Green pedestal with bite-sized chicken next to a wooden rack with four sauce bottles and a metal cup filled with fries
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Review: Thorn Alley Kitchen at the GoggleWorks

Sandwich board sign advertising Thorn Alley Kitchen at the GoggleWorks

The GoggleWorks Center of the Arts has been a community hub since it opened more than 20 years ago. But it’s been missing something since 2019. That’s when the Belly Kitchen & Drinkery, the last restaurant to operate inside the center, closed its doors.

A new restaurant was announced in August of 2022 as part of a mult-year expansion project. In April 2026, nearly four years later, Thorn Alley Kitchen finally made its debut.

Order counter and seating at the Thron Alley Kitchen at the GoggleWorks.

On a Friday afternoon in late May, Julie and I took a lunch date into the city to try Thorn Alley for the first time. We arrived a little after 11 a.m. and headed through the main entrance of the art center. Straight ahead is the GoggleWorks store and the Boscov Theater. To the left, a short hallway opens up into the restaurant. 

mugs on display at the order counter at Thorn Alley Kitchen at the GoggleWorks

While we stood at the order counter and looked over the menu, we watched as the two people seated at the bar got their burgers. Only one other table was in use, a single remote worker sat at one of the two-seaters in the expansive indoor space. 

outdoor dining space next to a tall brick building at Thorn Alley Kitchen in Reading, PA

After ordering, we headed outside to the namesake “Thorn Alley” where tables were spread out between the two largest buildings on the Goggleworks campus. Umbrellas covered many of the tables, but the ex-factory buildings blocked a lot of the sun already.  

We were the only ones outside, though a few groups passed through the seating area to head inside as we waited. 

umbrella over a table in an outdoor dining area at Thorn Alley Kitchen at the GoggleWorks

The food arrived after about 20 minutes. I had heard good things about Thorn Alley’s Korean fried chicken, but I didn’t think I could handle the full five-piece chicken meal at lunch. Instead, I ordered the chicken nugget version of the dish. 

Both the dinner and the nugget version feature chicken marinated in soy and ginger and battered in rice flour. (The use of rice flour makes it gluten free). It’s served with four bottles of sauce: honey mustard, yuzu black pepper, sweet gochujang, and hot honey.

Green pedestal with bite-sized chicken next to a wooden rack with four sauce bottles and a metal cup filled with fries

The presentation – with the chicken literally served on a pedestal – was top-notch, and the flavors were delicious. The chicken, itself, was very good. You could taste a little soy and ginger in every bite, and the breading was light and airy. 

And I really enjoyed the sauces – the gochujang was the closest to a true BBQ sauce with a sweet and hot combination. The hot honey had similar notes while the yuzu black pepper brought a little more heat to the dish. 

The only disappointment was the portion size – the five nuggets were one- and two-bite. They were gone quickly and not filling. Delicious? Yes. But I would have liked one or two more for the money. 

Everything is ala carte at Thorn Alley so we also ordered a side of fries to share. The fries are listed as russet potatoes, twice-fried. These are essentially the same fries they serve at Cafe Sweet Street (whose owner is the board chair at the Goggleworks), and Sweet Street has some of our favorite fries around. These were just as good, just served in a smaller portion than we expected. 

Metal tray with two corn tortilla tacos

Julie ordered the pork belly tacos, a dish that immediately caught her eye. The tacos featured corn tortillas topped with pork belly stir-fried with carrots and scallions, topped with shredded cabbage and pineapple salsa. 

Just like everything else, the tacos were delicious. The pork belly was perfect, a savory treat . There were also brief hints of sweet and sour from the salsa. Most places we visit will double-up on the corn tortillas, but Thorn Alley used one per taco, and the tacos held together. Most local spots also give three tacos to an order, but Thorn Alley serves them in orders of two. 

Glass of iced tea on a table with two smaller glasses of water and a glass of lemonade in the background

In addition to our food, Julie ordered a lemonade, and I ordered an iced tea that was more ice than tea. With the drinks, it brought our total to $38. 

We have paid more than $20 per person at other places in Berks County, but the portion sizes left us wanting more: one or two more nuggets, another taco, a few more fries. 

I’m sure Thorn Alley Kitchen will continue to change and adapt – it’s only been a month since they opened – and we’ll be watching to see what changes come before we head back.

BCE Rating
Food: Very Good
Ambiance: Excellent
Service: Good
Price: $$$

Thorn Alley Kitchen
GoggleWorks Center for the Arts
201 Washington Street
Reading, PA 19601

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Fork & Ale Moroccan Chicken
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Review: Fork & Ale – Return

Editor’s Note: Chef Seth Arnold left Fork & Ale in July 2019 for a position at Terrain Cafe in Devon.

