Penn Cafe & Pizzeria

This is my go to place for pizza and cheese burgers usually. The service is awesome, family run establishment. Hostesses are always friendly and jovial. The food has ups and downs. Sometimes it’s average sometimes it’s good. But I’ve been here so many times I guess it’s not bad really. They also have a decent selection of sandwiches and hoagies.

Ordered from here last night because it was late and we hadn’t eaten yet. Ordered one of their specials, an XL 3 topping pizza with ten wings. I also ordered their 5 piece dark meat chicken.
First, I wasn’t 100% sold when I walked in. The pastel colors and general ambiance of the place don’t say café and pizzeria in my opinion, but that’s neither here nor there.
As soon as we walked in, one of the people that I was with remarked about a strange smell. I smelled it as well, but I could not place what it was or where it was coming from it seemed like it was always there. also, while we were in there were getting ready to order, a homeless person approached me and asked for money. And the people working there didn’t seem to find this odd at all. The situation itself made me uncomfortable, and it made me question the establishment itself
On to the food:
The XL pizza definitely lived up to it’s name. It was huge I normally eat 3 – 5 slices from most pizza establishments in one sitting. Today I’m having a hard time finishing two. The cheese wasn’t gooey or stringy like expected it to be which is strange because I’m pretty sure it had to be made to order. Overall the pizza had a nice flavor to it though.
The «buffalo wings» we’re… Interesting. The sauce was super thick and had a strong aroma to it. Hardly buffalo at all. In fact, both the people I was with remarked that it was… Ketchup. I’m inclined to agree. The color and thickness of the sauce were consistent with ketchup. Idk what the sauce was, but it was NOT buffalo. With that being said, they did taste good and they were rather large.
The dark meat platter was not bad. The pieces were huge. Someone I was with commented that the drumsticks looked like something you would get at the Renaissance Fair. They were fried and the flavor was most definitely there, but so was all of the grease. It didn’t seem like they strained it well or at all. It bled through the wax paper that was in the container and looked like it wanted to go through the container itself
The food was good enough for me to want to give it 4 stars. The experience makes me want to give it 2 stars. So I’ll go with 3 stars for this visit.

For an around the corner pizza joint this place is grade A. There aren’t many pizza places open late enough around here and they’re open until 1. Their fries are the bomb and their buffalo wings are actually spicy. Love Penn Café

Stick to the pizza and wings here. The breakfast is not good at all. I had two strips of bacon, eggs, and toast. It was made to order, but just not cooked proper over easy. The coffee was watered down, and seemed like it sat in the maker from the night before. Décor inside is depressing. I came here when Cedar Park across the street had a really long line hitting the sidewalk. In hindsight, it’s much better to wait.

This place is right around the corner from me so when I’m lazy I walk over for a slice. Lately I’ve been ordering their salads a lot, pizza fries (ugh I know, I know), club sandwiches. The food here isn’t bad, but it’s not amazing either. Luckily the portions are generous. But the food is often inconsistent, like for instance when they don’t take the time to let cheese melt or their grilled chicken is touch and dry. But it’s good enough that I’ll probably keep eating here. Meh.
Also completely unrelated but Scorsese’s Hugo is a surprisingly captivating film.

YUM! Just picked up 2 slices. Nice, thin crust, «juicy» mouth feel (cheesy). From now on, this is the only place I will be getting my take-​out pizza from. Close to home & very fair pricing. Win!!!

Sometimes, I just wanna slice. And it needs to be gooey and the crust has to be on point. $ 2? Yes.
Crust = buttery
Cheese = plentiful
Sauce = rich
Yeah, wood-​fired, beer-​fueled Dock Street is right across the street, but the difference in price is about half. Fiesta is way too sketchy (even for me) and Colonial sucks.
The staff and patrons are friendly. The atmosphere is nothing fancy at all, but I do like witnessing their system where they buzz people into the john (jawn? Ha.). They seem to get busy on the weekends, so, maybe set aside time to order.
This place is great. Keep ‘em in business!

Got pizza again more recently (just under 2 months ago) with the office and there was no issues this time. Solid meat lovers pizza that was very filling.
More orders to come, but, I can award them 4 stars for now.

I don’t like the pizza here. I’ve tried beef pepperoni & ground beef as toppings. Both were unappetizing. Gave it two stars cuz at least they have option of beef pep for those of us who don’t eat pork.

they got my order correct this time! ordered the meal buster pizza and some wings. i’m not a big fan of bleu cheese and forgot to ask for ranch instead but that’s not their fault… it’s mine. the food wasn’t as greasy as the first time i ordered so that was good.
it took an hour for my food to arrive (within the estimated timeframe) but they’re less than a mile away, so that’s a little odd. also, the food arrived warm. not hot. but i blame the 9 degree weather for that.
the driver was nice and friendly. i’m glad i gave them a second chance. i will order from them again.

