Mac and cheese lovers have a date circled on the calendar: Saturday, October 17, when 18 Manayunk restaurants will each put their own spin on the comfort-food classic for the neighborhood's second annual Fall Mac N Cheese Crawl. The crawl unfolds alongside the broader Manayunk Fall Fest, which runs earlier that day on Main Street, giving visitors a full day of neighborhood eating and browsing before or after they start collecting samples.
According to the official Manayunk event listing, Fall Fest runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the site points visitors to purchase separate tickets for the Mac N Cheese Crawl itself. As reported by PhillyVoice, each $20 ticket includes a wristband and crawl map, plus one mac and cheese sample from each participating stop while supplies last.
How the Crawl Works
Participants will travel between restaurants scattered throughout Manayunk, sampling dishes at their own pace. Per PhillyVoice's rundown, event check-in begins at 11:30 a.m. on Oct. 17 outside the Manayunk Welcome Center at 106 Grape St., and late arrivals can still check in at the event merchandise tent once the crawl is underway.
To help people navigate, the crawl offers an interactive map through the Let's Rallie app, which tracks each participant's stops along the route. Manayunk's own event page notes that visitors can download Let's Rallie or simply pull up the experience through a web browser to start exploring. Beyond the eating, the crawl also folds in a bit of friendly competition: participants vote for their favorite mac and cheese, and voters are entered for a chance to win a $100 Manayunk gift card.
Who's Serving This Year
The 18 participating restaurants named by PhillyVoice include Bayou Bar & Grill, Blondie, Cactus Cantina, Canalside Beer Garden, Chabaa Thai Bistro, JD McGillicuddy's, Lucky's Last Chance-Manayunk, Manayunk Brewery & Restaurant and Mia Ragazza. Rounding out the lineup are Ryan's Pub, Sophie's BBQ, Taqueria Amor/Riptide Tavern, The Brass Tap-Philly, The Cresson Inn, The Goat's Beard, The Tomato Shack-Manayunk, US Hotel Bar & Grill and Yanako.
Last year's edition drew a similar roster and price point. A report from Delco Times on the 2025 Fall Fest and Mac N Cheese Crawl, which took over Main Street on Oct. 18 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., put tickets at the same $20 per person and listed many of the same restaurants, including Bayou Bar & Grill, Blondie, Cactus Cantina, Chabaa Thai Bistro, Cresson Inn, Lucky's Last Chance, Manayunk Brewery & Restaurant, Mia Ragazza and Ryan's Pub. That year's surrounding Fall Fest featured more than 10 food trucks, over 60 local vendors and artists, seasonal food and drinks, live outdoor music and three stages, per the same report.
A Manayunk Development Corp. manager described the 2025 gathering as bringing together local small businesses, culinary talent and the community on Main Street, according to Delco Times. Separately, a report from Metro Philadelphia described that year's Fall Fest and crawl as an inaugural event rather than a repeat occurrence, a detail that conflicts with the framing used elsewhere; Metro's account also put the crawl's hours at noon to 4 p.m. for $20 a ticket, matching the pricing seen across coverage even as the event's numbering differs by source.
Planning Your Visit
Whichever account of the event's history readers follow, the practical details for this year are straightforward: arrive in Manayunk on Oct. 17, head to Main Street for Fall Fest if desired, then check in for the Mac N Cheese Crawl near the Welcome Center on Grape Street before fanning out to the 18 participating stops. With a $20 ticket, a crawl map, and an app to track progress, the format leaves plenty of room for neighborhood exploration between bites.
