Buddakan

Sooooo most pleasant experience ever!! I came here without knowing too much about the restaurant and I had one of the best meals ever in Philly. We went for an anniversary and the food, the service, the vibes….everything was impeccable. We ordered so much food, the dumpling sampler, fried rice, noodles, sautéed Bok choy. It was delicious and they even gave us a little dessert for our anniversary! I would love to come back again! I can’t wait! This place is one of my favorites!

Buddakan in Philadelphia is a notable modern Asian restaurant, and during Restaurant Week it offered a good opportunity to experience this well-known Philly dining destination. While the chicken and ginger dumplings were somewhat dry and less memorable, the miso black cod stood out as a highlight—rich, flavorful, and expertly prepared. The dessert, dipping donuts, were especially enjoyable and evoked the taste and texture of New Orleans–style beignets. The atmosphere was lively and stylish, contributing to the overall appeal of the experience, though the noise level was on the higher side, making it feel energetic rather than intimate. Nevertheless, an enjoyable venue to celebrate a birthday or special occasion!

Visited Buddakan for my birthday had a great experience. Food was delicious. Only thing that wasn’t amazing was the Tuna Pizza. Crispy calamari salad, crab fried rice and the dim sum sampler were great!! I had the Rising Sun Mocktail which was delicious as well! Overall a great experience! Valet parking is available

Very nice setup and welcoming decor. Staff was very friendly and accommodating even though no reservations. Scenery was very authentic and menu was solid. Drinks where tasty and the food was outstanding. Came out fairly quick and was well done. Will be going back again.

My family and I just an exceptional dinner and I would easily come back the next time I’m in Philly. There were 6 of us, so we were able to get plenty of food to share and got to try a ton of different dishes. Some favorites included the shrimp bao buns and pork belly bao buns, the calamari salad, and the ribs, which fell right off the bone. Another one of my favorite bites were the edamame dumplings, which contained truffle! Next time, I would probably skip the caesar salad and the crab fried rice since the salad was a bit overdressed and the flavors in the crab fried rice were subtle and I thought it could have used more acid. For dessert, we got the winding road, which was this delectable chocolate dessert with banana and peanut components. It made for an excellent finish to the meal!

We had a nice dining experience here and would recommend it. I would like to return to try more things on the menu. Everything we ordered was really good. We got the Peking Duck, chargrilled aged beef, and dim sum sampler (added a third of each one for our party of 3). My only complaint was the Chinese mustard sauce drizzled all over the Szechuan fries with the steak. It didn’t taste good and it made the fries soggy. If the menu had mentioned it, I would have asked for the mustard to be on the side. The Peking Duck was really good! They deboned the entire duck which is unusual. The dim sum sampler was tasty. The edamame dumpling was a pleasant surprise. The shrimp dumpling was ok (the filling was too chunky and it fell apart after one bite). The pork wonton and chicken Ginger dumplings were very good. We got the strawberry dessert and the chocolate cake with banana buttercream and caramel peanuts. The strawberry one was described to us as a "deconstructed strawberry shortcake" but there wasn’t really any cake. The presentation was nice but we didn’t care for it. The chocolate/banana/peanut butter one was better. Our service was friendly and knowledgeable about the menu.

This was my husband’s and my second time at Buddakan, our first time trying the full menu. Our first time was for restaurant week. We came out tonight for our Christmas meal. We couldn’t wait to come back and tonight’s visit definitely lived up to our expectations. Larry was an outstanding server assisted by Drew. We had the yellowtail sashimi, pork belly bao buns, chicken and ginger dumplings, black pepper beef, miso cod, doughnuts and another dessert I’m blanking on the name of. We also had sampled some of the sake, cocktails, beer and wine. We were so satisfied by the portions, the service and the atmosphere. We will be eager to come back soon!