Radicchio Cafe

My husband and I went last night for a celebratory dinner. DELICIOUS! Service and every bite of food was amazing. For a starter, we ordered the focaccia caprese. Amazing. The focaccia was so fresh, the mozzarella was melt in your mouth. My husband ordered the lobster ravioli and I got chicken sorentina. We also ordered canolis for dessert. We walked out of there feeling comfortably full and saying we couldn’t wait to go back.

This place is incredible. The best food, service and atmosphere! Adorable spot in olde city, worth going to for sure!

Through a series of funny coincidences, this was one of the best dining experiences I’ve ever had. The waiters were sarcastically hilarious, a huge party inside the restaurant passed my friend and I wine+desserts through the window, and the other customers made for hysterical people-​watching. The gnocchi was delicious and the whole-​grain penne came with tons of chicken. Check it out!

Wowowow. This is probably the best Italian BYOB in Philly. The staff is very friendly and the food is incredible! I’ve been here twice and remember being blown away the first time and recently returned for a friends birthday dinner. I had the Fusilli Toto which was perfectly seasoned with pasta cooked to perfection. We shared the eggplant parm special appetizer which was also insanely good. I can’t wait to have another reason to go back here. I lived in Tuscany for a summer a few years back and this place brought me right back there!

Amazing. Literally one of the best Italian meals I’ve had in months.
After about 6 months of hearing family and friends suggest Radicchio’s to me I finally made a point to go. My boyfriend and I went for our 2 year anniversary dinner. We have good friends who frequent there so we had the heads up to bring plenty of wine and arrive early/​expect to wait as there are no reservations and it’s small inside.
We got there on a Saturday night at 6PM and walked right in. There were about 6 seats available at this point in time. Within 10 minutes every seat inside was taken. They did however use the outdoor seating with heat lamps for others after us.
You receive complimentary brushetta and bread/​oil. We also ordered a Caesar salad to split and mussels & clams in red sauce for appetizers — both were delicious. The sauce was fresh and the seafood was tender.
For our meals we both ordered pasta in their blush sauce. The blush sauce was honestly one of the best I’ve ever had. My boyfriend couldn’t stop grabbing the bread to soak it up.
I ordered the lobster ravioli special which had asparagus, scallops, and shrimp included as well. BEST EVER. My boyfriend ordered the spiral pasta with shrimp and scallops.
Going into the evening we knew we would eat a lot so we skipped lunch. We were still expecting to bring home leftovers, sad to say we ate every single thing on our plates. It was THAT good.
I will definitely be back. Service was excellent and the prices were unbeatable for the quality of food and experience you get. Love it there!

Okay lets get one thing straight. The food is phenomenal! The restaurant is a little cramped and noisy but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Great place, looking forward to come back. Oh and also, cannolis.

This place is as good as it gets, food wise! It is a BYOB which is always a great option in the city. We have only been once, but, the food was that great! The service was prompt and efficient. You can tell that a lot of the staff are all authentic Italian. It has an intimate setting, they do a great job with a small space. I would recommend this place to anyone visiting old city. It truly is a hidden gem!

Food: Absolutely amazing starters. Especially the grilled octopus and burrata salad. Didn’t like our sea food pasta as much though. Ordered Tiramisu for dessert which was good but not the best I’ve had.
Service: Our server came across as very rude. Due to the noise around we had to ask him to repeat twice the specials for the day which wasn’t on their menu. This set him off probably which was evident in his behavior with us as he was more amiable with the others around us. He also cut down on the number of dessert biscotti he served us (checked what he gave on other tables)
Other servers seemed friendly though.

Went here for dinner with my dad and boyfriend– best choice by far. For the appetizer we got the grilled calamari, which was freshly grilled and seasoned so perfectly. For the entrees, we ordered two of the specials– the duck ragu (fantastically cooked pasta sauce) and the sirloin steak (ordered rare and cooked to perfection. For dessert we ordered rum cake with gelato and a cappuccino. Everything was so full of flavor and cooked to perfection. It’s nice to go to a restaurant and have an efficient and caring staff. Will definitely go back

I’ve had dinner at Radicchio many times and I’ve consistently left completely satiated. It’s the top Italian restaurant in Philadelphia. A bigger dinning room is the sole thing I could perhaps propose to help it become better. There’s always a line of waiting customers at peak hours. Sadly, a bigger site may mean that it loses its close, personalized service. As it’s really close, you’re always guaranteed to get the interest of the wait staff.

