Contrary to what some people believe, the Berkshire Mall is still going strong. And while the food court may not be as full as it used to be, there are still three dining options upstairs, including the new Cheesesteaks & Water Ice stand that opened in March 2026.
Cheesesteaks & Water Ice is a partnership between Wit or Witout Cheesesteaks and Nick’s Water Ice. The former started by serving cheesesteaks at the Italian American Club of West Reading while the latter operated a weekends-only stand at the mall’s Center Court.
Now, you can get the best of both in the second-floor food court.
I arrived right at 12 noon on a Friday. While the mall opens at 11, the stand was just turning their lights on to begin their day.
The order counter is adorned with images of Philadelphia sports legends like Mike Schmidt, Saquon Barkley and Joe Frazier. There were three people working behind the counter. A young woman took my order while the others manned the grill and the fryer.
The menu is simple: cheesesteaks, chicken cheesesteaks and fries. There are no “named” sandwiches with creative toppings, everything is customized with or without onions (or, more accurately, wit or witout) and with your choice of cheese, roll and toppings.
There is no list of toppings, but I only wanted Cooper cheese and onions on mine anyway, ordering it in a combo with fries for $20 and taking it home to eat.
Wit or Witout only has one size of cheesesteak, and like so many other places, it’s a large sandwich. And while it wasn’t over-stuffed, it was definitely full, especially in the middle. The steak was cooked well, and there was the right amount of cheese and onions.
It didn’t “wow” me, but I liked it. And it more than hit the spot.
I definitely didn’t need the fries, but I wanted to at least give them a try. They were just your average crinkle fries so I wouldn’t miss them if I only got the sandwich next time.
Would I get a cheesesteak from them again? Absolutely. And with the mall’s sale pushed back until at least July, there’s plenty of time for another bite.
BCE Rating Food: Good Service: Good Ambiance: Fair Price: $$
Cheesesteaks & Water Ice Berkshire Mall 1665 State Hill Road Wyomissing, PA 19610
The question I get asked the most is, “What’s the best restaurant in Berks County?” And while it’s impossible to pick just one, I definitely have my favorites after 12 years and more than 400 restaurant reviews. Here are 12 restaurants that we love in Berks County:
Andy Pepper’s Limekiln
Andy Pepper’s is a one-of-a-kind brunch spot in the Oley Valley. Located inside the former Limekiln Post Office, the restaurant serves breakfast and lunch on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The pancakes are huge (and delicious), the sandwiches are unique, and the restaurant has excellent options for vegans and vegetarians. Don’t leave without some seasoned chips or homemade zucchini cornbread.
We’ve been going to Austin’s for what feels like forever. While it’s not a BBQ spot, they have my favorite ribs in Berks County. But I also love the chicken bruschetta pasta, the pad Thai bowl and the chicken Florentine pasta. There are also plenty of options for our kids, with a kids-eat-free special every Sunday night.
The Shilllington Farmers Market has some great stands, and Eve’s is at the top of the list for me. Their pineapple fried rice is perfect, the Thai tea is delicious, and the prices and service can’t be beat.
Fortune Cafe is our family’s go-to spot for Chinese food. I enjoy their General Tso’s chicken and sesame chicken while Julie and Jakob (our oldest) are fans of the lo mein. The lunch special – which includes an entree and eggroll for less than $10 – is one of the best deals around.
Good food. Good service. A playground for the kids. And planes coming and going throughout your meal. Klinger’s has always been a favorite of ours, but now it’s a favorite of our kids, too. The chili is great and so are the wings.
My favorite burgers in Berks County are the caramel burgers at Louie’s Kitchen & Bar. Caramelized bacon, caramelized onions and bacon jam aioli top an Angus beef patty in their award-winning burger. Louie’s also does excellent cheesesteaks and sandwiches.
