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<p>But I don’t think the OP wants to get on the Turnpike. My understanding is they’re heading north on 476 toward upstate NY. Given that route, it’s King of Prussia that’s out of the way, not Bryn Mawr. 476 does become the PA Turnpike Northeast Extension, but that’s easier to find by just staying on 476, which is very easy to do out of Bryn Mawr.</p>
<p>I am thinking of what is easiest for an “out of towner” who really doesn’t know the area well and is looking for the easiest and most expeditious way to serve the multiple priorities of grabbing a good meal on the way back to upstate NY (Syracuse?) and meeting up with d2 who will be in Lancaster. Getting to the King of Prussia Mall from the intersection of 476 and the west bound turnpike takes 5 - 10 minutes depending on traffic, which is less time than it would take to get off of 476 at Route 30 and drive into Bryn Mawr, get to a restaurant and find parking. And Bryn Mawr would add another 20 - 25 minutes driving time each way for d2.</p>
<p>Isn’t there a hotel at the airport, Marriott? If you don’t mind eating at the hotel restaurant, that may be a possibility. If you are going to KOP, I would get off at 76 west instead of going all the way to the turnpike. Take the second exit to the mall. It’s clearly marked. That’s the only thing clearly marked around here. Road signs in Main Line are charming. If you have a good GPS, it may not matter. If you plan to rely on road signs, they are tiny, letters in yellow on green background. It’s not so bad except green moss grows on them obscuring the yellows. Trying to read road names on them is a bit like taking an Ishihara test. Have fun.</p>
<p>I agree, KOP is much easier to get to for a non Philly person then a restaurant in Bryn Mawr or surrounding Mainline area,and having a family member coming from Lancaster area,even more so</p>
<p>I would avoid anything near the Phila airport, including the Marriott restaurants. Doesn’t make sense.</p>
<p>I’ve never been there, but my wife really likes Iron Hill Brewery, a regional mini-chain (7 or 8 restaurants). There is one in Media, less than a mile from Exit 3 on the Blue Route (I-476), and maybe 15 minutes from the airport. According to my wife, it’s pretty high quality food, not that expensive, and the changing house-brewed beers are fun and good. I don’t know whether they take reservations or not, but it’s certainly not the sort of place you have to reserve weeks ahead of time.</p>
<p>If you go up into the Main Line area (Route 30, exit 13 off the Blue Route, i.e., another 10 minutes farther from the airport), there is a plethora of top-line, non-mall restaurants. For example, Yangming in Bryn Mawr, probably the best Chinese restaurant I have ever eaten at, or Georges’ in Wayne, the latest offering from Georges Perrier, the Ur-chef of Philadelphia-area French cuisine.</p>
<p>Bookmarking this thread for reference next time we’re at Villanova visiting S2. Thanks!</p>
<p>Nova ,woohoo…D1 is entering soph year…
Iron hill is good, but no better then anything at KOP,and KOP has many more choices</p>
<p>KOP certainly has lots of choices, but State Street in Media (where Iron Hill is located) has dozens of restaurants also. In addition to Iron Hill, there’s Margaret Kuo’s (sushi/Japanese), Sher-e Punjab (Indian), LaNa (French/Thai), Fellini Cafe (Italian)…and those are just the ones I can name off the top of my head. </p>
<p>Ultimately I think either Media or KOP are great choices, and it comes down to atmosphere: KOP is a (very nice) mall, while Media has a Main Street ambiance.</p>
<p>As someone who doesn’t live in the Philadelphia area, but has traveled to Bryn Mawr for the last four years to drop-off/pick-up D2 and also gone to visit said child during the school year–I’d say that if time is an issue, stay closer to 476. While is isn’t very far once you get off 476 to get to Bryn Mawr–the traffic can make that trip longer than one might like, especially because it’s stop-and-go traffic. Yangming is excellent and I’d second that recommendation if you have time. </p>
<p>Blackfish (which we went to one night over graduation weekend this May) is very good as well and it’s right off 476. Another suggestion is Savonna–which is very close to the Conshohocken exit on 476. It’s upscale Italian and has a very nice atmosphere. My older D and son-in-law drove up from DC to Philly to see D2 in a play in April–we met at Savonna before the performance. They found it easily once they got off 476. Wayne is closer to the 476 exit than Bryn Mawr and there are lots of good restaurants there.</p>
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<p>Not to quibble here, but . . . according to Google Maps, it’s 29 minutes from the Philadelphia Airport to Bryn Mawr, and 31 minutes from the airport to King of Prussia. And it’s exactly 4 hours from either Bryn Mawr or King of Prussia to Syracuse. So basically a wash. And the restaurant I suggested in Bryn Mawr has its own parking lot, so finding parking is not an issue.</p>
<p>As for the daughter coming from Lancaster, Google Maps says it’s 1 hr 12 minutes to King of Prussia, and 1 hr 21 minutes to Bryn Mawr—a whopping 9 minute advantage for KoP.</p>
<p>But truly, I don’t have much invested in this. I don’t care whether the OP chooses the restaurant I recommended or opts for the Mall. I know which I’d choose, but different people have different tastes.</p>
