Philadelphia International Airport has 10 sit-down restaurants - full-service rooms with waiters and table seating as well as grab-and-go express counters where you can pick up almost anything on the menu and run for a plane. Make that 11 sit-downs, if you count the restaurant inside the Airport Marriott, which is as accessible, at the end of Concourse B, as any restaurant in the airport.

A caveat: Smoking is prohibited in the airport except at the sit-downs, so some of the smaller rooms can be oppressively smoky. The Marriott's restaurant is large and has a nonsmoking section. The other restaurants that offer nonsmoking sections are T.G.I. Friday's - the only national chain among the sit-downs - and Lamberti's International.

Four of the sit-down restaurants inside the airport are Jet Rock Bar & Grills, which form a mini-empire there. Each is in a different concourse, and the menus vary: One may offer more pizzas; another, a larger variety of sandwiches. They all specialize in American cooking, and their menus are more similar than not.

Except for Cibo Bistro & Wine Bar, T.G.I. Friday's, and the Airport Marriott's Riverbend, which use porcelain and stainless-steel dining implements, the sit-downs and the rest of the airport eateries operate in a throwaway-dish-and-cutlery world. The colors of choice for plastic plates and utensils are black or dark brown.

Here's a rundown of the sit-downs.

Concourse A

•  Olde Philadelphia Tavern. The room, in shades of light green, has wall counter space, high cafe tables, and regular seating, plus a bar. It's small enough to be smoky at times, but the air flow is good. You'll find the typical menu of sandwiches (most about $6), plus some good take-out packages.

Concourse B

•  Cibo Bistro & Wine Bar. Surely the most upscale restaurant inside the airport and worth every penny, especially if you have time to eat like normal diners who are not in airports. It's not a huge space, so small cafe tables give it the crowded feel of some Center City restaurants, and real linens, china and cutlery distinguish it. The wine list includes more than 30 varieties from around the world, and the cooking tends toward Italian. Cibo makes everything fresh - even the pasta, churned out daily. Some highlights: shrimp and pasta in vodka cream sauce ($17.95); vegetables, pasta and pesto ($12.95); veal piccata ($18.95).

•  Jet Rock Bar & Grill. Rock-and-roll memorabilia adorns the walls, 48 beers spew from the taps, and the menu is chockablock with burgers (most $8, with fries), a dozen different chicken dishes (most $8), deli, and 11 salads ($4 to $9) - and a fine selection of pop music from the speakers. Check out the big appetizer list, especially if you love fried stuff.

•  Riverbend Bar & Grill in the Airport Marriott. Go to the very end of the terminal at B, past the parking garage entrance, and through the doors to the Marriott, then down the stairs, and you'll find this large hotel restaurant done in walnut and blond woods and with a Philadelphia rowing theme. It's a comfy room, far from the constant movement of travelers.

Several fish dishes were on special the night I tried the Riverbend with my wife. She had a huge fillet of salmon perfectly baked on a cedar plank. I had a plump, juicy, baked mahimahi with a thin horseradish crust. Each entree was $20. The staff was friendly and frenzied; we never got the salads we ordered or the coffee - amazing gaffes in a restaurant where the entire menu is a la carte.

Between B and C

•  T.G.I. Friday's. It's like a mini T.G.I. Friday's, with the same red-and-white-striped tables and walls bedecked with Americana. And here's the big surprise: The prices are maybe a dime more than on a regular T.G.I. Friday's dinner menu - and sometimes even a dime less. Most prices are the same, though the airport menu is briefer and contains more family-pleasers. The selections are smartly chosen and include Friday's most popular plates, among them the chicken sandwich ($7.69), the chicken-finger BLT ($7.49), the Jack Daniel's ribs ($14.29), and potato skins ($7.19).

Concourse C

•  Sky Asian Bistro. Though you can see the crowds going by in the concourse, this restaurant is a great cool-your-heels spot. The menu is pan-Asian, the largest percentage of food is Japanese, and it is presented with the same detailed sensibility you'd expect from a place where people aren't running around with stress wrinkles across their faces. (Indeed, the food here is as good, on balance, as the food I've eaten at Tokyo's Norita International Airport.) Some of the food is too pricey - plain old soybeans, called edamame on the menu, at $4.50! - but it's well-prepared. Try the trio sushi dish ($15.95): three pieces of tuna, two yellowtail, two salmon, and a marvelous sesame seaweed salad. You can also get the salad as a main dish.

•  Jet Rock Bar & Grill. See Concourse B for a description of the food. This room is more isolated from the concourse, has darker woods than the other Jet Rocks, and retains a smoky smell that makes you want to find some industrial-strength aerosol. If you need TV time, this is the place; I counted 11 televisions in retinal range during lunch one day. Caveat: Jet Rock's prices are moderate, but the restaurants charge for soda refills with meals. As a result, two diet Pepsis ran me almost $5.

Concourse D

•  Lamberti's International. A pretty, well-appointed room in earth tones at the curve of the terminal, which gives it a sweeping feel, Lamberti's is anchored by a large bar that runs through the middle. The service staff is especially attentive and deals with a large menu - eclectic, too, because the food is Italian, Asian and Latin. You can order frijoles ($7.95), four different salads, and a slew of pasta dishes. I thought someone had forgotten the zing in my Zingara ($9), a mix of pasta, marinara sauce, grilled chicken, mushrooms, onions and grilled peppers. But, though bland for my taste, it was ample and fresh, as was the small salad ($4) I ordered with it. The kids' menu is a good one.

•  Jet Rock Bar & Grill. This addition to the Jet Rock empire at the airport, opening in late summer, will have a menu similar to the others' (see Concourse B) and a new attraction: pool tables.

Concourse E

•  Jack Duggan's Irish Pub. With a floor of little white hexagonal tiles - the kind you find in bathrooms all over the city in homes built during the early 1900s - and a window looking out to the planes between Concourses D and E, this Irish pub is an appealing place to sit a spell. The menu is small and anchored by $7 sandwiches: ham, tuna, corned beef, roast beef, pastrami, smoked turkey. My corned beef special had unexceptional meat but pleasantly dense, thick-sliced bread. For folks who like their beer Pennsylvanian, Yuengling is on tap.

Concourse F

•  Jet Rock Bar & Grill. A nice, bright version of the restaurant, much like the one in Concourse B. Look there in our listing for a description of the menu.