Six Feet Under Has a Chef and an Opening Date

Subterranean gastropub Six Feet Under is slated to join the Washington Square West lineup on Friday, July 7. The new restaurant is going into 727 Walnut Street, just off the park in what was most recently Umai Royal. Neighbors include the always-packed rolled ice cream shop Sweet Charlie’s and Knead, one of Philly’s few good bagelries.

Six Feet Under — set, appropriately, about six feet below street level — is from Gene LeFevre of the M Restaurant at the Morris House Hotel, among other Philly establishments. The hotel is a block from the new tavern, which will be a sister spot to M Restaurant, says Anthony Reto, who’s doing the marketing for the new restaurant’s launch.

Jeanette Vennell, general manager at M Restaurant, is also handling GM duties for Six Feet Under. Robin Niemczuk, a Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College alum who’s executive chef at M, will helm the new kitchen. The menu is “classic pub fare but with a gastropub, foodie touch,” Vennell says.

Six Feet Under is as much a watering hole as a restaurant, with two bars, seven TVs, live music on Thursdays, DJs on Fridays and Saturdays, and regular happy hours. The space is big, around 3,000 square feet, but sounds fairly cozy, with exposed brick, fireplaces, and “some great nooks,” Vennell describes.

Hours are from 11:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily, with the kitchen closing at midnight.