Dim lighting: check
Regulars sitting at the bar: check
Impossible to find parking lot: check
Dingy basement bathroom: check
Unbelievably good food: check
The Bloomfield Bridge Tavern has all of the makings of a GOOD dive bar. There are divey bars that are dirty and gross where I would never dream of touching the food. And then there are the divey bars that are just grungy enough to give it character, and where you feel just brave enough to try the food, and you are so glad that you did! The BBT is definitely the good kind of dive bar.
The food here was way way better than I expected. The Polish specialties are spot on. By far the best perogies I've ever had, and the stuffed cabbage was incredible as well. I'm not usually one for kielbasa, but here it is a different story. Normally its greasy and chewy, but somehow at the BBT it comes out perfectly charred and super tender.
There is something very PITTSBURGH about the Bloomfield Bridge Tavern, and I will definitely be stopping back in the next time I'm in town.