Our favorite pizza place (at least for Julie and I) is Nonno Alby’s in West Reading. It’s the combination of the crisp crust of the brick oven and the creative toppings that make it stand out. The namesake Nonno Alby’s pizza is my favorite. It comes topped with San Marzano tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, Italian sausage, sauteed rapini (broccoli rabe) and red pepper flakes for a kicking finish. Nonno Alby’s also has solid burgers, and Julie loves the simplicity of their Carpesa salad.
Breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert – Plum Creek Farm Market is a great choice for any meal. At breakfast, the chipotle egg and potato bowl is a hearty, delicious start to the date. For lunch or dinner, try the pit beef and fries. Just make sure you save room for homemade soft serve.
State Hill Craft Cocktails and Kitchen has become a favorite for Julie and I since we had our first date night there in late 2023. The seasonal dinner menu always features unique and delicious creations like the black truffle ravioli or salmon with riced cauliflower, sesame aioli and chili crunch.
Zaytoon opened in 2025 and quickly became one of our go-to spots. I usually get the lamb and rice platter (get it with the white sauce), which comes with pita and a small salad, but their falafel is also good. If you like a more authentic chai, their pink chai is a spiced tea worth trying.
Kutztown has an abundance of restaurants to its credit. But as a college town, most of them are either pizza places, sandwich shops or bars.
There aren’t many true sit-down options in town, but there are a few, including Simran Indian Cuisine.
Simran opened in spring 2024, taking over a spot on Main Street that had been vacant since Spuds closed in 2019.
Earlier this year – February 2026 – I was spending the day with my coworking colleagues at Ktown Hall when we decided to venture out for lunch at Simran.
The restaurant features maroon and tan banquets with wooden tables and reddish high-backed chairs. Napkins on the tables were folded up into crowns. Lanterns hung from overhead, and murals of women wearing saris as they cooked and spun thread graced the walls on either side of the room.
It’s not upscale to the point of fine dining, but it’s a tasteful and inviting dining room.
Our server was by quickly, but with a group of eight, we knew we would have a little wait for the food. Still, we had our drinks in short order and all of our food was on the table less than 30 minutes after we sat down.
I ordered the dal makhani from the vegetarian menu. It featured lentils cooked in a sauce with butter, onions, garlic, ginger and tomatoes – the latter giving the sauce its distinct red hue.
The lentils were tender, and the sauce was flavorful, bringing in the earthy notes of the spices. It was not short on onions, which I love. It wasn’t quite a tikka masala sauce, but it was rich and delicious – a dish that even non-vegetarians would enjoy.
I didn’t need the naan that I ordered, but I was happy to eat it. The naan was thin and bubbly. I enjoyed it on its own and used it to scoop up the remaining sauce and rice from my plate.
At the end of our meal, we shared a few orders of rice pudding. It was sweet and satisfying. I wish I would have had a full order, but I’ll save that for next time.
I had ordered takeout from Siman previously, most recently a year ago when I picked up an order of malaik kofta.
This was something that I had not seen on menus at other Indian restaurants. Among the vegetarian options, it featured falafel-like vegetable balls in a nutty cream sauce. I found it to be very good – the sauce was creamy and the vegetable balls were a hearty substitute for meat. It was another unique item that I couldn’t remember seeing on other local menus.
Most entrees are priced between $15-$20 with portions large enough to spread over two meals, especially if you’re adding on a side of naan or an appetizer.
Simran is a great addition to the diversity of Kutztown restaurants. Not only are they serving a cuisine that couldn’t be found in the area before, but it’s a full-service, sit-down restaurant in a town that could use one or two more.
Oh, and the food is totally worth it.
BCE Rating Food: Very Good Ambiance: Very Good Service: Very Good Price: $$
Simran Indian Cuisine 163 W. Main Street Kutztown, PA 19530
A good lunch spot has to have four things: good food, quick service, reasonable prices, and a cool vibe.
Crave Cafe in Sinking Spring continues to check all the boxes.
