Note that Collingswood is a dry town, but most restaurants are BYOB and there are liquor stores in nearby Westmont and Haddon Twp. And Camden, too!
Aldi ****
This might actually be in Camden, but it's right next door to the Collingswood Veterinary Hospital, so a case can be made. Plus, it's the closest thing to a proper supermarket in the area, and therefore the place to go to stock up on staples with minimal hassles. Each item in the store is from a generic brand with packaging made to look like that of the most famous name brand associated with the item. Not surprisingly, that keeps costs down, but VERY surprisingly everything I've had is pretty good. Here you'll find much of your expected supermarket stuff like fresh produce, meats, dairy, eggs, milk, baking supplies, prepared baked goods, candy, toiletries, canned staples and convenience foods (mock Spaghettios and Rice-A-Roni, to name a couple). They accept cash, debit cards and EBT, but no credit cards. Plastic bags cost 10 cents extra, so bring your own for extra savings.Benny's Burger Joint *
CLOSED.
This guy's restaurants all have an aura of darkness to them, as though the owner has all his customers on CCTV and watches them in his private office, seated in an antlered velvet wing chair, half-grinning evilly with a faraway look in his eyes and his lover on a leash at his feet. I've never seen him, but that's what I imagine in my mind. This BYOB burger place is one of the two restaurants in town that caters to kids, so it's a shame that it's no good. Their house-made veggie burgers taste and have the consistency of cool mud pies with garnishes in a garbage-juice marinade. Their fried sides are greasy and have a dirty look to them, as though dropped in a low-temperature, uncleaned fryer. The hash browns, fries, and 'spicy' pickles were all bland and unseasoned, or seemed that way. I had the Kool-Ade to drink. It indeed tasted like Kool-Ade, but the waitress didn't refill my glass. I was dining with a kid, and she didn't want to touch her macaroni and cheese, presumably sensing the evilness inside, and that a demon would crawl inside her soul at first bite. Kids have a sixth sense about these things. I ate the doggie-bagged mac & cheese the next day and it was flavorless; powdered and boxed Kraft is magnitudes better. I played the air hockey they have there and had to bang on the side of the table to get the puck to return. BEWARE.Official Site
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Casona *****
CLOSED. This lovely restaurant closed its doors in October 2013. I'm glad I had the chance to eat a delicious meal there, and it will be greatly missed.
You can believe the hype about this Cuban restaurant, located in a converted house on Haddon Ave., a bit west of the main action. I thoroughly enjoyed everything about my dining experience here, from the outside front porch seating to the music and attentive yet cool and pleasant waitstaff. Did I mention the food? I ordered the pistachio guacamole, Cuban salad and veggie tacos. Guacamole was rich and garlicky as it should be. Salad was fresh and included mango slices. As for the veggie tacos, you might expect the sort of tossed-together mishmash of peppers and onions that other places slap on their menu to throw a bone to the vegetarians. These were delicious, and I think my carnivore companion liked them even better than I did. Mushrooms subbed in for meat, and they were extremely tasty, well-textured and filling. My dining companion ordered the scallops and crab empanadas. I expected that both seafood types would be chopped up together in a few empanadas, but this plate contained seared scallops in an every-other pattern with separate empanadas containing just crab. The sear on the scallops was perfect. Usually scallops are pretty bland, but not here. We finished off with dessert, which I usually don't order unless incredibly impressed with everything else. Cafe con leche Cubano and Tres leches. Delicious as expected. Probably the best restaurant in Collingswood.Official Site
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Clay Oven Palace ****
Collingswood has three Indian restaurants, and this one is the newest and best value. I've been there once, and the Indian woman who served us was incredibly friendly and offered free rice pudding after the meal. I'm not sure if this is a regular service or a grand opening special, but she seemed genuinely kind. Located on Haddon Avenue, but away from the main action. Lunch buffet is a mere $7.99, and the dinner menu offers what you'd expect from a decent Indian restaurant. Vegetarian and vegan friendly.Official Site
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Dunkin' Donuts **
Close to what you'd expect from a Dunkin' Donuts in the 80s or 90s. Located on Route 130, this Dunkin Donuts is more commodious than most. The one time I went, I was served by a sullen American teenager. Efficient.Yelp!
