Pick Your Perch: The 2026 Guide To Watching The Birds In Rittenhouse
We’ve overhauled our guide for the new season with six new spots based on their vibes, and the schedule quirks you’ll want to plan around.
So we had a few thoughts about the Eagles watch guide we had originally created.
Our original version of this guide was alphabetical, which is a perfectly good way to organize a phone book and a genuinely terrible way to pick a bar. SO sorry about that! Obviously, “1518 Bar & Grill” and “Victory Brewing” have almost nothing in common except a liquor license and viewing screens, and if you show up to the wrong one with the wrong expectations, you’ve wasted a Sunday. And there are not enough Sundays in a work week to waste.
So…we started over! Same neighborhood, same enthusiasm, but a completely different approach to who, what, and where you want to watch The Birds.
Because that’s really the only question as nearly every bar and venue in Rittenhouse will have the game on. What separates them is whether the sound is up or the playlist is up, whether you can see a screen from the back of the room or only from a stool, whether the kitchen can survive a fourth-quarter wing rush, and whether you’ll be standing three deep or sitting in a booth with room for your elbows. None of those things are better or worse. They’re just different game days offering different experiences.
Here’s our attempt to help you find the experience that works best for you and your friends. So read on, DM us your thoughts, and Go Birds!
First, the 2026 schedule has some genuinely weird stuff in it
It’s worth checking and planning around this season’s schedule
Three things to note for this season: 1) the October 11th London game kicks off at 9:30 in the morning, which is a brunch problem disguised as a football problem, so we’ve dedicated a whole section on that in the guide. 2) there are two Monday night games, and a handful of neighborhood spots are closed Mondays entirely (The Mulberry and Ladder15 among them). 3) Thanksgiving, a Saturday game on December 19th, and Christmas Eve are all on the calendar, and holiday hours are going to be everywhere. So if you want to go out do call ahead, be kind to the people working, and please please please tip accordingly!
Note that the bye lands the weekend of November 15th, and Week 18 against the Giants is still TBD as the NFL doesn’t set that date until Week 17 wraps.
For When You Want The Whole Room To Lose It
You are not here to talk. You are here to high-five a stranger named Dave. These are the loud ones with DJs, jerseys wall to wall, a roar that rattles the windows on a fourth-quarter stop. Get there early. We mean actually early, not “ten minutes before kickoff” early.
Cavanaugh’s Rittenhouse | 📍1921 Sansom St
Cavanaugh’s is the anchor of this category and has been for years. The bigger Sansom Street space runs an 11-foot media wall plus more than 20 HD TVs mounted high enough that a crowd at the bar won’t block your sightline, which is the whole ballgame, tbh. There’s a DJ, there are wings, and there’s a young, loud, extremely committed crowd that starts lining up well before kickoff for divisional games. And yes, they have gameday specials.
The useful bit: you can reserve a table, which is rare for this kind of room. It works on a spend minimum — a two-person table runs $100, scaling up from there — and consecutive NFL games need separate reservations. If you’re bringing people from out of town and don’t want to gamble, that’s money that may make sense. Note that they run their own ads during the ads (sort of meta, right?)
Lucy’s | 📍1720 Chestnut St
Lucy’s, an sequel to Old City’s Lucy’s Hat Shopm took over the old Philly Team Store space that closed around 2020, and leaned all the way into Birds season. Giant screen, DJ spinning through commercial breaks, and a dance floor downstairs that becomes the main event roughly four seconds after the clock hits zero. This season they’re running a full slate of game day specials: wings, cheese curds, pretzels, signature cocktails, plus 25-cent wings for Monday Night Football, and a brunch setup for the London game.
It’s a small room and it fills with regulars fast, so this is one where showing up at 12:45 for a 1 p.m. kickoff is a decision you’ll regret, sorry.
Giovani’s | 📍1533 Chestnut St
Giovani’s has quietly become one of the busiest game day rooms on Chestnut Street, and the pizza-and-wings-and-cheesesteak-egg-rolls approach to Sunday afternoon is hard to argue with. DJ, food and drink specials, TVs everywhere, a crowd that skews neighborhood rather than tourist. It gets packed so strategize accordingly!
Ladder15 | 📍1528 Sansom St
Ladder 15 brings its regular nightlife energy to the afternoon, which is either exactly what you want or exactly what you don’t. Drink specials, a DJ, a room full of people in green. Two things to know: they’re closed Mondays, so both MNF games are out, and they run a real dress code and card VERY seriously at the door.
City Tap House | 📍2 Logan Square (100 N. 18th St)
City Tap House is the big-room option just north of the neighborhood, with a beer list long enough to be a genuine decision and a game day setup that includes a DJ, specials, and giveaways. It’s a natural fit for a group that can’t agree on anything.
Watch the hours on this one — their posted Sunday close is on the earlier side, so for the 8:20 p.m. Sunday night game on November 1st, call first.
For When You Want A Seat, A Clear Sightline, And Your Personal Bubble Intact
Some of us want to watch the game and hear the person across the table. These rooms are bigger, calmer, and forgiving of anyone who shows up twenty minutes late.