Though the cafe got a new owner in late 2024, the cafe is still delivering in all the areas that have made it a favorite over the last decade.
We first visited Crave in 2015, and with Julie working just five minutes away, we have visited many times since.
Our most recent visit came in January 2026. We arrived for an early lunch – around 11 a.m. before the rush was in full force and still found only a couple open tables (they were a lot more scarce by noon). The fireplace is still the focal point of the main dining room, but a second dining area provides more seating in the room behind it.
We got in line and were quickly called over to a second station to place our order before taking our number back to a table for two along the wall.
The temperature in the room tends to run a little cold, and I was quickly reminded of it as we sat waiting, but it didn’t take long for our food to arrive and I was no longer thinking about anything except lunch.
I always have a hard time choosing between their paninis and flatbreads, but on this visit I opted for a panini – The Dunk. The sandwich comes with chicken breast, tomatoes, mozzarella, pesto aioli and balsamic glaze.
At it’s core, it’s a Caprese salad with the balsamic, mozzarella and tomato all working together to create a familiar flavor profile. But the pesto aioli adds nuttiness and earthiness to the dish while the chicken makes it heartier and more filling. It’s relatively simple but very satisfying.
For her meal, Julie did a soup and sandwich combo with a hearty tomato soup and a grilled cheese with the addition of bacon. Julie loves bacon and it gives the grilled cheese an added crunch and savory notes.
Both meals are between $12-15, but Julie got a matcha and I got a hot chai. Both came served in mugs from the cafe’s eclectic collection – mine a stubby US Air Force mug, hers a tall blue and white. The chai is a typical sweet style tea latte that has little resemblance to a true chai but is no less enjoyable. The matcha had the distinct green color and sweet-yet-earthy flavor to it that was a perfect go-with.
Lunch for two typically costs around $30, but we were around $35 for this one with our drinks. Sure, you can find places where we can eat for closer to $20, but it’s more than just the price – it’s the combination of everything. The price is fair, the food is good, the service is on-point, and Crave continues to be one of the coolest lunch spots around.
And we’ll keep coming back.
BCE Rating Food: Good Service: Very Good Ambiance: Very Good Price: $$
Crave Cafe 4600 Penn Avenue Sinking Spring, PA 19608
There is always a buzz around a new restaurant when it opens. The trick, however, is keeping the buzz going weeks and months after the opening.
We have seen a lot of new restaurants open in Berks County in the past few years, but none have been able to sustain the buzz quite like Sinking Spring’s Crave Cafe.
Crave Cafe opened at Green Valley Nursery in November 2024, in the strip of stores off Route 422 behind the Charlotte Shoppe. It’s nearly invisible from the road, but that doesn’t stop the dining room from filling up every day at lunch.
The ambiance is truly unique. In fact, every table is unique. Each one has its own set of chairs, different styles, different colors and different sizes.
A pair of parlor chairs sit in front of a large stone fireplace. Highly sought-after, they are, at the same time, the most appropriate and most out-of-place chairs in the cafe.
Orders are placed at the counter where the cashier is set up with an iPad that’s connected to a cash drawer and credit card machine. We took our number and retreated to our little table for two (we made sure to save one before ordering, just in case).
It wasn’t long before our drinks arrived. Normally I don’t spend the money (or the calories) for a drink, but being at a cafe, I felt obligated.
But instead of coffee or tea, Julie and I both went for frozen: a mango smoothie for me and a frozen hot chocolate for her.
Mine was good, but I was a little disappointed to see the syrup flavor going in when I was hoping for fresh fruit. Julie’s frozen hot chocolate did not disappoint, however. She happily slurped it down and was nearly finished by the time that our food arrived.
Both of us opted for the soup and sandwich combo. For me, it was a bowl of chili and an Italian chicken panini.
