225 Church Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106   

Phone: 215-925-8219

Get a full sized pool table in there, make all of the "arcade games" free and paint the amusement ride cars in bright colours.  

You'll have to excuse the picture above but it really does show how remote and how difficult it is to find Sugar Mom's. The address of Sugar Mom's is Church Street which is one block north of Market Street, off of 3rd Street. Not only is Church Street more like an alley than a street, there is a parking lot in front of Sugar Mom's, so if you are trying to find the place it sits back about 100ft from the curb.  

You enter by way of a door off to the right of the plate glass window pictured above. Pass by the doorman/bouncer/resident cool guy and down a flight of stairs to Sugar Mom's. At the foot of the stairs is an L-shaped bar that occupies the entire corner of the room. Barstools, high tables and two sofa's are the remaining furniture in the place. 

The theme of Sugar Mom's is retro 70's. The low ceiling and decor reminds me of practicing for the high school talent show in my high school buddy/ bandmate "Marty Two Time's"  basement, drinking his dad's beer on the sly. Ohh those were some good times. Adding to the decor, Sugar Mom's even has plastic toy cars and animals on the tables for the paying customers to play with while they're waiting for their grub to be delivered.  And as if that wasn't enough kitch for ya, there's amusement rides to chill out in...

Somehow Sugar Mom's got hold of some amusement ride cars and spread them around the room. Remember the carnival mini-cars with two steering wheels for each seat, they got one! They also have two other "cars" but they are the type you'd find on carnival rides like the haunted house or Scrambler rides: very retro and kitschy.  If you're feeling cheeky you can hop on in one of the cars and pretend you and your girl (or guy) are at the local fair enjoying this ride, hoping the "carnies" attached all the bolts  when they assembled it at 2AM in the morning. 

Since Sugar Mom's is located in the basement of an old sugar refinery, there are about 8 pyramid shaped columns supporting the floor above. These columns are made of brick and they probably occupy a 6' x 6' footprint. I just had to mention these things because they're so huge, and very cool! You can imagine these buggers supporting 100 tons of sugar mill overhead.  

There are plenty of decent brews on tap (more than ten) and their bottled beer selection is pretty good for a place of Sugar Mom's size. The menu is chock full of bar food. We ordered skins, fries, mozzarella sticks and chicken fingers. The food was good, but with our aching hunger,  we would have liked larger portions to satisfy our manly appetites.  Regardless, the food came out quick and the brewski's kept coming. Special thanks goes out to Kate C and The Weave, who provide the special service at Sugar Mom's. 

As for entertainment, Sugar Mom's has a pool table, a foosball table and a couple of pinball/video machines. Don't get too excited, all of the entertainment is coin-operated. Boo - hiss! The pool table is a standard bar issue table, where the cue ball is slightly larger than the rest of the balls. Yeah, you can really make the tough shots with the larger cue ball banging around the table (oozing with sarcasm). 

From the look and feel of Sugar Mom's, I thought the games would be free. If the place is supposed to make you feel like you're hanging out in an old friend's basement, isn't the vibe ruined by milking the clientele for a few quarters to play the games. I think so. The games look like they're 20 years old anyway and  they've obviously paid for themselves 10 times over already, so what the heck, make them free. C'mon SM's,  throw us a friggin' bone here and make the games free!