Aviation Grill — Restaurant in Philadelphia

We were looking for a place to eat at the Philly Airport that was outside security and wasn't convenience store snacks. After going through terminals A and B with no luck, we decided to see if there was anything at the Marriott before giving up. (We were at the airport for a global entry interview and weren't flying out of Philly).

Aviation Grill is a nicely kept bar and grill inside the Marriott. The wait staff were very attentive and our meal came out quickly and more importantly, hot! I had the grownup grilled cheese sandwich with a salad for my side. They were generous with the ham, lots of gooey cheese, and on nicely toasted sourdough bread. You can't go wrong ordering the grilled cheese sandwich! My husband had the Philly Cheesesteak sandwich and said it was good, but hey, he likes pretty much everything. 😉 Our meals were filling enough that we skipped dessert despite being tempted by the Juniors cheesecake.

Waitstaff were pleasant and attentive.

We were there at about 12:45 pm, so maybe the tail end of the lunch "rush". We were out by about 1:45 pm with the majority of the time spent enjoying the food (meaning we weren't sitting there forever waiting to be served or for our food.)

If we're ever at the Philly Airport again, I wouldn't hesitate to eat...

Unfortunately, I missed my flight and had to stay in the airport Marriott hotel for the night. With nothing around I was told to go to the Aviation Grill. "It's top-notch!", they said.

Well, I ordered the Yuengling beer that was $9.80 the meal was $18 Gnats were flying around and landing on my Aviation Burger!!! A burger that came with shoestring fries and a kosher pickle wedge. needless to say I left it all. The hostess took my meal when I showed her I had to smash bugs on my burger and pickle wedge. Not to mention the 2 floating in my drink!

It was so hard, and took alot of poise and restraint not to raise up from my seat yelling in utter disgust. With folks looking as I'm shadow boxing with gnats... the hostess said it was bc the seats were so near the open door to the building. I was livid but responded with respect and humility. She decided to charged me for the beer since I had taken my 1st sip. So I tipped 100% in kind $9.80 to make it as close to an even $20 as I could.

Just bc their situation was subpar, doesn't mean I have to be less than my best self. I sincerely hope they get the flying insect situation...

I stayed at the PHL Marriott on 7/1/25 and was shocked by the drink prices! $21 for a glass of wine? No thanks. We only ordered food (the veggie panini was tasty, though small), and our entire experience at the Aviation Grill took two hours, which is insane. It took more than an hour for our food to come out of the kitchen! I am mainly writing this review to mention our server, Emad, who was EXCELLENT! It appeared that he was the only server on a VERY busy night, and he truly worked his butt off to keep everyone happy. This man deserves a raise and I hope he got some good tips that night because it wasn't his fault that the restaurant hasn't hired enough staff to keep up with the demand. I wasn't sure how many stars to select for the 'Service' at this restaurant, because while Emad was excellent, overall the restaurant needs to do some hiring both in the kitchen and out in the...