The chili thickened as the shredded cheese on top started melting. It had a good balance of flavors: not too spicy, a little sweet and plenty meaty. A bowl of it with some bread would probably make a nice meal on its own.
My sandwich was excellent. The Italian chicken came with grilled chicken breast, spinach, sun-dried tomato, mozzarella and basil pesto aioli.
Chicken and spinach poked out the sides of the sandwich along with the mozzarella that melted mozzarella that was oozing onto the plate.
The meat wasn’t the most flavorful I have had, but it didn’t need to be with the strong flavors it was paired with. I love pesto anything, especially when paired with sun-dried tomatoes. The mozzarella did well to keep everything together and hold most of the sandwich inside the grilled pita.
Julie’s chicken and basil soup was the soup of the day for our visit. With little pastas and chunks of tomato, it looked like a pasta e fagioli, but there were no beans. Instead, the brothy soup was lighter with the basil providing light notes to go with the chunky ingredients.
For her sandwich, Julie went with the turkey bacon avocado. Turkey doesn’t have a lot of flavor to start which allowed the bacon, tomatoes and chipotle aioli to shine through. Likewise, the avocado took a back seat to the stronger flavors it was paired with. Overall, everything blended well together for a hearty and filling sandwich.
The soup and half-sandwich combos are very reasonably priced, but with the addition of our frozen drinks, our total came out much higher than it normally would for lunch at about $25.
Crave Cafe continues to generate buzz more than a year after it first opened. The relaxed atmosphere helps set it apart from other go-to lunch spots in the Sinking Spring area.
But it’s the food that keeps filling the tables at lunchtime.
BCE Rating Food: Very Good Service: Good Ambiance: Excellent Price: Reasonable
When you visit West Reading, most don’t venture far from the avenue. In 2022, Takkii Ramen bucked the trend, opening in a space a block away on Reading Avenue. Despite being away from the crowds, Takkii stuck around and ultimately expanded.
In 2025, the restaurant made the move to the Avenue, opening in the former Broken Chair Brewery. Not only did they take over the location, they also took over brewing. With the expanded concept came a name change to West Brew Izakaya. West for West Reading, Brew for the brewery and Izakaya for a style of Japanese pub.
The new West Brew opened in September 2025. Julie and I made a lunch date to get our first visit a few months later in February 2026.
Not being a drinker, I never made it into Broken Chair before they closed in 2024. My only reference points are photos of the previous business. The core components of Broken Chair are still visible: exposed brick walls and a bar fronted with corrugated steel.
But West Brew has added some unique flairs. Lights in the form of paper lanterns – yellow globes beneath a row of box lights in red, blue and green – hang above the bar. On the walls, the flatscreen TVs play anime favorites Pokemon and Dragon Ball Z.
Much of Takkii’s menu has been brought over to the new spot. Ramen and rice dishes make up most of the menu. While I like ramen, I gravitate to the rice bowls, and on this trip I ordered the sukiyaki beef don.
The bowl came with white rice, marinated beef, scallions and pickled ginger. The marinated beef had a very good flavor on its own, deeper than a standard soy or teriyaki sauce – but the tanginess of the pickled ginger is what sets it apart in my book. It made for a delicious lunch, though I would have been satisfied with a smaller portion.
At lunchtime, West Brew runs a special combo of an entree, appetizer and drink so we decided to share an appetizer of chicken gyoza – Japanese-style dumplings with soy dipping sauce. They were a very good start to the meal with the soy sauce giving a bright pop to each bite.
In addition to the beers, West Brew is also serving boba drinks from their other business, Winnie Tea Bar. I ordered my favorite – brown sugar milk tea – to accompany my lunch.
Julie got a taro milk tea, which is her favorite boba drink. Taro is a purple cousin of the potato with a slightly sweet profile. I don’t know how much of the real vegetable is involved in creating the boba, but it makes for a good drink.
