About.com Rating

The Bottom Line

Tasty burger joint is marred by inconsistency.

Visit Their Website

Pros

• Generally good burgers, shakes and more
• Atmosphere is fun without being annoying
• Lots of outdoor seating in the warmer months
• More than one vegetarian burger

Cons

• Quality of food and service is inconsistent

Description

• 1050 N. Hancock St.
  Philadelphia, PA 19123
• 215-268-7825
• Hours:
  Monday - Friday: 5 p.m. - 2 a.m.
  Saturday & Sunday: Noon - 2 a.m.

Guide Review - PYT

Opened by party PR mainstay Tommy Up, PYT serves burgers, shakes and more in the Piazza at Schmidts in Northern Liberties. The restaurant's atmosphere is fun and brightly colored without being annoying, featuring bright yellows and greens paired with more muted tones. The restaurant's big glass walls open when the weather is warm, and tables spill out onto the Piazza in the summer months as well.

Booze is big here. There’s a full bar and a decent beer list, and the restaurant has a signature shot, the Pickleback, which couples hard liquor with a pickle-juice chaser. PYT's milkshake menu is also comprised mostly of alcohol-spiked shakes topped with whipped cream. The Caucasian is wonderful – thick and creamy vanilla ice cream with a hint of Kahlua (and a good serving of vanilla vodka). $10 felt like a lot for a boozy shake at first, but when I considered how much a milkshake usually costs and how much a mixed drink usually costs, it seemed a bit more reasonable.

So the drinks are good, but when it comes to food and service, PYT is like the little girl in that old poem – when it’s good, it’s very very good, but it’s bad…well, okay, it’s not horrid.

But it’s sloppy and inattentive. The first time I visited, we had prompt service and two fantastic burgers, one meat (the PYT burger) and one vegetarian (the Calibunga). Patty-wise, the Calibunga burger - made with white beans, garlic and basil - easily threatens the standing of some of my favorite Philadelphia veggie burgers, and the PYT burger was pretty excellent as well. Like all the burgers at PYT, both were served on potato rolls (don’t look for house-made gastropub buns here). The plating was fine, but not exactly lovely. The burgers were served with potato chips, and we also ordered the fries, which were a medium-thick cut and nicely spiced. All-in-all, it was a satisfying meal.

The second time we visited, however, our food seemed sloughed onto the plates – my Calibunga burger was still tasty, but barely held together and was falling off the bun in chunks before I even touched it. When my friend ordered a beer, our waiter suggested that if he wanted a couple more throughout the meal, my friend might save money by buying a pitcher all for himself. While this might've been a legitimate attempt to save us money, it felt a little forced. The same waiter also neglected to bring us any silverware; we had to ask for it. And all of this was on a night when it wasn’t even that busy.

I don’t want to scare you away from PYT – they can make a fantastic burger and shake, solid french fries and some pretty wonderful onion rings that manage to stay totally crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The prices aren’t outlandish either (veggie burgers start at $7; meat burgers at $8) which is good - at least if you hit PYT on an off night, you’re not out that much cash.

Visit Their Website