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| - I don't understand the positive reviews on this place; I'm even being a little generous. I just moved to Pittsburgh in November, from D.C., and I'm going to start getting into this Yelp thing. I live pretty close to the Beerhive, and it was my first Pittsburgh bar experience. I don't know if it's a Pittsburgh thing, but why are bars here all so similar. It's pretty boring, bland, and drab little dive. Granted, we were there in the afternoon, and the place was empty, but it's just so dreary inside. Sure, dive bars probably don't have the budget or necessity to hire a decorator, but man, this place looks pretty DIY. Black walls, bad call. And the artwork chosen to adorn the walls doesn't make any sense. Sports bar? Bottle Shop? Pub? Another reviewer said that the place was hip, and that's crazy talk. If that's hip, then my ten year old, stained t-shirts must be pretty chic. The name Beerhive gave me a good chuckle though, that's pretty cheesy, but maybe that's what they're going for. And a note, beerhive was a beer produced by New Holland Brewing, a few years ago, so let's just hope that they don't have a TM on that. Maybe I'm being nit-picky, but we should have just walked on by, but my wife was curious, so we gave it a shot.
I'm something of a beer geek, and for a place with the word beer in it's name, well, the selection was underwhelming. Only like ten drafts, and all way too similar, and the bottle selection was pretty standard stuff, nothing really rare or worth going out of your way for. Decent pricing, that's a plus. I was kind of hungry, but was pretty worried about getting some low-grade bar food, but I checked the menu anyway. Pretty standard, I guess, for bars around here, but I can't say that I expected much from the place. Gastropubs are popping up all over D.C., and that's a trend that I wholly embrace. Rather, it was a menu of mostly deep-fried stuff, and a pretty poor selection. And not to be an ass, but the description of the food was very, I don't know, silly. Our server mentioned that the place was pretty new, and owned by three brothers, and it's clear that this is their first go at this.
I opted for the pulled pork, and my wife had the spinach salad. My pulled pork was actually pretty good, better than I expected, and well seasoned, and it was served with (not fresh cut) fries, and actually some of the best cole slaw I've ever had. It wasn't the mayo-ey variety, which I don't care for, but rather in some sort of vinagrette. The sandwich was a little light on the bbq, but the house-made pickles were a nice touch. The fries tasted like the fryer oil hadn't been changed in quite some time. My wife enjoyed her salad. It came dressed in a ginger-honey dressing, had apples and tomatoes on top and grated parmasean cheese. All in all, pretty decent food - better than expected - a pleasant surprise. But on to the reason I'm writing this review:
A few weeks ago, I was walking through the strip with a co-worker, and he wanted to stop in the Beerhive to get a six pack to go. The bartender told us that if we didn't want our beers cold, we could pick stuff from their beer selection upstairs. Everything was stored in a weird little, dark closet. I was perplexed as most places would only store premium beers that can actually be bottle aged, so it was strange to see so many beers that cannot be bottle aged. It just doesn't make sense. But the prices were pretty good. And I must mention, again, the artwork on the walls, oh my, what were they thinking. I didn't plan on eating, but my buddy wanted to get a little something before we left. I told him that their pulled pork was pretty good, and I was just going to get a few wings to snack on.
I gotta say, it was a very different experience from my first time there. My buddy did order the pulled pork, I ordered a half-dozen spicy asian wings. Again, the place was practally empty, but our food took well over 20 minutes to arrive. My wings were good, but I must say, the names of their sauces were pretty silly. All bee themed, which is cute to some, but if you are the Beerhive, then is it not beer in the hive and not bees; I don't know. Anyway, my friend's pulled pork looked like it was slopped on the plate, which was kind of dirty. And he handed me a fork-full of the pork, and it was dry, kind of charred, and underseasoned. He doesn't care for cabbage, so I helped myself to the slaw, and it just tasted like cabbage in some watery, tasteless liquid. Consistency people. Sorry, Beerhive, but you've got some work to do. I'd stop in again to buy a sixer, but I would never hang out there, or recommend it. There's really no reason to go out of your way, or to go at all, unless you go in expecting very little. I'd redecorate, scrap the food, or go in a different direction with it. My next review will be Kaya, after I go again; I really like that place. The best part: when I walk past the beerhive, then I know that Kaya's just a block away. -Lee McDonald
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