One of the best parts of living in Philadelphia is the food scene. There is no doubt that, over the last 10 or so years, Philly has earned the title of one of the best cities for food, backed up by the number of famous chefs and restaurateurs who chose the City of Brotherly Love to open their restaurant and gift Philadelphia with their delicious love language.

I know I’m not alone in my practice of creating a running list in the Notes app on my iPhone that lists each restaurant I want to try, checking each off with the green check mark emoji once I have visited. I have also recently downloaded the Beli App to help me track my dining-out experiences and feed into my foodie habit by allowing me to rate and comment about each one.

All this being said, there is rarely an occasion I don’t use to my advantage in trying out a new restaurant in Philly. This week was my boyfriend’s mom’s birthday, and she suggested visiting us in the city for some good Italian cuisine. That was my cue to search the Resy and OpenTable apps for a reservation for five on May 24.

Prunella was the winner this time for an outdoor reservation for me; Christian; Jen, the birthday girl; and a couple cousins who met us to celebrate.

The group started off with some drinks; I ordered the Giesen Sauvignon Blanc that came out with two Manhattans, a pear martini and a gin martini.

Prunella is essentially an elevated pizza shop experience with rustic Italian vibes and a one-page menu packed with fun and unique small plates, pastas and pizzas.

The group decided to take our server’s suggestion of a family-style dinner. We started with the octopus, served with warm arugula; ricotta toast; chicken Milanese; eggplant Parm; and a spicy Caesar salad. My favorite was the eggplant Parm, a last-minute impulse add-on.

We split each dish in five bites for everyone at the table while we discussed our next courses. We finally decided on the Tonnarelli cacio e pepe; The Process pizza, topped with pepperoni, pickled peppers and provolone; and, finally, The Big Nick pizza, topped with porcini crema, mushroom and burrata. The Big Nick was the group’s favorite.

We ended the evening singing “Happy Birthday” over a chocolate budino dessert we shared as a table. Some of us also ordered an espresso martini as a nightcap, which I tasted and concluded might have made its way to my top 3 in the city list.

I look forward to submitting my stellar rating for Prunella, from the food and environment to our service and experience. I certainly recommend it for your next trip downtown.

— Haley Fogarty, advertising manager