I love hole in the wall spots. They’re my weakness. If you can only fit 15 guests in your restaurant, you probably already got me. So, fun fact about this impromptu trip, we only paid $36 from Charlotte to Philly roundtrip so we decided to pop in for just the day. It being my second time in Philly, I felt okay just visiting for the day. I did my due diligence and asked the folk from Philly who I follow on Instagram for their recommendations. Fiorella, although new, was a recommendation from a Philly local and someone who grew up in the city. I didn’t have a craving for anything specific, so I thought why not??

I will say, this was my second time in the day that I ended up in South Philly (the first was visiting South Philly Barbacoa). This neighborhood clearly has some good eats. From reading on the internet about Fiorella, I quickly learned that they don’t take reservations and that they can only fit around 15-20 people seated. We got there at around 7pm on a Saturday night and were told that it wouldn’t be until 9pm to get sat. We didn’t have anything else to do so we waited. It wasn’t a true 2 hour wait because I think we ended up getting sat around 8:30pm.

The host was very hospitable during our wait regardless of how hectic his night seemed to be going. He bought us the drink menu outside and let us order drinks while we waited.

Once we were in, I pretty much fell in love with the atmosphere. It’s a quaint spot where the chefs cook right next to the bar, so if you’re lucky to sit at the bar (we didn’t) you can see the chefs cooking and plating right in front of you.

Fiorella’s cacio e pepe dish is pretty popular so I knew I wanted that for sure. We ended up ordering the calamari as an appetizer, the Cacio e Pepe, and then the Casoncelli alla Bergamsc. The dishes were delicious. In my opinion, the calamari was a little too lemon-y but it was cooked perfectly. The casoncelli alla bergasmc with its pancetta pieces was amazing, think of an Italian dumpling filled with lamb meat and drizzled with sauce *chefs kiss*.

The real star of the show was the Cacio e Pepe. It was truly a work of art. For a dish so simple, the cacio e pepe shines all by itself. The creaminess, the freshness of the pasta, and the cheesiness make you go in for another bite, again and again. If there’s anything I recommend you HAVE to get… it’s this dish right here.

Hopefully in the future, when this quarantine is over and we’re back to being a safe and healthy world, you will visit Philly and you’ll go have dinner at Fiorella. Eat with the locals, mingle with the bartenders/servers, make conversation with, ask them questions about the menu. If it’s one thing I miss the most about us not being quarantined is just being able to dine out. It’s a privilege we all take for granted. Date nights, girl nights, pre-game dinners, dinners just because, week day dinners, etc. See y’all next time and stay safe!

Xoxo,

Wynee

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