Jack's Firehouse

This restaurant is in a former fire house and it's a really neat space. They also have a rather large outdoor eating space with tents. The waiter was excellent. He made sure I knew the spring water I was ordering was extra expensive and extra bougie (and yet I persisted in ordering it). And made sure I knew the thing I was ordering was spicy. He was really really great. The menu didn't really work for me, but so I ended up ordering a side salad and Mac n cheese. They were both fine. My husband got the BLT Caesar and he liked it.The highlight, however, was the complimentary corn bread muffins served with butter and cranberries!!!!! Oh boy! Was that an unexpected treat! The cookies they gave us with the check were also delicious. This restaurant is convenient to Eastern State Penn. To which we were en route. The cocktail list sounded good, but we had beer garden plans for after.

We stopped in for lunch at Jack's Firehouse after a tour the Eastern State Penitentiary and were seated outside in their side courtyard. We were served by Will, a very friendly wait staff member. We had an iced tea and a Southern Peach cocktail, which the later was yummy. Will then brought out these amazing muffins with butter and sweet cherries to nosh on. What an awesome start to ride us over until our Catfish Po' Boy and Pear Salad with Salmon were served. The shaved pear on the fresh salad, topped with the saltiness of the grilled salmon was tasty. The catfish, with Its beautiful crisp outer crust was mouth watering. Will, was very attentive and offered to bring a carafe of tea and wanted to make sure everything was to our satisfaction. It was! Then Will surprised us with two chocolate walnut cookies, on the house! Great meal. Great service. great Food.

Went in at lunchtime to grab a bite but ended up sharing two items with my husband once we saw the options and prices (more than I expected). We were brought corn muffins to start which were delicious and then each ordered a drink in addition to the Southern Style Pulled Pork on Corn Chips and a side of mac and cheese. The "pulled pork" looked completely unappetizing and like someone had already eaten in and threw it up on the nachos but the mac and cheese was good. My husband ordered what ended up being a very small Old Fashioned followed by two beers, while I had the Springtime Sangria, which was quite large. We got our check and when the server took the check and our card to run it she also grabbed and dumped out our drinks that we were still actively drinking.I hadn't been to Jack's since I went to college in Philly many years ago but probably wouldn't go back after the Southern Style Pulled Pork experience.

All the food was very good! We tried the calamari, crab cake, and southern style pulled pork sandwich. The meal also comes with complimentary corn bread muffins at the start and coolies at the end. We were not dissatisfied with anything!

Haven't been here in years - like way before the pandemic. So I met a friend for lunch on a Friday afternoon. Because we met closer to 1 o'clock and the place is pretty spacious anyways, I was able to get a seat for us as soon as I got there and we were seated spread out from other diners. The vibe gives old tavern in a way, but the music playlist while we were there was 90s/2000s mix, which I appreciated. We kept it simple with drinks (water with lemon and a ginger ale for me) and healthy for our meal. My friend got the Granny Smith Apple Salad with Chicken and I ordered the Firehouse Field Greens Salad with Chicken. She said hers was good and definitely enjoyed mine. It was such a large portion (which I appreciated) tasty from the combo of the dried cranberries, tomatoes and goat cheese, with the right amount of dressing on it. Service was good and timely throughout our dining experience also.I would definitely go back for lunch or drinks again soon.

Came here after visiting the Fireman's Museum in Old City and let me tell you if I had any decision power to veto coming to this place ahead of time I would invoke it.I studied the menu intensely trying to find an item that I would enjoy for lunch that would not cost an arm and a leg while also filling me up (sandwiches were out of the question as I didn't want a very bready item and their sandwiches look like they're mostly bread). My choices were basically soup or an entree priced over twenty dollars. After sucking it up and ordering a $27.95 crab cake entree I waited for the meal.We had a very large group I want to say over twenty. The server brought out the tiniest corn muffins I have ever seen complimentary which was appreciated, they were edible but many were left over as one was sufficient. On to the crab cakes, these were good, I kinda wish they didn't pour the sauce over the crab cakes as some patrons may want to eat their crab cakes plain but so far so good. Now here is the hiccup, it comes with southern spiced vegetable cous cous with garlic aioli sauce, imo it is very hard to flavor cous cous, there was ample cous cous but it was very plain tasting. The amount of vegetables plated was small however I see what they are trying to accomplish (spread veggies throughout the cous cous versus have a side of vegetables that would make the cost per meal produced more money perhaps as this would mean the addition of an extra side item accompanying the meal). I feel that Jack's Firehouse can reinvent their menu if they want and offer other options (for starters how bout a BBQ share platter that isn't $42.95), let's say a sample BBQ platter for one? Pretty sure this would bring in more clientele.The server was very good, I will give the establishment credit where credit is due. He brought out small baked pecan chocolate cookies complimentary at the end of the meal and these were warm and freaking delicious.Jack's Firehouse is directly across the street from the Eastern State Penitentiary which makes it prime real estate if you are visiting the Fairmount area. If you like the menu, and don't mind the price points then by all means go for it : )As always people SYOY!!!

I'd recommend for coming alone, with one person or with a group. It's a cute bar, friendly staff, very very casual. Every drink was fantastic! The food was hit and miss. The ribs are a hit, Smokey and yummy, but the mashed potatoes are a miss. The cornbread was a hit but the lobster mac looked like it's from a box. Come check it out, the menu is well varied so you'll find something you like.

Really enjoyed my dinner at Jack's the other night. Food was awesome - catfish sandwich was tasty and muffins from before the meal stood out as my favorites. Atmosphere is very cool - love the bones and history you can feel in the building. Service was also fantastic - the complimentary cookies they brought out at the end were a nice touch. The brussels sprouts were not my favorite (lots of outer flakes and not much substance to them) but still good. Nice spot!

I came here on a Sunday afternoon and my friend and I both ordered salads. The corn muffins to start were a nice touch. The service was okay, our waiter tried the best he could and was honest with us when we sat down that there were some issues causing service to be slow that day. It seemed a bit chaotic, hopefully the management figured that out.

I have been going to Jack's firehouse for years now since 2017 and it never disappoints except this time my friend did have some piece of plastic in her food which was very odd. However, I have been there so many times that I've never been disappointed that I'm not going to leave a bad review. I think that was just a unlucky time that we all went and we had a weird experience. I love the ambience. I'm literally obsessed with this restaurant. I think it's beautiful and I love how it's right outside the penitentiary. I also think the food is pretty good and has a great menu of various options that are quite different from others in the city. I have been going here because of the penitentiary and we go there before entering into the haunted houses. we usually go for dinner, but this time was brunch and it was good and I loved the potatoes. The service was also fantastic. He made sure that the plastic was very odd and even gave us another platter and gave us a discount off of the check.