I went here for a birthday dinner with a party of 6 and had an amazing time. Although they do not take reservations, I called on the way there to ask if they were busy and they said no. The entrance is a little weird because there is no waiting area where the hostess can seat you, just tables where people were eating so it made things a bit confusing and awkward. We had to wait around 5 minutes for our table to be set up and we were promptly seated. The restaurant is very small but has a cosy and authentic Italian feel to it.
Our waiter was very nice and knowledgable about the food and his descriptions for the specials of the day made me want everything. He literally could describe dirt and we would still eat it. I asked for any recommendations with meat sauce and he said they could prepare a bolognese sauce with linguini pasta and feta cheese which was sooooo good.
When we were done, they came out with three huge scoops of gelato and a candle for dessert. The scoop of hazelnut was so rich in flavor and everyone fought to get a bite. Overall, I had a great experience and this will definitely be a usual spot for us in the future!

When I was there the food was outstanding an service was amazing! Everything was on point.

The food here was good. While the obnoxious party of six in the back dampened the experience, the food and service remained good. The artichoke heart appetizer was delicious (though overpriced at $ 14). We had the tri colore pasta which was rich and buttery, but safe in its flavor. Additionally the rose sauce farfalle was also very good. Both dishes lacked in seafood quantity (4 shrimp per dish). It’s a BYOB which is nice on the wallet.

My favorite restaurant in the city. I have NEVER been disappointed. It’s always consistently delicious and fresh. The lobster ravioli that they have on special a lot is my favorite. And the octopus, perfect. So charred and grilly. Amazing.

Radicchio Café is amazing. It is a bit far away from Rittenhouse Square and the city center but it is worth the trek. The food is fresh and delicious and everything is made in-​house. Their menu is a bit limited but they often have specials which make up for this. Get a fresh fish and their spaghetti — you won’t regret it!

This is one of my favorite Italian restaurants in the city. I’ve been here multiple times and have always received great advice from every staff member. It is a local BYOB and it shows in that the owner/​manager knows the regulars. I recommend the octopus appetizer, the Bronzino while fish, and any of their specials. The venue is small so be prepared to have to squeeze between tables and sit close to other diners. I love the food so I’m willing to go in spite of this small flaw.

Dinner was fantastic. Also, the service was very good. Comfortable atmosphere and a BYOB. We will be coming back again!

This is one of the best Italian places I’ve gone to in the city! Stopped in here (in the pouring rain) on a Tuesday evening to have dinner with a friend before her wedding dress fitting in Old City. I snagged a spot that appeared to have free parking in the evening and we grabbed a table for two at this small but adorable BYOB.
We largely followed the waiter’s suggestions on what to order-​grilled mozzarella and zucchini for an appetizer which was incredibly fresh and light with a hint of balsamic, the pasta special-​a squid pasta with scallops and shrimp in a slightly spicy sauce-​and the beet salad with goat cheese and candied walnuts. The fresh bread was perfect and the whole meal took roughly an hour (doesn’t take me long to polish off a bottle of wine) — all for about $ 30 per person. I am DEFINITELY coming here again!

A few years ago I probably would have given Radicchio’s a 5, but on the last visit the service was so terrible that I have to knock it down to a 3. I could continue to rant, but it just seemed like the server was completely disinterested in his job.
All that aside, the food is excellent. My go-​to is the Capellini Positano. A great mix ofangel hair pasta with jumbo lump crabmeat, oil, garlic, arugola and fresh tomatoes. You really can’t beat it. We generally go with the warm buffalo mozzarella appetizer as well.
Word to the wise is that this place is small and they do not take reservations. Plan on getting there early or later in the evening and still plan on waiting. Plan on hunting for parking if you are driving over this way. It’s also BYO.

Went for the first time on a Friday evening around 9:30p. It was just starting to clear out, and we specifically went late since they don’t take reservations. They have indoor and outdoor seating, and we chose to sit outside. It’s a small place with maybe 15 tables, or so, in side, and another 10 or so outside. Décor is nice, rustic in a way, and the place is in good shape and seems well-​maintained overall. The tables and chairs outside were the wooden-​slat type, so the chairs were a bit uncomfortable and the silverware can fall through the slats… so be careful!
They are a BYOB, and we bough a bottle with us, which our server was happy to uncork for us. We opted for a penne with seafood entrée, a grilled calamari appetizer, eggplant parmesan appetizer, and veal with a lemon caper sauce entrée. Everything was prepared very well, and very simply. The simple preparations were nice, since the ingredients all seemed very fresh, and the flavors of the ingredients really came out in each dish. Their red sauce is a bit lighter than most, which I enjoyed… no quite as concentrated as most restaurants make it. It’s a bit less acidic. The red sauce that came with the penne had cream and was infused with a seafood flavor, which was great. The calamari were cooked perfectly, and served with capers, arugula, and olives.
I got a cappuccino and a dulce de leche cake for dessert. The cake was a bit odd… more like dense birthday cake, though it was still very good.
Overall, a really nice Italian restaurant that keeps it simple, uses quality ingredients, and prepares their proteins at just the right temperature. Really worth a trip out to what is a slightly out-​of-​the-​way location in the city, which makes it an even nicer experience, since it’s pretty quiet. The staff were all very nice and accommodating, as well, which is always appreciated.
Definitely worth a try!