One of the hardest things about doing weekly Berks County Eats blogs is not being able to return to the restaurants that we have enjoyed.

In March 2017, we made our first visit to Fork & Ale – the new gastropub that had opened in the former Tim’s Ugly Mug outside Douglassville just a few months before. We had enjoyed everything we had, especially their take on poutine, but we had no real motivation to return with so many restaurants left to visit.

Then a new chef arrived on the scene.

Chef Seth Arnold started at Fork & Ale at the end of May. By mid-summer, he was tagging @BerksCountyEats on every Instagram post. At the end of July, he sent me a direct message, introducing himself and inviting me out to the restaurant for a visit.

menu for Fork & Ale featuring shareables, snacks, mains an garden-inspired dishes

Over the next weeks and months, Fork & Ale was always in the back of my mind and at the top of my Instagram feed. Finally, Julie and I made plans for a date night. We found a babysitter for Jakob and headed east for dinner on a Saturday evening in early December.

We arrived around 5 p.m., beating the dinner crowd and taking a table for two. Fork & Ale does not take reservations so we wanted to make sure we had a seat, not knowing how full it would get by night’s end. The dining room looks exactly as we remembered with painted brick walls, Edison bulbs hanging from the ceiling and reclaimed wood furniture.

ravioli in light sauce with purple cauliflower

One thing I learned through Instagram is that the chef loves introducing creative specials every night. On the specials menu during our visit was an appetizer we had to try – uova da raviolo – egg yolk ravioli.

The pasta pouches were filled with herbed ricotta and egg yolk, topped with smoked bacon, rainbow chard, purple cauliflower and a sage butter sauce.

ravioli in light sauce with purple cauliflower

Eating it was quite the experience. Pressing into the ravioli, the egg yolk began pouring out, mixing with the sage butter sauce on the plate. It added a completely different dimension to the dish that I enjoyed. And with the savory bacon and slightly bitter chard, it was full of flavor.

chicken with fettuccini, bell peppers and golden raisins in a brown sauce

The main menu has completely evolved in the 20 months since our last visit (no more poutine). The only common item between the two menus being the Fork & Ale Burger. One new dish that caught my attention was the Moroccan chicken.

The dish featured confit chicken served over house-made Fettuccini with golden raisins, bell pepper, arugula, crispy chickpeas, Marcona almonds and a Moroccan-spiced butter sauce.

chicken with fettuccini, bell peppers and golden raisins in a brown sauce

I absolutely loved it. It was one of the most flavorful dishes that I have had in a long time. The sauce was incredible (for the record, I still have no idea what spices constitute “Moroccan spice”), and there were little surprises throughout. The chickpeas added needed crunch to the plate while the raisins were little bursts of sweetness throughout. I can’t say enough good things about it, and neither could Julie when she had the leftovers a few days later.

For her meal, she went with the warm Brussels sprouts salad. The waitress recommended adding the grilled shrimp (grilled chicken was also an option) and Julie was glad for it.

brussels sprouts salad with shrimp tales and pork belly

The composition was interesting – the sprouts were shaved like cabbage and drizzled with balsamic, always a good pairing. The fatty pork belly was a great addition and made it a truly savory dish. All in all, it was well done.

Being a date night, dessert was almost mandatory. There were two dessert options the night of our visit, a crème brulee that sounded delightful and our selection, the butterscotch lava cake.

Many places will do a chocolate lava cake – chocolate cake with a melted chocolate center. The butterscotch version was similar with a melted butterscotch center that was topped with housemade whipped cream.

butterscotch lava cake topped with dollop of cream

Neither of us are big butterscotch fans but it sounded too good to pass up, and it more than lived up to our expectations. The cake was dense but flavorful and the filling was perfect. It was sweet but not too sweet, buttery but not overpowering. It was the perfect ending to a perfect meal, one of the best meals we have had in many months.

Our total bill for the evening (one unsweetened iced tea included) was around $60. It was a bit of a splurge for us, but with both an appetizer and dessert, it felt like a fair price for an exceptional dinner.

If you haven’t been to Fork & Ale in the two years since it’s been open, or if you haven’t been there since Chef Arnold arrived in May, do yourself a favor and make the trip.

I know we will be back sooner than later.

