Richmond suburbs and Philly suburbs
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Anonymous
The OP is asking about suburbs, so you need to look at the area, not only the city. You were a visitor, so you don't know the area at all. There are lots to do in the city in the evening. There are great fancy restaurants opened until almost midnight, like L'Opossum. The Jaster, which was voted one of the best bars in the South by Southern Living, is open and serves food until 2 AM. Grandstaff & Stein Booksellers is open daily until midnight and also offers burlesque shows with brunch, if you are into that thing. If expensive and fancy are not your thing, head over to Wonderland - open until 2 AM and has live metal & punk bands. I personally love the HofGarden - it's a rooftop restaurant that has DJs playing trop house and electronic music; it's open until 2 AM and the food is great. It's kind of community seating, so a great place to mingle. The art community is huge in Richmond because of VCU Arts and I know they do a lot of parties and events in the evening for those who are not extremely mainstream. |
Anonymous
Literally nothing was open in a three block radius of my hotel, and I was near the theaters. I’m not surprised there are a few bars open late, but it’s far from bustling. Whether you look at city or overall metro area, Philadelphia is four times as big, I thought that was clear from my last post. It’s a pretty distinct choice — major metro area or slower paced secondary city. Nothing wrong with preferring the latter, but silly to say Richmond, at 99th largest city in the country, can compete with Philadelphia in terms of what the city offers. |
Anonymous
Have you ever tried to get a coffee in center city after 5 pm? Downtown philadelphia shuts down as soon as the sun goes down. bars close at 11, and good luck finding a restaurant that isn't BYOB thanks to PA's draconian liquor laws. |
Anonymous
What?! You can't drink after 11? Then what's the fun in going out to a bar? |
Anonymous
But size is nothing. I adore Santa Fe - it has gorgeous nature, beautiful architecture, incredible art, lots of culture, and amazing food. It's also small. Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson area is one of the bigger ones in the US and you go there for spiritual death. There's nothing more boring on this earth than Indianapolis. |
Anonymous
Say what? I used to live there, and go back fairly often. I am not a Philly booster by any means, but the idea that you cannot find an open bar after 11? That is crazy. And so many good restaurants that are open so late. Richmond, which is a fine city, is not even close. Philly is a better eating and drinking town than DC, by a mile. Richmond isn't even better than Charlottesville, let alone Philly. |
Anonymous
Speaking as someone who lived in Philly for many years, none of this is accurate (except perhaps the coffee shop comment … but Wawa is open 24 hours). |
Anonymous
Agreed with all of this. Most bars in Philly close at 2 AM on weekends, not 11 PM. While there are some coffee shops in Center City open later than 5 PM, it isn't unusual for coffee shops to close by 5 PM anywhere (including in NYC). Also BYOBs are great - dinner out is so much cheaper when you can bring your own wine instead of ordering a bottle at the restaurant. And there are plenty of restaurants that aren't BYOB. The BYOBs tend to be the smaller neighborhood places, while most of the higher-profile restaurants have liquor licenses. Philly is - and feels like - a big Northeastern city. If OP wants to live in the Northeast, she should choose the Philly burbs. If she prefers the South, she should choose Richmond. They are very different places. |