Cherry St. Tavern — Restaurant in Philadelphia

I loved Cherry Street Tavern, I've been going here since 2023. My friends and I have been going here in larger groups since we have been in the city, always loved the service, the atmosphere, and the amazing staff and owner! The bar back is super attentive, the owner is always really welcoming, and Morgan was always super quick and had amazing customer service skills.

I think I've been here for 8-9 visits while I've lived in the city and am always so excited to visit. I must add that my friends and I have always tipped well.

I am sad to say that tonight's visit will be the last time we ever step into this establishment.

We came to Cherry Street once after Morgan had left for a new job and the new bartender was super nice! She was very welcoming, kind, and a super quick worker. Nothing was amiss. However, tonight my friends and I walked into the Tavern (a group of 8 people) and sat down. We were discussing what we all wanted to order, and the lovely bar back came over to see what we wanted. We told him we were still deciding and he went back to the bar.

When we had decided what we wanted, my friend went up to the bar and started ordering drinks for the table. The bartender asked for IDs, all of us who were ordering alcoholic drinks produced IDs and we began ordering. Two of my friends ordered water and we're getting ready to order food for the table. The rest of us were enjoying our drinks that my friend ordered. According to her testimony, she went up with our IDs (which was not a problem), and ordered two drinks. She paid with cash, the bartender handed back the change, and she went back to the table. My sister went up to order a long island iced tea, paid with cash but did not tip since it had not been a problem before at Cherry Street that we tip at the end.

My next friend went up to order a shot and paid in cash, giving a 10 ($8 for the drink and $2 for the tip on that drink). The bartender then told my friend, in response to my sister not tipping I can only assume, that from now on we have to leave a tip on the bar with the bartender. Then, she said by the way "this is gonna be a problem if this continues" to which my friend gave a thumbs up understanding that we will be tipping at the bar from now on.

The bartender came up to our table after this interaction, to tell us and I quote "I don't know if you have ever been to this bar but, you have to leave the tip on the table." We all nodded and said we understood once again and will continue tipping as she requested from now on.

My friend who joined us about 20 minutes into us being at Cherry Street Tavern sat down and greeted us. We communicated with him that the bartender needed us to tip at the bar / with each drink order and continued about our conversation. He went up to the bar to order a rum and coke and was met with an unfriendly attitude. He barely knew us at the beginning of the night, and tried to express that any lack of tipping with ordering was a misunderstanding. The bartender was not having it, saying that we were too large a table to not tip, that this was our last round.

We politely finished our drinks, tipped in cash handing it to her so we knew she got it, and left as quickly...

This is a very interesting place. I don’t mean the “hmmm… interesting “ you get from your partner when your attempted fusion cooking fails. This place radiates atmosphere; they don’t even a printed food menu, just several deli style sandwiches written on a board — roast meat (pork, or beef) with cheese, chicken salad, tuna salad. I didn’t give five stars for food because of the limited selection, but the pork one was tasty ands filling. The draught beer selection was outstanding— I had the Oktoberfest 🍺 by Founders. I sipped a bit of the pumpkin spice beer, which was very well done. There were bottles and a fully stocked bar. The bartender was friendly and knowledgeable. The perfect neighbourhood pub, if you happen to be around ! I’ll definitely stop by when I’m at the Philly...

Only reason this isn't a one start review is because how long I've been going there and I had pretty given them a five stars. Waited near 15 minutes to even be acknowledged. Keep in mind the place wasn't packed by any means. Older, dirty blonde waitress comes over and ask about drinks, we asked for a beer list and waitress points to wall then disappeared for another 15 minutes and proceeded to be flat out rude for the remainder of the stay. This has been my experience for the last few visits. Used to frequent this place 2-3 times a week. Need to find yourself a new bartender. The woman is just short and rude. Not to mention, the roast beef was soggy as all hell by the time she got it...