2nd State Lounge

We only saw/​ate at the downstairs pizza part. The bartender & drinks were great, the pizza was freshly made, affordable and delicious! We’ll be back!

The pizza was surprisingly good. Very fresh! We had cocktails and listened to music upstairs and it was great. The entertainment was fantastic! 4 performances with local celebrity, the multi talented Cory Wade, headlining. All of the acts were great!
We heard this bar had been through one of the reality tv «save your business» kind of shows and the results are better food, service, amenities and top notch entertainment.
Nice job guys, keep it up!

This may be the worst spot on south street, even Taffer couldn’t save the wretchedness of this place. I went before when it was lickity split during the summer and the ac was broken so that already made it miserable but I decided to still give it a chance. My husband and I were served warm draft beer from a server who was more occupied on her cellphone than doing her job. We got slices of pizza to go and decided to just have the one warm beer because she just did not care if we were there or not. The pizza was mediocre at best. For pizza, just walk one extra block down to Lorenzo and sons, there may be a line but you won’t regret it (unlike eating the crappy pizza here.) Went back after reading about it being on Bar Rescue thinking that would be an improvement: wrong. Still given terrible service and both mine and my husbands drinks we were served in dirty glasses. When I brought this up to our server, she made a face like it was my problem to which I decided we would not be ordering food here. There are many options on south street, so literally go ANYWHERE but here. It’s such a shame because they have such a prime location. What’s ironic about this thing is the owner trashed Taffer after the bar rescue but still keeps a little sign painted on the outside that says «As seen on Bar Rescue.» Nice.

What a dump, I don’t even know where to start. Bar Rescue must have repossessed every single item they put in this place. It was dirty, disgusting and the pizza was terrible. There is a men’s room that was boarded shut and the «women’s room» was disgusting. It had almost floor to ceiling mirrors on the walls and was the size of a closet. What woman wants to stare at herself in a filthy mirror in a graffiti stained bathroom?
The «comedy» night was really just some idiot cursing at people loudly.
The single worst establishment I’ve EVER been to. They should be embarrassed that they turned a Bar Rescue into an absolute NIGHTMARE!!!
STAY AWAY

Sunday afternoon= jazz music great but Bloody Mary special horrific– just v8 juice with barely a splash of alcohol. Disappointing overall.

If you like to eat ok pizza & twerk, lucky you! This can be your home!
If you stop in be because South Street was INSANE, and you just wanted a slice of pizza, please know:
Barstools downstairs are horrible.
Upstairs –you will see V, because apparently it’s a strip joint/​go go bar/​pile of hoochies grinding on each other & humping the DJ. It was like a bad 90s rap video.
The best part was the super creepy guy at the next table filming the girls dancing with his phone.
The music was insufferable.
3^rd star was for the creepy guy. Every bar needs a pervert. Well done.

We ate here in the downstairs pizza area. It was delicious! The pizza is fresh and as good, if not better than Lorenzo’s– plus, there are places to sit — and beer;) The bartender was friendly too. We’ll be back!

This was the worst experience I’ve had eating in Philadelphia. I would recommend if you are on the verge of death from starvation, still don’t eat here. It was dirty, the food was awful. We were vomiting by the time we got home. Take care of yourself. Eat anywhere else.

Great place for a mad good cheap slice homies. Not much else to say. Cheap-​ish brews, small bar, cheap slices. Short and to the point.
Never been upstairs, mostly cause I don’t know how to dance. Tried once but fell over and broke my hip.

Love this place! The drinks are awesome and the pizza is perfect compliment to the drinks! Will definitely come back when we are in town :)

Stopped in for the first time in a long time. I’m not sure when the name changed, but we were in a hurry in between the kids basketball games, so thought we would try. The food was excellent. Really, it was. I’m a foodie and with and italian women who think nothing is more important than good, fresh homemade food. This is just casual cuisine, but if you can make a french fry correctly (and without classic south street grease stink, yuk) as well as a tasty cheesesteak, you will pass my test. My husband’s beer was cold and my wine was fresh. Everything was clean and food prep was in view. The waitress/​bartender was extremely sweet and very attentive. Great TV viewing for games. I did not go upstairs and did not use the restroom. Our table was fun with a view of South Street. The pizza looked awesome and the Dad next to us said it was fantastic. He had his little boy with him, also. I’m not sure how this place is at night and would not be into bringing the kids to a bar scene, but will be back before the 8ish hour with them if the crowd is appropriate. Def be back for lunch again. Some constructive advice: 1. there is something off on the chairs downstairs. I would remove the backs of them. The table before us said «good luck with the chairs» hahaha.. and yes, a little difficult. You slide off them, but the ones without the backs are fine. 2. Needed a Bloody Mary! and no mix prepped. Get some mini cans of Mr. and Mrs. T’s for those occasional orders, skewer an olive/​lemon/​lime and skip worrying about the celery. 3. Our waitress was a doll, but needs some basic table prep/​food delivery instructions to make her job easier… which she will probably learn eventually, but someone that great to the customers is worth the investment. 4. Advertise that PIZZA special! two colossal slices with a drink for $ 7 and maybe someday – pop a service window to street sell it if you can. That pizza slice is unique. 5. Add a beer/​wine option for your specials (like switch drink to beer/​wine for +$ 4 or something like that. Anyway, it’s nice to have a pleasant surprise on South! Good Luck!