Victory Brewing | 📍1776 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy
We’re lucky to have an actual brewery in walking distance, and Victory is about as much room as game day gets around here. Two levels, a rooftop (with TVs, but not many!), a long list of house beers and ciders, and enough square footage so that “crowded” here still means you can get to the bathroom without a strategy. The vibe is pure indoor beer garden. It gets busy, but busy is not the same as packed, which makes it ideal for last minute groups.
The Mulberry | 📍1835 Arch St
The Mulberry is the refined option with arched ceilings, good light, a Ben Franklin mural in the hallway, and a full wall of TVs facing the bar. If you like the idea of a sports bar more than the reality of one, this is your off-the-beaten-path answer. Closed Mondays, so plan around the two MNF games.
Misconduct Tavern | 📍1511 Locust St & 📍1801 JFK Blvd
There are two Misconduct locations in range: the Rittenhouse one on Locust and the Logan Square one on JFK. Both are spacious with vaulted wood-paneled ceilings, plenty of tables, a rotating tap list, and a wide enough drinks selection that the friend who doesn’t drink beer has options.
They’re open 11:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. every single day, which makes them one of the few spots that works for every game on the calendar, Monday nights and Christmas Eve included.
Topside Tavern | 📍10 S 20th St
Topside is still flying under the radar, which is precisely its appeal. There’s a rooftop, which is a genuinely lovely way to watch a 1 p.m. September game, and a menu that runs well past wings with crab cakes, riblets, the kind of thing that makes your foodie friend stop complaining about the football.
For When You Want A Proper Pub
Wood, Guinness, a bartender who remembers you, and a room that’s been doing this a long time. Some of these are also your best bet for the early kickoff — more on that below.
Fadó | 📍1500 Locust St
Fadó is the one that opens up the whole floor for big games and packs people in shoulder to shoulder, with servers working the standing crowd so you’re not fighting to the bar. When it’s quieter, the nooks and crannies are the draw: there are little pockets of tables tucked around the place that feel like their own private box. Doors open at 10 a.m. on weekends!
Con Murphy’s | 📍1700 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy
Con Murphy’s sits right on the Parkway, does a proper breakfast, and — more importantly! — opens at 9 a.m. Thursday through Sunday. That makes it one of the very few places in range that’s already serving when a 9:30 a.m. kickoff rolls around. Big space, live music some nights, and a genuinely warm room.
Tir na nOg | 📍1600 Arch St
Tir na nOg sits across from LOVE Park, opens at 9 a.m. on weekends, and is squarely built for sports with a big room, plenty of screens, and a pub menu. Fun bit of neighborhood lineage: Con Murphy’s was opened in 2009 by two guys who’d worked together at Tir na nÓg first. Between the two of them, Logan Square quietly owns the early-kickoff category.
Founding Fathers | 📍1612 South St
Founding Fathers is a hotspot for European football that flips fully to Eagles on Sunday, and the cheesesteak is better than a sports bar cheesesteak has any right to be. TVs positioned so there’s no bad spot to stand, game day food and drink specials, and a crowd that genuinely knows what it’s watching. Doors at 10:30 a.m. on weekends!
The one we’re missing this season: The Black Sheep | 📍247 S 17th St
We can’t publish a guide like this without stopping at 17th and Latimer, because The Black Sheep has been here since 2000 — three floors of a restored rowhome, stained glass, stenciled beams, dartboards, one of the deeper Irish whiskey lists in the city, and a third-floor dining room looking out over 17th Street.
A fire back in May that started behind a wall in the kitchen, climbed to the third floor, and got to the roof took out Black Sheep for the time being. Thankfully, nobody was hurt. The rebuild is taking longer than anyone wanted, and word around the neighborhood is they’re looking at sometime next year.
So they’re not on the list this season but we are very hopeful they will be back, and better than ever.
For When You Need Something To Do With Your Hands
Some of us watch football better when we’re also doing something else. Blowouts happen, or the game is boring so having a backup plan is key.
Five Iron Golf | 📍2116 Chestnut St & 📍1717 Arch St
There are two Five Iron Golf locations that are different enough to be worth choosing between. Rittenhouse on Chestnut is the original with the indoor simulator bays, a full-service bar, and screens angled so you can work on your slice and keep one eye on the Birds. Logan Square opened inside Three Logan Square next to the Comcast Center in the last year or so, and is the roomier, more polished of the pair, with a private sim that works well if you’re wrangling a group.
Both are the earliest-opening spots on this entire list at 6 a.m., seven days a week, which makes them a legitimately great answer to the London game. Book a bay, order breakfast, take some swings at 9 a.m. like a person with their life together. Reserve ahead for Sundays; bays go fast!
Garage Rittenhouse | 📍1501 Spruce St
Garage has settled in VERY nicely (translation: super popular neighborhood bar!) since it arrived, and the formula is simple: an enormous beer and cider selection out of vintage coolers, skeeball, a billiards table, a jukebox, and a lot of TVs. Big enough to sit or stand, lively without being punishing. The cheesesteak empanada has a following.
