"4"^^ . "3"^^ . "2014-08-18T00:00:00"^^ . "1"^^ . "The reviews don't lie, this place is pretty great. We went here at prime time (7:30 pm) on a Saturday night and I was a little apprehensive that, despite our reservation, we might not be seated promptly. I was wrong! We were quickly escorted to the 3rd floor and a neat little table next to the railing, which gave us a perfect view of the establishment and a great way to check out the impressive whiskey wall.\n\nI believe another reviewer labeled the decor as \"hunting lodge chic\". Spot on! There were interesting little trinkets and artifacts tucked in every nook and cranny. My favorite was the outlandish taxidermy on the 3rd floor. In particular, at the end of the bar on the 3rd floor there's a mounted rabbit with a squirrel riding it like a bucking bronco. Fantastic!\n\nI can't comment on the mixed drinks because I stuck with beer, but the beer selection was adequate. This is a cocktail and whiskey place, so my expectations were met with the beer list. Adequate but not impressive. We tried the brussel sprouts, foccacia, and pig candy to start.\n\nBrussel sprouts - ridiculous. So good. Chessy, buttery, is that a little lemon I taste on there? Man, these were incredible! And the \"small plate\" of brussel sprouts is A LOT of sprouts. Easily enough for 4 people to get a decent serving.\n\nFocaccia - meh. standard. The whipped riccotta and parm spread was excellent! Neither of us like olives, so the tapenade was lost on us. The white bean dip was lacking. It tasted like plain, pureed white beans. This one needs some work.\n\nPig Candy - it was good, but I've had better at several other places. Perhaps my least favorite part of it was that it was served as a 4 oz. hunk of fat that was not cut up in any way, shape or form. I think the presentation needs a little work here. Who doesn't like pork belly, though?\n\nFor the latter part of the meal and after being reasonably full from two small plates and bread, we decided to take advantage of the Pittsburgh Restaurant Week 4-course tasting menu. I don't recall what each item was, but can say that the standout was the skirt steak with chimichurri. The rest was good, but not super memorable.\n\nWe both enjoyed this place a lot and would go back. Next time we'd tackle small plates only, since this seemed to be the real sweet spot. Butcher hasn't been open too long, and it seems they are still trying to find their place, or should I say, find their \"plate\". They have a few standouts, but need to continue to build their arsenal of awesome dishes. \n\nKeep it up, guys!"^^ . . . "0"^^ . .