The Philadelphia Restaurants We Loved in June

Growing up in Southern New Jersey…

… I learned from a young age to take pasta seriously. Cry Baby Pasta did not disappoint! Our large group strolled in late one night and were sat almost immediately. We started with the brussels sprouts and I was pleasantly surprised by the sweet potato soup after a recommendation from the staff. What followed after was the charred eggplant parmesan and, of course, pasta — the table shared orders of the cacio e pepe, tagliatelle, and my personal favorite, the crab linguine. For drinks, I loved L’Aventurra, or their take on a Manhattan. We also emptied a couple of delicious and reasonably priced bottles of Alicante.

Finally, our stomachs somehow made room for desert — our spoons quickly devoured the perfectly sweet chocolate caramel gelato cake paired with glasses of amaro.

— Alex Vickers, Senior Engineer

As a vegetarian…

… it is often difficult to find options at cafés, but Cafe Ole had so many tempting options! They had four different types of shakshuka alone — I ate the veggie shakshuka and it was amazing. The portion sizes are huge and I left super full and happy. It’s one to bookmark for great casual dining in Philly’s Old Town.

— Makenna Kaminski, Sales Development Representative

Take it from an alum…

… Oyster House is like my second home. The oysters are as fresh as they come, with favorites like Wellfleet and Kusshi. (For oyster novices, East Coast varieties like Wellfleet are generally larger with higher salinity and mineral flavors, while West Coast oysters like Kusshi are smaller and plump, with sweet and creamy notes.) You can’t go wrong with the menu, although the lobster roll is usually sought out.

If you really want the insider Pro tip: My go-to is the budget-friendly version of the shrimp salad roll during lunch (but let’s be real, the buttered roll is truly the star). If you have room, the butterscotch pudding holds a special place in my heart: The subtly sweet and savory flavor with the creamy texture is the perfect finish to a great meal.

— Alice Tran, Trade Events + Experiences

My favorite restaurant in Philadelphia…

… is Oyster House, a celebrated old-time Resy partner, but a breath-of-life restaurant in the Philly dining scene. It checks all the boxes: consistent with an ever-changing menu, friendly service, great ambiance, and it feels like a familiar friend.

If Oyster House were a sitcom, it’d be my “Cheers.” Everyone knows your name after the first visit. The cocktails can either be a batched punch with a familiar note (bourbon, apple) or jazzed-up to be a Sazerac, my personal favorite cocktail in the city. On my most recent visit, there was the softy sando (softshell crab sandwich), which was a take on a Nashville hot chicken sandwich. To finish, we had whatever-oyster-you-want-to-give-me, which were Cape May Salt, Sweet Amalia, and Wellfleet. Best thing about the oysters here are the shuckers, who’ve been there for what seems to be forever. Chef’s kiss.

— Khoran Korn, Sales Development Representative and Chef

For a casual dinner with friends…

… Mission Taqueria is the perfect spot. We had flavorful margaritas, plenty of chips to dip in our salsa trio, and choriqueso empanadas with just the right amount of kick. Everything on the menu is gluten-free (even the churros!), which is why we couldn’t not order every dessert on the menu. Our favorite: the Mission Impossible, or a take on chocoflan (vanilla flan resting on top of a rich chocolate cake base). Do not skip!

— Adrianna Harris, Restaurant Success Manager

The perfect way to kickstart the weekend…

… is an early dinner at Alessandro’s Wood Fired Italian & Bar. Outdoor seating in the heart of suburban Philly (slash, the hot spot that is Wayne) doesn’t get better than this. What did we have? Pizza. All. The. Pizza.

— Hannah Kelly, VP, Resy Chief Marketing Officer

My last time dining at Fiorella…

… was during an event powered by Resy, which brought two power houses together in the form of Lita in Aberdeen, N.J. and Fiorella. An unreal collab’ that brought about some of the best bites of 2024 for me.

However, Fiorella is a standout on any night, and one of my favorite meals whenever I go. The meal is always simple and easy to digest, but elevated, like we just took a trip to chef-owner Marc Vetri’s personal home. The crudo is always a must; it does change from time to time but is always well thought out. The cacio e pepe never leaves the menu, and for good reason: creamy, peppery, cheesy, and always al dente. If they have a rotolo pasta on the menu, get it! It may be a personal thing, but the rotolo here is always proper.

P.S.: Get dessert — I’m a sucker for house-spun gelato and the one here always has an ingredient you never knew gelato needed.

— Khoran Korn, Sales Development Representative and Chef

On a spring weekend trip to Asbury Park…

… I couldn’t pass up a visit to Heirloom while staying at The St. Laurent. David Viana and Neilly Robinson are setting the bar for refined dining in Jersey with their celebration of Mediterranean and Mid-Atlantic fare (Lita, their sister restaurant in Aberdeen, N.J.,is another favorite of mine). I loved sitting at the bar chatting it up with bar manager Dean Hakim and Mike Barreto’s front-of-house team, who served us dealer’s choice drink pairings throughout our meal. David and Neilly have cultivated some of the most hospitable folks I’ve ever met (with a super cool model that invites front of house and back of house rotations alongside thriveable wages), which made our visit really fun and memorable.  

Highlights included housemade milk buns with fermented honey butter and bee pollen (we put in a second order to take home because they were so good), rabbit cappelletti with Parmigiano Reggiano (so rich and luscious but light), local New Jersey tilefish with a Thai salad and sesame crackers, and an elderflower “sundae” with chocolate, elderflower cream, and carrot sorbet. We also got to meet sous chef Elio Lapaix who surprised us with an R&D dish of plantains and pork inspired by his Dominican upbringing, which we hope to see more of on the menu.

For a nightcap, we headed to the lounge cocktail bar up front, a must whenever we’re in town. It’s really exciting to see how Heirloom shows off the best of local products with a modern global approach that is so needed down the shore. I’m a big fan of what this restaurant group is doing to move the industry forward and can’t wait to come back!

— Alisha Miranda, Contributing Writer, Resy Editorial

It’s officially down-the-shore season…

… and I had some perfectly fried flounder and swordfish in an herby butter sauce right on the water at Hooked Up Seafood in Wildwood, N.J.

— Sarah Maiellano, Contributing Writer, Resy Editorial