Java-style object-obsessed programming with long names
I mean, unlike Java, you can do procedural or functional (the support is getting better but I wouldn’t call php the best language for functional). I personally love object-oriented design because it’s the best (IMO) for large projects.
C-style syntax
That’s a feature in my book, I almost exclusively write code in C-style languages and it’s really easy switching between them. The only exception for me being Go.
dollars before variable names
That’s just such a minor detail to hate language over. I like them (probably because PHP was my first language so I got used to them), but I don’t quite care when I’m switching between languages.