| rev:text
| - I visited last night with a friend for dinner at around 6pm. I received a pack of City Dining Cards for Christmas, and she picked this place from among the options that I offered, since she'd heard good things about it. I was also interested in trying it out, given the speakeasy ambiance and the interesting-looking Cajun menu options.
Having previewed the menu ahead of time, I decided to get the Cajun shrimp and grits, since this is a classic Cajun dish, and I haven't had it previously. It came with 5 shrimp (see photo) seasoned with Cajun seasonings that gave them a nice spicy kick. The majority of this entree was vegetables and grits. Aside from the spices on the shrimp, the word I'd use to describe this dish is "inoffensive." While nothing was wrong with it, per se, it just wasn't very exciting--in this respect, it was similar to something you'd see at Applebee's or Ruby Tuesday. For a $19 entree at a place billing itself as a gastropub, I expect more pizzazz--and more shrimp!
I didn't try my friend's po' boy because I had a (very good) shrimp po' boy the day before for lunch. She enjoyed it, this being the first time she'd had a po' boy. It was $13, which I felt was also on the pricy side, esp. for a sandwich. It came with a side of house made chips, which I sampled, that I felt were a bit overdone. In addition to our food, we each had a drink (hard cider for me, beer for her). Both our drinks ran $6, which I felt was also on the expensive side, but hers was discounted to $4, which I felt was more typical.
The one thing that really shined about our experience was our waiter's personality. He was humorous and interactive in a good way, which is always a nice, unexpected bonus. We were seated in the booth section on the ground floor next to the bar, and I found the ambiance overall to be pretty bland, reminiscent of a chain casual dining restaurant. I later found out that the speakeasy, where the live music is hosted, is downstairs, so perhaps this has a better ambiance. I'd be willing to return at some point just for drinks to check it out.
Overall, while I have no real complaints about our experience except the inflated prices, nothing really stood out about it, aside from our waiter's personality. In a city with as many great dining options as PGH, restaurants really need to stand out to do a good business. If the sparsely populated dining room and bar that we encountered at prime time on a Sat. evening is par for the course, this is evidence that the locals recognize this place's shortcomings in this regard. 3.5 stars.
P.S. Shrimp and grits are available for half the price nearby at Carmi on Western Ave. I haven't tried them there, but if the fried chicken I had there is any indication, I'll be willing to bet that they're good!
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)