Kraftwork

My friend and I stopped here on the hunt for a boozy brunch. They were open at 10:30 which was earlier than some of the other places in the neighborhood. We got there around 10:45 which was great because when we left an hour or so later, the place was overflowing. I ordered a frenchy mimosa sub orange juice instead of the grapefruit juice. Essentially, it was OJ, champagne and st germaine for $ 7. So yummy! I also had the shrimp and grits that had braised collard greens with bacon and a side of breakfast potatoes ($ 15). Very delicious. Overall, a great brunch spot with a good variety of food and cocktails.

Here’s the thing about this place– The vibe is just so weird to me. And I don’t come here often because of it. Well, what’s the supposed to mean, your saying to yourself. It this sort of «we are doing you a favor by being here» vibe and it’s prominent through out most of the staff.
Case in point: We came her during the Blizzard. It’s an equi-​distant meeting point for a lot of us so why not.
My wife and walk in and there are 2 tables sat and about 3 – 4 people at the bar, basically empty. This is right at 2pm that Saturday. The hostess girl was weird when we said we were waiting on some friends but we were going to sit at a table. She asked us «do you mind just waiting in the back until your fiends get here?» I was like «well we’ll just have a pint at the bar until they do.» My assumption here was that they don’t seat incomplete parties, weird for a casual bar but not unheard of. Then she said «actually, we don’t like transferring tabs so we prefer you just wait out of the way until they get here.» Then she walks us back to the bathroom area. At this point I’m like WTF?!? I was actually laughing a little. When she came back with the beer list (which we were supposed to look at as we waited by the bathrooms) I asked why we could not sit either at the bar or a table and assured her we were going to eat and drink for a good while as the storm came back in. She did a little annoyed eye roll thing and said she’d have to ask the manager if it was okay. I said, please do.
So she seats us and we ate and drank merrily for the next 4 hours. Food was good, great burger with a house-​made bun. My only real knock is they don’t change the menu often and it’s small so it’s get boring. That and the vibe is weird…

Went here for dinner and was unimpressed by the food and the pretty limited menu, however I returned for brunch a few weeks later and I was blown away! I got the meat quiche along with their potato hash. OMG! I also had a great «frenchy» mimosa as well. I’ll probably be back for dinner to try something else, to give them a chance to redeem themselves, but I know I will definitely be back for brunch!

Today is my 25^th time having brunch at Kraftwork.
They have the best Bloody Mary/​Maria mix in the city (and I know, I’ve tried them all). The mix is spicy and thick and comes with an assorted pickled veggie garnish on top. The only thing that could make it even better would be to throw some olives in there.
As far as brunch food goes, I haven’t had much outside of their quiche specials. Every weekend, they always have a meat and veggie quiche option. Today I opted for meat: ham, caramelized onions and gruyère cheese and I was not disappointed. You can also choose from a side salad or breakfast potatoes or a little bit of both.
My boyfriend usually orders the Eggs Benedict unless one of the other breakfast specials catches his eye. The Eggs Benedict always has perfectly poached eggs and a delicious Hollandaise sauce.
Kraftwork also has a great selection of craft beers on tap and you can order samplers if you can’t decide.
There is also usually never a wait for two, which is important when choosing a weekend brunch spot. I would recommend sitting at the bar over a table, since most of the tables are for larger groups.

For lunch, my brother took his fiancé, my friend and I here. The décor in this place is very modern and actually kind of cool. There is a huge saw hanging over the bar and giant screws that hold the tables up, which is décor I’ve never seen before.
The beer list in this in this restaurant has about 20 beers at a time, which I heard change seasonally. I had a Spiced Holiday Ale which I enjoyed a lot.
After reading other reviews on this restaurant I decided to order the Beer Can Chicken Sandwich. What the other reviews fail to mention is how hot this sandwich is, as it contains peppers. If you can’t handle Tabasco, do NOT order this sandwich. I love spicy, and this STILL gave me a little kick. With that being said, the sandwich was delicious, HOT, but delicious. My brother ordered the falafel wrap which was delicious. My brother’s fiancé and my friend ordered hamburgers, which both gave them stomach aches later on in the day (bummer).
All in all, this restaurant was good, and if I were local, I would return.

