City Tap, a campus favorite bar-restaurant destination, will reopen on Jan. 29 after nearly two years of pandemic-induced closure.
The University City staple, located on 39th and Walnut in The Radian, was last open in March 2020. The restaurant will require staff to be vaccinated and wear masks. Staff will also check the vaccine cards of dining patrons.
City Tap Director of Events and Marketing Janine Cima told The Daily Pennsylvanian that the restaurant considered reopening sooner, but wanted to wait until students returned to school.
“It honestly has just felt like a brand new opening, like we're opening a new restaurant,” Cima said. “After not being there for two years, it's kind of like we have to build relationships all over again, with new students, new faculty, new neighbors.”
City Tap, which offers an upscale, Americana-style dinner menu and weekend brunch service, first opened its University City location in 2010. It eventually expanded its franchise to include seven locations that line the East Coast. All seven restaurants in the East Coast chain closed during the pandemic. The University City location will be the last to reopen.
Reopening for the University City location has been a complex process, with management often feeling the effects of supply chain issues and inflation, according to Cima. However, Cima told the DP that with the reopening just days away, City Tap is focused on re-establishing their image as “that local neighborhood friendly, fun restaurant bar."
Nursing and Wharton first-year Andrew Kim, who hails from just outside of Philadelphia, said that he used to frequent City Tap’s University City location with his family.
“I just had so much fun every time I'd go. The servers are some of the nicest, most polite people who are also very well versed in the menu,” said Kim.
Kim has been monitoring the opening closely, and plans to go with friends once the restaurant reopens.
Engineering first-year Ansh Goyal, who also grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs, said that he greatly enjoyed eating at City Tap prior to its closing. Like Kim, Goyal said he was excited to return upon the restaurant's reopening.
“[My family] would just get brunch all the time at Tap House,” Goyal said. “It was just a nice atmosphere and environment.”
City Tap is also revamping their menu, offering new dishes such as grilled cheese with tomato soup and the "Stack Burger"– which consists of two patties with a special sauce on a brioche bun. The menu will also include many City Tap familiar favorites, like the "Ten Spice Wings" and "Honey Goat Cheese Pizza."
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