The Blue Anchor

There is an eatery and bar within this pop-​up barge. The food is average and drinks decent. My favorite part is the garden with the chairs all around, hammocks and sand to dig your toes in. Love looking out at the water. I just wish you could bring your drinks out into the Spruce Harbor Park to walk around.

The only good thing about this place is you can sit on a hammock over water, IF you wait and hour and fight to grab one. The food is TERRIBLE. I got the Blue Anchor Burger, and could hardly choke it down. The burger itself was burnt to a crisp, and the toppings were standard aside from the apple sauce/​squash mush they put on top. It is not worth the wait in terms of food. If you want to go for the bar experience, you might have a good time; the hammocks over water are nice if you can grab one.

1^st time here yesterday. Cool little place! Had the village burger with bacon — delish! Definitely recommend. Didn’t come with fries but my daughter got a kids basket & it was loaded with them — shoe strings with the perfect amount of salt. I’d recommend ordering fries on the side. We were lucky enough to score a table right in the front of the place but there were picnic tables right outside available as well. There are staff members at the entrance & exit taking count before letting it get overcrowded. Had to wait about 5 minutes to get back in once.
The drinks were very good. Started with a Yeungling Summer wheat then had the white sangria & my husband the earl grey infused vodka with grapefruit. Loved them both. I’d say this is the place to grab a bite while you’re at the park. The menus small enough that even with a line our order only took a few minutes — big plus because we were starving!
Nice crowd. :)

Spruce Street Harbor Park is only open until August 31^st. And if you want to check out Iron Chef Jose Garce’s Blue Anchor pop up barge, you have only a few weeks left! A nod to Village Whiskey, you can get your fill of burgers and short-​rib fries that are a bit tempered compared to his brick-​and-​mortar establishment.
Just head into the heart of the park and make a right — be sure to get a table looking across the pond of lily pads. There are two barges — one for beer and cocktails to the right and the other for food to your left.
Root & Rye [$ 8]
I started off with the Root & Rye cocktail — a mélange of Bulleit bourbon and Root from Art in the Age, Philly’s favorite artisanal liqueur shop. It was strong, yet smooth, with the Root tempering the rye bourbon. Yet, the advertised orange rind was missing — womp womp.
Village Burger [$ 7]
Potato roll, tomato, cheddar, romaine, 1000 island
The village burger was no true Village Whiskey burger. Still, for half the price, it was decent. A soft bun contrasted nicely with the flat-​top crisped burger that was well-​seasoned.
Blue Anchor Special [$ 8]
Truffle-​mushroom, caramelized onion, cheddar
The special burger was accented with truffle essence that didn’t overpower, with the caramelized onions and mushrooms giving additional umami to each bite.
Village Queen [$ 10]
Double burger, tomato, romaine, fries, pickled jalapeño, cheddar
The Village Queen went over the top with double the patty and some fun in the form of pickled jalapenos which provided some bite and acid. The addition of fries lent some heft and texture to each bite.
Shorty Fries [$ 8]
Fries, braised short rib, Sly Fox cheddar sauce
The shorty fries were a tamer version of Village Whiskey’s duck-​fat short-​rib fries. Unfortunately, the braised short rib tasted more like a burnt gravy. The fries were of a crisp matchstick variety and the Sly Fox cheddar had some nice sharpness.
But really, even if the food were bad (which it wasn’t), I’d still recommend heading over to Spruce Street Harbor Park. An urban oasis in Center City Philly is exactly what we all need.

I had a very enjoyable time at this venue. If you can’t make it to the beach this is a good second option where you can sit on beach chairs with sand under your feet and have water views. The brightly colored chairs, good music, sand and flickering lights are sure to put you in a good mood. There are two food trucks there — — –one that serves beer and the other that serves Jose Garces tapas and burgers etc. We didn’t have food — — just beer, but it was nice to have the option to grab something to eat if we desired. This was a fun «cheap» night out. Beers were $ 6.- — Beware the most inexpensive parking around is $ 13. Enjoy!

I met a few friends here on Sunday to celebrate a birthday, and I really liked the vibe of the place. It was a pretty cool setup, with sand everywhere and beach chairs, but the food was pretty forgettable. I loved the booze side of things; yards beers, sangrias and even a cocktail which I loved that was a mixture of rye and a root beer liquor.
My main issue was with the food. It was pretty bad. The burger I ordered was cold and didnt have a while lot of flavor going on. In fact it was really dry. I ate it because I was starving and because it was 8 bucks, but it really wasnt worth it. I totally get that they are cooking out of a shipping container, but food cooked to order should at least be hot.
I would sit out there and drink all day in the nice weather, but I will be eating elsewhere for sure. I really like the outdoor setup of it. Its extremely seasonal, the entire park is shutting down at th end of August, so if you want to check it out this year, you are going to need to go soon. Go for drinks, skip the food!