girls early night out - good food, not too expensive

[twotodine]

looking for a girls (well, middle-age women is more like it) night out. It will be early 6:00 -6:30pm on Friday so we could do happy hours if any of them go to 7:30. Looking for good food, but not too expensive, hopefully in a restaurant where we could look out on to the street or even be out in a courtyard.
For fun atmosphere, cheap eats - I like Lolita's for thier appetizers and Cuba Libre for their happy hour.
Any suggestions?

[lowereastrittenhouse]

Actually, Tria would be my suggestion. Get there early, though to stake out a table!

[cwdonald]

What is your definition of too expensive? Are you including drinks or not?

[twotodine]

I'd like to keep it to $30 - 35 per person - is that doable? I just made reservations at Valanni - we thought we could meet there for their happy hour and then move to a table at 7:00 if we were still hungry. We do drink - maybe 1 or 2 drinks, no more as we both have to drive. Not huge eaters. Maybe tapas at HH, pasta or entree at dinner, possible a split dessert. Something like that.

[twotodine]

Just found a menu on line with prices - Valanni might be a little too expensive for us. It sucks being unemployed! Any other suggestions?
Perhaps we could have HH at Valanni and walk to another restaurant in the area.

[barryg]

In my experience the food at Valanni isn't anything special anyway. You want to spend $30-35 with or without without drinks? What kind of drinks do you like? If you drink beer it can be much cheaper. Either way you will get more bang for your buck if you go a little outside of Center City.