Which eastern town has the best restaurants? (Not including Philadelphia)

Submitted by jftaylor21 t3_10hxzaw in Pennsylvania

I am planning to meet a group of friends somewhere in Eastern PA since that is the most central location for all of us. None of us are familiar with the area but we were planning to get a place for a long weekend and play board/video games.

We aren't planning to do much outside other than get food from restaurants. I'm sure Philadelphia has great restaurants, but we are all driving in so we don't want to deal with limited parking.

Which towns would you recommend?

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BeatsMeByDre t1_j5b6abx wrote

West Reading - Bistro 2, Say Cheese, other nice places all within walking distance

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bad_at_passwords t1_j5b9byv wrote

West Chester, Conshohocken, and Phoenixville are pretty walkable towns with a variety of places to eat. Most midsized towns in Chester, Montgomery, or Bucks counties should really be fine.

I would avoid KoP. Its dominated by the mall and is a bit of a sprawling mess.

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azsoup t1_j5ba9vg wrote

>we don’t want to deal with limited parking

Curious if you mean parallel and/or street parking?

I only ask because even in some of the suburbs there’s a chance you’ll have to do that.

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jftaylor21 OP t1_j5bdrqu wrote

Replying to azsoup (#1,429,185)

We need to park several cars so limited street parking is not a great option. I am open to anything on the eastern side of Pennsylvania. It doesn't have to be in the Philadelphia suburbs.

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russ257 t1_j5beqal wrote

Lancaster has a pretty good food scene.

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TessySue2002 t1_j5bgjr9 wrote

If you’re looking for great pizza Northeast PA ( Scranton/Old Forge) has a ton of places. I wouldn’t classify many of them as ‘nice’ restaurants, but many are delicious.

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TSUTigers95 t1_j5bkptj wrote

Eastern PA is a pretty large area. You may want to narrow it down some to more specific areas.

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Queasy-Ad-6126 t1_j5bnbw4 wrote

People have mentioned some good options in the Philly suburbs. I'll throw Media into the mix.

If you prefer to be a bit further north Bethlehem has some good restaurants.

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sx70forlifexx t1_j5c37dr wrote

South side of Bethlehem has some great restaurants

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bdschuler t1_j5c9aiu wrote

Depends on what you mean by "great" restaurants. If you mean expensive, fancy, highly rated and in magazines... then the Lehigh Valley, Bethlehem/Allentown would be ideal.

See Bolete, https://www.boleterestaurant.com/dinner-menu

House and Barn https://www.houseandbarn.net/

Blue https://www.bluegrillhouse.com/

And Zest as examples. https://www.zestbethlehem.com/

Ample parking.

If you just mean good cheap food and just want a more rural area, we got that too. Be it a diner, recommend Bethlehem Diner, or a unique roadside stand, we got it all.

On the plus side, we have a covered bridges nearby, historic buildings, and the must see once in your lifetime to believe it, Steelstacks.. if they want to see something before heading back home. https://images.fineartamerica.com/images/artworkimages/mediumlarge/1/steel-stacks-at-night-michael-dorn.jpg

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Lanc144 t1_j5cc63n wrote

Lancaster. Central or southern market. Or Luca for a good social Italian atmosphere. Plenty to walk and do.

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TSUTigers95 t1_j5cc993 wrote

Replying to jftaylor21 (#1,431,273)

You need to give us info as to where people are coming from. You don’t realize how big of an area you are talking about. Eastern is very generic. Eastern PA is as far south as Maryland/Delaware and as far north as New York Sate and New Jersey. So yeah, it’s a pretty big area.

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FrogWallopp t1_j5cejp8 wrote

Wert's, Allentown, at 18th and Liberty St. Best. Burger. Ever. Be prepared to wait a bit for a table, but, oh man is it worth it. Still run by the same family that opened it a very long time ago.

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bassmaster_gen t1_j5ci55d wrote

I’d say bethlehem is your best bet, its probably the most vacation-worthy of the east PA small cities

edit: if you take a look around Bethlehem and aren’t satisfied Easton is the honorable mention

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shermanhelms t1_j5colid wrote

West Chester is walkable with a good mix of casual and fancier restaurants and quite a few bars as well. There is a hotel in town but there’s also several within ubering distance. A lot of the places being suggested here are (in my opinion) a little too spread out to be considered walkable.

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k2j2 t1_j5cvm3j wrote

Ambler, Conshy, West Chester, Phoenixville, Media and Doylestown are my faves.

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effdubbs t1_j5d77gq wrote

I like Media and West Chester.

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seriousfrylock t1_j5dgcm7 wrote

Bethlehem and Easton. Both easy parking, the former free on Sunday. The whole Allentown area has a lot of gems but those are the main hots spots for food

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thisoldbroad t1_j5eezz7 wrote

Easton. Also check out the State Theater there, and see who's playing.

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Designer-Tutor-4327 t1_j5fliwa wrote

Hazleton. Alta pizza and Georgio’s pizza. Jimmy’s Quick Lunch, Cusat’s Cafe, and Rostas’s. There are fancy places too. Top of the 80s and Damenti’s.

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Just_Welcome_7206 t1_j5foktz wrote

More central PA but 2 hours from Philly, Gettysburg. As a local I couldn’t ask for more out of a town

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R3d-Beard t1_j5fsao9 wrote

Chester has great corner sandwich shops.

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GoldPresentation5819 t1_j5fydpl wrote

People will says it’s Scranton/Wilksbarre and they’re lying. I have actually visited all the places they’ll talk about in the last 3 years and it’s SWB by a long shot. Just spent time in Easton Bethlehem and the only thing worth writing home about is the Birria tacos

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Nightcrayon t1_j5i1sgp wrote

King of Prussia has excellent dining options. So does Conshohocken.

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TapewormNinja t1_j5kr8p1 wrote

Replying to PatAss98 (#1,436,932)

How can you agree with the statement and go on to cite the absolute worst restaurant in the county? You can find McDonald’s in the area that cook better food than that beige garbage.

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