P.J. Clarke's is located at 601 Walnut Street in The Curtis building, in the heart of Old City, Philadelphia. It's easily accessible from historic sites, Center City offices, and nearby hotels. The restaurant offers a classic American bar and grill experience.
Customer Perception
Customers generally find the food and service to be good. The atmosphere is described as having a corporate feel, often attracting business lunches.
Had a long day of walking around and my bro really wanted some oysters so we found this place. Luckily, we came during happy hour which has a deal on oysters, a buck-a-schuck. Also got some smoked salmon and deviled eggs. Nick made the best Old Fashion I've had in a while. All were delicious and would definitely come back.
Loved every moment here. I celebrated a girlfriend’s birthday, and we dined during brunch. The oysters were fresh. I enjoyed the cooked oysters as well…and my preference is usually raw. The pretzels were superb: I think that was our selling point of dining. Our server, Tony was fun! We’ll return and be sure to ask for him ☺️
The Good: Let me start by saying we had a great server. It was pretty busy outside, but he checked on us periodically and was very friendly. The prosecco we ordered from the happy hour menu was crisp and solid offering.
The Bad: We ordered a dozen raw East Coast oysters and found a live worm squirming on one of them. I’m not one to complain and I wasn’t even going to mention this, but the exterior of the oysters were also dirty (ie. Ocean particles and sand still attached) and shell fragments had to be spit out in some pieces. Needless to say, it kind of killed our appetite. They did the bare minimum and took the oyster order off our check. Really disappointing when a place prides themselves on seafood and it has live critters in it.
Food was pretty good! We got the calamari (delicious!), the bread (absolutely awesome). Got the fried onion strings as an appetizer (off a rec from a friend) - also very good, but not awesome alone. Definitely better enjoyed as a true side. Lastly we had the burger trio which was ok, just kind've an average burger/slider, nothing special about them! The drinks we had were good as well! Price is standard for a nice dinner in washington square!
Also our server was wonderful, he was attentive and a great listener. Good food, good ambiance and good service. Don't think this is a true 5 start spot by philly standards, but i think the 4.4-4.5 rating is very fair!
The food and service were good. The atmosphere was very corporate feel. I feel that most people there were on a business lunch. I took visiting son there for lunch. Like I said, food was good but over priced. Our lunch came to just under $100 with tip and tax. I would recommend this place for special occasions though. I have to mention that the burgers was cooked perfectly, medium rare. Out waitress was very attentive, almost too attentive. She asked us how was everything before we had a chance to take our first bite. 😁 It's ok though, no complaints there.
