The 15 Best Deals For Center City Restaurant Week

It’s early September, so you know what that means: There’s a chill in the morning air, we’re back to saying “Go Birds” as a greeting, and Center City Restaurant Week is upon us. Center City (and Old City) will be packed with lots of people enjoying two-course lunch menus for $20 and three-course dinner menus for $45 and $60. Since 110 restaurants (and counting) are participating, you may need help finding the best deals—that’s where this guide comes in. From some of the best restaurants in the city to our go-to sandwich shops, you can find them all here.  

The Spots 

The Deal: $45 Dinner

Rex at the Royal is one of our favorite places to dine near South Street because every meal is a comforting one. The chic and spacious restaurant serving Low Country cuisine offers a choice of savory appetizers and mains like peppery shrimp and grits, fried green tomatoes with crispy pork belly, and blackened tofu over golden Carolina rice. Just be sure to save room for the bread pudding a la mode and key lime pie for dessert.

The Deal: $45 Dinner

You’ve been to Barbuzzo. Your friends have been to Barbuzzo. And your dog’s veterinarian has been to Barbuzzo. But it’s been a while, so why not use Restaurant Week as the perfect excuse to head to this dependable Mediterranean spot in Midtown Village? When it comes to the menu, time-tested favorites like the roasted beet salad, butternut squash arancini, braised short rib with polenta, and salted caramel budino all made the CCRW cut. 

The Deal: $45 Dinner 

One of the best seafood restaurants in the city, Rittenhouse’s Oyster House has a massive oyster bar and lots of tables for big groups. This is great since you should bring friends for a round of Sweet Amalia oysters, tuna crudo, lump crab cake, or a lobster roll during CCRW. To end the night in a decadent way, try the chocolate panna cotta or olive oil cake with whipped labneh.

The Deal: $45 Dinner 

If you’re in Center City, you should always be eating at Osteria. And that’s not just because the lush greenhouse makes it one of the most beautiful dining rooms in town. It’s also one of our go-to Italian restaurants when we want to eat our weight in pasta and pizza. During CCRW, they have small plates like wood-fired ribs, grilled octopus tossed with Calabrian chili, and beef tartare with truffle aioli. Add to it your choice of oven-roasted orata fish or chicken liver rigatoni for just $45, and it’s a deal that’s hard to argue with.

The Deal: $45 Dinner 

You can choose your own French adventure just off South Street with Bistrot La Minette’s menu. If you want to keep it light, go for the chilled potato leek soup, salad trio, and trout sprinkled with toasted almonds. But there are also more filling dishes, like braised chicken and steak au poivre. Like most places, there are signature CCRW cocktails, so you can pair a honey-sweetened Gold Rush with any of your small plates or raspberry sorbet to end the night.  

The Deal: $45 Dinner 

From casual date nights to a birthday where only your favorite impossible-to-find merlot will do, Philly is a BYOB town. One that we keep coming back to is Pumpkin. Everything at the cozy South Street restaurant is pretty damn good, and their restaurant week menu is no exception. Swing by the American restaurant for salted potatoes tossed in crab and Old Bay butter, flank steak with heirloom tomatoes, and finish with an olive oil cake with lemon curd and yogurt.

The Deal: $20 Lunch and $45 Dinner 

If you’re up to the beefy challenge of eating stacked burgers, head to Village Whiskey during these weeks in September. Both the lunch and dinner menus are identical—which means their Village, Turkey Smash, and Veggie burgers all made the cut. And after a few bites, you’ll see why this low-lit Rittenhouse restaurant has some of the best burgers in Philly.

The Deal: $45 Dinner

Old City’s Amada feels like it has an endless supply of tapas. So one benefit of this restaurant week menu—outside of the really good Spanish food—is that a super-sized menu shrinks to just a large one. Choose from shrimp paella, grilled half chicken with brown butter, garlic shrimp (one of our favorite shrimp dishes), and a dozen other options.

The Deal: $20 Lunch And $45 Dinner

Since opening in 2018, Thanal Indian Cuisine has been a go-to spot in Center City to grab good Indian food. If you haven’t stopped by before, why not come when plates of samosa, tikka masala, lamb chops marinated in ginger, and spiced crab naan are wallet-friendly? And with a special tamarind margarita on the menu, you’ll have something to sip on if any dish cranks up the heat. 

The Deal: $20 Lunch And $45

Koto Sushi understands that a satisfying meal is one full of spicy tuna rolls and mochi ice cream. So they’re offering both—and a lot more—during restaurant week. The Washington Square sushi spot is a wonderful place to grab a sweet potato or California roll with a few friends before heading to salmon teriyaki and other mains. 

The Deal: $60 Dinner

We can’t promise that you’ll easily find parking in Center City, but we can promise that the bánh mì at this restaurant will be one of the highlights of your week. Their four-course menu includes dishes like summer rolls packed with shrimp, crispy squid with a sweet chili hot sauce, and coconut ice cream.

The Deal: $20 Lunch And $45 Dinner

Graduate Hospital’s Bistro La Baia has an incredibly large CCRW menu. This means you can have the BYO’s full experience by hopping between plates of polenta bruschetta, short rib fettuccine ragu, and pork chops covered in pizzaiola sauce. There are also lots of dessert options like tiramisu and chocolate mousse cake for both lunch and dinner. So grab one of your go-to bottles of wine, bring a few friends, and end your night with something sweet. 

The Deal: $20 Lunch And $45 Dinner

Restaurant Aleksandar has only been open for a year, so you may not have a slew of memories there. Why not make some at the Rittenhouse restaurant in the upcoming weeks? Head to the Eastern European fusion spot for a tomato gazpacho and prawns agnolotti lunch or wagyu braised short rib and arctic char, Hokkaido scallops, and PEI mussels bouillabaisse for dinner.

The Deal: $45 Dinner

Equal parts Nigerian restaurant and soul food spot, this Old City restaurant specializes in creative comfort mains that you can make your way through while drinking a lychee martini or Knobb Creek old fashioned (their CCRW signature cocktails). Menu highlights include smothered turkey wings, wagyu beef meatloaf, rock shrimp with a spicy remoulade, and a deconstructed watermelon cheesecake. 

The Deal: $45 Dinner

By now you probably know this as the Center City vegan place that plays horror movies. But it’s their four-course tasting menu that should have your attention. Get ready for a night of sweet corn cake topped with pickled cabbage, creamy cajun penne with sundried tomatoes and seitan andouille, caramel apple bread pudding, and screams.