After many people's recommendation (thanks everyone for the help) I and my SO went to the 7th steet grill before a show at Heintz Hall. Generally, my impression was favorable. The people were curtious, and friendly. The atmosphere and bathrooms where clean. The food was satisfactory. However, I have some comments that are strictly my own opinion: The bread and garlic butter was a nice addition. Definately worth nibbling on before the meals arrived. The meals arrived very promptly. My SO ordered a lite cut of prime rib - medium rare. In our opinion the meat was cooked medium well. I would have hated to see what medium would have been. We had some apprehensions on the meat but it turned out to be very good. Still tender given the level of cooking. The accompanying vegatables were cooked just to our liking. I ordered the spinich salad with grilled chicken. I enjoyed it. I have to admit that it was a little small compared to other "salad as a meal" plates at other restaurents. Nevertheless, it was good tasting and fresh. We split a chocalate mousse for desert. I thought it was more like pudding. Not very fluffy at all. SO liked it but liked it more because it was pudding. VERY DENSE. Negatives: The service. It was a normal Wednesday night. Not very crowded at all. After our meal, we waited for 22 minutes until she reappeared to see how we were doing. I finally hailed her down while she was walking. She didn't even apologize for the wait. When she brought our desert she didn't even ask us if we wanted to have coffee. Two spoon fulls into the mousse, I was thinking "boy coffee would go great with this heavy chocalate". It then occured to me that she hadn't bothered to ask us and I had inadvertantly forgotten to request it. Needless to say, we were finished before she came back. So much for coffee and chocolate. The big knives. While they are great for serious meat, they were definately unwieldy for handling butter. Overal Recommendation: I can see that this would be a great place to go for lunch if I was working in Downtown. The fare is simple and not too expensive. However, for dinner I think that it didn't have enough or the meal just wasn't enough to put me over the top of going back again. Disclaimer: Again this is my own opinion. I enjoyed the meal, nothing terribly wrong. But nothing all that special for a dinner. I am posting just to give back some of the assistance everyone gave me for helping me find a nice place near Heinz. thanks, mike
Pittsburgh, PA