Urban Saloon

Bar Review: Like a lot of the bars in Fairmount, Urban Saloon is an always reliable option that gets a good night time crowd but is never overly crowded. The large spacious interior and large flat screen TVs makes it an ideal spot to catch the game with a large® group of friends or as a stop for a drink/​bite on the way o other bars in the area. I find the beer list robust and very reasonably priced, with draft standards like Blue Moon and Yuengling but also entries like Founders Breakfast Stout, Yards, and Molson Canadian Lager, all between $ 4.50-$ 8.00. I’ll definitely be back.

Best grilled cheese and tomato soup I’ve ever had.

A great place to catch the game and enjoy a delicious burger. They have every sports package and tons of TVs. We were able to easily get a table on an NFL Sunday because the place is huge, and it was a really enjoyable time. The service was attentive, and the food was way beyond expectation for a sports bar. Get the bacon cheddar burger. Yum. Will be back!

Ate her after a visit to ESP. It is a nice new restaurant. The menu is simple but very well done. There are plenty of TVs in case the game is on. The beer selection is decent and the staff is very well versed on it. The hostess seemed a little bothered that we were taking her away from whatever social media app she was probably using to seat us but the rest of our interaction with staff members was great.

Back when I use to live in the neighborhood, I would visit Urban Saloon every so often for drinks. Definitely recommend if you are looking for a chill place for drinks. Especially during Terror Behind the Wall season!
Yesterday, after running an ugly sweater 5K, one of my friends suggested we go to Urban Saloon for brunch. We started brunch out with the $ 20 bottomless mimosa special (HOORAY! Not too many of these places left in Philadelphia. let alone America). One mimosa cost $ 7 — so if you were planning on drinking 3 or more (Saturday/​Sunday Funday anyone?) this is definitely the way to go! Bonus point, our waiter called out our one friend for not being fun because she only ordered 1 :)
Okay enough about alcohol. The four of us split the loaded tots. HIGHLY recommend. 3 out of the 4 of us ordered the «build your own burger» and the other ordered french toast. Everyone seemed happy with their meals.
The only reason Urban Saloon only gets 4 stars instead of 5 is that our waiter accidentally put 5 shots of fireball on our tab. Luckily, I was smart enough to check the itemized receipt. That would have cost us another $ 40 if we didn’t catch.
Will definitely be back again!

Horrible bartenders. Poor drinks, female bartenders have no personality. Not attentive to customers waiting for drinks.

Food and beverages are excellent, plenty of TVs and seating.
Place is under new ownership and you can tell the difference. We came in for dinner, fish tacos and burgers were awesome, beer selection was great & our service was excellent as well.
I highly recommend this place for dinner or just a night out drinking with friends.

— TIP: Very solid quizzo on Wednesday nights if you can stay up late.
— CON: Almost all of the food.
— BOTTOM LINE: Large space is good for a big group before/​after one of your neighborhood league games, or to catch a game on TV to hang out and grab some drinks. But I’d never go solely for the food, even though I do really like the owners there.

I have a lot of friends that live in the area and they frequent this place, be it for Quizzo or just to pop in and watch a football game. My buddies and I popped in here on a Sunday after spending the weekend in Baltimore for a bachelor party. We were all severely hungover, so we needed a little hair of the dog and some grub to help us through. We spotted up at a table and grabbed a few brews to get ourselves started. Its not bad for happy hour for sure. They have a pretty good beer list.
I also decided to order some food for us to share because I knew the scavengers I was with would dig in once it came to the table, even though they said they didnt want anything. I am a sucker for tater tots and as luck would have it, they had them on the menu. They came topped with cheese wiz, bacon jalapenos and scallions. They were supremely crunchy, and all of the ingredients came together in a flavor bomb on top of the tots. We also ordered a special they had for the day of buffalo chicken nachos. Not a usualy topping for nachos, but tasty none the less. They were just the right amount of spicy and cheesy to go with the crispy chips.
The food was solid, and the beer menu was as well. Its a cool spot to hang out, and I’ll definitely be back to check it out again.

An upgrade for the Saloon! The wings on the sampler are bigger and more flavorful the last couple visits and the burgers have improved. The service, particularly at the bar is excellent, and we’ve really come to enjoy the relaxed atmosphere. One thing of note, order your burger one level below how you really want it (rare comes out medium rare, medium comes out well down, etc).

Mikaela and I came here on our grand food tour of Philly. It may have been stop 20 of the day. Yes, we were full, and slightly drunk. but we couldn’t resist!
The atmosphere is casual, very dark, and very «saloon» like. There are quaint candles that provide the only light. It has a rustic feel, and you feel like cowboys are going to swing through the front doors any moment, with beers in hand, and boots covered in Philly dirt. I loved it. It was a throwback in time, but also still felt like a place you wanted to be. A great bar!
We ordered from their large selection of beers with dinner and for… our 8^th meal of the day… I got the mac n cheese. and the tater tots. I can never say no to tater tots, and automatically love anywhere that offers it. The mac n cheese was filling, creamy, and hit the spot… I Loved it! Yes, it is a bar, and bar food… but compared to other bar food it exceeded my expectations.
We then meandered to the bar for some good cheap budlights, and it was a fun young crowd… i loved the atmosphere, the vibes, and the food!

