General Pointers About Living In Philadelphia (York, Houston: rentals, wage, taxation)

[FindingZen]

Originally Posted by FromGA

Philly area restaurant guide, and any list of the critic's top 25 or 50 restaurants?

Look up Craig LaBan on philly.com. He's the local newspaper food critic. I imagine you'd find lots of previous review.

I believe Philadelphia Magazine may also put out a yearly restaurant guide. They may have a list online.

[FromGA]

Are there any Philadelphia intown (and usually offbeat) publications, such as the free news magazines that you can pick up along the sidewalk, and their website if any. Thanks.

[FindingZen]

Originally Posted by FromGA

Are there any Philadelphia intown (and usually offbeat) publications, such as the free news magazines that you can pick up along the sidewalk, and their website if any. Thanks.

Check out philadelphiaweekly.com and citypaper.net. You can find the former on Wednesday in yellow honor boxes and the latter on Thursdays in orange boxes.

[RoysGuy1729]

I think the feedback so far touching on knowing what someone is looking for in an area helps make suggestions alot easier and pretty much more accurate. I moved to Philadelphia in January blindly. I found a room for rent on craigslist.com. Spoke to the people I would be living with over the phone and mapped it in relation to where my job was and everything looked great. I was promised it was a safe neighborhood, working in a restaurant I'm leaving after midnight with sometimes $200 cash in pocket. I ended up getting to the house which was at Baltimore Ave. and 51st in West Philly. If any of you are familiar with it, you can probably understand what I mean by wishing I had some pointers. I took upon myself to leave there and move to Chinatown without considering my co-workers advice, again, bad move. Must better than West Philly, great location, however incredibly overpriced and you have to wear ear muffs to sleep most nights. My experience concluded. As far as giving someone an idea of the different parts of Philadelphia. I'd say you pay for your block. Crowded places in South Philly have great prices and typically are safe areas. Bigger places in West and North Philly are less expensive, but the safety value is completely non-existent. For big bucks, Rittenhouse Square, Old City, and basically anything within a 10-minute walk of City Hall is going to cost you, and the cost is mostly because of the safety factor. Areas like Manayunk, Conshy, Northeast Philly, and others are great alternatives whether you are looking to still drive a car in the city or not. All in all, talk to some people in the area before you sign anything would be my advice.

[RoysGuy1729]

Originally Posted by FromGA

Philly area restaurant guide, and any list of the critic's top 25 or 50 restaurants?

I noticed a reply mentioning Craig LaBan's reviews. Great source, however I've experienced great dining at locations he dumped on. Some of my suggestions.

Capital Grille (Philadelphia's standard so-to-say)
Alma de Cuba
Buddakan
Roy's (where I work, there's better but give it a shot and you'll return)
Davio's Northern Italian Steakhouse
Barclay Prime
Smith and Wollinsky's
Pearl
Susanna Foo
Le Bec Fin (great food although very arrogant attitudes throughout)
Mushulu
Morimoto

A hint, Steven Starr owns the restaurant scene here by having near 13 restaurants with all good reviews, but places like Davio's and Pearl get attention but I think deserve more. As stated, I work at Roy's Hawaiian Fusion and I really hate suggesting my own place but I've eaten everywhere I listed plus many more and depending on your server (Rock, Terry, Jackie, and Steven really do a great job) you can just as good a dining experience as anywhere else. Hope that helps, if you try any of those let me know what you thought of them. Bon Apetit.

[FromGA]

RoysGuy1729, Thanks for the info. I am planning on moving to the area from Georgia. I just started a thread for transplants to the Philadelphia area to share their experience:
http://www.city-data.com/forum/phila...hia-metro.html

[JHG722]

Originally Posted by RoysGuy1729

I noticed a reply mentioning Craig LaBan's reviews. Great source, however I've experienced great dining at locations he dumped on. Some of my suggestions.

