How MICHELIN Rates Philadelphia
MICHELIN published its first Philadelphia selection on November 18, 2025, at a ceremony at the Kimmel Center. It named 34 restaurants: three with one Star, ten Bib Gourmands and 21 Recommended. No Philadelphia restaurant received two or three Stars.
The list has since shrunk to 32. Laurel on East Passyunk served its last dinner on November 21, 2025, days after the ceremony, and Hiroki in Fishtown closed on August 8, 2026. Both are gone from MICHELIN's Philadelphia page, and from this guide.
What the three tiers mean
MICHELIN's own wording: one Star goes to restaurants that "use top-quality ingredients and prepare dishes with distinct flavors" to a consistently high standard. The Bib Gourmand is its "award for great value," for "simple yet skillful cooking at an accessible price." Everything else on the list is a Recommended, or "Selected," restaurant: inspectors liked it enough to include it, without a Star or a Bib.
Inspectors judge five things: ingredient quality, harmony of flavors, mastery of technique, the chef's personality on the plate, and consistency across the menu and over time.
The next edition
The 2026 Northeast Cities ceremony, covering Philadelphia with Boston, Chicago, New York and Washington, is on December 14, 2026, in Manhattan. Philadelphia's list can gain or lose restaurants that night. MICHELIN retired its Green Star for sustainability in May 2026, so Pietramala (614 N 2nd St), the vegan Northern Liberties restaurant that earned Philadelphia's only Green Star, keeps its Recommended listing, but the Green Star itself is no longer awarded.
The Three Starred Restaurants, and How to Book Them
All three are dinner-only tasting or set menus. Book these first, then build a shopping day around them.
Friday Saturday Sunday
Friday Saturday Sunday (261 S 21st St) is two blocks west of Rittenhouse Square. The chef's tasting menu is $205 a person, prepaid when you book, served in the second-floor dining room; there is no elevator. Downstairs, the Lovers Bar is separate from the dining room. Reservations for a whole month open on OpenTable at 10am on the first day of the month before, so a November table goes on sale October 1. It is open Wednesday to Sunday and cannot accommodate anaphylactic allergies.
Her Place Supper Club
Her Place Supper Club (1740 Sansom St) runs like a dinner party. Amanda Shulman's set menu, seven courses when we checked, is $110 a guest before drinks, tax and gratuity, with an optional $85 wine pairing. Everyone sits at 6pm or 8:30pm, Monday to Friday, and the courses come out to the whole room at once. Parties top out at six, and the kitchen can't take dietary restrictions, so book only if you'll eat what comes. The menu changes every few weeks. Reservations are on OpenTable through the restaurant's own site.
Provenance
Provenance (408 S 2nd St) is on Headhouse Square in Society Hill, two blocks north of South Street. The tasting menu runs 20 to 25 dishes that blend Korean and French cooking, at $225 a person plus a 20% service charge and tax. Choose the kitchen-view counter or the Sunkoo Yuh Room (5:30pm and 8:30pm), or the Wine Cellar Room (7:30pm). It is open Tuesday to Saturday. Book on OpenTable; cancelling inside 72 hours costs the full per-person charge.
Tip: Set a phone reminder for the first of the month if Friday Saturday Sunday is the goal.
The Ten Bib Gourmands
Five of the ten are counters, sandwich shops or a deli, the kind of place you can walk into at lunch.
Counters, sandwiches and a deli
Dalessandro's (600 Wendover St) in Roxborough is a cheesesteak window: order at the counter and eat at the sidewalk tables, and bring cash. Del Rossi's (538 N 4th St) in Northern Liberties is the other cheesesteak Bib, with simple tables in the back. Angelo's Pizzeria (736 S 9th St) on the 9th Street stretch of the Italian Market has no seating at all; take your pie or sandwich to a bench. It is open Wednesday to Sunday, 11am to 7pm. Famous 4th Street Deli (700 S 4th St), at 4th and Bainbridge, is the Jewish deli of the list. Dizengoff (1625 Sansom St) is Michael Solomonov's hummus café, half a block from Walnut Street, and takes walk-ins.