BURGER REVIEW: From deepest dives to the finest napkin on your lap place, all this is is a burger review. While a fun atmosphere can add to it, I usually won’t knock points off for other things, and some places can have terrible other food and amazing burgers. End disclaimer.
Kraftwork is a fun post-​industrial environment place. All their signage and bar seems to be locally designed, in a very cozy environment. I got to visit both the bar and service area. A large bar without being too large to make the rest of the space cramped, small stools lead to a bit of drifting of seating locations, ending in inevitable crunch zones and big gap spaces. Still a cozy spot however.
The bar was crowded on a Saturday evening, but the dining section was lightly filled. I can see this place getting packed though.
Onto the meat of the subject: amazing burger. Not too hot or juicy, but very well spiced meat with delicious cheese and a solid bun that functioned to add taste. Seemed like sourdough but I’m no expert.
This was the best burger I’ve had in Philidelphia thus far. A gourmet burger that fit the price point. There was nothing to complain about overall and it was a wonderful experience. I’ll be sure to be back here.

Tip #1: Don’t come here on a Saturday night with a group larger than 3 or 4. We came with a group of 6. The hostess told us it would be 35 – 45 minutes. No problem as they had a little bar space available and a great beer list. However, after 90 minutes, we were really hungry and slightly agitated because the hostess had told us at the 40 minute mark that a table had their check. That table proceeded to pay their check, but continued buying beers from the bar. I get that you don’t want to tell people to get up from their table, but they weren’t even getting service from their waiter any longer. I have no problem waiting for a table, but over-​estimate the wait time and don’t tell me «this never happens» when it’s a Saturday night.
Anyway, the only saving grace of the night was the fact that the food was suburb. A few of us shared the perogis, which were large and clearly homemade; pan-​fried perfectly. I had the short rib sandwich, which was probably the best I have ever had.
The service was okay. Our server knew about our dissatisfaction with the wait, so he was seemingly extra attentive. However, he never brought two beers that two people ordered.
Overall, I will likely come back because the food was so good. I will never come back for food on a Friday or Saturday night though.

Pierogi are amazing. You know fries are good when you can’t stop fucking shoveling them in your craw.

Okay, so I accidentally had a magical evening here again. It wasn’t my fault, I really didn’t intend to waste any time here after the most recent icky experiences.
But then, my friends, when picking a place to meet up in Fishtown, said «Hey, I’m working a little late, but let’s get a drink after. See you at KW at 7.» I hesitated, shrugged, and acquiesced. I figured, hey, it must still be the neighborhood standby, for lack of anything else. And that night it was fine. We sat outside, it was like old times, and caught up. I got the pretzels, just because. They were as good as they used to be, no heavy gnawing required. The grudge started to ease.
And then the next night, with more friends, hungry and looking for some dinner before the drive out to Kennett Square, I found myself dragged back, yet again, to Kraftwork.
And this is what I had missed: tons of friends and delicious food and great beers (it scares me that I recognize fewer and fewer on the list, however). Awesome servers hanging out with my friends who clearly know them well. Warm and cozy and happy, like 2012 had never even ended. We had a second round. I wasn’t expecting us to actually make it to our next destination.
Whether my previous 4 – 5 depressing visits in a row were lull of awesomeness or my own bad luck to come in on intermittent crappy days, I don’t know. But I figured I should update this review to be a fair and ethical Unilocaler.

