Khyber Pass Pub sits at 56 South 2nd Street in Philadelphia's Old City, in a building that has held a bar under the Khyber name for decades. The current pub pairs a deep craft beer list with a New Orleans inspired kitchen and a long history of live music on 2nd Street.
Anyone who wants a real Old City bar with good beer, Southern cooking, and a music room will love it. Anyone after a quiet cocktail lounge or a polished date spot will not, because the room is a proper pub, loud on show nights and busy on weekends.
The space keeps its old bones, a narrow front bar opening to a back room that has long served as a stage. WHYY reported on the pub bringing live music back to 2nd Street, a thread that runs through the Khyber's whole history; the building was a music landmark long before the current operators took it over, and the kitchen has since given the room a second identity as a destination for Cajun and Creole cooking.
The drinks lead with beer. The taps and bottles run deep on craft and regional brewers, and the bar is a reliable stop for a hard-to-find pour rather than a cocktail program. Expect Old City pub pricing rather than lounge prices, with a rotating local draft the safe move and the bartender's pick the better one when you want something off the beaten path. The kitchen is the surprise, with gumbo, po boys, and other New Orleans plates that pair cleanly with the beer.
Khyber Pass Pub opens daily, from 11am on weekdays and 10am on weekends, running late to 2am. The afternoon and early evening are the calm windows for a beer and a plate at the bar. Weekend nights and show nights fill the room. It sits a short walk from the 2nd Street stop on the Market-Frankford Line, in the heart of Old City near the Delaware riverfront, which makes it an easy stop on a night around 2nd and Market.
Who it is for: a beer drinker who wants range, anyone after real New Orleans cooking in Philadelphia, and music fans on a show night. Skip it if you came for cocktails or a quiet table; this is a pub with a stage, not a lounge.
The beer-and-kitchen combination is the genuine differentiator. Old City has plenty of bars, but few pair a serious craft list with a New Orleans menu and a live music history, and Khyber Pass Pub carries all three without leaning on any one as a gimmick. That mix is why it has stayed an Old City fixture while flashier rooms have come and gone.
Khyber Pass Pub also reads as a peer to the wider Philadelphia pub scene rather than a tourist stop. It belongs in the same conversation as McGillin's Olde Ale House and Monk's Cafe, with a stronger New Orleans and live music streak than either, and the central Old City address keeps it inside an easy walk of the riverfront and the Market-Frankford Line.
See where it lands in our best pubs in Philadelphia ranking, and read it against the wider Philadelphia bar guide.
Sources: Khyber Pass Pub official site (khyberpasspub.com, 2026); WHYY; The Infatuation Philadelphia; Yelp (updated May 2026).
