Palizzi Social Club
Italian restaurant · Passyunk Square
1408 S 12th St, Philadelphia, PA 19147
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22741639/VICTA_EATER_MAC_CHEESE_ICE_CREAM__1.jpg "Palizzi Social Club by eater.com")
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69644598/VICTA_EATER_MAC_CHEESE_ICE_CREAM_.0.jpg "Palizzi Social Club by eater.com")
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22741644/VICTA_EATER_MAC_CHEESE_ICE_CREAM_HERBED_WHITE_CHEDDAR_DETAIL_2.jpg "Palizzi Social Club by eater.com")
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22741650/VICTA_EATER_MAC_CHEESE_ICE_CREAM_HERBED_WHITE_CHEDDAR_WITH_BOXES.jpg "Palizzi Social Club by eater.com")
Highlights
Members-only club with Italian-American classics & cocktails
Members-only club with Italian-American classics & cocktails
"Philly has a long, bizarre legacy of members-only clubs, many of which are still around today. To get into this cash-only Italian social club in East Passyunk, you need a membership or a friend who has one and is willing to let you be their shadow. But it's not nearly as expensive or soul-sucking as the famous members-only club on Broad Street you're probably picturing right now. Imagine an uncle's basement on Snyder Ave. from the 1950s that stays open until 3am and serves very good amaro, spaghetti and blue crab, and late-night stromboli. You can try emailing them nicely to ask about memberships (these cost less than $50), though it might not work. But once you're in, you’ll want to bring every out-of-towner here to show off." - candis mclean, alison kessler
"Philly has a long, bizarre legacy of members-only clubs, many of which are still around today. To get into this cash-only Italian social club in East Passyunk, you need a membership or a friend who has one and is willing to let you be their shadow. But it's not nearly as expensive or soul-sucking as the famous members-only club on Broad Street you're probably picturing right now. Imagine a Catholic uncle's basement from the 1950s that stays open until 3am and serves very good amaro, spaghetti and blue crab, and late-night stromboli. You can try emailing them nicely to ask about memberships (these cost less than $50), though it might not work. But once you're in, you’ll want to bring every out-of-towner here to show off." - candis mclean
"A members-only martini lounge in a historic South Philly row home, offering cocktail-only service in a speakeasy-style setting." - Tierney Plumb
"It's a very, very old red sauce Italian restaurant that is also a social club—you need a membership to get in. When you show up, they have one of those doors with a window that they slide open to decide whether or not you can come in, which is very silly. But they also have a no phones rule—absolutely no phones. You cannot take pictures of your food, you cannot take pictures of other people, you cannot record. It is the perfect place to gossip because no one is going to be able to record or take notes. So in that way, it is one of the only places left that you can gossip in full secrecy. The menu hasn't changed since they opened except for specials. They have one raviolo. It's the biggest raviolo you've ever seen, and it's filled with ricotta and topped with brown butter. It's just like, ‘Yeah, that's what you want to eat.’ It was miserable to me that I couldn't take a photo of it. It was painful." - brennan carley
"The first thing to know about this Italian social club in East Passyunk is that you need a membership to get inside. And if you don't have one of those, you can either glom onto a friend who does or try emailing the team to ask how to procure one. Picture a Catholic uncle's basement from the 1950s where South Philly elders talk about their stressful nephews—except with thoughtfully made drinks and food. There's a slightly salty espresso martini made with brown butter-washed amaro, and a spaghetti and blue crab dish we're constantly chasing. Also, Palizzi can stay open until 3am because they're licensed as a private club. " - candis mclean