Sit-down Bibs
Pizzeria Beddia (1313 N Lee St) in Fishtown serves five pizzas and natural wine around a horseshoe counter; book on Resy. Sally (2229 Spruce St), near Fitler Square, and El Chingón (1524 S 10th St), the South Philly Mexican spot for cemitas and arabes, are also on Resy. Fiorella (817 Christian St) is a small pasta bar in Bella Vista that books through OpenTable. Royal Sushi & Izakaya (780 S 2nd St) in Queen Village has booths, bar seats and an omakase counter; MICHELIN describes it as walk-in only.
The 19 Recommended Restaurants, by Neighborhood
The Recommended tier is the longest, and it reaches most of the city's shopping neighborhoods.
Rittenhouse and Center City
Around Rittenhouse Row: Vernick Food & Drink (2031 Walnut St); My Loup (2005 Walnut St), a narrow French bistro with a busy bar, oysters and escargot; and Little Water (261 S 20th St), Randy and Amanda Rucker's seafood restaurant with a raw bar. Around 12th and 13th Streets, Vetri Cucina (1312 Spruce St) is Marc Vetri's Italian dining room and Vedge (1221 Locust St) is Rich Landau and Kate Jacoby's vegetable restaurant. High Street (101 S 9th St), at 9th and Market, a short walk from Jewelers' Row, is Ellen Yin's restaurant and bakery, with hoagies and sandwiches at lunch and pastas and pizzas at dinner.
Old City, Society Hill and Queen Village
Zahav (237 St James Pl) is Michael Solomonov's modern Israeli restaurant in Society Hill. Forsythia (233 Chestnut St) is the French option in Old City. Farther south, three are within a few blocks of the Fabric Row stretch of 4th Street: Southwark (701 S 4th St) at 4th and Bainbridge, Ambra (705 S 4th St), and Roxanne (607 S 2nd St). Ambra is a restaurant within a restaurant: a tasting menu that can run three hours at one communal table or four kitchen seats, with drink pairings required. Roxanne is a small purple room with tatami tables and a short menu. Both book on Resy.
South Philly and Graduate Hospital
East Passyunk has two. River Twice (1601 E Passyunk Ave) is Randy Rucker's monthly-changing set menu, leaning toward seafood, with counter seats facing the kitchen. Mish Mish (1046 Tasker St) is a corner spot with sidewalk tables and vegetable-focused Mediterranean small plates. Northwest of there, in Graduate Hospital, illata (2241 Grays Ferry Ave) is a roughly 20-seat BYOB with under a dozen seasonal small plates, heavy on seafood; MICHELIN says to contact the restaurant to book.
Fishtown, Northern Liberties and North Broad
Fishtown has three, all within a short walk of Frankford Avenue: Kalaya (4 W Palmer St), Nok Suntaranon's Thai restaurant; Suraya (1528 Frankford Ave), for Lebanese food; and Laser Wolf (1301 N Howard St), an Israeli grill. Pietramala is in Northern Liberties, and Honeysuckle (631 N Broad St) serves an Afro-centric prix fixe on North Broad, with seats at the bar, a communal table or couches.
Pairing a Table With a Shopping Day
The list lines up with the city's shopping districts. Spend an afternoon on Rittenhouse Row, then walk to Her Place, Friday Saturday Sunday, My Loup or Little Water. A Jewelers' Row appointment ends a few blocks from High Street. South Street and Fabric Row lead to Provenance, Southwark, Ambra and Roxanne. A Saturday on Frankford Avenue in Fishtown sets up Pizzeria Beddia, Kalaya, Suraya or Laser Wolf.
Book the Stars as far ahead as they allow. For the counter Bibs, expect a line; MICHELIN notes Angelo's draws one at any time of day. And check back after December 14, when the 2026 list is announced.