Fantastic staff-​I start with this because this really sets the mood for how your evening is going to go.
Beer– spot on. Get whatever is on special and you can’t be disappointed.
Food…I can’t even describe how aMaZiNg their food is. We have been here several nights in a row (ISTE conference) and we will be back tomorrow.
Loads of foods and beers to try, and we are not sick of any of it yet. We also came a week early just to explore Philly. So even though we don’t live here, we have eaten out every meal for 2 weeks.
The prices are some of the most affordable in the area, we came a week early as a vacation before the conference and have tried several things downtown and in this area. The meal portions and QUALITY are the best bang for the buck. The price says $$ but it is the low end of that price range for many of the items. Beers are around $ 5 without specials, but there is a daily special. It’s hard to pay full price for beer!!! Meals/​apps are from $ 7-​$ 17.
EAT HERE. Drink here. Be happy here. Save money in Philly here. Buy me a drink here.

Came here for drinks with some friends on a Thursday night, and found myself happy about the price and strength of my drinks. But not so much with the service, although, I will partially take the blame for that one.
I got there first, so I got a gin and tonic at the bar (which was $ 4.50 and pretty damn strong) and then met up with my friend and we sat at a table without being seated cause there was no room at the bar. The bartendress didn’t come over for quite some time so I sat there chatting with my friend getting awkwardly tipsy while she was dead sober – totally fine, just kinda funny. Eventually they figured out we needed more drinks and whooo hooo!!! Gin and tonics for everyone! They all proved to be pretty strong and delicious, I’ll definitely be back!

Meh, I can take or leave this place. I like coming here when I visit Eastern State Penitentiary, because it’s directly across the street.
The time before last time I went, we met up with a whole bunch of our friends and family after visiting ESP. It was crowded, of course, being a Friday night. At first we attempted to just stand around a table talking to some of the people in our group that were there. Quickly, we were told that that was not allowed and we’d have to wait for a table ourselves if we wanted one. Great. I totally get it, it’s busy, servers need to move around, fine. But this hostess was frazzled and not kind. So we continued to stand at the table and talk to our group UNTIL a table was read. The hostess came over again and super rudely and half-​shouty told us to stand by the door until the table was ready.
The food is just okay. Their tots are overly salty.
The last time I went was again after ESP, but in the early afternoon. I was with my wife and our two friends and we had brunch. It was fine, nothing spectacular. There was a table behind next to us that was super obnoxious – super loud and wayyyyyy drunk. Straight up laughing hysterically and hitting the table. Would have appreciated someone telling them to turn it down a bit. Our server was nice enough, but brought me a beer when I didn’t ask for one (and didn’t want to pay for one), but I didn’t want to say anything so I took it as if I had ordered it.
Okay place if you’re just looking for a quick bite or drink. OR if you’re coming from ESP across the street. :)

This is a review for drinks only.
The place was pretty dark and really big. The bartenders were incredibly friendly. I love the way their beer list is set up. I never know what kind of beer I’d like to try based on the name alone. The bartender explained which ones I might like based on the ones I’d already ordered. When we were there they closed the kitchen at 8. I thought that was pretty odd and early. Hopefully we can have dinner next time.

Urban Saloon is never my go-​to bar in the Fairmount area. I’ve been there on several occasions for drinks with large groups of people due to the size of the bar space and convenient location factor.
The drink prices are reasonable, the variety of beer is okay and there’s a ton of space compared to other bars in the neighborhood. Did I mention that already?
Unless you are still in college or want to relive your college years, I’d avoid it for events like the Bunny Hop and Reindeer Romp. It gets overcrowded and the crowd is super young. It’s great for happy hour or when you are with your own large group.
It’s been years since I eaten there, but the menu is pretty much bar food.
There’s nothing bad about Urban, just nothing great. Well other than the larger than average bar area for this neighborhood.

Not really worth it for the food. I came for brunch this past weekend. I had the breakfast burger and the spicy vegetable soup.
The vegetable soup was not spicy, and had too much tomato for my taste.
The burger was extremely under seasoned. I hate when a burger just tastes like you have a mouth full of ground beef. I was glad that the breakfast burger was served with a brioche bun rather than on the texas toast that the rest of the burgers are served on.
I did try the tater tots that everyone is raving about. While I like that they serve tater tots (because the average tater tot is better than the average french fry), the tots weren’t anything special. I even tried the loaded tater tots. There was some cheese wiz, bacon and chives on there. Nothing special.
They did make a pretty good bloody mary. I would drink that again. However, I don’t really see myself seeking this place out again.

We really like this place. We have previously only been there for beers until this weekend. Overall the vibe is pretty laid back, nice atmosphere in a big open room. Lots of tvs for sporting events. The food was good, I ordered the urban beene burger — peanut butter bacon. It was delicious and cooked perfectly medium rare. Girlfriend got the breakfast burger and it was great. Fries are ok. Buffalo chicken dip is also very good. Eat it!

Above average Philly bar. This will probably be the 1,000^th post that says you should get tater tots. You should. They’re very very good. Although, it’s hard to screw up tater tots.
My big «Don’t Knock It ‘Til You Try It» from Urban is the Peanut Butter Burger. Maybe go by yourself one day, try it (enjoy it immensely), then bring some friends out and order it and tell them they’re crazy when they say it’s gross. That’s what I do, at least.

I think Urban’s current three star overall rating is on point. I cannot think of anything that makes the place stand out, but I also can’t think of any reasons to avoid it. This is one of those reviews that I’ve been sitting on for a long time despite multiple visits. I just… haven’t had anything notable to say. Urban Saloon is a bar. They have seats. And a couch. It’s on the darker side. Bathrooms are suitable. Ummmm.
…
Oh! Here’s something!
It’s pretty great to sit outside during the summer. See: Gia M’s review from August. Yes, I’ve been sitting on this for some time. Since it’s right across from Eastern State, the views can’t be beat (well, unless you want to be looking at the ocean or a skyline or something), and the food is pretty good. I had pulled pork sliders back then with a Golden Monkey and enjoyed them.
I live nearby so I’ll continue to visit Urban, but I’d be surprised if I one day come back here to write a raving review update.