Nick’s Roast Beef Bar & Grille

Came here for a drink over the weekend during the day. Nice atmosphere, but the bartender was a little rude which ruined the experience.

Best «locals» bar in Old City, probably one of the best in the Center City area. No Philly attitudes here, no hipsters or pretentious individuals either. Just always seems to be a solid, friendly clientele always looking to make conversation. One of the few places in Philly I feel like I can sit at for hours on end and truly enjoy every minute.
Beers are as cheap as you’ll find them — 5 bottles for $ 10 — and as other mentioned a great place to pregame before going to the more expensive restaurants in the area.
As for food, I’ve only tried two things on the menu: Roast beef and curly fries. Both are great and the roast beef is only $ 5 during football games. Absolutely no complaints here.

super cool little bar and restaurant. Niclole is a really nice bartender. we enjoyed sitting at the bar enjoying a couple drinks.

Stopped in for a Bloody Mary burger and a coke on a broiling hot day last summer. The food was very good and fairly priced and the bartender was friendly and helpful. The bar seems to attract its share of regulars who give this joint a warm and intimate feel. No complaints. Recommended.

Walked by here with my family, looked it up on Unilocal and decided to give it a try. Looked like a ton of locals eating in the table section in the back; so that was an indicator that this is an area favorite and not one of those tourist places.
Felt like a unique place… not that franchise feel. The staff seemed like nice, normal people. We got the burgers which we had read good reviews about, and it was all true. No frills at this place — you know what you’ll get when you order and you know you will like it. And good price too — didn’t feel like I was being gauged for a hamburger which is normally the case in waiter service restaurants.

Nick’s is the best bar in Philly! And trust me I’ve been to hundreds. First, the owner, Joey, and the bartenders, both named Joe, have created an atmosphere that is very welcoming to everyone from local neighborhood people to visitors from all over the world. Their service is impeccable!
You can stop into Nick’s at any hour for a roast beef or amazing burger. Sit at the bar and have a chat with the people next to you. It will quickly turn into a party. Buy a round of Fireball shots and root for the E-​A-​G-​L-​E-​S. Step outside for a smoke and join the 2 street scene. The Old City locals will embrace you as one of their own.
There’s only one Nick’s in the world. It’s one of a kind!

Nick’s, hands down, has the best food I have ever eaten in my life. I could live off of their French beef sandwich. The staff is super nice and very attentive! I also met the owners the other day. They are super nice, bought my boyfriend and I a round of drinks! If you’re looking for a neighborhood bar with amazing food and great bartenders in Old City, Nick’s is the place to be!

AVOID!!! RUDE!!! What a sh*t hole dump. The one-​tooth, whistling through his speech, old bartender was the biggest jerk! Never even ordered our food; just walked out after being offended and around the corner. That guy should be working a toll both!

One of my favorite dive bars and actually has a back room that makes it nice for crowds. This is a perfect non-​smoking dive bar with great drinks and wings! Bartender absolutely takes care of regulars– one of the nicest guys you’ll meet in old city.

I thoroughly enjoyed this place. This is a hole-​in-​the-​wall with personality. It’s a local joint that welcomes the non-​local. I love Smithwicks and the wings were great. Nicole is a very good bartender. I’ll definitely be back.

Excellent first meal in Philly. I got a cheesesteak with mushrooms, onions, hot peppers, and bacon and it was excellent. I had an appetizer with marinara sauce, and drizzled some on the sandwich for a DIY pizza steak and I was floored. The marinara was tart, sweet, and had bright basil garlic notes. Great divey lunch spot.
I watched the Yanks v Orioles game here, and the bartender was friendly, helping me plan my evening in Philly with advice on kick ass bars, recommending local brews for me to try, and talking about ways to get around via public transit. Great meal, great chat, made me very comfortable recommending this place for a no nonsense, high quality dining experience.

I had the best hamburger I had ever eaten my life here. In fact, it was so good, I had two! If you eat anywhere in the quad state area, you would be doing yourself a huge disservice if you didn’t come here. My mouth waters even now just thinking of the burgers… Oh, man!

