Early dinner near the airport

[mb7o]

Friday my friends will by flying through Philadelphia to Europe. (I will be to but may or may not be on the same flight). The flight arrives in PHL just before 5, and the outbound flight leaves after 8.

The question is, is there any sensible place to go with a group, departing PHL around 5 and returning around 7:30? It might be anywhere from 6-10 people depending on the number of locals.

One option is Tony Luke's. But I'm not sure that will work with this crowd. Do any of the airport hotel restaurants serve edible food? I suppose hauling into downtown or Chinatown might work, but that's far and risky traffic-wise.

[herbacidal]

There's a host of BYOBs in South Philly that would be about a 20 minute ride away.

But I wouldn't risk it. I'd stay in the airport, especially considering it has pretty decent food.

I've never eaten from the airport places myself, but from all accounts,

the food is quite respectable.

They've made a real effort to put some quality food there, and I would say it's worth trying.

It's especially worth trying during a 3-4 hour layover.

Here's a list of food possibiltiies and shops.

Independence Brewpub would be my choice, but Sky Bistro or TGI Friday's might be someone else's flavor.

[mrbigjas]

There's a "wine bar" type place in the airport--looking at the list Herb posted it's called Cibo--that has a bunch of wines by the glass and, uh, very average pasta dishes and stuff. You can get a nice glass of Gallo White Zin for $8 or so....

OK I'm only KINDA exaggerating.

The Jet Rock place has a buncha beers on tap, and average bar food including cheesesteaks and whatnot. I mean, if you wanna get an airport-style taste of Philadelphia, by which I mean crappy, but at least you won't miss your plane.

[herbacidal]

James, have you ever eaten at any of those places?

Gotta admit, way I figure it, any of the Philly area folks here are not likely to have tried the airport food.

If on their way out, most would've eaten before going to the airport.

If on their way in, most would eat once they arrive home.

And their being Philly area folks, they're not likely to need a layover feeding spot.

I doubt this is 100% accurate; there's always those who may pad their schedule too much, and arrive at the airport too early, for instance.

I did this last February. Course, I brought a snack with me to eat, so I didn't feel like wandering.

I'm just wondering if that 10% is going to read this and chime in.

[mb7o]

Well, the thing is that they no longer allow people without tickets into the airport, so that's not going to work if we actually meet with the others.

Which is too bad, since apparantly lots of people in the new office parks near the airport used the B/C connector as a lunch break area.

My usual airport food (since I'm usually on my way in or out) is Auntie Annes. The sushi place scares me, it was the last place I'd expect to find Sushi.

Anyone know how bad the lines are for the security checkpoints on Friday night? I don't want to do my usual trick of entering Terminal D when the flight is out of the new A West terminal. Maybe A West has short lines too...

[mrbigjas]

I've eaten at the "Jet Rock" place. It was related to the Philly Rock people; I don't know, it was ... not as bad as you'd expect? But not very good either.

Generally speaking I try not to eat airport/airplane food. I usually bring my own, EXCEPT that sometimes eating craptacular food at airports is part of the fun of traveling. Not usually, but sometimes.

I think--not sure, but I think--that they've moved the security areas so that you can get to most of the restaurants w/o having a ticket. I could be wrong about that.

Re security lines, the last time I flew out on a Friday night they weren't too bad. We came back in through the new terminal and our plane was the only one around, so if the traffic is still that low over there you're golden.

[rlibkind]

You have to go through security to eat at the airport restaurants/B-C food court.

The food court is okay; not bad for airport food, but that's not saying much. Another possibility would be to pick up a sandwich at Caviar Assouline near the B end of the B-C connector. At that time of the day they won't be at their freshest, but they will be palatable.

It's just too risky on a European flight to leave the airport; it's not like there's always another flight to Chicago. If you miss it, you're stuck for a day.

[Chuckles52]

Isn't there a cajun place in Essington? I've been racking my mind and driving my friend nuts trying to remember the name. Obviously not that memorable but it was close to the airport.

[mantee]

Give me an idea how they would like to eat. They have one hour and could order to have it ready. I'm in South Philly and know places that would do that. It's early enough that they won't be busy. Where are they going in Europe?

[mb7o]

we ended up eating in the airport marriot. ordering out would not work because there's nowhere to eat, except in the parking garage or similar. plus waay to complicated for the group at hand.

food was mediocre, portions large, prices OK. hey, it was better than i expected for a hotel attached to an airport.

the strangest thing was that this must not happen very often--we told them that some of us were trying to catch a flight, but they didn't really change the service accordingly (e.g. they waited for those who ordered appetizers (and didn't have a flight to catch) to finish them before bringing the main course)