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| - I know Belvedere's is beloved by many (including several of my friends), but it's just not my kind of place. When I think "dive bar," I picture a smoky neighborhood bar with grouchy and/or colorful regulars who know how to hold their liquor (but when they don't, it's more entertaining than irritating), somewhat decent seating (even if the bar stools are tattered and tacky), and a general atmosphere that one can settle down in. In my experience, Belvedere's is closer to a house party at a college that has a lot of recreational club drug users (and I say that hyperbolically, but a friend of mine actually did end up snorting some weird prescription when it was offered to him in the bathroom there once, and we ended up having to pry him away from the dance floor when the rest of our group wanted to leave). While I have tended to end up there later at night (midnight-ish), it always seems like there are a lot of wasted people wading through the unpleasantly crowded rooms, and I'd rather go to one of many other bars in Pittsburgh that that offers cheap drinks without the falling-down drunks (if I was craving more of that, I'd just hang out in the South Side). For the amount of space they have to work with, the seating is meager--I can understand why it's entertaining for people who go there to attend events rather than to have a bar experience, because its strength seems to lie in its activities (karaoke, dancing, games, whatever). But since my favorite bar activity is drinking, I don't need all that nonsense.
I suppose the service at the bar is pretty good given how packed they usually are on the weekends, but I was surprised when one of the bartenders didn't know how to make an Old Fashioned the one time I attempted to order one there (he did ask me which ingredients went into one and I made the mistake of telling him, because he whipped up a bizarre concoction; A for effort, I guess). To top it off, I've felt like the staff has been rude at closing time the two times I've been lucky enough to witness it. I'm sure it sucks to have to corral a bunch of 20-somethings, but not everyone needs to be greeted with a cold "go home!"
Ugh. Overrated.
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