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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Maggie’s Mercantile has finally opened up once again in Oakland. I went there. I loved the food. The place is nice and clean. Our food looks very good in addition to tasting very good.
Here take a look:
It looks great. Both Julie and I have two plates of food. One plate is the “hot entrees”, which you tell the staff you would like and they scoop it up and heat it up for you. The second plate is from the self serve salad bar. The food is sold by the pound, however the price per pound is not displayed anywhere that I saw.
The food is really good. I feel I have to say that a lot because of the massive skull crushing hammer blow I am going to deliver in the complaint department. First complaint, they don’t have any sort of service. I had to ask for water twice and wouldn’t have gotten any water if I hadn’t asked. However this is more of a serve yourself place. Although you can’t serve yourself water. You have to ask for it. Also, they scooped my used water glass into the ice bucket to fill it with ice. That is a health code violation.
My hot entrees were heated up for me, and I took one bite and immediately realized it was cold. Whether that was because it got cold while I waited for the rest of my groups food to be heated and for everyone to be seated or not, I don’t know. I gave it back and asked that it be heated until it was steaming. I got it back very warm, but not steaming or what I would call hot.
At this point I wasn’t real stressed about our time at Maggie’s. This was the actual day they opened, so hiccups and issues were some what expected. It was not until I ordered two pieces of cake and paid my bill that I was totally ruined on my experience. While ringing up my total, the server, in order to differentiate me from the others in my party asked “Did you have the $22 entrée?” The bill for two of us (the food seen above) and two desserts came to $58.80. It is hard for me to repeat that without using expletives. It turns out that the hot entrees are something like $12.99 a pound and the salad bar is $8.99 a pound. The desserts were $4.50 each.
Maggie’s being on Craig street would be a great spot for a business hoping to attract college students. However at these prices, the college students that do partake will probably walk out when they get their bills.
Maggie’s Mercantile
300 South Craig Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
412-621-8200
Posted by Nate at 11:13 PM | Comments (7)
About a month ago, I was walking down Atwood Street on my way to pick up some Mad Mex to go when I noticed Maggie's had closed up shop. They had a big sign out front stating that they were moving to the South Side Works and would reopen in December. Seeing that it is now December, Nate and I drove all through the South Side Works the other night and did not see a trace of it anywhere. Did I read the sign wrong? Are they somewhere else? Does anyone know?
Posted by Julie at 07:44 PM | Comments (5)
Just to be clear for everyone, this is a review of the original location of Maggie's Mercantile. It's out in the middle of nowhere, which I will refer vaguely to as Donegal. It is reviewed here in the Pittsburgh listing, because Maggie's expanded by placing a restaurant in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh and we don't want to have a whole City listing for Nowhere, PA.
Having been to the newer Maggie's I had no idea what to expect from the original. But I was pleasantly surprised to find it was pretty much the same thing. They serve the same food the same way. It was a tad cheaper, but being that it'd cost $4 in turnpike tolls just to get there and back from Pittsburgh, that’s too be expected. It is much less noisy, they have nicer floors and wooden tables.
I am honestly debating inside my brain about driving out for the buffet. I think it'd be worth trying once at least.
Posted by Nate at 07:05 AM | Comments (1)
Nate and I stopped at the original Maggie's restaurant in Donegal, PA on a trip back from visiting his parents. The sign on the turnpike just said to take exit 91 and then go north on route 711. We had no idea how far north to go, and it ended up being a few miles, I believe. We were basically out in the middle of farm country, but maybe Maggie's got its start from being close to all the fresh produce. I don't know.
The place didn't even look open to us, but we went in and it was definitely open. The food selections were about the same as the Oakland location, with a handful of a few other things and they also had smoothies and baked goods for sale. I had tofu buffalo "chicken" and some kind of mixed vegetable selection with squash. Very good. The food seemed a little bit cheaper than Oakland and the girl said that it was. But at $8.99 / lb, it wasn't exactly a steal or anything. Still, tasty.
The restaurant itself was about 3 times larger than the one in Oakland and had a "funkier" feel to it. It wasn't really loud and clanky like the Oakland one either (combine wooden floors with glass table tops in a place with a great acoustics and it sounds like a silverware-train rumbling through everytime someone drops their fork). I also noticed that they have Saturday night all-you-can-eat buffets for $14.95. Again, not exactly a steal, but I think if you had at least 3 plates, you would be getting a better deal than if you bought the stuff during a regular day.
I would definitely go back here the next time we are in the area, which unfortunately, is not too often. My favorite part of the Maggie's experience though in either location is putting change in the pig before you leave!
Posted by Julie at 03:14 PM | Comments (1)
I went to Maggies once last year, and I have heard that it has changed since then. Apparently now it is like deli-style or something and you pick your food from behind a counter. When I went there I had a menu but I don't know if the food selection has actually changed, or if it is just the way they present it. I think that it is a vegan restaurant as opposed to vegetarian ... I'm not either so I don't really know. I had a veggie wrap that had all kinds of vegetables in it and maybe some rice? I can't remember, but the wrap was good. It also had hummus on it. For dessert, I had some chocolate cake and it was very very good. I think someone told me that it was made without eggs, which makes me think it was a vegan restaurant. Anyways, my co-workers claimed I should "NEVER" go there because they all got food poisoning, but since I hate them all I don't care what they say. Just thought I'd throw it out there as a precaution for anyone afraid of poison. I happen to enjoy poison. Anyways, I haven't been back since, but it was pretty good. I'm no expert on vegetarian restaurants, which is what Maggies is famous for, so don't ask me.
Posted by Jess at 09:23 PM | Comments (0)
I like Maggie’s great food, nice atmosphere. The deli style allows you to select your food after seeing it. They have some tasty vegan desserts as well.
Posted by Nate at 05:26 PM | Comments (0)
I like Maggie's. It seems like a nice place for a relaxing date or for catching up with a small group of friends. The food is good and healthy. My only complaint is that it seems a bit fancy for my style.
Posted by Kim at 10:31 PM | Comments (2)
Great vegetarian place. I like the new “deli style” menu, but others don’t. To each his own, I guess. Kind of pricey. The chocolate peanut butter cake is excellent.
Posted by Julie at 09:34 PM | Comments (0)