Bars, Restaurants & Dining
For coffee, hike to W/N W/N Coffee Bar on Spring Garden Street, which serves roasts from Center City’s Elixr and functions as a worker-owned cooperative cafe.
Breakfast is served at neighborhood hangout Cafe Lift, which snugly fits the neighborhood’s industrial aesthetic by operating out of a refurbished factory building. Go for the sauerkraut-topped Polish benedict, or a sausage frittata. Otherwise, head to Prohibition Taproom for savory pancakes or, a staple of the area, scrapple.
From the owners of Cafe Lift is Bufad Pizza, which serves brunch - see: the Italian sausage and gravy - and, for lunch, a variety of pizzas and small plates like meatballs. Parada Maimon is a destination for Dominican take-out, with plantains, seafood stews and a seemingly endless array of meaty entrees. New Town Restaurant and Deli serves up an amalgam of lunch plates: ravioli, yes, but also angus burgers and honey-dipped fried chicken.
Just across Spring Garden, Venezuelan dishes are the main attraction at Sazon, with arepas, empanadas and flank steak swarmed by a mix of beans, rice and plantains. Prohibition Taproom is also a popular dinner-and-drinks spot for residents and, specifically, guests of Union Transfer - compiling behemoth sandwiches like a short-rib cheesesteak, as well as easily shareable small plates. A sea of craft beers are also on draft.
At The Trestle Inn, don’t let the relatively modest name deceive: It’s a funky good time that harkens back to the free-spirit vibes of the ’60s and ’70s, the air filled with live music, the sounds of cocktails and the bounce of go-go dancers.
Of course, a major allure of Loft District living is its walking-distance proximity to Chinatown and the artisan food vendors of Reading Terminal Market, just south of the neighborhood.