Kraftwork is on Frankford Ave and the parking is usually a little easier for me in that area. My daughter and myself had our first visit on an October Friday night. We were there later and were seated without a wait. The space was crowded and doing well.
I had been at the Side Car before owned by the same folks as Kraftwork. The menu has a similar layout and there is very good beer selection. The inside is open with brick walls, wood tables and this really cool metal handsaw sculpture over the bar.
Crispy Pierogies — Mashed potatoes, choucroute, mushrooms, and chive crème fraîche, apple chutney. These were very flavorful and crème fraise and apple chutney worked well together. This was a bigger then we expected. French Onion Short Rib Sandwich — Caramelized onions melted Gruyère, horseradish crème fraîche, and ciabatinni bun. This was an excellent sandwich and the meat was tender. We also had the Shrimp Po’ Boy special. This was pretty good, it wasn’t as good as the other dishes but the bread was excellent.
The star of the night was the dessert, the fried Apple Pie with house made vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce. This was one of the better desserts I have has in a long time and if you like apples, cinnamon and deliciousness look no further.
All the servers at Kraftwork were friendly and helpful and I would definitely go back again.

Every place has an off day. I’m wondering if that’s what was going on the day of my visit, or are they just seriously over-​rated? Upon entering the restaurant I was really impressed with the décor. A giant, ornately carved saw hung over the bar area and there seemed to have a steam-​punk feel to it. I liked it. The draft beer list was impressive with some really unique finds. It has something for everyone. We ordered our food for the table. I got the French Onion short rib sandwich with Gruyère cheese and fries. Others at the table ordered the Sausage Roll, Brussels Sprout flatbread and the Korean tacos. First the short rib sandwich. Sigh. What a complete disappointment. It LOOKED so good. The thing had ABSOLUTELY no flavor at all. The meat had texture, but that was it. I’m not kidding, there was nothing! No salt, no spice, no nothing. Each bite I took, I thought a different component would help improve things. Like, the cheese had zero flavor, the onions (I didn’t taste them at all), the meat. Blahhhhh. Terrible. The person who hit the Korean Tacks said the meat had a weird, off putting flavor and had no semblance of real Korean flavors. The Brussels sprouts flatbread looked boring and dry. And the sausage roll was greasy and reminiscent of something you would get at an Applebee’s kind of chain. Service was ok. The guy wasn’t friendly per se, but he wasn’t a jerk either. Not a good first impression at all.

One of my absolute favorite places to eat in the city! They have fantastic food and a great beer list. The beer can chicken sandwich is to die for. Their french onion short rip sandwich is also excellent. The falafel wrap is very good, with lots of good veggies. I also had a pork belly banh mih there which was a good spin on the traditional banh mih. Their fries are very excellent and they come with a homemade aoli.
Also the pretzel nuggets are homemade and come with a great cheese sauce.
Overall, this is a great pub!

Décor and draft list are excellent but our table of 4 echoed the same sentiment about the food. Meh. Maybe we should have just ordered a burger because the burgers get raves but that is not the case for the sausage roll, korean pork taco or french onion soup short rib sandwich. I had the Korean pork tacos & there were Zero Korean flavor profiles in the taco and the flavor of the meat was off putting. I wanted to love this place but it just wasn’t good.

This review is only for their brunch but I’ll likely need to update this soon when I go back during the week for dinner.
My boyfriend and I were apartment hunting in the area and decided to stop in for lunch, not realizing that they were serving brunch till 3 PM. I had the huevos rancheros and their special kraftwork mimosa. My boyfriend had a customer breakfast sandwich. The dishes were great, especially their breakfast potatoes.

Craving a burger and nothing I wanted was close because of the pope. Stumble upon this place looking through Unilocal.Chill relaxing atmosphere. Friendly staff. The burgers here are amazing and beefy. Like a burger on steriods and full of flavor. Definitely going to come back agian
Ps. Also had the pork belly Bahn mi. My favorite off the menu

Came to this German inspired pub for National Burger Day because my friend said they have killer burgers. I’ve confirmed they do.
Started with a flight of 4 draft beers (quite a little deal) and loved all of them, especially the Liquid Gold. I got my burger with sharp cheddar and bacon and red onion marmalade (at the server’s emphatic request) and was so pleased. Well cooked, the jam a perfect blend of sweet and salty. Quick service and 70s jams ranks this hipster place high in my book.