<p>Local driving along the Mainline and Bryn Mawr can be a crawl…traffic can be unbearable at times,…stick to KOP</p>
<p>"Not to quibble here, but . . . according to Google Maps, it’s 29 minutes from the Philadelphia Airport to Bryn Mawr, and 31 minutes from the airport to King of Prussia. And it’s exactly 4 hours from either Bryn Mawr or King of Prussia to Syracuse. So basically a wash. And the restaurant I suggested in Bryn Mawr has its own parking lot, so finding parking is not an issue.</p>
<p>As for the daughter coming from Lancaster, Google Maps says it’s 1 hr 12 minutes to King of Prussia, and 1 hr 21 minutes to Bryn Mawr—a whopping 9 minute advantage for KoP."</p>
<p>Yeah, Google Maps is so much more informed than local residents who make the drives to and from all of the places in question on a regular and frequent basis, particularly given the time frames the OP will be dealing with and the likelihood of encountering rush hour traffic. Yeesh, for someone who’s not “invested”, doing a Google Map search to “rebut” a post on where to have dinner? By now the OP has probably finished dinner and is back on the road to the Syracuse area (I think it was today). Whatever choice the OP made, hope the dinner with both d’s was enjoyable and they have a safe trip back.</p>
<p>Dinner was indeed enjoyable, the trip much less so (though I will award points for the fact that we actually all made it back in one piece). We wound up going to the Plymouth Meeting Mall, where we had dinner at Bertucci’s. Thanks to goru in post 15 for suggesting the location! </p>
<p>They very nicely seated d2 and her bf about half an hour before we managed to arrive. Lots of chains won’t seat you until the whole party is present. The food was nothing special, but fine for what we were looking for. D3 said what she most wanted was a salad, after having avoided them in Europe because of the recent e coli scare and what she says is the bad quality of produce in Prague. She also wanted free refills because apparently that’s just an American thing.</p>
<p>D2 and I were set for KOP until d2’s boyfriend, who is from Lancaster and knows the area a little bit - and also knows dh a little bit - suggested that going from 476N to 76 to something else might just be one step too many for him. It’s true that dh has limited patience while he’s driving. Not that he’s an aggressive driver himself, but he thinks that traffic jams, people doing less than 6 miles over the speed limit, construction delays, etc., are deliberate attempts to keep him from his destination. :rolleyes: </p>
<p>So KOP will have to wait, perhaps until we can do a mom-and-daughters-only shopping trip. I would also like to explore the Main Line area some day, certainly for the restaurants you’ve all mentioned, but that will be when someone else is doing the driving.</p>
<p>Just want to add a major hat-tip to you folks who drive down there all the time. The congestion on 476S approaching 95 was nuts - it took us about 45 minutes to do the last 10 miles. Is it always that slow during rush hour?</p>
<p>Your advice was great and I so appreciate it! This is why I love the CC Parents Cafe. 
I would love to see a recommended restaurants forum as an offshoot someday.</p>
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<p>Unfortunately that is not unusual for a Friday rush hour in the summer.</p>
<p>I go to PHL very often. My husband tries to get out of going as often as he can. He says driving around there makes him want to stick knives in his eyes- and that is in the SUBURBS! I grew up in the PHL area, but on more than one occasion I have returned to the Nashville airport and kissed the ground.</p>
<p>If you are going toward Wayne, Suzanna Foo is on Rt. 30. Upscale Eclectic Asian , entrees $20-$25</p>
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<p>The 20-mile extension of I-476 from Plymouth Meeting to I-95, generally known around here as the “Blue Route” for reasons lost in the mists of time, took over 40 years to plan and to construct, and for all I know the accompanying litigation is still going on. One of the many issues litigated for years was just how much property the state could condemn to build it, and a settlement provided that the highway would only have two lanes in each direction between West Chester Pike and I-95. Which means . . . there is always a risk of a horrible traffic jam going south there, unless you approach it at some time when no one else is going to be driving.</p>
<p>My frequent business in Philly is typically in the area near Plymouth Meeting, and there’s just no good way of getting back to the airport. I can use the Blue Route to I-95 and then come a bit north to the airport and sit in traffic all the way down the Blue Route, or I can hop on the Schuykill cross-town and sit in traffic, or I can use side streets and get through the city but go through some less than savory neighborhoods. Not fun.</p>
<p>When I was growing up (not far from West Chester Pike and Blue Route), Blue Route was a big concrete slab that just sat for years. We never thought it would get finished. It has really been life-changing for people out in the KOP area as far as getting to the airport, even though it is still awful. I still call it Blue Route and I get a little confused when people talk about 476.</p>