Best Seasonal Restaurants in South Philly

The owners and staff are very welcoming. Staff takes lots of time to describe the food and wine. We know how fish should be cooked/served: moist yet fall apart with a fork. Each seafood dish met this criteria. The flavors were all wonderful but for the fist dish which I believe has a Japanese radish that was fine but a little dominating. Each dish that followed was perfect, especially the grouper. Their wine selection is wide enough to make anyone happy, and the wine prices kept in the very reasonable ranges.

We got lucky and got a last minute reservation yesterday after being on waitlist for a few days. Felt like I hit the lottery lol, as I know this restaurant starts booking up in October for the holidays! Timing worked out perfectly as we had to get my daughter to her bus back to another city where she lives — and we had exactly one hour to eat. Got seated right away, thankfully. Atmosphere is always festive this time of year, which is the main reason we wanted to eat here. Food arrived promptly and was tasty, service was good and we were on our way out the door on time as very satisfied customers! We will be back ☺️

My husband and I returned to Vetri Cucina to celebrate our anniversary, as we had done the year prior. Immediately, we were encompassed by the warm singular ambience of the small dining room: it feels like coming home. Eric, our server, was outstanding. He was with us throughout the multi-course prix-fixe meal, and gave us excellent commentary about what we were about to eat and drink. He even laughed when I asked, “Does everyone make it through all of the courses?” and he responded, “No. You are the first one.” Vetri is a unique experience. The courses arrive in a decent pace, always giving us enough time to digest and ruminate. The food is uniformly excellent; you can’t really go wrong. Highly recommend!

Wow! This was an awesome experience! As a fan of the Rocky film series, I knew about this place from the Rocky Balboa and Creed films. It is so much more than that, though. As the founder was a major player in early 20th century opera recordings, The Victor Cafe has an opera theme permeating its soul. The walls are adorned with photos of the opera greats, opera music plays softly in the background, and, most importantly, the waitstaff are all classically-trained opera performers. Every half hour or so, they gather everyone’s attention to perform a selection from a popular opera, complete with a synopsis of the story they’re about to tell through their performance. Every performer was wonderful and this made for a unique, joyful and memorable experience for my family. I grew up on Italian cuisine, and this was among the best I’ve had in a long time. We shared the Calamari Fritti, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that we could have substituted Smelts for the calamari. This was a staple of our Christmas Eve dinners when I was young. My Veal Saltimbocca was perfect, as was my Daughter’s Prince Igor (penne with a vodka blush, salmon, tomato, and Asparagus). We enjoyed our cannolis while watching our last performance of the evening. Breathtaking! Special shout out to our server, Brenna, who took our dessert order mere seconds after completing her duet! Remarkable! I can’t say enough about The Victor Cafe; if you’re looking for a classic South Philly Italian Restaurant, paired with one of the most wonderful and unique experiences you’ll find today, then this is the place for you.

I have had the pleasure of dining at Fiorella's several times before, both in the downstairs dining area and with their pasta club dinner series. This was the first time, however, we visited with an 8 month old. Friends of ours were in town from California, and we really wanted to show them an example of a dinner that makes us appreciate Philadelphia so much. The staff was incredibly patient and accommodating with our young pasta lover. The noise level and other diners that evening made our experience feel simply like you were eating in a friend's living room. We're grateful for Fiorella's in many ways, and always suggest this restaurant for smaller, more intimate gatherings for friends and family.