3 PA Restaurants Are Among America's Best For Eating On The Cheap

If you're looking for a place to eat delicious food on the cheap, there are three places right here in Eastern Pennsylvania that come highly recommended. At these places, you don't have to worry about making a reservation, and you don't have to pay too much to enjoy yourself.

These places are so good that the popular food-and-drink website, The Daily Meal, named them among the 101 best casual restaurants in America.

Since 2011, The Daily Meal has set out to compile a comprehensive ranking of the 101 Best Restaurants in America. "However, we’ve been hit with a dilemma: Does a restaurant like, say, the venerable Frank Pepe Pizzeria in New Haven, Connecticut, as stellar as it is for what it does, really belong in the same ranking as a place like Manhattan's Eleven Madison Park, with its three Michelin stars?"

Four years ago, the website began to separate out the casual from the fancy with an initial ranking of 50 casual restaurants, which expanded to 101 in 2015.

To make the list, two people should be able to fill up for less than $50, excluding tip and alcohol. Restaurants must have a comfortable and relaxed ambiance. Also considered was if the restaurant has "destination status" is it worth traveling for?

To come to the 101 number, editors at The Daily Meal compiled a list of more than 500 restaurants that they believe represents a vast cross-section of great casual restaurants. From there, a survey was sent out to a panel of hundreds of America’s leading culinary authorities. "We asked them to vote for their favorites, but only ones that they’d dined at within the past two years," The Daily Meal explained.

The three casual restaurants in Pennsylvania that made the list are:

DiNic's, Philadelphia

DiNic's, located in Reading Terminal Market, serves a variety of classic Italian sandwiches. "Its best-known sandwich, though, is DiNic’s roast pork sandwich, which is thin-sliced and topped with broccoli rabe and aged provolone. Trust us: It lives up to the hype," The Daily Meal writes.

Geno's, Philadelphia

This legendary South Philadelphia joint needs no introduction. "You can also order a pepper, mushroom, or pizza steak, or a roast pork sandwich. Save the roast pork for the third or fourth visit, though; a cheesesteak from Geno’s, whether it’s with onions or without, or with provolone or Whiz, is something that every Philly visitor should experience.," The Daily Meal writes.

Pat's King of Steaks, Philadelphia

Geno's rival is the nearby Pat's King of Steaks, which claims to have invented the cheesesteak. "As the story goes, in May 1933 brothers Pat and Harry Olivieri, who owned a hot dog stand on the corner, thinly sliced a steak and fried it with onions, and a legend was born," The Daily Meal writes.

Click here to see the full list of 101 Best Casual Restaurants In America for 2018

Image of Geno's exterior via Google