Ardmore

Felicia's Pizza Kitchen

Pizza on West Lancaster Avenue, run as a takeout counter with a handful of seats. The house special stacks spinach, fresh tomato and garlic on a thin crust.

★★★★★★★★★★4.0 (258) on Google

18 W Lancaster Ave

Half a While

A tea and cake shop in the old Kung Fu Tea storefront, run by Leo Wei and Haley He. Cold-brewed leaf teas, handmade crepe and tiramisu cakes, and buns filled with taro or minced pork.

★★★★★★★★★★4.6 (30) on Google

22 W Lancaster Ave

Carlino's Market

Italian specialty market the Carlino family has run since 1983, with a second store in West Chester. Prepared dinners, custom cakes, deli sandwiches and pizza, and their own jarred sauces and dried pasta on the shelves.

★★★★★★★★★★4.7 (938) on Google

2616 E County Line Rd

Raff's Fine Italian Dining

Tuscan-leaning Italian on Cricket Avenue, BYOB with a $4.95 corkage. Linguine pescatore and spaghetti caprese anchor the menu, and the dining rooms are small enough that a reservation is the safer plan.

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 (28) on Google

65 Cricket Ave Ste 101

Ultimate Bake Shoppe of Ardmore

A counter inside the Ardmore Farmers Market at Suburban Square, baking since 1982. Custom cakes and decorated cookies are the main trade, with vegan, dairy-free and gluten-free versions coming off the same bench.

★★★★★★★★★★4.4 (76) on Google

120 Coulter Ave #3

Original Eagle Pizza

On Haverford Road since 1970, three generations on from the family's first Philly restaurant in 1947. Pizza, hoagies, cheesesteaks and gyros, with the Down Under Special the one they lead with. Closed Sundays.

★★★★★★★★★★4.7 (130) on Google

2343 Haverford Rd

Bored Trading Cafe

A pop-up kitchen and coffee bar inside Almost Home General on Cricket Avenue. Coffee roasted in house, food made to order, and a room set up for laptops: smash burgers, chicken and waffles, espresso drinks.

★★★★★★★★★★4.3 (43) on Google

43 Cricket Ave

Wallace Dry Goods

A bottle shop on Lancaster Ave where nothing has alcohol in it: zero-proof beer, wine, spirits and aperitifs, plus bitters and mixers. The tasting bar pours rotating samples and the occasional craft mocktail.

★★★★★★★★★★4.9 (37) on Google

1 W Lancaster Ave

Izzy’s Cocktail Bar

Twenty-four seats, no reservations, and a handwritten menu of handrolls and bao buns behind the cocktails. Biff Gottehrer runs the kitchen, and the back bar leans Japanese whiskey, shochu and sake.

★★★★★★★★★★4.4 (52) on Google

35 E Lancaster Ave

Char & Stave

Coffee in the morning and cocktails at night, from the crew behind Bluebird Distilling in Phoenixville. They roast their own beans and run a two day cold brew, and the bar list includes an Ardmore Old Fashioned.

★★★★★★★★★★4.7 (399) on Google

21 Rittenhouse Pl

Tired Hands Fermentaria Tap Room

Tired Hands' production brewery since 2015, 13,000 square feet with a tap room and a General Store attached. This is where Hop Hands comes from, and where the Milkshake IPA got invented alongside Sweden's Omnipollo.

★★★★★★★★★★4.5 (962) on Google

35 Cricket Terrace

Ripplewood Whiskey & Craft

A whiskey bar on Lancaster Avenue with a kitchen under chef and co-owner Biff Gottehrer. The Inquirer gave it three bells and singled out the double-patty burger. Happy hour runs 3 to 5 every day it opens.

★★★★★★★★★★4.6 (687) on Google

29 E Lancaster Ave

Pilot and Powell

A clothing boutique on Parking Plaza, the block behind Lancaster Avenue where Ardmore keeps its municipal lots. Small storefront, short walk from the train.

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 (3) on Google

32 Parking Plza

Revivals Boutique LLC

A consignment shop on Rittenhouse Place, a block off Lancaster Avenue, selling secondhand clothing and accessories. Stock turns with whatever comes through the door, so it reads differently week to week.

★★★★★★★★★★3.6 (38) on Google

55 Rittenhouse Pl

Giannini Jewelers

An independent jeweler on East Lancaster Avenue in downtown Ardmore, a storefront rather than a mall counter, sitting at 4.8 across 37 Google reviews.

★★★★★★★★★★4.8 (37) on Google

19 E Lancaster Ave

Home Grown

A gift shop on the Haverford stretch of Lancaster Avenue, a few doors down from the Hope Chest. Google ratings sit at 3.0 across ten reviews.

★★★★★★★★★★3.2 (11) on Google

393 Lancaster Ave

Junior League Thrift Shop

The Junior League of Philadelphia's thrift shop on West Lancaster Avenue. Donated clothing and household goods, with the money going back into the League's community programs.

★★★★★★★★★★4.1 (99) on Google

25 W Lancaster Ave

Children's Book World

Independent bookstore given over entirely to children's and young adult titles, steps from the Haverford train station.

★★★★★★★★★★4.9 (95) on Google

17 Haverford Station Rd

Axiom Contemporary

Contemporary art gallery in a Coulter Ave storefront, a block off the Lancaster Avenue strip. Shows rotate, so it is worth checking what is hanging before you walk over.

★★★★★★★★★★4.6 (10) on Google

92 Coulter Ave

Mud Room Studio

A pottery studio on Station Road in Ardmore, a block from the train station. Whether that means a class, open studio time or a shelf of finished work is worth a call first.

★★★★★★★★★★4.4 (75) on Google

11 Station Rd

Zephirin/Giannetta Gallery

An art gallery on West Lancaster Avenue in Ardmore, street level and storefront sized, so the whole show reads in a single visit.

38 W Lancaster Ave

Packer Park

A small Lower Merion Township park on Llanfair Circle, ringed by Ardmore houses. Open green space for a walk or an hour outside rather than a whole afternoon.

★★★★★★★★★★3.8 (6) on Google

30-50 Llanfair Cir

Ardmore Music Hall

The concert hall on East Lancaster Ave, and the reason plenty of people first drive into Ardmore after dark. Long-timers still call it 23 East, after the club that had the room before.

★★★★★★★★★★4.7 (2k) on Google

23 E Lancaster Ave

St Pauls Tot Lot

A tot lot in Ardmore, which is to say a playground built at the scale of the youngest kids. Small, quiet, and the sort of stop that fills the half hour before a nap.

★★★★★★★★★★4.8 (11) on Google

Ardmore