquirer, citing privacy concerns. She said only that she “meant no harm and there was no ill intent,” and declined to answer questions about why she was selling the reservations. The Inquirer is not releasing her name since the attempted sale happened in a private Facebook community.
For the most part, the Mawn incident is an anomaly in Philly. Reservation scalping has yet to take off here, according to Ben Fileccia, the senior vice president of strategy for the Pennsylvania Restaurant and Lodging Association, which worked with at-large Councilmember Isaiah Thomas to draft Philly’s anti-reservation scalping bill.
Fileccia said that this was the first time he had ever seen someone try to sell a reservation on Facebook, and that he had only seen a smattering of reservations for Philly restaurants on third-party platforms before working on the bill. Free trades are more common, he said, likely because cost is more top of mind for diners in Philly, a city with large wealth inequality.
“When you have an audience of folks to which prices are no object, [reservation scalping] becomes more of a problem,” Fileccia said. “Whereas when I discuss this issue and ask people [in Philly], ‘Would you pay $500 for reservation at 7:30 p.m. at X restaurant?’ … They usually laugh and roll their eyes.”
The gaeng pae, khao mun klone, and moo yaang prik at Kalaya, one Philly restaurant featured on reservation resale platform Appointment Trader.
That doesn’t mean scalping doesn’t happen here.
A recent search on Appointment Trader foundprime-time Saturday night reservations at Kalaya averaging $113 and 9 p.m. reservations for any day at raw bar Tesiny for between $107 and $360. A 7 p.m. Saturday table for six at Stephen Starr’s Barclay Prime steakhouse, or a reservation for two for literally any day or time at Pine Street Grill, Amanda Shulman and Alex Kemp’s new spot? That will cost at least $241 or $124, respectively, on Appointment Trader.
Until recently, Appointment Trader functioned similarly to StubHub, where buyers could purchase reservations that scalpers had already acquired. Now, founder Jonas Frey is shifting the model to a concierge system: Buyers request a certain reservation and an algorithm spits out an average price based on demand. Once a bid is placed, Appointment Trader matches you with a seller whose job it is to secure the reservation by any means possible. There’s a 100% refund guarantee if the request goes unfulfilled.
Representatives for the restaurants The Inquirer recently found on Appointment Trader were initially unaware they were listed on the platform.
“We do not have experience with guests utilizing this platform,” said Kalaya chef and co-owner Chutatip “Nok” Suntaranon. “All reservations for Kalaya run through Resy.”
Tesiny owner Lauren Biederman called the discovery “concerning.”
“There isn’t too much we can do in terms of figuring out if the reservation is scalped really, though,” she said, noting that Tesiny requires customers provide a credit cardupon booking and charges $25 per person for late cancellations and no-shows.
Longtime server Matthew Penn prepares for dinner service at Barclay Prime, Stephen Starr’s steakhouse, where a table can go for upwards of $221 on Appointment Trader.
When Shulman and Kemp opened Pine Street Grill last month, they designated half the nightly seats for walk-ins, in part to keep it a neighborhood restaurant.“We were especially surprised to see Pine Street listed for such a hefty price since it’s by far our most casual restaurant,” the couplewrote in a statement. “Oftentimes a dinner for two at Pine Street is less than the reservation cost you shared.”
Rachel Lorn said she feels “powerless” againstplatforms like Appointment Trader. She often finds out after the fact when a reservation has been resold. She also tries to hide her suspicion when a guest shows up and struggles to recall the name a table is under.
“What am I going to do in that moment?” she asked, exasperated. “Accuse them?”
Chief among the concerns reservation scalping has raised in the restaurant industry: It overinflates the demand for a restaurant.
Often, scalpers will sit on hundreds of reservations that go unused, leading to no-shows that can hurt a restaurant’s bottom line and lead to less tips for servers. At COQODAQ, an upscale fried chicken joint in New York that’s popular on Appointment Trader, the no-show rate more than tripled after the website took off, Fox Business reported.
Fileccia said it’s hard for some establishments to make that business back.
Chefs Amanda Shulman and Alex Kemp at Pine Street Grill, another Philly restaurant that has appeared on Appointment Trader.
“The types of restaurants that have reservations being sold are not restaurants that are going to get walk-ins to refill those seats,” he said. “These are places that people know they need a reservation for.”
Frey, who founded Appointment Trader in 2021 after he struggled to get an appointment at the DMV,has pushed back against that narrative repeatedly in interviews. He argues that the site has gone to great lengths to tamp down on no-shows by penalizing reservation sellers for a low “sell-through rate.” If less than 50% of an account’s reservations go unsold, he has said, those accounts can no longer upload new reservations; if that rate dips below 25%, those accounts are banned altogether. (Between 2023 and 2024, Frey reported Appointment Trader did $6 million in reservation sales.)
It’s unclear if reservation scalping will find a foothold in Philly. But at Mawn, at least, it’s deeply unwelcome.
Rachel Lorn said the practicereminds her “of when everyone went and bought up all the toilet paper during COVID. There was nothing left for anyone else,” she said. “It boils down to a human decency thing.”
Correction: An earlier version of this article stated City Council’s unanimously passed bill banning reservation scalping had yet to be approved by Mayor Cherelle L. Parker. Mayor Parker signed the bill into law on Friday, Jan. 9.
