Julie, I have a 3 column layout at my site. Take a look at it and if this is similar to what you are looking for, email me, and I will be happy to guide you. It's really not difficult if you have someone who can communicate at your level. Having figured this 3 column thing out all on my own (I am not a programmer) I am pretty good at explaining it in lay language.

Lemme know.

First I really enjoy reading about the different restaurants in Pittsburgh. It's nice to find some new places to go.
But I have one suggestion, although you are a vegetarian, try not to dismiss the restaurants so quickly if they don't have many vegetarian dishes.
What about service? Decor? The food in general? Atmosphere?
I'm not a vegetarian, but I would love to hear more about those places you tend to dismiss so quickly because they don't cater to your diet. There is more to a restaurant review than just what's on the menu.
Thanks!

I agree, but really, the most important thing to me about a restaurant is the food. So if there isn't anything I can eat, I probably won't want to go back to the restaurant again. I do try to comment on the general atmosphere of the place and I'll try to do it more in the future! Thanks.

I really like what Mike is doing with including info on the place he is reviewing at the bottom of the review. I had wanted something different, like an entire post that just contained info for the place, but I think it works just as well.

Great website. I've been the bar manager at one of the restaurants you guys visit frequently, for 10 years and enjoyed reading the feedback.

I just found this compendium of restaurant and food shopping info for Pittsburgh . . . I thought you might want to link to this somewhere on your page.

http://www.jilly.org/weblog/food.html

Same goes for this one, which I recommended before . . .

http://kvdpsu.org/pgh-restaurants.html

I am totally not affiliated with either, but I think your site would be a useful place to keep track of what other Pittsburghers are saying about local restaurants too . . .

Best, zp

Good idea, zp... you can check out the links at the "Of Interest" link under About the Site.

I dunno if I just missed it, but addresses/phone numbers/urls (when available) for the restaurants would be really nice. Thanks alot.

http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/dvilla/vfa/vegpgh/

Again, I'm not affiliated, but I thought you might be interested.

It'd be nice to work some Google Maps magic and have maps for the places. The easiest thing would be to just link to a Google Map page that has the restaurant in question in it (just type the address in Google Maps and use the "Link to this page" link.

It'd be even super-dooper-cooler if you could have an overview map of all the restaurants with clicking on them to link to your review etc... It should be possible with the Google Maps API, but a little more involved.

Great site, keep up the good work,
Martin

Hiya!

I stumbled upon your site when I googled The Quiet Storm Coffeehouse on Penn Ave, but have been an avid Pittsburgh foodie since moving here a few years back.

I'm sad I hadn't found your blog earlier; the site would have been especially helpful when my best fooding friend turned vegetarian on me (It was a temporary dietary restriction and as of now, she's back to eating meat).

You've given a list of quite a few places that I haven't tried. Keep up the good work!

I think that people should check out Bombay Grill in the heart of South Oakland. This place has been open for over a year and is a quaint Indian restaurant that serves a buffet daily from 11:30AM-3:00PM. Their food is slightly spicier than Indian Garden, but very good and I try and frequent this restaurant on a weekly basis. Although I was accustomed to the India Garden and have been going there for nearly 7 years and have formed good relationships with the staff; I think this place is incredible and would give it a 10.
If you want good food and a nice atmosphere-check it out, right next to Uncle Jummy's and Larry and Carol's.

Would it be possible to group restaurants by type (Italian, Mexican, etc.)? I find that sometimes I don't care about all of my choices, I'd just like 5-6 choices of let's say Chinese restaurants in the area. Whadaya think?

I would like to do this - I tried to think of a good way to do it awhile ago, but failed. I know how it should look, but I'm not really sure how to "implement" said idea. I'll give it a whirl maybe this weekend.

You've all done a great job on this site - Congratulations! I have a suggestion though: would you consider adding a drop down box to categorize the restaurants based on cuisine?

I've been hoping to do something like that. I've been saying that for awhile, and I haven't actually done anything yet. Hopefully someday soon! Unless there are any Movable Type gurus out there that want to volunteer their time. : )

You should label your site as one that caters to vegetarians, as most of the reviews regard non-meat dishes. Trying to review any non-vegetarian restaurant (including Indian) without trying the meat dishes is like trying to be a sports fan in Pittsburgh without liking the Steelers...

Just wanted to let you know that Where the Locals Eat has just released their Pittsburgh book. You can check their selections out online (www.wtle.com) or through the iphone app "LocalEats" -- available through the iTunes store. I would be happy to send you guys the official press release and a copy of the book if you send me an address. Our editor checks out your blog on a frequent basis and says you are the best Pittsburgh Dining Blog. Thought I should let you know. Thanks!

Kelsey