It’s my first time in Philly and got this recommendation from fellow Unilocalers. They did not disappoint.
The ambiance of this place, and the neighborhood is very close to home with it’s upscale dive-​y décor and great craft beer selection and chill music.
After a long weekend of drinking, we legitimately required a hearty, high quality breakfast before we left to go back to Boston.
We ordered: huevos rancheros, eggs Benedict, and breakfast sandwich. I was entirely way too busy devouring my meal to even see what my friends meals looked like, however we barely spoke a word to each other, and it wasn’t due to our hangovers.
But, let me give you the low-​down on the breakfast sandwich. A massively fluffy scrambled egg, folded onto itself, with a house made sausage patty, stuffed between two flaky house made biscuits. It was slightly bigger than what my mouth was capable of handling (does that sound dirty?) and could not have been more happy. Plus, the home fries it came with, were perfect. Crispy outside, soft inside, and just the right amount of seasoning. The kind of thing you enjoy saving for last, because the temptation makes them taste that much better.
I also had my first Bloody Mary here. I didn’t think I was going to like it — and I didn’t. However, I could tell that if I did like that type of drink, it would have been amazing. It didn’t have an overly tomato-​y taste, and was very spicy, which surprisingly felt nice in my stomach. Definitely complemented a breakfast well.
There were a few other things I wanted to try, like the cubano, so will definitely be coming back here the next time i’m in Philly.

Kraftwork continues to amaze me!
Not only did they add a few items to their menu, they also updated their cocktail list.
PLEASE do yourself a favor and get the cheesesteak foie gras spring rolls, they won’t disappoint. Yes, I did say fois gras and spring roll in the same sentence! Crispy outside, tender meat and gooey cheese on the inside, accompanied by a velvety foie gras spread and spicy pepper relish. If you go between 4 – 6 Monday thru Friday, you can get them for only 7 $!!
For 7 $ as well, you can order a house crafted cocktail. I opted for the ‘hop to it’ with hop infused vodka, soda, lemon and simple syrup. It was so refreshing and bitter, combining exactly what I like about a hoppy beer with a hint of sweetness from the simple syrup.
Hell yeah Kraftwork– keep rocking it out!

The tofu banh mi was terrific. The tofu was seasoned well, the vegetables were crisp and tasty, the bread was soft with a bit of crust to it. The salad that this dish came with was a simple salad, well prepared and tasted fresh.
I was disappointed with the burger, it was over cooked and dried out. I expected more than that. I don’t think that I would order a burger here again.
The pretzel bites were a little strange, they tasted almost like a biscuit pretzel hybrid. Not really something that I would order again either.
The service was good enough. We weren’t lacking anything.

This is such an awesome hipster bar/​dinner restaurant!
Accommodating 12 people on a Saturday night and only a 10 – 15 minute wait? HOW AWESOME! There isn’t a ton of seating for people to eat, it’s more of a bar then an actual restaurant. Unless there is an upstairs or downstairs but it is an awesome place to get beer and food. I ordered the pretzel appetizer with beer cheese, very tasty — I wish the cheese had a little more flavor but it was still delicious. For my entrée I got the special risotto without the sauce because it wasn’t vegetarian and I think this took away from the flavor a bit. It is a huge portion of food. Unfortunately, while I was eating my meal there was a big piece of plastic wrap hidden in my meal — cause for a lost appetite. The waitress was extremely friendly and took my meal off the bill and asked if I wanted a new one, already full I was okay with trying everyone else’s food.
For dessert? I tried both the fried apple pie and the chocolate cake, free of charge form the waitress, thanks for the good customer service. Both were fantastic. I highly recommend the chocolate cake. that peanut butter ice cream, and that banana sauce! UGH I WANT IT NOW.
Oh, and if you need another appetizer? The garlic fries are heavenly!
Tons of beer selections and good food. Although mine had a bit of a hiccup in it, they took care of me and totally made up for it with their great service.