Dutch Eating Place
1136 Arch Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
(215) 992- 0425
Open: Sunday-Monday Closed/Tuesday-Wednesday 8:00am-3:00pm/Thursday-Saturday 8:00am-5:00pm
My review on TripAdvisor:
Every time I visit Philadelphia, The Reading Market is one of the first stops on the list. There is such a variety of places to eat and the cuisine ranges from Chinese to Italian to ice cream to baked goods. There are so many choices that it is hard to choose between them.
One of my favorite places to eat is the Dutch Eating Place. It is true Pennsylvania Dutch cooking that is ‘homey’ and ‘stick to your ribs’ type of cooking. For breakfast, it is layers of pancakes or French toast, scrambled eggs cooked in real butter and sticky buns.
For lunch it could be meatloaf, chicken pot pie or my favorite, a hot turkey sandwich with mashed potatoes and lots of gravy on top. I always get a kick at the way the cooks and servers watch me with the big smile on my face when I see the food come and the big ‘MMMMMMs” while I am eating. The food is consistently good.
The last time I was in Philly for the Cornell-Penn Game, I had come here for lunch and had the Chicken Pot Pie ($7.95). Just to let readers know this is not the traditional pot pie with a thick gravy and a golden crust but more of a stew with thick egg noodles mixed in. The whole stew is large chunks of white meat cooked in a gravy with large cuts of fresh vegetables and thick egg noodles cooked in the mixture. It may not be the traditional pot pie we know but it still is delicious and the portion size is large.
Chicken Pot Pie stew
On my recent trip to Philly for the Flower Show, I had the Hot Turkey Sandwich ($8.25) which I love and highly recommend. Slices of freshly roasted turkey line two thickly cut pieces of freshly baked bread and then covered in a rich brown turkey gravy and served with mashed potatoes loaded with fresh butter and a side of cranberry berry sauce and Cole slaw. The portion size was very large but perfect after a long afternoon of walking the show.
The sliced turkey was juicy and moist and there was layer upon layer between the two thick slices of bread. I made sure that I saved some of the bread so that I could soak up the rest of the gravy.
I have eaten breakfast here many times on my visits to Philly. My first morning I had the pancakes with a side of sausage. I received two large golden brown pancakes with a big slab of fresh butter on top ($5.75) with a side of sausage ($2.75). The breakfast was delicious. The pancakes are huge and take up the whole plate. They have a nice caramelized outside and a soft inside accented by the fresh butter and maple syrup.
On my third trip here, I had the Blueberry Pancakes with a side of Turkey Bacon ($5.95) that were just excellent. The pancakes were loaded with fresh blueberries that were in each bite and had a big slab of fresh churned butter on top. The Turkey bacon was well cured and had a smoky flavor to it.
The pancakes here are excellent
The Apple French Toast ($5.75) is the same with a nice caramelized, crisp buttery outside and a soft sweet interior because the freshly baked bread that is used to make it. A fresh apple mixture tops the two pieces of toast that you get and with the syrup has a nice complexity that gives the apples a nice sweet taste.
The special came with a side of the Turkey bacon the third time I visited. The scrambled egg on the side was cooked in clarified butter and was so good. You could taste the butter cooked in the egg.
The Apple French Toast is out of the this world!
The sausage and bacon are all freshly made and have a nice smoked flavor to them. The sausage are large, plump and have the right amount of spices and smoked nicely. The bacon is cured and thickly cut. I am sure these are made by their own butchers. This is not your standard grocery store meats.
The service is always nice and even in busy times is very engaging. The Amish families that work at the restaurant could not be nicer and even in the busiest times always have a smile on their face.
They make the best recommendations of what to order and will describe all the dishes to you. It seems that they had a lot of problems with people ordering the chicken pot pie and have put a better description of it up on the board.
None of the entrees are over $10.00, so it is a nice place for a meal when you want traditional Pennsylvania Dutch Cooking close by the hotel and tourist district this is the place to visit.
It is so nice to have food cooked and served to you with people with patience with a smile on their faces at all times.
Dining on a Shoestring in the New York City area and beyond. 