For her entree, Julie ordered the teriyaki chicken ramen. The bowl was filled with a pork-based broth with noodles, bamboo shoots, beansprouts, corn, and scallions. On top with a grilled chicken breast marinated in a teriyaki glaze.
It was a delicious meal. As she ate it, Julie decided she liked the heartiness of the broth more than the lighter pho we had a few weeks before at Saigon Banh Mi (though that meal was still very good). The chicken was nice and flavorful with sweet and salty notes from the glaze. But it was too much to finish, especially at lunch.
Overall, it was a great meal. Service was a little slow on the day as the restaurant was full at the lunchtime rush, but our server was attentive (and had great recommendations for the flavor of bubbles to match our tea). But we were still done in a little more than an hour.
Our total bill came in between $50-$60 which was expensive for lunch, but we were also enjoying dinner-sized portions and splurging on boba.
And we really did enjoy our meal and our time at West Brew, and we will be sure to be back.
BCE Rating Food: Very Good Service: Good Ambiance: Very Good Price: $$
West Brew Izakaya 424 Penn Avenue West Reading, PA 19611
There have always been plenty of places to eat along Route 73 between Fleetwood and Boyertown. But the one thing that’s been lacking is a good coffee shop.
Sweetie’s Back Porch Cafe lives up to its name, with a location “out back” behind Bella Italia Pizza, Hometown Dental, and Clear Flow Water Solutions. The cafe has an unassuming entrance – a simple white door against the green warehouse-like facade.
But walking inside, everything changes. The narrow stairway opens into a more spacious dining room with wicker-back chairs at round tables. Tall-backed wicker seats with tan cushions are along the wall.
A second room offers more casual seating with a pair of couches and two kidney-shaped coffee tables.
On my first trip, I grabbed a corner spot along the wall and set up with my laptop. I arrived around 8 a.m. The restaurant wasn’t empty, but there was still plenty of seating available.
I ordered a breakfast croissant and a hot chai latte.
It didn’t take long for my chai to arrive. Served in a large brown mug, it was sprinkled with cinnamon. It had a pleasant spice to it, warming on a cool winter’s day, though I would gladly drink it anytime.
The croissant arrived five minutes later. It was halved with sausage inside and cheese melting out of it. I’m usually not one to order a breakfast sandwich, but Sweetie’s has a fairly limited menu, especially for breakfast. The breakfast sandwich – with choice of meat and either a croissant or bagel – is the only real option outside of toasts.
But I found the breakfast sandwich to be enjoyable, especially the buttery, slightly sweet croissant. And the sausage was the right choice for the meat. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it was good food done right.
When I came back in late February, it was for lunch and their namesake Back Porch Bowl. The dish starts with a base of rice that’s topped with sliced beets and sweet potatoes, mango and feta cheese.
Beets are not high on my list of favorite foods, but the combination of the slightly bitter vegetable with the sweet mango was very good. Add on the creamy, tangy feta and it was a surprisingly complex, but delicious dish, one that I would gladly order again.
Instead of a chai, I ordered a blueberry matcha, one of three blueberry drinks Sweetie’s was offering to support one of the local school clubs. The blueberry syrup was made in-house and was excellent. And with sweet cold foam on top, it was a great indulgence.
My first visit totaled around $12 while my second was closer to $20, but I felt like it was still a good value for my money.
And others must agree because the cafe was much busier this time with people eating in and orders coming over the phone consistently while I was there.
It’s great to see it, too, especially in a part of the county that needed a place like Sweetie’s.
BCE Rating Food: Good Service: Excellent Ambiance: Very Good Price: $$
Sweetie’s Back Porch Cafe 1064 Memorial Highway Oley, PA 19547
For many, the coffee shop is their comfort zone. Whether relaxing by the fireplace with a cup of coffee or plugging in to the Wi-Fi to answer emails, you’ll find a seat waiting for you these Berks County coffee shops where they are serving some of the best coffee, tea, breakfast and lunch that you’ll find in the county.
