Eat It And Love It is written by 6 friends in Pittsburgh, PA - we have 2 vegetarians, 2 vegans, and 2 omnivores in our group. We don't make any money from the site and do the reviews for fun and to aid others when searching for the perfect spot to eat!
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A few years ago, Nate and I visited his friend in Vermont, where we were introduced to Magic Hat beer. We both loved the beer so much, but unfortunately you can't get it anywhere around here that we know of. We have been able to try it a few times since then, though. His friend brought us a case once when she was in town, and one of the restaurants we visited in Boston had it on tap. They also recently started selling on the other side of the state, so when we visited Nate's parents for Christmas, we picked some up.
To make a long story short, I received an email from the Harris Grill distribution list saying that they had Magic Hat beer for a limited time only, so Nate and I hightailed it there last night for some snacks and some No. 9.
This was our third trip to the Harris Grill... each time the service has been kind of slow, but things were really screwed up last night. After we were seated, we waited almost 20 minutes and no one had waited on us yet, so Nate finally asked if someone was going to. One of the waitresses said we weren't her table, but that she would help us. I don't really know how restaurant operations work, but maybe the hostess is supposed to assign the people she seats to a certain waiter and she didn't do that?
Anyways. I ordered chili, which is described on the menu as being in a "bowl bigger than your head" and also comes with fried pita chips (note that "chips" is plural). I also requested no sour cream. When my food arrived, there was one pita chip, the bowl was approximately the size of a chihuahua's head, and there was a huge dollop of sour cream on top. Now, I am usually not "that guy" at restaurants that sends everything back, but since this is the second time I have gotten sour cream when I specifically asked to not have it at this restaurant, I was a little perturbed. They exchanged it for a new one, but I was still a little irritated that it came with one pita chip! I was looking forward to those chips. They definitely need to rewrite the description on the menu.
At the end of our visit, the waitress told us that she talked to the manager about our slow service as well as my chili mix-up, and they took care of our beers and my chili. So a bill that should have been 20 some dollars was actually only $6.40. So yes, they took care of the problems, but it doesn't make me exactly want to go running back there anytime soon. If I do, it will be for the Magic Hat beer. Hrmph.
Posted by Julie at 12:59 PM | Comments (3)
Ok it seems as if everyone who has posted so far has liked this place, but I have a few complaints.
Number one: its way too loud in there. I couldn't even hear anything the waitress was saying and had to shout.
I was in here last weekend, and I had the portabello mushroom sandwhich...it had a fancy name, and I can't say that I was amused. Sorry Nate...I know you like the names.
Number two: doesn't it make more sense to have the smoking section on the top floor?
Number three: they are too cheap to give you a bottle of ketchup. You instead get a plastic dish with poor quality ketchup squirted in it. What is this Wendys? I want my Heinz.
Number four: Poor service. OK, so I've only been here once but it took 25 minutes to get my food, and then they forgot the hummus we ordered. No I'm not impressed that you don't have a notepad to take down my order, especially when you mess it up.
Posted by Mike at 07:17 PM | Comments (3)
I enjoyed the Harris Grill a lot. I have complaints though. I would like more vegetarian entrees. The choice between the vegetarian burger and the vegetarian sandwich is not enough. They have plenty of vegetarian appetizers though.
I liked the décor. It was cozy and I felt like I had been eating there forever. I thought it would have been cool to get one of the intimate seating spots by the windows. The table faces the window and the whole party also sits facing the window. There looked to be room for about four people in each of those spots. It’d help me get a new perspective from which to people watch, while eating good food, and prodding Julie with my fork under the table.
Harris Grill
5747 Ellsworth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15232
412.362.5273
Posted by Nate at 05:13 PM | Comments (2)
Nate and I jaunted off to the Harris Grill on New Year's Day. When we walked in, we were a little confused as to what to do. There were no hostesses in sight, so we tiptoed around for a bit until someone arrived to seat us. We sat upstairs, which I assume is entirely non-smoking. If that is true, that's a great smoking / non-smoking solution.
Like Frank said in his review, the food items have funny names, like "...And She Don't Eat No Fish," and "Burghers." They have a variety of standard American fare, like sandwiches, salads, burgers, wings, etc. We both decided to get the "Lentil Burgher" and we had black bean cakes as an appetizer. The black bean cakes were tasty, although they seemed more like something you would eat on a sandwich rather than just with a fork. Also, I was given sour cream despite requesting not to have it. Not a huge deal - I guess it's better to get something you didn't order rather than the opposite. Still, it's kind of a waste of resources. My lentil "burgher" was excellent - very large and tasty. You can choose from a wide variety of sides with most of the entrees, like mashed potatoes, a salad, fries, rice, or veggies. I like this flexibility.
Our service was a bit slow and we had sort of a tag-team waitress thing going on. I'll cut them some slack though since I guess they are under new management and may still be working out the kinks. Also, our waitress (one of them) definitely used to work at Mad Mex. And like Mad Mex, you have to be able to decipher pictures to choose the appropriate restroom.
Other than the family with three screaming, pounding, and generally obnoxious children seated next to us, I had a good time and would go back. I'm not exactly dying to, but this would be a good place to go to dinner with some friends on a Friday evening. Oh! They also had a good beer selection - about 50 microbrew and import selections.
These guys seem to have a great sense of humor, which I appreciate in a restaurant staff. For example, one of the questions on their employment application is, "What is a 'sconce?'" Two thumbs up.
Harris Grill
5747 Ellsworth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15232
412.362.5273
Posted by Julie at 09:51 AM | Comments (2)
This entry comes from our guest reviewer, Frank. Thanks, Frank!
Last night my wife (Jenni) and I went to The Harris Grill in Shadyside. It was our first time there and it pretty much ruled balls. Our server was none other than our old favorite server from Fuel & Fuddle, Missey (I only know her name because it was on our receipt, hehe). Their menu is top notch and has lots of cool, funny names (much like Fuel & Fuddle). I ordered myself their Lentil Burgher which was excellent! Jenni got some turkey sandwich that she said was good, but she wouldn't get it again because it was a little bland (both of our sandwiches came with french fries). Josh, my buddy that came along with us, ordered some $16 shrimp that were wrapped in bacon and was pissed that he only got like six of them and a little rice. He also ordered their GIANT dessert which was made up of two small scoops of vanilla ice cream and one tempura battered, deep fried Twinkie. They marketed this dessert as something HUGE, but it was extremely small and $6. Jenni and Josh each had two glasses of beer which were $1.50 because of happy hour being in effect. Jenni and I's bill was a total of $18.00, while Josh's was $36 just for his, sheesh. Over all, I liked this place a lot and plan on going back to try some of their other dishes (Jenni and Josh both shared this sentiment, although Josh was still a little salty because of his $16 BACON SHRIMP). Oh, I should mention that they have quite a few vegetarian and vegan items...which RULES.
Posted by Julie at 04:39 PM | Comments (5)