5 New Venues in Philadelphia for Spring 2021 Meetings and Events

In October, Harper’s Garden unveiled a new outdoor seating setup: The Greenhouses at Harper’s Garden. Ten private, all-season greenhouses are now installed in two sizes: seven-guest capacity and nine-guest capacity. Each one is equipped with a door, glass walls, tables and chairs, decor, twinkling lights and heat (when needed). For private functions, a new adjacent patio area can accommodate as many as 100 for cocktail-style events. The update also includes the addition of a second indoor dining space that spans 750 square feet and can seat 75 guests. Between the new and old spaces, the entire restaurant (a Rittenhouse Square favorite) can host events of up to 372 guests. As always, the menu includes fresh, vibrant dishes like grilled Spanish octopus with citrus-chili glaze, olive oil confit chicken and hazelnut-crusted, pan-roasted striped bass.

The Olde Bar in Old City reopened its doors in October after renovating both its dining room and its menu. The newly revealed 8,500-square-foot restaurant now features a library-themed aesthetic, with vintage reading desks, emerald jewel-tone reading lamps, nostalgic art and stacks of books. Sixteen reinvented dishes have been added to the seafood-heavy menu, including lobster corn dogs with lemon-garlic fries, tuna steak frites and bay scallop pappardelle. In total, the restaurant can seat 350 guests, with 180 in the dining room, 50 at the bar and 60 each in two private rooms.

Chef Jose Garces’ Rittenhouse Square staple Village Whiskey reopened in February with a new menu, as well as an expanded dining room that more than doubles the size of the original bar and seating area to 3,000 square feet. The new space can seat 42 at the bar and 36 in the dining room, and, weather permitting, 30 additional seats are available outside. As before the update, the decor is reminiscent of a Prohibition-era speakeasy, creating a cool, moody vibe. New dishes include brick chicken frites, baby back ribs and thick-cut BLTs, while staples like the Cobb salad, duck fat fries and popcorn shrimp haven’t gone anywhere. And, of course, the bar specializes in—you guessed it—whiskey.

Sueño, a restaurant and tequila bar inspired by Mexican holiday Day of the Dead, opened in October in Midtown Village. The 6,000-square-foot bi-level venue features 15-foot-high ceilings, a 25-foot marble bar, plush purple seating and custom art installations. Guests can order traditional and modern Mexican dishes like chilaquiles, pulled-pork tacos and street corn, along with Puerto-Rican style empanadas from Tata’s Empanadas. When operating at full capacity, the restaurant can seat 350 guests inside and 50 outside.

After three years of demolition and reconstruction following a devastating fire, beloved South Street restaurant Bridget Foy’s reopened its doors in February with a brand-new layout. The menu includes elevated American comfort dishes like grilled piri piri wings, crab hush puppies and vegetarian sloppy joes. The dining room features two 60-inch HDTVs, original artwork, striking-looking tin ceilings, decorative wood and tile floors, a red bar, 16 giant windows and doors that can create an open-air eating environment, weather permitting. The new layout allows the restaurant to seat as many as 100 diners, including two dozen seats at the bar and 30 on the patio.