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I agree about Java Joe's breakfast burritos. I've never felt very comfortable in that place though.
Cecilia's is good if you can get there before it closes. It closes at 2PM, which seems to mean 1:30PM in actual practice. The owner is a bit brusque at the register for my taste, but the food is good. Anything with carne adovada is worth trying. I really liked their green chile stew, but I'm not sure that's still on the menu. Last time I was there I had the machaca for the first time, and I thought that was quite tasty as well.
La Esquina is another place that's basically just open for lunch, but I wasn't that impressed with their food the one time I went. Not terrible, but not as good as I thought it would be. I would be willing to give it another try though.
Roma Bakery & Deli (again, a breakfast and lunch place) has pretty good sandwiches, sort of Italian deli style, plus good breakfast burritos as well. I just like that place in general. The owner is extremely friendly and they always have a nice, somewhat unusual mix of Latin music playing.
Flying Star has some good food (especially anything involving chicken breast), but don't count on them getting your order correct if you decide on takeout. Their pies are good, but be sure to cover your eyes when you see the bill.
I like Waco's Tacos, but it's uneven, and not quite genuine street tacos (nor does it bill itself as such), but I'm not a taco aficionado.
I've only taken out from Tucanos, but I liked what I had. I think it's probably good, though perhaps more of a place for feasting than for a regular meal. (Still they do offer options that don't necessarily involved stuffing yourself.)
Gold Street Caffe: a bit overrated (in tour guides anyway), but have a few good things on their menu.
Thai Crystal is pretty mediocre.
Capo's is terrible. Even their marinara sauce is not good. I don't know, I guess the fried zucchini appetizer is okay. It's nice that they offer bread and salad with their meals, but it would be better if the bread weren't sometimes really stale and the salad didn't sometimes contain rotting lettuce (always covered by a lousy gloppy dressing).
While I had some good food from Asian Noodle Bar, I will not go back because I was served a rotten tomato slice in one of their expensive salads. It wasn't the sort of thing that could just accidentally have gotten through, given the way the salad was arranged.
Black Bird Buvette: okay food, but I had really terrible service there one time when the waitress was distracted by the arrival of people from the inner circle of their rock band world. The iced tea I had there was great though.
Lindy's is mostly mediocre to bad, though I have to admit I sometimes eat their in a pinch (and I swear it occasionally serves something good too).
I would avoid that buffet place whose name I can't remember.
I have only lived here a little over two years. Apparently I eat a lot of restaurant food. (I live downtown, too, actually.)
Last edited by ApartmentNomad; 09-13-2010 at 07:57 PM..
In reading reviews for the hotel, lots of people talk about how the area is a little sketchy at night. Any truth to that claim or maybe these comments have just come from people not used to being in a city at night? I'm thinking it might be the latter because I also saw comments about how it's not safe to take the bus, which seems absurd.
I think there actually is some truth to it, especially late at night. I don't particularly like walking in that area. I felt much safer walking in Center City Philadelphia late at night than I have walking north of Copper at night (not even that late), but that's partly because the area is a little too isolated for comfort, while attracting a small number of dubious characters. I think that the office district up there, with those empty buildings and sometimes surprisingly dark streets look like a good place to get mugged. I don't know what the actual crime stats show about the frequency of that, however. (I know I just recently posted about walking around downtown late at night this weekend and having fun, but I didn't go north of Copper.)
Personally, I avoid taking the 66 bus after dark. In fact, I tend to avoid it in general, though I will ride it in a pinch. But when I have been on it after dark, I've almost always seen rowdy drunks riding it. There always seems to be alcohol on the floor. I'm not sure how dangerous it actually is, but it can be unpleasant to ride. The Rapid Ride is usually not as bad, though I've certainly seem some unpleasantly anti-social behavior on it as well.
Thanks for all the suggestions. One follow up question. In reading reviews for the hotel, lots of people talk about how the area is a little sketchy at night. Any truth to that claim or maybe these comments have just come from people not used to being in a city at night? I'm thinking it might be the latter because I also saw comments about how it's not safe to take the bus, which seems absurd.
There was a shooting near there (2nd and Central) a couple nights ago. I live near Broadway and Central and there was a blood trail for about 50 feet down the sidewalk a couple weeks ago. I never heard what happened, but it looked like someone was stabbed or shot. Could have been a really bad nosebleed, I guess. So yeah, I wouldn't go out for a walk on your own at night if I were you.
Central is generally safe, but I wouldn't venture off of it. Even on Central, you see plenty of gang bangers. But there seems to be enough of a police presence to keep them in check.
As far as the shooting the other night, I saw the initial report but never followed up. It looks like a crazy guy with a knife cut himself then later charged the cops. So yeah, it was a suicide. But personally, I wouldn't want to be around a suicidal guy with a knife.
Thanks for all the suggestions. I spent all of last week downtown and I've got to say, that's the strangest downtown I've ever been in. It's like a ghost town. Even at lunch when all the business people should be out. The plaza in the middle of town makes it even eerier, open space, fountains, benches, and not a single person there. No real lines at any of the restaurants on central. Just strange.
I did find one place for lunch that wasn't mentioned: La Quiche, a little french bakery and sandwich place behind 7-11 on 4th. It smelled great in there and the sandwich I got was huge and really good.
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Ha ha!
No endorsing things you haven't tried before! Bad!
