Modo Mio is the fifth best Italian restaurant in Philly.
photo: Ryan Charles
The 2009 Philadelphia Restaurants guide is out, and 5,507 avid diners like you have spoken. Despite the fact that 28% of Philadelphia surveyors say they prefer Italian food (second only to American, which got 14% of the vote), none of the city’s five Most Popular restaurants – Buddakan, Amada, Le Bec-Fin, Alma de Cuba and Capital Grille – are Italian. So where's an Italian food lover to go? Here are the five Top Italian restaurants in Philly.
1312 Spruce St.; 215-732-3478
Although “you’re not under the real Tuscan sun”, fans swear you’re as good as there at Marc Vetri and Jeff Benjamin’s “rustic” Italian “legend” in Center City, which “continues to amaze” with a menu of “sublime” “handmade everything” and “outstanding”, “knowledgeable” service; it’s “tough to get a table” in the “shoebox”-like space, and be prepared “to pay an arm and leg”; N.B. there’s no à la carte on Saturdays.
1216 Spruce St.; 215-985-2962
“If you can get into” this “hip”, “minimalist” BYO bistro in a Center City storefront, you surely will “love, love, love” R. Evan Turney’s “amazingly fresh” American-Italian fare (and “flights of olive oil”), delivered by an “efficient” staff that gracefully “navigates the cramped quarters”; N.B. reservations are accepted Sundays–Fridays between 5-6:30 PM for parties no larger than six (cash only).
504 N. Bethlehem Pike; 215-654-5000
“Top-rate” Northern Italian seafood and “impressive” wines suitable for “celebrations” are the draw at this “upscale”, “villa”-like “find” near Ambler; while the service may be “impersonal”, it’s “dedicated”, in “old-school fine-dining fashion.”
1415 W. Porter St.; 215-389-4252
First “squeeze to get into” this “charming” South Philly Italian BYO owned by the Faenzas of Center City’s Salento, then “squeeze to get out” after “filling up” on “affordable”, “outstanding” antipasto and “divine” pasta proffered by “vivacious” servers who “aim to please”; just be sure to “reserve early” – “the food is plentiful, the space is not.”
161 W. Girard Ave.; 215-203-8707
Accolades abound for the “absolutely first-rate”, “imaginative” Italian fare of Peter McAndrews at his “warm” BYO on the edge of Northern Liberties – particularly for the “outrageously underpriced” $30 four-course prix fixe dinner with “just the right amount to eat”; the cooking supercedes gripes about the “noise level” (“bring earplugs”), “cash-only” policy and front-of-the-house “glitches.”
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