Editorial
The best bars in Old City Philadelphia occupy cobblestoned blocks that predate most cities in America. The neighbourhood has a tourist reputation that it does not entirely deserve — the best bars in old city Philadelphia are not tourist bars, they are places that have been serving the neighbourhood's residents and the city's after-work crowd for years. The challenge here is sorting the good from the generic, which is what this list does.
Old City is compact enough to walk end to end in twenty minutes. The concentration of bars along Third Street and the surrounding blocks means you can cover several genuinely different options in one evening. The key is knowing which ones are worth your time.
Old City's combination of atmospheric architecture and intimate bar spaces makes it one of Philadelphia's better date-night neighbourhoods. These bars specifically reward the kind of evening where the room itself is part of what you are paying for.
Old City has enough late-night options to sustain an evening past midnight without needing to relocate to Fishtown or Center City. The bars below hold their quality through the later hours, which is not something you can say about every neighbourhood in the city.
Old City rewards people who look past the surface layer of tourist bars and find the spots where the neighbourhood actually drinks. Franklin Mortgage is the best cocktail bar in the area — precise, atmospheric, and worth a reservation. Amada Bar is the best-kept secret. Morgan's Pier is the right choice for any warm evening between May and October. The neighbourhood is best enjoyed on foot, and it pairs well with East Passyunk for a two-neighbourhood evening.
James has been covering the Philadelphia bar scene for over a decade. He considers Old City underrated and will argue that Franklin Mortgage is one of the ten best cocktail bars on the East Coast.