Greetings all gastronomes... Due to the extent of time I spend between my business, schooling, and hobbies, there is little time left for grocery shopping (hate it), cooking (love it), or cleanup (hate it). Because of this, I tend to eat out close to once a day (although I would probably have alot more money for something else, such as a new car, if I didn't). So, in getting to the point, I have eaten out at quite a lot of Pittsburgh restaurants in my 10+ years here, and would like to share some of my experiences in "capsule" or brief reviews. As for the standard disclaimer, these are my opinions and also those of my dining partner of the same period (which usually mirror mine). In posting these reviews, I may hopefully generate some disussion on a number of restaurants that may not have been mentioned here in recent memory. Some background information to put these reviews in context, I am a thirty-ish male (with female dining partner). My tastes are wide and diverse (I'll try most anything), but I long ago tired of the standard Pittsburgh menus that all look the same (potato skins, fried zuchinni, steaks, chops, fish, etc. - you've seen it a million times). While I still love fish, I have been cutting down on other meat products in the hopes of totally eliminating them soon from my diet (fish & seafood might be a little tougher to cut out), although this is difficult in Pittsburgh, where most restaurants define vegitarian as pasta with marinara or alfredo sauce (real good for the arteries). I would have to say one of my top peeves is cleanliness - I'm not a cleanliness freak, but I would expect the facility and the service ware to be as clean as my kitchen (that's shouldn't be hard to match, BUT you'd be suprised at what I've encountered). Some other peeves: proper food temperature (not cold or luke-warm!), and service (of course). Well suffice it to say, I'm really amazed at the number of Pittsburgh restaurants that are still in business based on what I have experienced. If I had any amount of hospitality-industry experience, I'd open a reasonably priced (clean) restaurant with decent food and service, just to show these people how to do it right (I'm still dreaming, I guess). So, if by chance you decided to hang with me this long, let's soon get to the nitty-gritty. Oh, one more thing, for this year, we also received an Entertainment coupon book for Christmas, so we have been extra adventureous in trying out some places that we normally wouldn't have considered. Because we do eat out so often, we generally look for places with entres under $15, and we usually skip the alcohol to keep the bill affordable. So here's a start. I won't bore you for too much longer, and I'll probably continue with my rants and raves in future posts, as I remember more places that we've tried. Thanks for spending the time to read, I'll think I'll start with some ethnic restaurants... Koto Buki Japanese Restaurant (McCandless) - The best japanese restaurant in the Pgh area; fabulous food, extremely clean, nice modern decor, excellent sushi, open late weeknights (til 10); service is decent except for long waits for sushi orders when busy, although I seem to have that problem with all the Japanese restaurant I visit; Japanese noodle dishes are good, but only found on the lunch menu; not a bit of that fish smell that you usually detect at Japanese sushi restaurants; we eat there at least once a month and more often if I had the chance. Hana (Japanese - Market Square) - Went on a Sat. eve., noticed a posted sushi/tempura special (I think it was all-you-can-eat/AYCE), asked for the special, waitress said there would be a long wait for sushi ordered from the AYCE special (place wasn't even very busy), but said that ala carte sushi would not be as long of a wait; we left without ordering (place smelled fishy anyway and the menus were dirty, i.e. with bits of food and sticky). Kiku (Japanese - Station Square) - Tried it out using our Entertainment card. Got sushi deluxe and tempura deluxe dinners; miso soup was very good and full-bodied (but a bit salty); everything else was also really good, except the tempura was too much of a grease overload for me and included barely any vegetables (must be because the deluxe includes more seafood than the regular); We're lucky we came in when we did, because the place filled up, and we saw some people waiting at least 45 min or more for sushi orders - one couple left before their order ever came; Overall very good, but any repeat Japanese will be to Koto Buki; BTW, I saw a sign for AYCE specials on Tue, I think, for around $20 a head; Sushi Too (Japanese - Shadyside) - Went in one Sun afternoon (I think), very crowded, overpowering pungent (bad) fish smell as we walked in the door, dining partner gave me an unpleasant face, but I had a craving for Sushi, seated in very rear of rest., temp was freezing where we were seated and I think a cold blower outlet was pointed at us - we left without ordering; probably won't return, place also seemed somewhat dirty (floors, walls, etc.). Himilayan-Tibetan Restaurant (Oakland) - Excellent, never had a bad experience there, and have tried most everything, except skip the spring roll - its just a plain old greasy chinese egg roll; everything else great, including vegetable dumplings; soups good, except you may need to add a little salt to bring out the flavor; decent vegetarian selection; one annoyance - most of the the chairs backs slant way back (really weird), so no back support during your dinner visit except in a semi-reclined position; but we put up with the weird chairs and eat there at least once a month Thai Garden (Oakland) - (been there once about a year ago) Run of the mill Thai food (all the standard Thai dishes), not to say that is bad, just nothing out of the ordinary on the menu, I've been to better Thai restaurants, but if you want to try Thai, you should do pretty well here for a reasonable price (boy, I really miss the former House of Siam - or whatever it was called, that used to be in the N. Hills Mad Mex bldg). Thai (forgot the name - on side street in Shadyside) - Been there 2 or 3 times, I can't remember many details, but is mostly the standard Thai menu, decent service, good food, a bit pricier that Thai Garden, probably due to the location, overall very satisfied, and if you want to try Thai for the first time, you may be better off here than at Thai Garden (although a few more $ I think); a note for those eating outdoors in the summer - a pungent sewer vent is located in the sidewalk where the outdoor seating is located - you may want to skip the outdoor eating to improve your experience, we had to move indoors. Kim's Coffee House (Chinese/Vietnamese - Garfield) - I used to eat there a lot when I lived in Bloomfield, and occasionally stopped by for takeout after I moved to another section of town; last couple of times I've been there, my experiences haven't been as good as I remembered; food was mediocre, cleanliness very lacking (i was afraid to touch the menus - disgusting); the last straw to keep me away for good was when I asked for chop sticks and they brought out a pair of wet wooden bamboo chop sticks, not in the paper wrapping, that apparently had just been washed (how cheap can you get?); No thank you and good bye! Place must have gone downhill after the originals owners sold; This is sad, because I really like Vietnamese food, especially the former Moonlight restaurant. Jimmy Tsangs's (Shadyside/E. Liberty) - Sorry, it's been a while since I've been there, but I remember it as having reliably good chinese food for special occasions; I always liked it, except that you could probably get an equivalent Chinese meal at a lot of other places for less $, but otherwise very good. Well, I'm gettin tired of reading and you're getting tired of writing (or should it be the other way around). Maybe I'll check in later with alot more chapters from my eating journeys, if anyone is interested in what I have to say, or tell me to shut up, or whatever, feedback appreciated. P.S. If anyone wants more details on some of these places, i.e. prices, types of dishes, I might be able to help you, just ask. -MS
Pittsburgh, PA