Good Dog Bar | 📍224 S 15th St
Good Dog remains the only three-floor bar we know of in the neighborhood, and each floor has its own personality. There’s a long bar downstairs, tables in the middle floor, and a top floor with a pool table, darts, and a vintage arcade game. Photos of good boys and good girls on the walls throughout, which is exactly the kind of detail that makes a place ours. Open 11:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily.
The Goat | 📍1907 Sansom St
The Goat bills itself as a gastropub and means it because the menu runs from a cheese board to steak frites. It gets busy on game day but rarely reaches crush levels, and there’s a pool table not far from the bar for when the game gets away from us. A good pick when half your group cares deeply and the other half is there for the charcuterie.
For When The Food Matters As Much As The Final Score
Real kitchens, real menus, and TVs that happen to be on. These are the “I’ll watch the game but I’m not eating another basket of fried things” options.
Pub & Kitchen | 📍1946 Lombard St
Pub & Kitchen has been doing the neighborhood gastropub thing on Lombard since 2010, with a burger that has its own following and a bar room that gets genuinely loud during big matches. Doors at 11 a.m. on weekends. Not a sports bar by design, absolutely a sports bar by behavior, even offering game day specials.
Square 1682 | 📍121 S 17th St
Square 1682 is extending happy hour through every Eagles game this season with wings, burgers, oysters, rotating cocktails, plus discounted wine and beer while the game’s on. Oysters during a football game is a wonderfully unhinged addition, and we support it completely. One caveat: their standard Sunday hours run short, so confirm before a 4:25 kickoff!
Devil’s Alley | 📍1907 Chestnut St
Devil’s Alley is new to the guide, and under new ownership from the team behind Top Tomato Bar & Pizza. If it’s been a while, the big change is that the tree is gone (it was donated, by the way) which was the thing everybody remembered about the room. The good news is that the light it spent all those years reaching for is still pouring down through the atrium, and the ground floor remains one of the brighter places in the neighborhood to spend a gray November afternoon.
The new team put in a pizza oven, which meaningfully changes the math on a football Sunday, and they’re running specials through the season. Two floors — dining room below, a proper bar upstairs with windows over Chestnut — plus the barbecue and burgers the place has always done well. A good middle ground for a group that wants an actual meal with their football.
For When You Want A Dive, No Notes
No DJ. No jumbotron. No reservations. Just a bar, a TV, and people who’ve been sitting in the same seats for years.
Oscar’s Tavern | 📍1524 Sansom St
Oscar’s Tavern is the neighborhood’s great dimly lit dive and cash only (there’s an ATM down the block, so plan ahead), with bartenders who’ve seen everything, and regulars who will absolutely talk to you about the secondary. The cheesesteak is a legitimate order. Open 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., every day of the week, all season long. No website, no reservations, no notes.
Good Good Things | 📍11 S. 21st St
Good Good Things has been quietly doing its thing near 21st and Market and has built a real following as a cheap-beer, chill-vibes neighborhood bar. Drafts start around $6, which in 2026 feels like a clerical error (but in our favor!) The kitchen turns out tots, buffalo chicken dip, and late-night food, they pickle their own jalapeños, and there’s a daily “shot o’clock” at 2 p.m. that sounds pretty neat!
Two genuinely useful things. One: they carry a real non-alcoholic lineup — Athletic, Go Brewing — which makes this a rare spot where the friend who isn’t drinking gets an actual menu instead of a sad club soda. Two: it’s small, mostly bar seating and wall seating, so it’s lovely for two people and tricky for eight.
Drinker’s Pub | 📍1903 Chestnut St
Drinker’s is bigger inside than the storefront suggests and keeps prices refreshingly un-2026. They’re known for cheap, cheap tacos and a staff that actually switches the audio back to the game, which sounds like a low bar until you’ve spent a quarter watching a muted broadcast somewhere else. Specials post to their Instagram, so be sure to check it out before you head over.
1518 Bar & Grill | 📍1518 Sansom St
1518 is open 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. every day of the week, which makes it the reliable answer to “everywhere else is closed or packed.” It has the classic pub interior and a small number of strategically placed TVs, meaning they’re all showing one thing, and on Sunday that thing is the Birds!
And If You’re Staying In…
There is ZERO shame in staying in. The couch has better bathroom access and let’s be honest, nobody’s spilling a Bud Light on your shoes.
BOTLD at 📍119 S. 18th St is carrying Bird Can, the new ready-to-drink cocktail line from Bird Gang Spirits, with proceeds going to the Eagles Autism Foundation. They’re closed Mondays, so stock up Sunday for the Monday nighters.
And if you need to fix a gear situation before Sunday, Mad Cat Brewtique at 📍2036 Sansom has a Philly sports section alongside the coffee — a small, very Rittenhouse solution to a very Philadelphia problem.
We’ve gone from 18 spots to 25, which says something lovely about the neighborhood and also means we’ve almost certainly missed someone. If your regular isn’t here, or if a spot’s running specials we didn’t catch, drop us a line at rittenhouseramblings@gmail.com or find us in the comments.
Now go pick your perch and Go Birds!
