My husband and I just tried Valhalla on Saturday night. We tried one of their pizzas, the fried calamari & eggplant appetizer, and an oyster sandwich with avacado. All were good, but not spectacular. I'm not a real beer drinker by any stretch of the imagination, but I tried their home brewed Pilsner and enjoyed it. My husband tried it too - he said he thought that Kaya's house brew was better, but that he liked it well enough. A friend gave me a rave review on the veggie wrap and the spinach & artichoke dip, so maybe I would have been more excited had I stuck with surefire menu items. At any rate, it was good and the service was pleasant.
Pittsburgh, PA
Valhalla????
Mark wrote: > > Could anyone give me their impressions of Valhalla in the strip? Is > it a brewpub, how are the lunch prices, any food reccomendations, etc. > Also how does it compare to the other brewpubs in the area? Thanks! The lunch prices are rather high (I think they use the same menu for lunch and dinner), though several of the burger prices are only moderately expensive (in the $7 range). Some of the food is a bit on the yuppie side. I tend to have the Big Olaf burger when I go, but have to ask them to hold the avocado. (I can't understand why anyone would want to harm a perfectly good burger by putting avacodo on it.) The beer is by and large pretty good. The Big Olaf (the same name as the burger) is a nice dark lager. Avoid the Pillage Pilsner unless you happen to like Miller Genuine Draft Lite Red Ice. It's their attempt to make an American "pilsner," not a Czech or German pilsner.
Valhalla is an actual brewpub, with brewing done on site and showcased in the form of shiny copper kettles and stainless steel pressure fermenters. The architecture of the building is impressive, with at least 4 totally separate areas (bar area, upstairs bar, upstairs outside deck, and rear dining room). The decor is spartan and industrial, and I found it quite pleasing. The entrance is very flashy and well done, reminiscent of exclusive NY or LA metropolitan clubs. The site itself is convenient, being on the downtown end of the strip, accessible with ease from the North, South or East along major thorougfares. The food is excellent. Nouveau cuisine, very tasty. They had a really good, hoppy pilsner when I was there last. They also had a very estery wheat beer that I thought was right on the mark. They other beers they had were not as good, but still somewhat drinkable. The service is hideous. My last experience was a 2 hour wait before finding out they they had lost my name. I had dinner in the bar area instead, but it took well over an hour after orders were placed for the food to show up. Not good. Doug
I happened on Valhalla last weekend by chance while walking back up the
strip from watching the fireworks Saturday night (excellent foreworks,
BTW). There were two of us for the non-smoking section, and we were
seated right away. We had some beer-battered onion rings, which were
very tasty, and we both ordered their personal pizzas. The pizzas were
terrific! Thin crusted, with fresh delicious toppings, and the ring of
crust on the outside was very light and delicious. The pizzas were a
bit large for one person, as we both had to take two (of six) pieces
home with us. We topped off the dinner with a decadent white chocolate
cheesecake, sprinkled with a light raspberry syrup. The entire dinner
w/appetizer and dessert came out to about $30, which we thought was
quite reasonable.
The best thing about our visit, however, was the service; contrary to
the experience of Doug. I think that the service was possibly the best
that I have ever had. Our waitress was still in training (so it
seemed), but she was extremely polite, always at the table whenever we
needed anything, and very helpful answering or questions. I would go
back again just for the service if I were certain of being treated the
same way.
My experience there was so good that I went back again Wednesday night
to see if the last time was just a fluke. Fortunately, it wasn't. We
had a very nouveau cuisine appetizer, called duo fromage--cheese with
bread and peppers. I had the blackened chicken with asparagus over
pasta, and it was very spicy, but not really too hot to the taste; it
was quite delicious. My friend had a "wrap", which consisted of chicken
and vegetables and a dressing wrapped up inside a thin tortilla shell.
The service again was good--courteous, timely--but not quite as good as
the previous time. Unfortunately, they did not have the white chocolate
cheesecake, so we had a raspberry almond tart, and it was very good as
well.
So, I guess I give you a thumbs up to Valhalla on food and service (and
decor), and would suggest you check it out for yourself. Hopefully, you
will have an experience similar to mine.
Grant
Excerpts from netnews.pgh.food: 6-Aug-97 Re: Valhalla???? Doug
Luce@polytetrafluor (1138)
> Valhalla is an actual brewpub, with brewing done on site and showcased
> in the form of shiny copper kettles and stainless steel pressure
> fermenters.
> The architecture of the building is impressive, with at least 4
> totally separate areas (bar area, upstairs bar, upstairs outside deck,
> and rear dining room). The decor is spartan and industrial, and I
> found it quite pleasing. The entrance is very flashy and well done,
> reminiscent of exclusive NY or LA metropolitan clubs. The site itself
> is convenient, being on the downtown end of the strip, accessible with
> ease from the North, South or East along major thorougfares.
> The food is excellent. Nouveau cuisine, very tasty.
> They had a really good, hoppy pilsner when I was there last. They
> also had a very estery wheat beer that I thought was right on the
> mark. They other beers they had were not as good, but still somewhat
> drinkable.
> The service is hideous. My last experience was a 2 hour wait before
> finding out they they had lost my name. I had dinner in the bar area
> instead, but it took well over an hour after orders were placed for
> the food to show up. Not good.
> DougValhalla on the second floor, has some of the best couches I'vve ever had the pleasure to sit on. I've never eaten there, but I highly recommend both their Big Olaf. (it's better than average) and their rootbeer (Wow! Much better than average)