Capital Grille (Philadelphia's standard so-to-say)
Alma de Cuba
Buddakan
Roy's (where I work, there's better but give it a shot and you'll return)
Davio's Northern Italian Steakhouse
Barclay Prime
Smith and Wollinsky's
Pearl
Susanna Foo
Le Bec Fin (great food although very arrogant attitudes throughout)
Mushulu
Morimoto

A hint, Steven Starr owns the restaurant scene here by having near 13 restaurants with all good reviews, but places like Davio's and Pearl get attention but I think deserve more. As stated, I work at Roy's Hawaiian Fusion and I really hate suggesting my own place but I've eaten everywhere I listed plus many more and depending on your server (Rock, Terry, Jackie, and Steven really do a great job) you can just as good a dining experience as anywhere else. Hope that helps, if you try any of those let me know what you thought of them. Bon Apetit.

Not too much beats Roy's. Been there a few times, and went for my bday dinner in July. Nowhere else makes shortribs that good.

[Deep77]

Originally Posted by RoysGuy1729

I think the feedback so far touching on knowing what someone is looking for in an area helps make suggestions alot easier and pretty much more accurate. I moved to Philadelphia in January blindly. I found a room for rent on craigslist.com. Spoke to the people I would be living with over the phone and mapped it in relation to where my job was and everything looked great. I was promised it was a safe neighborhood, working in a restaurant I'm leaving after midnight with sometimes $200 cash in pocket. I ended up getting to the house which was at Baltimore Ave. and 51st in West Philly. If any of you are familiar with it, you can probably understand what I mean by wishing I had some pointers. I took upon myself to leave there and move to Chinatown without considering my co-workers advice, again, bad move. Must better than West Philly, great location, however incredibly overpriced and you have to wear ear muffs to sleep most nights. My experience concluded. As far as giving someone an idea of the different parts of Philadelphia. I'd say you pay for your block. Crowded places in South Philly have great prices and typically are safe areas. Bigger places in West and North Philly are less expensive, but the safety value is completely non-existent. For big bucks, Rittenhouse Square, Old City, and basically anything within a 10-minute walk of City Hall is going to cost you, and the cost is mostly because of the safety factor. Areas like Manayunk, Conshy, Northeast Philly, and others are great alternatives whether you are looking to still drive a car in the city or not. All in all, talk to some people in the area before you sign anything would be my advice.

I used to live on 49&Hazel and found the neighborhood to be pretty safe. I would come home around 3 in the morning after drinking in Center City and be fine. Although you were definitely around the cutoff line, which I regarded 52nd to be. I generally found West Philly to be a really great area, that I am still living in West Philly, although much closer to the Penn Campus. I know a number of people who live by Dock Street, and have seen their apartments go under renovation. In a couple years, this area will become more gentrified than it is. Not too long ago the 47th and Baltimore was the cut off point, and now there is good Vietnamese place. Contrary to popular belief not all of West Philly is a war zone. Yes, there are plenty of areas of West Philly that are, but there is a growing area of West Philly that is quite nice.

[tiakathryn]

If help is needed about living in philadelphia as a sticky, new residents or those who are thinking of moving or planning a move should POST A THREAD ON THEIR OWN. Simply makes it easier to respond.

Those who want to stear folks cross the river should post in Jersey. Anyone with two brain cells and a computer should be able to check both or post in both forums then make the call on their own. Unless you want to totally crapshoot a move to a new place, seriously consider doing this new residents of either state/area

[FindingZen]

Originally Posted by tiakathryn

If help is needed about living in philadelphia as a sticky, new residents or those who are thinking of moving or planning a move should POST A THREAD ON THEIR OWN. Simply makes it easier to respond.

Those who want to stear folks cross the river should post in Jersey. Anyone with two brain cells and a computer should be able to check both or post in both forums then make the call on their own. Unless you want to totally crapshoot a move to a new place, seriously consider doing this new residents of either state/area

To the contrary, this is a thread established for others to read and share commonly known aspects of the area to help save time for everyone.

The PA vs NJ discussion seems to have simmered down lately. If you notice by the time stamps, there hasn't been much expansion on this thread since November.

Thank you for sharing your opinion!