The Bagel Bar Kutztown
While I love a good bagel, I love the Bagel Bar for their unique drink specials, especially their tea lattes made with freshly brewed tea. But the bagels and bagel sandwiches are a hit, too, if you’re looking for a reasonably priced breakfast or lunch.
Brakeman’s Cafe Boyertown
Located across from the Colebrookdale Railroad in Boyertown, Brakeman’s Cafe is one of the best breakfast and lunch spots in the area. The outdoor seating area overlooks the rail yard and is the perfect place to relax on nice days.
Opened in fall 2023, Cafe Folino has quickly become a popular spot for Italian coffee, along with creative breakfast and lunch items. (It’s so popular that they opened a second location in Temple in 2026). We recommend the sweet pancakes/French toast options like apple pie and bananas Foster.
One of the newest stops on the list, Comb Coffee Co. opened in October. The coffee shop vibe is a little different here as Comb is an outdoor, walk-up stand in a parking lot in Topton, but the drinks are great, and the outdoor seating area is perfect for sunny days.
Crave Cafe Sinking Spring
Now under new ownership, Crave Cafe continues to deliver quality meals and drinks to western Berks County. Breakfast and lunch sandwiches are always good, the display case is always full of delicious baked goods, and the coffee and drinks are priced right.
Probably the most unique location among our favorite coffee shops, Kim’s Cafe is a destination on its own inside the Weaver’s Orchard farm store. Every August, I visit for their peach pie chai. They also serve up breakfast treats and delicious paninis at lunch.
The Market Cafe Topton
Located in the former train station, The Market Cafe is a laid-back breakfast and lunch spot along the tracks in Topton. The lunch wraps are really good, as are the breakfast options and wide selection of drinks.
Morgantown Coffee House Morgantown
Located on the southern edge of Berks, the Morgantown Coffee House offers a seasonal brunch menu with creative ingredients. (Bacon and sweet corn cake has, anyone?). The restaurant also offers Collective Coffee Project coffee and loose leaf teas among its cafe drinks.
In 2024, Reading Coffee Company expanded, opening a cafe with full breakfast and lunch menu in addition to their coffee and specialty drinks. The breakfast sandwiches are served on waffled hashed browns (yum!) and the vibe is cool and modern.
The newest addition to this list, Rooted & Grounded Cafe opened in January 2025 in a small corner spot along Lancaster Avenue. The cafe serves breakfast and lunch paninis, acai bowls and assorted baked goods. They also have a kids’ closet – a corner filled with toys for the littles.
Salt & Light Cafe Reading
Located along 5th Street in downtown Reading, Salt & Light Cafe focuses its menu on two things: drinks and crepes. And both are done to perfection. There are 38 mix-ins and toppings available for crepes and more than 20 drink options.
When Simply BOLD first opened, it was located in Wyomissing and called Park Road Cafe. Even then, it was one of my favorite spots. The food menu is good, but limited. But there are plenty of options for hot and cold pick-me-ups. They also have a small boutique with unique and local goods to browse while you wait.
Sweetie’s Back Porch Cafe Oley
Sweetie’s Back Porch Cafe opened in the fall of 2025, bringing cozy coffee shop vibes to the Oley Valley. Though they have a limited food menu, the choices they do have are solid. Enjoy a breakfast sandwich in the morning or a rice bowl at lunch – the soup is homemade and fresh, too.
The tiny hamlet of Frystown is an out-of-the-way destination for many in Berks County, but White Magnolia Coffee Company is worth the trip for both drinks and food. Order the farmer’s breakfast bowl (only if you like garlic) or indulge in a specialty chai, matcha or coffee.
You would think after living in Wyomissing for 15 years that Julie and I would have tried everything our hometown has to offer. But there are a few spots that, for whatever reason, we haven’t visited.
