Ralph's Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Philadelphia

Ralph’s South Philly, oldest Italian restaurant in the United States. Located in the heart of the city, this Italian restaurant offers a delightful culinary experience that captures the essence of Italy. From traditional pasta dishes to mouth-watering desserts, every bite is filled with authentic flavors and fresh ingredients. The cozy ambiance and friendly staff add to the overall charm of the place. Whether you're craving a classic spaghetti carbonara or a decadent tiramisu for dessert, this restaurant is sure to satisfy your Italian food cravings. This Philadelphia restaurant is a must-visit for all Italian cuisine enthusiasts!

Service: 5 stars our waiter was Jimmy and he was excellent. He provided great recommendations and was very attentive. Chef came out to check on us which was so sweet.

Ambiance: 4/5 stars. we sat on the first floor it was a little tight. We should have requested 2nd floor. Love the old pictures throughout the restaurant.

Food: Overall 4/5 stars. Mussels in red - very fresh and nice portion. These were sneaky good the mussel sauce had a mild spicy kick. Rating: 5/5 stars.

Meatballs: Dollop of ricotta “Best Of Philly” these meatballs were seriously the best. The fresh ricotta was a nice touch. Rating: 5/5 stars.

Bruschetta - Chopped tomatoes, red onion, mozzarella, basil, extra virgin olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. Rating: 4/5 stars

Tomatoes And Mozzarella Salad: the balsamic glaze was to die for. This salad was extremely salty. Rating 3/5 stars.

Mediterranean Salad: Shrimp, crabmeat, tomatoes, black olives, romaine. Rating 5/5 stars.

Gnocchi Alla Vodka: Blush sauce with pancetta. Rating: 4/5 stars

Eggplant Parmigiana: Egg battered and baked with mozzarella cheese and marinara sauce. Rating: 4/5 stars.

Linguini Pescatore: Shrimp, clams, mussels, and crabmeat in a white garlic wine sauce. Seafood was very fresh, sauce was very light. Delicious. Rating: 4/5 stars

Veal Saltimbocca: Mozzarella cheese, prosciutto, spinach, mushrooms, marsala wine. This was my least favorite. It didn’t taste right with the Marsala sauce it should have been a white wine garlic sauce. Rating: 2/5 stars.

Lobster Ravioli (special) very fresh sauce was light and airy. Rating: 5/5 stars

Highly recommend the espresso martini I added cream to mine it was a little strong. For desserts tiramisu and cannoli cake were to die for. The cake was dense yet airy if that makes any sense. Dessert rating: 5/5 stars...

I do not recommend this restaurant because of the horrible service and the food we ordered had no taste and parking is hard to find. Please continue reading for detailed story.

I made a reservation at Ralph's for 4:30 pm and because of the heavy rain and parking availability I was 15 minutes late. When my wife and i entered the resturant the host was talking on the phone and then the first thing she says to me is "do you have a reservation"... And I replied "Yes for 4:30 pm" and she says "oh you are late and I canceled your reservation but I'll seat you in few minutes."

Not a good way to welcome a customer.

After we were seated then ordered our food and new hire server was nice to us. I ordered crab sauce with linguine and my wife ordered pasta with shrimp & mushrooms. which had no taste!

My wife added salt & pepper on her shrimp and started eating and I had lost my appetite so I was not eating. The host walked over and saw me not eating and asked if I wanted a box to go and i replied "sure" then she looked at my wife and asked her if she wanted a box to go and my wife replied "I'm still eating". The host communicated with our server and then brought me a box to go and the check.

I told our server that we would like to order desert too and then took the check back. Then 5 minutes later another server came to our table and we told him we would like cannoli to go. Then 10 minutes later the server came with our check and cannoli to go box and another box to go for my wife.

After my wife bagged our food and then i decided that $5 tip should be okay since we did not like the food and service was not good either. My wife wanted to give $0 tip because of the horrible experience.

Finally we walked out the resturant and then the server came out the resturant and said "excuse me did you guys like the food" and I replied back "Ahhh Yes" (i really wanted to say no) and then server replied back and said "Next time leave a better tip". I loudly replied back "What?!" And then server went back inside. My wife pulled me away and said let's get out of here.

Very rude for the server to come out the resturant and ask for a better tip when in return the service and food was...

Can I tell you something? This place is AMAZING!! This was my first time experiencing an authentic Italian restaurant 😋. The mixologist Peter was mad cool. He was attentive and easy to talk with. He actually held conversation and gave great service. Some people don't understand how important it is to give good customer service, Peter was great 👌🏾.

Mark our host/server was awesome as well. He took his time while answering any questions that we had. His personality was cool, he did not make us feel rushed or as though we were bothering him. He added to this great experience.

Now, let's get into this food!!! 😋 As you can see from the photos below, the individual serving size is pretty good. I started with the ceasar salad, no picture because I ate it so quickly 🙃 😅. The ceasar salad was delicious and Mark said this was their homemade dressing. I must say that it tastes great 👍. The shrimp linguine was delicious, the pasta was cooked to perfection, the sauce was just right. For my taste, I did add salt as I was eating it. Honestly, I liked that it wasn't salty or over salted, that way it allows for me to control how much salt is going on my food, just a little bit 🙃 😅. The shrimp were cooked just right. The cheese ravioli with the red sauce was amazing. Again the pasta was cooked just right. It was the right balance of sauce to pasta, oh my gosh 🙌🏾. The chocolate cake was 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾. The flavors were good and it would pair well with vanilla or chocolate ice cream. The cheesecake was my least favorite. While although I love a great cheesecake with a graham cracker crust, this one lacked something. I don't know exactly what it was, but I was so excited when I got it. The texture was okay, but it was just missing something. Mark, being kind actually removed from my bill (which I wasn't expecting). The atmosphere is very nice. I prefer to sit upstairs, versus downstairs. It's a tight fit, but it's comfortable. I gave 3 stars, because I'd like to try some more food out to see about consistency. We had a great time and I would...