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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russ257 t1_j5beqal wrote

Lancaster has a pretty good food scene.

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Beigebeauty89 t1_j5ddyh9 wrote

I agree Lancaster, PA in the Amish country restaurants take your pick!

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PatAss98 t1_j5ewxc9 wrote

Agreed. If one wants an all you can eat buffet, Shady Maple is pretty high quality by buffet standards

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TapewormNinja t1_j5kr8p1 wrote

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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ThatFuckingGuy2 t1_j5bhlmj wrote

New Hope, cool artsy town

https://www.lambertvillerestaurants.com/new-hope-restaurants/

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BitchyWitchy68 t1_j5ec7o5 wrote

New Hope gets my vote too.

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WunkyFinkerbean t1_j5ewdph wrote

Doylestown has some good restaurants too, but New Hope has a certain romance to it

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BitchyWitchy68 t1_j5eyfhm wrote

New Hope has nothing but good restaurants. I lived there. The only fast food was McDonalds and Wawa. They didn’t even have a Dominos.

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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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chaqalaqalaqa t1_j5ckx7x wrote

Easton PA, downtown is amazing

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Fine_With_It_All t1_j5eul7w wrote

That’s great to hear. I lived in Easton in the 70’s and 80’s and I heard it got pretty bad in the 90’s. It’s nice to hear it’s made a comeback

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Juidawg t1_j5hbhqb wrote

Astounding to drive around the circle today compared to even 15-20 years ago. Used to Looked like the Bronx

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sx70forlifexx t1_j5c37dr wrote

South side of Bethlehem has some great restaurants

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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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Proud_Ad7940 t1_j5c15qv wrote

Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton

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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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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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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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jftaylor21 OP t1_j5bv305 wrote

I have no preference on location other than restaurants and ease of parking.

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TSUTigers95 t1_j5bvmns wrote

Well you need to actually find a city and then you can narrow it down from there. It’s all about location, location, location,

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jftaylor21 OP t1_j5cbw21 wrote

That is the point of this post. I'm not looking for specific restaurant recommendations. I just want general areas in eastern pa with good restaurants to consider.

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TSUTigers95 t1_j5cc993 wrote

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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jftaylor21 OP t1_j5cct2q wrote

We are coming from states in both the north and the south. Anywhere in Eastern PA is the middle point.

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TSUTigers95 t1_j5cd3pu wrote

Then someone needs to make a decision as to where to meet and then you can figure out where to eat.

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k2j2 t1_j5cvm3j wrote

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

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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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jftaylor21 OP t1_j5ccen8 wrote

We're not looking for anything fancy. The ideal place would have non-chain restaurants with a variety of food types.

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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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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

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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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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BeatsMeByDre t1_j5b6abx wrote

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

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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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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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effdubbs t1_j5d77gq wrote

I like Media and West Chester.

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more_than_stars t1_j5erpf6 wrote

Bethlehem and Lancaster have lots of options

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Nightcrayon t1_j5i1sgp wrote

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

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Skeeter-Pee t1_j5b4tk0 wrote

Conshohocken or Ardmore would be good.

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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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