The restaurant opened a decade ago, taking over the space at 1147 Penn Avenue. Before that, the location was home to Fausto’s, one of our favorite sandwich shops at the time.
Carlo’s has one of the more awkward storefronts in the region. There is off-street parking in front of the building, but it’s extremely limited – four spaces, at best, on the driveway that goes in front of the restaurant and the adjacent hair salon. And you have to park nose-to-tail so there’s a chance you’ll have to back out onto Penn Avenue if you’re the tail-end car.
But we were fortunate to pull to the front when we picked up our takeout order. There was one table where a person sat enjoying their dinner while the remaining tables were open.
The dining room is small – takeout and delivery obviously being the main business for the small pizza and sub shop.
Everything was ready to go when we got there so we were in and out in no time, pulling out of the driveway as someone else pulled in to take our space at the front.
For my meal, I ordered a meatball Parmesan sandwich. The meatballs were on the smaller side so they fit well into the hard roll. The sauce was a little on the sweet side, otherwise it was good but nothing remarkable.
I had a handful of fries with mine as we split an order among the four of us. The fries were skin-on, fresh-cut style when I was expecting more of a fast food fry. I thought they were very good and with the size of the sandwich, I didn’t need many of them to fill me up.
Julie decided for something simple – a hoagie wrap – which came with a side of chips. (Fries were available for a $1 upcharge). She enjoyed it, getting the essence of the Italian sandwich with the lighter wrap instead of a roll. And she set her chips aside for later so she could enjoy some fries with us.
Originally, I was going to order slices for the boys, but it was more cost-effective to buy a medium pizza and keep the leftovers.
We got it with half cheese (for Lukas) and half pepperoni (for Jakob). The pizza was good, though there wasn’t anything special about it. The crust wasn’t too thick or thin, and neither the sauce nor cheese really stood out. But the boys were happy, and that was the most important thing.
We spent about $45 for our meal – about $10 each for Julie’s wrap and my sandwich, just under $15 for the pizza, and then $5 for the fries. (Plus tax). Slices would have been close to $4 each so a six-slice medium pizza was the right call.
And while Mama’s will probably remain our go-to, I would order from Carlo’s again, whether for pizza or sandwiches. It may not have been fancy, but it was solid and exactly what we were looking for.
BCE Rating Food: Good Ambiance: Fair Service: Very Good Price: $
Carlo’s Italian Restaurant 1147 Penn Avenue Wyomissing, PA 19610
They say that when one door closes, another door opens. Late in 2025, it was announced that Letterman’s Diner in Kutztown would be closing after a nearly 30-year run.
Letterman’s closed in January 2026, but the doors didn’t remain closed for long as a former employee reopened the space as Selena’s Diner in early February. I decided to make my first visit just a week later.
It was a familiar feeling walking into the diner, the smallest full-service restaurant in Berks County with a cozy 23 seats – more than half of them stools at the 100-year-old counter. The rest are tables for two that have been shoe-horned in along the opposite wall, leaving just a narrow walkway for servers and customers to navigate.
Though the original exterior is covered in drab vinyl siding, some of the century-old charm is revealed inside. It’s most notable in the narrow wooden slats that make up the ceiling and the faded floral design that’s painted or stenciled at the seams.
The counter was nearly full when I arrived around 8:30 for a late breakfast. Instead, I grabbed a seat at the first table inside the door.
Menus were on the table already so I took a look as I waited for my server to make her way around the counter to the table. Many of the items are carryovers from Letterman’s menu – I recognized names like the “He-Man” and the “scattered and smothered.”
I ordered the “trainwreck mix,” a heaping pile of breakfast meats (bacon, sausage and ham), cheese and potatoes topped with cream chipped beef and an over-easy egg.
Sure, it may have looked like a bit of trainwreck, but it certainly didn’t taste like one. With so many ingredients, it was impossible to get everything in one bite so every taste was a little bit different. One bite might have had egg and potato, another had bacon, chipped beef and ham.
