Walnut Bridge Cofee House - Cafe @ 2319 Walnut St.

Located at 23rd and Walnut in Center City is a Gem of a Coffee shop. The cafe is situated facing road site of Walnut Street in an old archaic building that could need some cleaning. The sign for the shop is beautiful but is small and is placed quite high up on the building to be noticeable.

Like a lotus in a swamp it is housed in a building that is most likely not noticed unless you are looking for it or told by someone else. The second is what happened to me. I had passed that street several times, by foot and by car, but never ever noticed it. My colleague who visits that shop almost daily recommended it and I set out to test it. It is located a few walks from the Walnut Bridge and hence the name I guess.

I wanted a good coffee at the end of cloudy cold day in early March and I visited the cafe that evening. Unfortunately the cafe closes at 6:30 and I was a few minutes late. Never one to give up, I went there the next morning at 9:00AM and this time with a colleague friend of mine.

It's cozy setting inside with about 4 small tables to the left and the counter on the right. The decor was simple and attractive. They feature a local artist on the left side wall of the cafe. The man behind the counter was courteous and nice to talk to. He mentioned that they close at 6:30PM as they do not have much business after.

I took a regular small sized (8oz I think) coffee with an almond scone. My colleague had a cafe latte. The coffee is Illy coffee. I liked the coffee at $1.30 in their smallest size and the scone was $2.00. The scone was delicious, soft, crumbly and lightly sweet.

They also have sandwiches and wraps for lunch that I intend to try out sometime in the future. I will surely post that experience here. They also have chocolates, pastries, tea etc and they do catering as well.

To conclude, I recommend this place for a quick bite in the morning or lunch time. The location is what makes it odd. It is neither in the busiest corner nor is it at a scenic location. Or maybe that is the plus to it as they is not much noise out here.

Note: The following pictures are taken on my next visit to this place with my wife. My wife took the croissant and she says she liked the croissant at Dunkin Donuts better. The reason could be that she likes her croissant toasted and they did not have a toaster in house to have her croissant toasted to taste like the way she liked it. To me all croissants taste alike. I took a regular coffee. I liked the white porcelain cups but my wife says that the handle were really small. I kind of agree with her on hindsight. She also had Cafe Latte and liked it. I have more or less become a regular customer to them.

Bonners Irish Pub - American @ 120 S 23rd St

As the name suggests, this page is a pub. It does have a good lunch menu to satisfy your mouth and wallet. This is located between Chestnut and Walnut St on the Sansom St and 23rd St Intersection. It looks like it is kind of nowhere, given its location and the look of it. It has a sort of rundown look to it, but I think it is intentional to give the boisterous feel of Irishness. The outside of the building is green and you can surely say it has that the place has something to do with Irish. I chose this place after a long walk to Mama Palmas Pizza of Spruce, only to find out it was open for dinner only. I was walking back to Market St on 23 st with my Business Associate who saw this place and said that it where he had met his wife. So we decided to give it a try. The interior was little dark, but we were pleasantly greeted by the lady at the bar, who placed us on a table to the left of the bar. The place is surely a pub that is converted to a restaurant on one side. We both had Iced Tea. The tea was unsweetened and little bitter. But a little sugar eased it out. A lemon wedge would have made it better. I ordered Crab Cake with Mashed Potatoes and Cajun Fries. My colleague had Grilled Ham and Cheese sandwich on a Rye Bread. She did ask both of us if we wanted our fries together with the main course which I thought was good to hear. Very few ask. I said yes and my colleague no. The fries were great. They were fresh, hot and mildly spicy just I had expected. It did not have the smell of grease either - Prefect. A few minutes later the Crab cake was on the table. It was all I expected of a crab cake, excepting that the cake was big. They should have made it into two, instead of one big cake. The exterior was nice and crispy; the interior was soft and creamy. A tard bid high on cream I should say, but it was good. The mashed potatoes were good as well. My partner liked his sandwich immensely and fries as well. Overall the check came out to $20 for the two of us with the drinks and tax included. The average price of a sandwich on the menu was like $6-$7. The place was not crowded at all for a beautiful lady like this. It was sixties in the early February. The food was quick. Also the host did mention that the patties they use on their burgers are fresh and not frozen. They do have some specials daily displayed on the board and the host did mention them again. Overall the pluses are the food, friendliness of the waitress and the host, cost of the items being very reasonable, not so crowded and time it took to bring the food to the table was quick. The only thing I would recommend they improve is the exterior of the place and also adding some light indoors would help.