Farmers' Market *****
Definitely visit the Collingswood Farmers' Market if you're in town between the spring equinox and Thanksgiving. Something official labeled it the best in the country. New Jersey is most known for its smog and highways, but its produce is the finest I've ever tasted. Corn, tomatoes, peaches and blueberries shine in the summer season, but all different types of fruits, vegetables and herbs are sold throughout the year (including imports from out of state). Organic food is available but not the norm. Some of my favorites are Hillacres Pride (grass-fed, free-range cheese, eggs and dairy products, also meats), Clam Daddy's (what you'd expect) and that one stand that sells only mushrooms.Dogs are welcome, and if you love dogs it's a great place to watch them or even adopt one. One vendor regularly sells dog and cat treats and toys.
Local businesses sell prepared breakfasts and beverages, and despite my negative review of the Tortilla Press below their farmers' market stand is the best for prepared food. I love their lemonade especially, which is full of tart lemony flavor, not watered down like that other place. There is lots of seating and live music for entertainment.
Later in the fall, vendors phase out food as it goes out of season and focus more on crafts.
While you're at the farmers' market, walk a little further west down the speedline and visit the Collingswood Bike Share.
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Frusen Berri **
Take this review with a grain of salt because I went there on opening day and they didn't have their coffee machine working (I hear the coffee is very good there). All I wanted was a vanilla frozen yogurt cone, but I stepped into a terrifying carnival ride of too many flavor options and too few size options. This place has no cones or small cups, just these big pint containers that you can fill with as much dessert as you want (it's self-serve). I find that unweildy, plus it's hard to gauge what a small ice cream portion is when you're pouring it into a king-sized cask, so if you have a small appetite like me, you end up over spending and wasting food. I couldn't find vanilla or any classic flavors, though they have about 20 weird novelty flavors like "classic tart" and a bunch of gross dyed stuff that kids like because it turns their mouths green. I ended up getting "classic tart" mixed with "red velvet cupcake." I thought the tart referred to the baked good, but instead it was a sour taste like a white Smartie candy. Too gimmicky for me, and overpriced. The frozen yogurt tasted a little weak, like ice milk rather than a custard. The flavor was okay, but the whole thing was just too... modern.Official Facebook
Fusion Bay **
I'm afraid I won't be going here again. This Asian fusion restaurant has the ambiance of an upscale restaurant, but the food is what I'd expect from a generic, blah take-out place. You know. I went there once and got the vegetable lo mein if I remember correctly. Coarsely chopped, unwieldy triangles of pepper and onion, bland sauce, oniony odor. Those La Choy-type mushrooms. Green tea out of a stale bag. I don't even remember much about it, so the ingredient details might be off; I just remember that it tasted exactly like every generic takeout place I crossed off my list. Service and ambiance were good, but the food did not match up. Sadly this replaced a really unique vegetarian Chinese restaurant called The Green House, which had pretty lackadaisical service but some tasty items like sesame seitan which are hard to find elsewhere.Official Site
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Grooveground ****
Grooveground coffee shop is legendary in Collingswood, and a great place to people-watch. I hang here several times a week. Clientele is mostly older (50 +) with a few twenty and thirty-something old souls (referring to people who actually sit in the cafe for a while, not the many, many others who order a coffee and take off). Conversation is engaging and genuine, not the pseudo-intellectual posturing you find in other cafes (though there are exceptions). The Yelp! page says "hipster infestation," but that hasn't been my experience. Then again, I usually go in the morning, so maybe the crowd is different later on, or perhaps the reviewer is using a classic, less pejorative meaning of "hipster" that refers to true eccentrics rather than the poseurs lately associated with the term. Published artists, poets and novelists hang out there for hours and hours on the regular, along with blue-collar workers, professional actors, musicians and professors. All get along (for the most part). If you've been looking for a "Cheers" type place where everybody knows your name, this is it. They have an outside seating area and regularly host musical and art events.As for the food and coffee, it's okay. I prefer the tea and fancy coffee drinks to the plain coffee, which is often bitter. Any drink can be made vegan with soy milk. Breakfast is served all day and perfectly decent, though quality varies depending on who is preparing it, and it takes longer for the staff to make, for example, an egg sandwich than you might expect. I rarely purchase their salads, hummus plates, wraps, etc. due to high cost, but all of them are pretty tasty in my experience. I recommend sharing with a friend because the plates are pretty big!