My favorite bites were the ones with ham. The thick-cut ham steak was deeper in flavor than the other meats and enhanced the dish without overpowering it. The creamed chipped beef was also good, exactly the right consistency and flavor I look for at a diner.
It wasn’t fancy, but it was good. And like Letterman’s before, the portions are incredible. I did my best, but had to leave a little behind. (Unfortunately, a meal like this isn’t one that’s going to heat up well).
And, not that I needed it, but the meal also came with two slices of toast which actually made for a good palate cleanser.
I was in and out in about 40 minutes. It’s not fast food, but they work fast and even if all 23 seats are filled, one will open up quickly.
Also, I came prepared with cash but was pleasantly surprised to find that Selena’s accepts credit cards. Cash is still preferred with a lower price for cash than credit. My $15 would have been another dollar higher had I used a card.
Cash or credit, Selena’s Diner delivers the great value that you expect from a classic diner with quick service, oversized portions and good comfort food.
BCE Rating Food: Good Service: Excellent Ambiance: Good Price: $
Selena’s Diner 242 W. Main Street Kutztown, PA 19530
Berks County may not have an abundance of Vietnamese restaurants, but what it lacks in quantity, it makes up for in quality. We’ve enjoyed delicious meals at Lang Restaurant in Reading and Vietnamese Delights at the Fairgrounds Farmers Market.
Saigon Banh Mi opened in late fall of 2025 in the Shelbourne Square Shopping Center in Exeter Township. Giovanna’s Pizza is two doors down while Best China Chef sits at the opposite end of the strip.
Julie and I made our first visit in early February 2026, arriving around 5 for an early dinner on a Saturday. We had our choice of table from the surprisingly spacious dining room.
The strip mall space has been given plenty of decorative touches. On one side of the front door, small red decorations hang from a pink tree. On the opposite side, a human-sized cup of boba tea is the perfect selfie stand.
The long wall lined with booths features black and white images of Vietnam while the back wall features the Saigon Banh Mi logo surrounded by three LED streaming lights on either side.
While we dined in, others came in and out for takeout and DoorDash deliveries at the counter in front of the partially-open kitchen.
The menu features banh mi, Vietnamese hoagies, along with a variety of traditional Vietnamese dishes like broken rice, pho and vermicelli.
On a frigid evening, Julie decided to warm herself from the inside with the filet mignon pho.
The bowl came filled with broth, rice noodles and beef – also scallions, cilantro and onion – with a side plate of bean sprouts, basil and jalapeno. (Julie skipped the jalapeno).
It was a hearty dish with plenty of noodles and beef. Julie alternated between chopsticks and a spoon as she worked through the dish, enjoying both the meat and the veggies. The broth, itself, had a nice flavor. Everything hit the spot.
I was in the mood for a rice dinner so I ordered a broken rice platter with grilled honey chicken.
The chicken was simple, but good. It had the right amount of sweetness to it without being drenched in a sauce. The broken rice – with its tiny, broken pieces – helped to soak up the flavor. The scallions were a cute touch but didn’t add much in terms of flavor.
I wasn’t expecting much from the pickled carrots and daikon on the plate. But while the cucumber and tomato were basically just garnish, there was actually a nice sweet and sour play happening with the pickled veggies that I enjoyed.
Along with my meal, I couldn’t help myself from indulging in milk tea. I got the taro which has the distinct purple color of the root sweet root vegetable. I love my boba, and this did not disappoint.
Not only was the food good, but it was fast. We were done with our meals 30 minutes after we sat down. Because they weren’t in a rush to turn our table around, we hung out a little longer before paying our $41 bill and heading back out into the cold, warm, full and satisfied after a very good meal at Saigon Banh Mi.
BCE Rating Food: Very Good Ambiance: Very Good Service: Good Price: $$
Saigon Banh Mi 5464 Perkiomen Avenue Reading, PA 19606