Its amazing how bad this place is. Check out the first bathroom where someone ripped the sink off the wall and replaced it with table and a bottle of hand sanitizer. The bathroom smells fill the entire top floor with a terrible odor. It doesn’t even look like that bar rescue place was here. When you can get served, the beers pour foam meaning they are at the improper temperature. Stay away is my advice

I’ll admit, I watched the TV show before stopping in here.
There were some things that I saw on the menu on TV that looking interesting enough to try (specially the pizza with clams on it). Sad to say this isn’t actually on the menu. Normal, albeit, gigantic slices of pizza the same as Lorenzo’s sells. The flavor was fine, but not great, not even as good as Lorenzo’s.
This place looks a lot nicer than Lickity Split did, but there isn’t really anything different than anything else on South Street. They could use a bit more variety on tap.
Service was friendly. There is nothing really wrong with this place, but not something I’d go out of my way for a bar or food.
I have been teetering between 2 and 3 stars.

i recently watched an episode of bar rescue, seeing 2^nd state lounge was in my area. intrigued by the success story, i went into the city to check this place out. i was very disappointed in my experience today. our food took over an hour to come out, having no apology from the bartender let alone any management that was not present. a «double» jack and coke in an 8 oz glass was $ 14… ridiculous. the bartender proceeded to go to the kitchen, bring out and eat his dinner at the bar IN SIGHT OF CUSTOMERS while in the meantime, we are still waiting for OUR food. Not washing his hands, he proceeded to mosey around while we waited patiently for another round of drinks, and ordered shots. the shots had a bunch of fruit flies in it. once again no apology from staff or anything else offered. finally the food came out, and they forgot the french fries we ordered. didnt even bother asking for them. i work in a small town restaurant that is more professional and has better customer service than this place. the staff takes no pride in their jobs and i would never enter this establishment again. jon taffer would be dissapointed.

The pizza downstairs is great, but everything else was pretty bad.
I was there about 11pm on a Saturday and there were maybe 5 other people upstairs? There was live music and it was way too loud for the atmosphere and how empty the bar was.
The bartenders were not attentive at all. We were probably sitting at the (empty) bar for about 10 minutes before one of them came over. Since the three of us went because we knew the Bar Rescue crew was just here, we tried the new specialty drinks. I don’t remember their names, but the guys got a whiskey based drink and I got the vodka one with an apple slice. They all looked really pretty, but tasted awful. I’m not sure if she just made them wrong or what, but these drinks were terrible. No one in our group finished theirs and we didn’t stick around to try anything else.
Ugh. I most likely will not be going back.

Had to come down and try it since we’re bar rescue fiends! The pizza was awesome and we’ll definitely be back for more! The second state punch was on my list to try and I didn’t like it too much, but I don’t know if she made it very well. Cool atmosphere but the staff could be a little friendlier.

Great service, and great atmosphere! The whole staff is fun and makes for a great night out if you want to watch the game or some local live music.

Thanks to tips via Foobooz (shoutout Arthur E) we decided to check out Lickety Split’s fancy new persona, created by Jon Taffer and Bar Rescue. We had to wait a few minutes to get in while filming wrapped up, but when we walked in it was less than packed.
We first went upstairs and it was so hot we moved back down. Allegedly, pun intended, the air conditioners mess with the filming equipment. After moving downstairs, the bartender was less than thrilled to be serving us.
We each ordered a «famous» peach Bellini which were lacking much alcohol but still delicious. We perused the menu, eyed up the pizza comparing it to slices past, and reminisced about what Lickety Split once was.
Upon leaving we made our way down a dark alley to avoid the danger that is South Street on a late Saturday night.
Taffer, I think you failed on this one. I give it a year.