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| - We had the lousiest night at the Steel Cactus in Shadyside recently. We were at the restaurant with out-of-town guests who we brought to because we heard it was a great place for Mexican.
We had reservations for six at 7:30 on Sat. Aug. 20. While we had heard it was Jam on Walnut night, nothing prepared us for the horrendous evening at the restaurant. The staff allowed the bar crowd to take over the place, especially the top floor where we were seated. Despite being seated in the back corner of the dining room, we had bar patrons leaning up against our chairs. The noise level was atrocious!
But even more upsetting was the service. Our drinks - now remind you we were dinner customers, not merely bar flies - were served in small plastic cups for the same price as the glasses to which we are accustomed. Margaritas were not even rimmed in salt.
Appetizers: Our trio of sauces with tortilla chips was an embarrassment for the Steel Cactus. Each ramekin was less than half filled. We ordered Mexican street corn which while it appeared to have something on it, was incredibly tasteless. And the cost for one ear of corn split into three....!!! Ridiculous. Our main dishes were just OK. Perhaps because we were having a lousy time - not being able to hear, being jostled by bar customers infiltrating the dining area, and a totally inattentive waitress who took 20 minutes to bring us appetizer plates, forks, etc. - we could not really enjoy our food. We couldn't wait to get out of there!
While I understand there was a big event in Shadyside, the Steel Cactus should have been prepared for it. It's not the first time for a Shadyside event. Perhaps because of this, everything was super subpar!
We attended Little Italy in Bloomfield the night before. The establishments went over and above to put on a great night for their patrons.
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