New Wave Cafe

It's really confusing to me that there are two New Waves Cafes in Philadelphia. It's pretty funny since one is a restaurant in Queen Village and the other, a Polish dive in Port Richmond. I visited recently with a group of friends for lunch. I love that we are painfully out of place. Most people are middle aged and speaking Polish. And even though we're not the normal clientele, the waitress/bartender was very nice. It's almost like mom is serving you, assuming mom is very Polish.

They have several polish beers on tap and in the bottle. I had a pint of Okocim at $3, and it tasted about as good. My first visit here a year ago, I had soup, and it was delicious. But since I had borsch for dinner the previous night, I decided to order potato pancakes instead. These were good and crsipy, but nothing spectacular. There are much better options on the menu. We ordered several different kinds of perogies. Everyone ordered fried, and they came out with perfect consistency. The cheese and potato were good, but a bit bland. I enjoyed the mushroom ones more, and really loved the suspiciously labeled "meat" perogies. With a little sour cream on top, all of the perigies were a great choice. We also had an order of kielbasa. Topped with (presumably) homemade mustard, this was fantastic. I'm fairly certain I could eat anything off the menu here and be happy.

Bottom Line: I love eating here. You're thrown off by the brightly painted, beach themed sign out front. It's usually pretty empty, and soccer with Polish commentary is liking playing in the background. You can eat for under $10. And all of the food is made in house or locally. And delicious. It's kind of a trip to step right into the heart of Polish Port Richmond, and it's a lot of fun.

Essentials:

2620 E Alleghany Ave (Between Richmond and Aramingo)

215-634-3224

Avg Ent: 5-9

Cash Only: No

Reservations: No