Ok, I only gave this place 3 stars because, while I love it and I’ll go back again and again, I was there last Friday night after my friend had his first ever art gallery opening and reception, and the drinks me and my date had were SO WEAK.
My date had a drink that was supposedly made of Tito’s vodka, tea, and lemonade. and I kid you not, it tasted like melty ice from a glass that once had a lemon in it. No joke. Not only could you not taste any tea or lemonade, you couldn’t taste a DROP of alcohol in it.
My drink was called the «Ruthie» (we joked that if you pronounce it wrong, you might end up with Rohypnol in your drink lol). It was Stoli vanilla and birch beer (which is one of my favorite local PA dutch offerings). It wasn’t as weak as my date’s drink, but it had way too much water in it. Why on earth would you water down your drinks, when this place is so great, otherwise?
I mean, Nick’s literally has THE best burger I’ve ever had in my life. The first time I visited, I told the waiter «I guess I should order the roast beef, because… it’s in the NAME of the place. It’s gotta be good, right?» He contradicted me. «NO WAY. GET THE BURGER.» He then explained that their burger is half bacon, half meat, and is the food of the gods. HE WAS RIGHT.
I will never order anything there BUT the burger. And they give you tons of options of what you want on your burger – even fried egg (which I’ve never seen anywhere outside of Philly and am scared to try).
Friday night, my artist friend had fried pickles, which I thought was kind of gross until I tasted it. Then I ordered me and my date our own plate of them – mmmm
So, sorry Nick’s. I love your congenial atmosphere, the music you play, and your wondrous food, but I had to knock you down a couple points for the sad, watery drinks.

Very clean establishment. Nice Tap selection.
Happy hour 4−7pm. Includes $ 1.75 domestic draughts, $ 1.00 off «you call its» and $ 5.00 appetisers.
Love to come back for a sandwich.

Pros:
–That burger is no joke. Absolutely great! (Apple Bacon Burger)
–Great service!
Cons:
–Limited selection of beers

This is simply to review Nick’s on their awesome entertainment! This is the kind of place where you come to pregame with friends, or after too many drinks ask them to sing single ladies, and perhaps in the process get a lap dance from a big hairy retired football player? Yes, that happened.
They hubby and I constantly hit up Nick’s if we are pregaming to go into Cuba Libre next door, mostly because Cuba Libre’s drinks suck (watered down) and are quite pricey. So we get the city special for $ 5, Jim Bean Shot and PBR, jug that down, and one drink, and maybe one more shot… and boom, we get the party started! I also came celebrating my bff’s bachelorette where we had a great time butchering Beyonce and embarrassing the bride.
Really, this is a no brainer, get here, come thirsty, and grab a mic!

SO delicious! My boyfriend and I stumbled in here one night when we were out in old city and have been in love with Nick’s ever since.
Sometimes they don’t have a waiter service available in the back, but don’t let that stop you from ordering food. Their bar is an older crowd. This review is for the food!
My boyfriend and I usually split Mac and cheese bites w aioli sauce and mozzarella sticks with marinara. Both delicious. Aioli above average, and mozzarella sticks above average. We also had the cowboy and the breakfast burgers– out of this world. I put the extra aioli from my Mac and cheese on my burger, which made it extra tasty.
Nick’s is hands down the best place for bar food in Philadelphia that we’ve discovered so far.

Had a very pleasant lunch experience here. I work right up the street, and in passing, we decided to stop in for lunch.
I ordered the southwest burger (their burgers are highly rated so I had to try one). I was surprised at how great it was. The waiter said it was a mix of 30% bacon meat. Very delicious meat. Come with fried pickles and pepper jack cheese. I would certainly order it again. Also ordered the curly fries.
We all had a great meal. The waiter was quite poor, forgot drinks, mixed up our orders — this is the reason I gave only 4 stars. Eat it!

Food is solid, as it is at all Nick’s locations, even though they are all independently run now.
I have to knock this spot down to a star because the bartender used his finger to clear the foam from my buddy’s pint of Guinness. I am pretty forgiving, and I am thinking we should have said something when it happened, but it was just too funny/​disgusting to watch my buddy’s beer get molested to say anything right then…
That said, I wont be back. There are way too many places in philly to try that again.
BTW — the guy was a nice dude, and the things you don’t see hurt less. However, a plain-​sight a fingering of your beverage in mid-​conversation leads me to believe activities behind closed doors may prove even worse, and that’s a little uncomforting.

After reading Zagat’s ranking it the #1 burger in Philadelphia, I knew I needed to try it immediately! (Apparently we were customers number 55 and 56 today alone, so not immediately immediately, but you know what I mean!)
By the time we got there (Thursday night), they’d shut down the «restaurant» portion of the Bar & Grille, but we took a seat in the window at a high top and had a lovely chat with owner (and bartender) Joe Schultice, who said he’d been happily surprised by the Zagat rating and the steady stream of new customers – seriously a sweetheart!
The southwest-​style bacon burger patty with house-​made salsa, jack cheese, fried pickle, and jalapeños on brioche was every bit as good as the article promised (fried pickles?! hello!). It was a perfectly cooked burger (medium rare) with an evenly spread 35% bacon/​65% beef patty (mixed in house): absolutely loved the jalapeños and (as I parenthesized earlier) the fried pickles! The curly fries we ordered on the side were also perfection (though Joe told us to try their hand-​cut white potato fries next time, which are «better than those you get down a’shore»). We’ll take his word for it and be back for sure!