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IndeBlue ****
The fanciest Indian restaurant in Collingswood. I've been there several times and always have the same waiter (an American), who is very professional and knows his stuff. They offer some strangely decadent items I wouldn't expect at an Indian restaurant, such as shark fin soup and meatballs stuffed with foie gras, but they also have a variety of vegetarian and vegan items in each course. You can adjust the spice level to your tastes. Presentation is very nice, as is the colorful decor. Full porch for outdoor seating.Official Site
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Indya ****
Right in the center of action on Haddon Ave., the fairly new Indya caught on fast. Their lunch buffet is an affordable $10 and comes with free naan, which is apparently made to order and couldn't be fresher. The downside of that is you might not get your bread until you're halfway through your meal. The buffet always has vegan and gluten-free options, though tastiness of the offerings vary from day to day. One day you might get this delicious cabbage/coconut milk dish, the next you might get a half-hearted goulash of coarsely chopped peppers and tomatoes. They always have this tasty, spicy vegetable soup and a delicious rice pudding with saffron and pistachios on top. Buffet is not available for dinner, but they have your typical high-quality Indian menu options with plenty of veggie stuff and shareable small plates. I've eaten here many times and have had American and Indian servers.Official Site
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Krispy Kreme ***
Your standard Krispy Kreme. This one is pretty big. I went there once for Free Doughnut Day and wasn't sure about the ordering process, but I eventually figured it out. The hot, glazed doughnut lived up to the hype. This was the first and last time I've ever been to Krispy Kreme, but from what I've seen it tops Dunkin Donuts any day, in both donuts and service.Official Facebook Page (for Collingswood)
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My Little Kupcake ***
I ate here once and probably won't again, but they clearly put effort into the operation and have a nice furniture setup. "My Little Kupcake" offers a wide selection of you-know-whats in both mini and obscene sizes. I forget which flavor I tried... maybe carrot cake or spiced pumpkin or something in that flavor profile. My cupcake was dense, and the liberally applied swirl of frosting exploded in my mouth as a cloying bomb of one-note sugary sweetness. It's just that kind of cupcake, and exactly what I expected. It's safe, lots of people like that formula, but it's not my taste. I don't like my baked goods too sweet, and I prefer a lighter and more nuanced frosting with a creme cheese or heavy cream base. This is why I tend to make my own baked goods the old fashioned way with now-unsafe combinations like apples and cheese or salt and anise seed, because if you go into a place like this, 99% of the time you'll get something that doesn't really taste homemade and seems engineered to please, if not wow, all palates and offend none. You can get your little K-cups of coffee and tea to go with your little (actually rather huge) cupcakes and take out or sit in their quaint little wing chairs. As a wing chair fan, this is a plus.Official Site
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The Pop Shop ***
If you've heard nothing else about Collingswood, you've probably heard of The Pop Shop, a supposedly '50s-style restaurant featured on the Food Network's "Throwdown With Bobby Flay." The Pop Shop lost the grilled cheese making contest against Flay, and to be honest I wasn't impressed with this menu item. Like most of their items, they put on a good show with large portion sizes, but the flavor isn't there. Also, they use PAM or a similar cooking spray instead of butter or oil, and I can taste the difference. They won a Best of South Jersey award for their pancakes, but once again, I wasn't impressed, and for the same reasons. Obscenely large, fluffy portions with no flavor and PAM instead of butter, so you miss the slight crispness that the outer skin of a pancake should have. It seems a lot of food goes to waste because most kids (their main audience) can not finish such giant items, and heck, neither can an adult of healthy weight. Same goes for their ice cream sundaes, which melt into a vat of sweet soup almost immediately after being set before you. I requested a small, one-scoop sundae and it just didn't compute.The '50s theme isn't so genuine, either. They play oldies, but not '50s music, and the jukebox in the corner is sadly just for show. They even put sports and modern kids' shows up on a flat-screen TV sometimes; I mean, give me a break with that. Menu items are too trendy and showy to incite nostalgia. There are plenty of "fake meat" options, though, such as vegan cheesesteaks, veggie burgers, soy ice cream, etc.
On a positive note, I really like this place for its drinks and fries, which are indeed reminiscent of the '50s. Their milkshakes, special sodas with flavor syrups and egg creams are all great, and I love to share an order of Louisiana fries with ketchup mixed in with the white sauce with a friend. If you go on a weekday afternoon or morning and sit at the counter before the noisy little Madisons and Mikalahs show up, you can have the '50s Archie Comics Pop Tate's Choklit Shoppe experience. I go here a lot for that reason.