As a kid, my parents (Italian American to the jingoistically myopic marrow) had Opinions on pizza shops. We had one pizza shop we could order from, and it didn’t matter that I hate thin crusts.
As an adult, I’m way more flexible than them, but I tend to default to having A Pizza Shop, and Penn P. Café is it. A large part of that is their convenience to me, but the parklet outside doesn’t hurt. Nor does the really quality food and the friendly service. I have a soft spot for family-​run businesses, so throw that in the mix too.
It’s also one of those magical places where customers (aka, «us») actually talk to one another while waiting for our orders. I was tipped off about the INCREDIBLE cheeseburgers, like, for a pizza shop cheeseburger, HOLY HELL, by another customer.
I knocked a star off because they took away my cheeseburger platter and the prices here are slightly higher than other similar joints in the area. Doesn’t matter, I’ll be back for mozzarella stix or hot cakes or 3 $ milkshakes or …

Had two cheese slices-​very good and inexpensive. Counter person was very sweet. I’ll be back!

I wasn’t too fond of the food at first but a friend ordered from here several times. I like the pizza, reasonable prices, local and open late. The pizza sauce and cheese complement each other with a thin crisp crust. I’m not too pleased with the garden salad; too much iceberg lettuce. Penn is my #2 late night spot.

Ordered delivery from here through eat 24. A complete waste of money, waited 1 hour 15 mins for the food which I let slide because it was Super Bowl Sunday but our food was awful. My cheesesteak hoagie was so soggy I had to completely remove the bread. My friend ordered wings and they weren’t even cooked through, yes RAW meat. And they were just fried not buffalo like we ordered. I only got a refund for the wings from eat 24. I’ll never order from here again.

Good pizza. This is saying a lot for west philadelphia.
Crust is a little thicker than I usually like and the sauce honestly could be better, but overall a good pie.
It’s not a gourmet place. Just simple and better than other places around.

Penn Pizza Café is an okay spot. This is not where you go to get gourmet or that amazing cheap eat find. It is where you go to get cheap food that tastes decent.
The pizza was better than average. If in the area, I could see having it again. The salad was fresh and tasted well.
The mac n cheese was average. It’s you average mac n cheese from a place that isn’t specializing in it. No complaints, but no home run feeling.
But hey, if you are in the area, don’t want to break your wallet, and are not super picky, this place does the trick.

Do NOT confuse this place with Penn Pizza Restaurant on Spruce and 47^th –that pizza is really awful, and this place is really quite good, exceptionally good for west philly. I made the mistake yet again last night, and opened the box and knew instantly i picked the wrong Penn Pizza. I cant exactly call and say ‘i accidentally ordered from the wrong place and just looking at your gross pizza, Penn Pizza on Spruce, I knew my mistake’
Penn Pizza CAFE has lots of gooey thick salty cheese, decent crust, tangy sauce. much recommended. Penn Pizza RESTAURANT has the exact opposite — the slices come out of the box cheese completely congealed and not attached to the other slices. it ws inedible, so we ate the fries and i said i would ‘doctor up’ the pizza tonight by adding mozzerella and toppings to try and salvage it. probably wont work.
this review ended being more of a rant on the OTHER Penn pizza, but this one on Catherine Street is quite yummy.

What a solid slice of pizza. Not too stingy on the sauce and the crust had an almost tender/​crisp quality to it. I really enjoyed it and so did the «picky» person I was with. I think it’s the best cheap slice of pizza on Baltimore Ave.

This place has good pizza, respectable prices, and great customer service! They are relatively new in town and the staff always seems to care about the success of the business. Because they are new, they do not have tons of options (ice-​cream flavors, fat free dressing for salads, etc.).
I have noticed some sketchy clientele and these people are a lot more patient than I would ever be.
Their pizza is good, pretty sure they use quality ingredients. I had the chicken ceaser salad and although it was $ 7.50 (with tax), it was enough for two meals! I have never not been able to finish a salad until this place, I see lots of potential, great place!

If you have worked for 9 hours and you have just stumbled off the 34 and you’re starving and you need to be somewhere in 20 minutes you should probably grab a slice of pizza here.
Cheap, greasy-​good, and the staff is really, really sweet. Please tip them, they’re awesome.