The Sidecar Bar and Grille holds the corner of 22nd and Christian in Graduate Hospital, a gastropub with a real craft beer list, a burger that landed it on national TV, and screens placed for the Philly game.
Graduate Hospital filled in fast over the last fifteen years, and the Sidecar is the corner that did the heavy lifting. It reopened in 2019 after a stretch dark and came back as the neighborhood's reliable bar and grille. It is a pub that cooks, which is the build this part of the city was missing.
The room is a classic corner bar, a long counter on one side and tables filling the rest, with the kind of warm light that keeps people through a second round. Televisions sit above the bar for whoever wants the score, and the volume stays conversational. It watches games the way a neighborhood bar should, without turning into a sports complex.
What to order is the burger that earned the place a spot on Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. It is the dish regulars send first-timers toward, and it holds up to the billing. Pair it with one of the rotating craft drafts, add the wings if you are settling in for a game, and you have a night for around $30 a head.
Who it is for: Graduate Hospital and Fitler Square locals who want a real kitchen with their beer, couples after a low-key dinner with the game on, and small groups who would rather split a table than fight a downtown bar crowd. It is a neighborhood room that happens to cook well, which is the right order for a Sunday.
Best time to go is a weeknight dinner or a weekend afternoon, when the kitchen is firing and the bar has open stools. Reservations through Resy help on busy nights, though walk-ins still work the bar. For the wider city, see our guide to the best sports bars in Philadelphia and the round-up of Philadelphia's best bars for watching the game.
The reason it sticks is range. The Sidecar can be a quiet dinner, a beer-and-a-game stop, or a full Saturday night, and it handles all three without losing the corner-bar feel. The house listing leans on that flexibility, and the regulars reward it.
The corner has history on its side. A bar has held this spot under different names for years, and the current run since 2019 has been the steadiest, which is why the neighborhood treats it as a fixture rather than a newcomer. Graduate Hospital trusts it, and that trust shows in the regulars at the bar.
The beer list is the part that surprises first-timers. For a room that reads as a burger spot, the draft board carries a real rotation of local and seasonal pours, and the bartenders keep track of what is fresh. It is a kitchen-first bar that never let the beer slide. Industry Night and the weekly specials keep the regulars cycling through, and the staff treat a curious order as an invitation rather than a chore.
The whole thing works because it knows its lane. The Sidecar is not chasing a downtown scene or a stadium crowd. It is the good corner bar a neighborhood wants within walking distance, with a burger worth the trip and a screen for the game, and it delivers that every night.
Nearby, Ladder 15 covers the after-work gastropub crowd in Center City and City Tap House brings the big draft board. The full city sits in our complete Philadelphia guide.
Sources: The Sidecar Bar & Grille (official) · Yelp · Philadelphia Magazine · Resy
