Fitzwater Cafe — Restaurant in Philadelphia

There is something about a quaint local breakfast diner where a cute older lady, who has probably been working there for a decade plus, is coming around every few minutes with a big coffee pot asking if you want a refill on your $2.75 coffee that comes in a thick ceramic cup while you are waiting for your short stack of buttermilk pancakes that will forever hold a special place in my heart........ Okay, I will concede that was a BRUTAL run on sentence ahahaha but it came from my soul so I'm gonna let it rock.

Anyways, Fitzwater Cafe is exactly this. We arrived on a cold Saturday morning to a packed house, but still got a seat immediately. After delayering and taking in the well lit interior, it flashed me back to better days. My brother, dad, and I used to LOVE places like this. Still do really. No frills, no flash. Just good people, good food, and good energy. I told my girlfriend like 9 times "My brother would LOVE this place" ahahaha she was probably so off me.

I went with the Two Eggs Your Way with a side of Turkey bacon and an order of buttermilk pancakes because I'm an ANIMAL. My pookie-boobear-bubba-buttercup princess got an egg white omelette and I immediately said "That's what my dad would get!"..... ahahaa I gotta chill sometimes smh. I'm like a puppy when I get excited about little dumb stuff.

Everything was delicious with the pancakes being the highlight, obviously. I rarely get pancakes, but at places like this I feel like it's a requirement. Needed to walk it off after tho ahahaha I was on a full belly.

Being from Los Angeles and living in New York now, these places are a dying breed. An authentic, united community feel. Employees are smiling, happy to be here. You can hear strong local Philly accents talking about how they need to fire Siriani and they think the Eagles will lose to the Bucs..... they did :(. But it’s all good, stop running a QB Draw and tell Jalen Hurts to put all that energy he spends looking pretty into hitting a hot route on a blitz and it’s all good.

All this to say, it's places like these that show the true character of local communities.

THANK YOU FITZWATER I'LL SEE YOU SOON! GO BIRDS!

IG...

I liked the food here but I had a super weird/bad experience with the hostess today that will make me avoid coming back here. I had my name put on a waitlist for a table and we were told it “wouldn’t be much longer” (exact quote). We went outside for a bit because it was crowded, then eventually sat on the windowsill near the register when it cleared out. Eventually, more and more people cleared out. We noticed parties being seated that had arrived after us. We assumed the hostess forgot or something, so we tried making eye contact to ask. After making eye contact and looking away several times, I had to awkwardly confront her and ask her how much longer it would be. She responded very shortly, saying “I have no clue, you still have another table ahead of you. It wouldn’t take so long if you just sat at the COUNTER like I offered you”. Not even one full minute later, another group walked up looking to put their name on the list. She told them she could get them a table immediately if they’re fine with outdoor seating. I tried looking at her, and even raising my hand like a child to get her attention. She’d make eye contact again and then actively avoid me. I had to awkwardly confront her AGAIN and tell her “um we don’t mind outdoor seating, any table will do, we just don’t like the bar”. She still replied uncomfortably and told us “fine then you guys can take the table out there” and she generally pointed outside (did not lead us to the table or anything). Personally, I go out for breakfast to enjoy myself, not because I’m incapable of making pancakes or French toast. They’re some of the simpler meals. If I’m going out for breakfast, I don’t want to deal with a woman like that hostess playing passive aggressive games over getting a table. I honestly almost left without ordering anything. I am 100% not coming back to this...

Our appetizers were excellent, eventhough there was 5 people at a little cocktail table. We had to put glasses on another table, along with pilling dishes on top of each other for lack of space. Then our entress came, the chicken parm which usually comes with spagetti, was to be substittued with penne. a small ( child like dish) plate with one small chicken breast on it, nothing else, later came a small cup of penne. When we asked the waitress what happened ( since it looked like a child's portion) she said they forgot to change the pasta and walked away. We couldn't understand why it was such a small portion just because we changed the type of pasta. Nothing else was siad to us, nor did they compensate in any way. The pasta with all the seafood, was just a couple of mussels, two tenacles of squid, 2 little shrimp, certainly not worth the price, taste was blane. We also had the special Shrimp putanesa, very watery gravy and no taste. We use to be regulars at Fitzwater Cafe, don't think i will be going back...