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| - My girlfriend and I went to James Street before a Pirates games back in April. We were surprised how run down the neighbourhood seemed to be considering it's right next to a good sized park and so close to PNC, Heinz Field and the downtown. Hopefully it's on the upswing as it certainly deserves it.
Inside the bar, it's quite welcoming with lots of dark woods, arches and stained glass. They're definitely going for the speakeasy vibe with some jazz themed paintings and pictures of musicians. We settled into one of the small booths raised slightly up from the main bar area as a few more people trickled in after work/before the game. Lovely cabinets and shelves displayed their libations and glassware behind the bar.
There were some tempting apps and entrees, but in the end I ended up going with the James Street Meatloaf which comes with smashed potatoes, a corn fritter and sweet creamed corn sauce. My girlfriend couldn't resist her go-to sandwich, the pulled pork, and got their Yelp-famous onion rings on the side.
There was a bit of a wait considering there weren't many people here, but it gave me some time to sift through their impressively large and neatly categorized beer menu. Since I was in a blasphemous mood, I went with a bottle of Lucifer. A Belgian wheat, it wasn't as heavy as many are and was quite effervescent as well. Devilishly good.
Luckily the food was mostly worth the wait. My meatloaf was actually a small loaf cut on the diagonal and appeared to have been broiled or finished in a pan as it had a nice crust on all sides that added more flavour to it. It had a great, traditional meatloaf flavour and despite being relatively thin and broiled, it was very juicy. The smashed potatoes were good, and made for excellent delivery vessels for the cream corn sauce which complemented everything nicely. The corn fritters were crisp on the outside and slightly doughy on the inside, but the chewy bits of corn inside threw off the texture for me.
My lovely date really enjoyed her pulled pork sandwich, although I found the meat to be on the mushy side and lacking any discernible texture, although it still had a good, well balanced flavour. The onion rings were super crispy, but they could have used more seasoning in the batter and were getting to be on the cold side of the spectrum when they arrived.
Service from our waiter, Shawn, was spot on and friendly and he eagerly answered our questions or went to find the info if he didn't know it.
James Street has a great atmosphere and solid food which while not perfect, made for a solid pre-game meal.
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