BCE Rating:
Food: Excellent
Service: Very Good
Ambiance: Very Good
Price: Reasonable

Fork & Ale
1281 E. Main St
Douglassville, PA 19518

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banh mi on a plate with tomato soup
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Review: Morgantown Coffee House

sign with a drawing of a stylized cup of coffee in orange with the words "Morgantown Coffee House"

I willingly admit that I am not an expert when it comes to all of Berks County. The closer we are to our home in Wyomissing, the more familiar I am with the restaurants and food places.

But I am always trying to grow my knowledge and explore parts of the county that I otherwise wouldn’t give a second thought to.

This week, Julie and I found ourselves in Morgantown for a consignment sale, and needing a place to grab lunch, we took the opportunity to seek out the Morgantown Coffee House, a highly rated breakfast-and-lunch place along Route 23, just a few hundred yards inside the border with Chester County.

Round tables with barrels for bases in the dining room of Morgantown Coffee House

Blink and you miss it. The building that houses Morgantown Coffee House looks more like a family home, but it actually houses three businesses: the Coffee House, Painted Table Designs, and Juniper Tree Juice Bar.

The parking lot sits behind the building, just off Twin Valley Road. From there, the entrance is not well-marked. The other two businesses are so by process of elimination, we found it behind Door No. 2.

It’s definitely a cool little spot – hipster farmhouse was how Julie described it. The front room had four large round tables. A second dining room, away from the crowds at the order counter, had several tables for two and four, plus some cushier seats for one.

A wooden rectangular table with white trim and white chairs in the dining room of Morgantown Coffee House

Menus can be found on clipboards in baskets by the counter. After looking it over, we placed our orders, grabbed our seats and waited for our delivery.

It was a short wait, even shorter for our two incredible mocktails: a rosemary-honey cider and the fall lemonade.

The menu actually had a candied ginger cider, but I was told there was no more ginger syrup and was offered the rosemary-honey instead. And I was told that the rosemary-honey syrup was the best that the shop had created yet.

two tall glasses of apple cider on a black tabletop

I was not disappointed at all. The apple cider base was accentuated by the sweet honey. Hints of rosemary throughout added little flavor bursts.

Julie’s fall lemonade featured raw honey and cinnamon, and was even better than my cider. The cinnamon gave it a real bite while the honey sweetened it perfectly.

Our food arrived a short time later. The lunch menu includes hot and cold sandwiches, salads and the soup du jour. I went with the soup – on this day, a tomato and red pepper bisque – with the banh mi sandwich.

white oval plate with a white bowl filled with tomato soup next to a banh mi sandwich

It was a good tomato soup. The red pepper came through a little, but I enjoyed it. The sandwich, however, was the real star.

Banh mi is not on many Berks County menus so I was excited to find it on the menu in Morgantown. For those unfamiliar with it, banh mi is a traditional Vietnamese sandwich that includes a protein, pate and pickled vegetables.

In this case, the protein was pork belly (think bacon, but thicker and richer). It was also garnished with cilantro. The savory meat mixed with pickled vegetables made for a perfect mix.

And that dipping sauce – while potent in large doses – added heat while amplifying all of the flavors of the sandwich.

I loved everything about this sandwich…except the size. Even for a half-sandwich, it felt small. In hindsight, I should have ordered a full sandwich and soup to make it a more filling meal (and because I didn’t want to stop eating that banh mi).

Half a turkey club and spring mix on a white round plate

Julie’s sandwich was a little more robust than my own.

She had the turkey club, which was topped with bacon, cucumbers and hopped mayo on white bread. All of the ingredients were fresh and vibrant, which made for a very good sandwich.

On the side, she had mixed greens with the housemade buttermilk ranch dressing. The salad was simple, but Julie loved the dressing.

Like mine, her meal was on the light side. However, we were both surprised to find that the meals held us over – for the most part – through the afternoon.

mason jar stuffed with napkins and a knife, fork and spoon on a black tabletop

The meal was a little on the pricy side at about $30; $6 of that was splurging on the mocktails. The soup-and-sandwich combos were $11 each which is reasonable enough.

The coffee house is open for breakfast and lunch seven days a week (with hours until 5 p.m. on weekdays and Saturdays), and we will definitely be back to try the omelets, quiche and other breakfast offerings.

Also, the menu rotates seasonally. That gives us a built-in excuse to visit again in a few months.

Overall, the Morgantown Coffee House was a great find. It’s a little out of the way for us, but you have to be willing to explore to find hidden gems like this.

BCE Rating
Food: Excellent
Service: Good
Ambiance: Very Good
Price: Reasonable

Morgantown Coffee House
4997 N. Twin Valley Rd
Elverson, PA 19520

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