I'm glad I'm not the only one who gets irritated while reading about H.H. I mean, come on!! I do tend to take her reviews with a grain of salt, and I'd like to see more restaurant reviews in Pittsburgh. I do like Peach's idea of asking about Garmi's favorite 5 or 10 restaurants. I wouldn't mind hearing of top 10 lists from other people as well. I'll start ( and include links to their website or citysearch link -- I don't work for CS, but I use the site a lot, esp. for restaurant hours) ... PHO MINH, on Penn Ave in Lawrenceville ( http://pittsburgh.citysearch.com/profile/11488822/ ). They have great Vietnamese food and the owner there is very nice. I remember going there a second time, about 3-4 weeks later, ordering the same thing as the first time, and her chastising me (in a joking manner) for ordering the same thing! I did take her advice and order something else. A very nice place. Yes I like Tram's too of course, but I'm sure everyone's been there. It's also a Vietnamese restaurant in Lawrenceville, although I haven't been there in awhile. ( http://pittsburgh.citysearch.com/profile/8622543/ ) REGINA MARGHERITA, on Lincoln Ave in Bellevue http://pittsburgh.citysearch.com/profile/11477113/ . They have great pizza, and the Italian owner is very friendly and the prices reasonable. And risking sound like a Picksburgher, the tiramisu is VERY good. Yeah you've heard it before, but trust me, it's good. You'll thank me later. I think Munch reviewed it this month. LULU's Noodles, North Craig St in Oakland ( http://pittsburgh.citysearch.com/profile/8608805/ ) I love thise place. I love their Dr. Fu's noodles and definitely their Singapore Rice noodles. Again, great portions for under $7, they have 'chinese' food like General Tso's but I haven't touched it. JAMAICAN - I'm Jamaican so I have to plug my native cuisine of course. These two places don't exactly have the best service, but their food is pretty good. One place is Jamaica Jamaica restaurant on 6008 Broad St in East Liberty, and there's another one in Wilkinsburg on the main drag, that for the life of me I can't remember the name, across the street and down the block or so (towards the Pkwy) from the Asian Merchandise grocer/store(also a place to pick up your own Caribbean food). My all-time favorite restaurant I think is Spice Island Tea House on Atwood Street in Oakland ( http://www.spiceislandtea.com ), Free parking in that area is horrific to find, but there's a city lot off Forbes not far from the place that has decent prices on evenings/weekends. They have great tea, spring rolls, and pad thai. And they're cheap too! You can get a whole heap of pad thai for $6.95 (yeah that's the typical gringo-does-thai dish, but again, it's good). Other places that I like are Quik-It for fried chicken (North Side 820 Pennsylvania Ave, Oakland (Centre & Craig), Munhall etc.) It's a local chain that also serves fried chicken in PNC Park. Phnom Penh (http://pittsburgh.citysearch.com/profile/8613722/ ) near Blvd. of the Allies & Smithfield -- great lemongrass soup! Popeye's (nat'l chain) near the Wal-Mart Supercenter in North Versailles has good (for fastfood) jambalaya. There are a ton of other places. Hoping to hear from all you on yours :) --B. Sarah K. wrote in message news:... > On Thu, 25 Oct 2001, Garmi G. wrote: > > > Agree completely. Her reviews are a joke. On the other hand, is there a > > place for a restaurant reviewer in Pittsburgh? I am not sure. There are only > > a handful of restaurants worth visiting, and they can be covered in a month > > or two. > > I'm not a huge fan of her reviews either; I don't really like her writing > style and she seems kind of adrift in her reviews of Asian food, spending > too much time defining terms and not enough time on the relative quality > of the dishes. I never get the sense that she has a particularly deep or > passionate knowledge of food. > > All that aside, there certainly is a place for a restaurant reviewer in > Pittsburgh. There seems to be some growth in the restaurant population > here, so there would be new material, and in any case reviews also help > identify the restaurants that /aren't/ worth visiting. I'd also like to > see reviews by someone with a bigger knowledge base. > > Best > -SK > > > > > "JN" wrote in message news: ... > > > I just wanted to gripe in general about Woodene Merriman's reviews in > > > the PG. OK, forget the annoying factor of the whole HH thing, her > > > general style and lack of originality -- but it amazes me how she rates > > > restaurants with her 'star' scale. I've seen occasionally where she > > > posts the scale and what each level corresponds to, and she follows the > > > general "one star=good through four star=outstanding" scale -- or so she > > > claims. I know this is silly and petty, but I wanted to see if it drove > > > anyone else crazy. She'll talk about a restaurant having really good > > > dishes and then problems she found in other dishes, and STILL assign 3 > > > 1/2 stars or 4 stars. In fact, the only time I've seen two stars is when > > > she reviews a diner. A diner getting two stars from any respectable > > > reviewer damn well better be a hell of a diner. And 3 1/2 stars really > > > shouldn't go to a restaurant when the preceding review says things like, > > > "the chicken was wonderful, but too bad they used canned vegetables on > > > the side." > > > > > > It is as if she doesn't want to hurt feelings or else she thinks PGH is > > > not sophisticated enough to understand what the ratings mean. > > > Understanding the obvious response to the last statement, I suggest she > > > post the rating scale on every review, as most major papers do, so that > > > the less sophisticated reader understands that one star still means > > > "good." If a New Yorker were to comb the past reviews, they'd think we > > > have an awful lot of Nobu contenders, what with all the three and four > > > star ratings PGH restaurants get. > > > > > > OK, I'm done ranting. Just wondering if it got on anyone else's nerves > > > the way it gets on mine. > > > > > > > > > > > _________________________________________ > And if you find her poor, > Ithaca has not deceived you > With the wisdom you have gained, > Surely you understand what Ithacas mean.
Pittsburgh, PA