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Stella Pizza ***
Decent pizza dive. I've only been here once, as it's on Haddon Ave., but away from the major action. I ordered the Margarita Pizza and Cesar salad. The salad was average, with the vinegarette-type of Cesar dressing rather than the superior creamy kind. The pizza was very tasty and had a nice texture at first bite, but declined in quality as it cooled down, particularly the crisp crust and slightly sweet sauce. My dining partner was not impressed, but I would go there again for a cheap slice. It had your standard dive atmosphere with those red booths, etc.Official Site (beware of music)
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Thai Basil ****
When they're on their game, this is my favorite Asian place in town. It depends what server you get. The staff is all native Thai from what I can tell, and one of the female waitresses in particular has a very sweet disposition and offers impeccable service. I've tried most of the veggie options here, including some that I thought were vegetarian but turned out not to be (the drunken noodles). Make sure to ask about things like that, because there is fish sauce, oyster stock, etc. in many things. This is the place for you if you prefer strong, spicy flavors. Pho, curries and noodle dishes are all top notch. I'm not a big desert person, but a dining friend ordered a green tea ice cream to share and I was rather impressed with the presentation, which involved fresh berries. The Thai iced tea is strong and hits the spot. You should be able to substitute tofu, mock duck or mock chicken for meat in any dish, but it depends on your server. One told me "no," but I usually get a "yes."They have an inexpensive, limited lunch special menu, but I was not impressed with the veggie options there. I'm not a fan of bugspray-like lemongrass or large slices of onion, and those are the main components in their veggie lunch special soup. I do recommend this place strongly for dinner, though.
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That's Amore ****
This is my favorite Italian joint in Collingswood, but like Thai Basil above, this place gets docked a star for inconsistency. Some of my meals there were among the best dining-out experiences I've had. Impeccable, personable service and delicious food. Sometimes the simplest food is the best, and I've enjoyed my meals there from first to last course -- fresh bread, tomato caprese salad, spaghetti classica with just a basic tomato sauce, perfectly sweetened chocolate mousse or a burgundy pear for dessert... I have a small appetite in general, but when food is that good you just want to keep eating. If you're lucky, the server may offer a complementary glass of wine! Unfortunately, I've been there some times when their staff and cook were just off; we're talking crunchy spaghetti here, and entrees brought out at different times so my dining partner had to sit there and let his food get cold or rudely eat before me. I've had obscenely expensive mac and cheese there that tasted just like it came out of a Velveeta box, too. You're taking a gamble with this place, but when it's good it's really top notch. Stay safe and stick with classic dishes and less-busy times so the staff isn't rushing around.Official Site
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Tortilla Press **
This is really a matter of taste. I don't like the Tortilla Press at all, but understand why it is popular. It sort of has a TGIFridays feel to it with really perky waiters and waitresses and "safe" food, and I'm sure they're supposed to be that way and people like it. But not me. I don't like going out for a meal with a friend I haven't seen in a year and having a perky waiter in our faces the whole time. The food is bland and obscenely large. It's like a Mexican Pop Shop in that way, with burritos as big as a newborn babe, but with no flavor (I enjoy my newborn babes with a little garlic aoli and pico). My dining partner said her burrito was bland and rather than bring out some extra peppers or hot sauce, the waitress was about to take it back and throw it out and make a whole different burrito, which would be the same burrito with just peppers or something added on. I protested, and the waitress started to argue with me in a perky, yet hostile manner. I guess I just have a personality clash with this place. For a more authentic experience, I recommend La Guadelupana, which is further down Haddon Avenue but in Westmont, not Collingswood.Official Site
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Villa Barrone **
Once was enough for me. I got a simple gnocchi with tomato sauce. Dense gnocchi with what tasted like unseasoned, unadulterated crushed tomatoes on top. My dining partner got the seasonal pumpkin ravioli with cream sauce. It tasted like a sweet desert, much like a melted seasonal pumpkin ice cream sundae from the Pop Shop. Cloying. Good service and ambiance, but the food was not there.Official Site
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Wawa *****
It's the regional chain convenience store that all NJ and PA citizens miss when out of town. Extensive coffee bar, made-to-order hoagies/breakfast-bowls/sandwiches/wraps, slushies, soda fountain, all those neat store-brand varieties of iced tea, soft pretzels, mozzarella sticks, Tastykakes, grocery items and the super-efficient, space-age computer ordering system. Why can't every convenience store be like this? How could I ever slander the glourious Wawa? Our Wawa is even better than most. That's because our soda fountain has buttons you can press to add chocolate, vanilla, cherry and/or raspberry syrup to your soda.Yelp!
Woksabi *****
This is the most consistent upscale restaurant in Collingswood. It's not my favorite, but it's up there and I've never had anything close to a negative experience with food or service. The native Japanese servers are very professional and efficient. Dishes and tea are presented beautifully. The restaurant is clean and attractive, with lots of space for each dining group. I usually get sushi and seaweed or avocado salad, and all are very fresh and flavorful. Vegetarians beware that even vegetable dishes may be garnished with roe or shrimp or some kind of seafood, or may contain fish stock. Ask first if that's a problem for you.Official Site
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(Last updated 08/09/13)
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