Every now and again, we find a restaurant that offers delicious food in a location we would not have expected.
JJ's World in Chicora, PA, in northeast Butler County (about 75 minutes from Pittsburgh) is one such restaurant. With a focus on smoked meats plus sandwiches, pastas, and other entrees, this one delivered a delicious meal in an unexpected spot.
So if you're north of the city looking for a tasty bite, consider this one!
Oh dry January, you are always fun.
This annual celebration has become something of a global phenomenon, as many of us look to use the somewhat slow month as a chance to detox and get a break from indulgences (especially after the holidays).
Whatever your reason for participating in dry January is your own. But if you are looking to enjoy the flavors of your favorite beverages without alcohol, a number of restaurants, bars, breweries, and distilleries are starting to offer great options for dry January in Pittsburgh!
In this one, we thought we'd share some of the spots with the finest assortment of products. While this one is not comprehensive, we wanted to include places that have larger menus, share a variety of products, and more to give you a great cross-section of alcohol-free beverages in the city to consider if you are abstaining.
Please note: This article focuses on offerings for Dry January specifically and may not necessarily be accurate year-round. While many of the bars, restaurants, and breweries featured have great non-alcoholic products at all times, some increase their offerings for January. Likewise, cocktails, beers on draft, and other beverages are always liable to change. Please reconfirm directly with any business prior to visiting. Finally, some drink photos in this article may be alcoholic and are for illustration only.
We've been fans of Union Brothers Brewing since they first opened in Harmony. Since then, they've gained quite the popularity, expanded into a new location down the road, all while offering the same great food and beer since day one.
We recently revisited this one for a night out, with beer and food all around, and had quite the great time. So if you're north of the city looking for food, beer, or perhaps both, this one is a great stop!
One of our favorite activities when going out and exploring Pittsburgh is trying new restaurants, and over the years we've visited hundreds upon hundreds of local establishments from street food vendors to mom and eateries, fancy prix fixe dining experiences, and everything in between.
Truly, there is no cuisine type we won't try, and we've been on a mission to taste it all.
Since the early days of running Discover the Burgh, we've always highlighted a list of our 10 favorite restaurants in our Pittsburgh restaurants guide as a quick call out to the best spots right now. But in that guide, we did not spend a lot of time explaining why these restaurants made the cut.
While we thought our linked reviews typically speak for themselves for detailed accounts of a specific dining experience, in this one, we thought we'd take a high-level look at our 10 favorites and share why they've made the current list.
But before getting into it, we should note that while these are our personal top 10 places to eat in Pittsburgh, it is hard to compare any two on the list. Is there a big difference between #1 and #2 or #5 and #9 in terms of quality? Not really- they're all great, and that's the point. We could spend hours discussing the finer details of why we arranged the list as we did, but in reality, it is just our preference, and any spot on this list is going to offer a great meal.
Likewise, we should call out that these are not Pittsburgh food institutions that have been local staples for decades, nor do these restaurants necessarily sell what we'd call famous Pittsburgh foods. These are the best restaurants without any caveats. So if you're visiting the city and want to dive more into the local food scene with historic or regional ties, we recommend checking the previously linked articles out, too.
So let's jump into our 10 favorites now!
Every once in a while a restaurant leaves us feeling so happy, nourished, and cared for that we are still thinking about it weeks later. Pocha by Kye-Won in Saxonburg is just that kind of restaurant.
The food includes classics like mandu; bibimbap; and complete meals with meats, japchae, and rice, but it also includes American classics with Kye-Won's own personal spin like burgers topped with kimchi and gochujang mayo. On top of all that, the hospitality here is off the charts- you're guaranteed to leave feeling like family.
We were guests of Pocha courtesy of Butler County Tourism, and immediately fell in love with this unassuming gem in Saxonburg.
Note: Pocha by Kye-Won also has a Sunday brunch menu that primarily features non-Korean dishes. The regular menu is not available until the dinner hours on Sundays. We have not visited for brunch yet and have not included it in our review.
We love a good speakeasy, and when we heard about Bitter End in Etna serving classic cocktails in a speakeasy ambiance (complete with green light above the front door), we made our way over as quickly as we could.
Although we had some concerns over the balance of our drinks, we always welcome more cocktail programs in the Pittsburgh region.
In many cases, we often overlook that Pittsburgh hotels often have on-site cocktail bars. Some of these may be your conventional hotel bar, while others may be a bit more.
At The Priory Hotel in the North Side, you get what is perhaps the most interesting hotel bar experience in the city, for one unique reason- it is said to be the smallest bar in the state of Pennsylvania.
Yes, The Monks' Bar is tiny, and according to The Priory's website, it seats just 14 customers. So cozy up with your fellow patrons, get to know your bartender, and grab a drink from this limited, albeit expertly curated, bar menu!
Ever since Dancing Gnome opened their massive new brewery in Sharpsburg, we always wondered what would happen to their original, more intimate location along Main Street.
In late 2025, Dancing Gnome announced that the original bar would be opened, renamed Nine Two Five (sometimes written Nine T(w)o Five- perhaps the most appropriate street-address-turned-bar-name you could ask for), and would be a welcoming, all-around bar with beer, cocktails, wine, food, and more.
Naturally, we visited this one on the first soft open, and while we would fully argue this one is a cocktail bar first that also has great local brews and PA wines, this one really has something for everyone- including a new food menu from Blue Sparrow!
Camino is a Mexican restaurant in Bloomfield with a fast-casual vibe. From the owners of other local Mexican spots Tocayo and Totopo, Camino offers a similar menu with cocktails, burritos, bowls, tacos, and more.
The space is bright and cheery, and while some of the entrees hit the mark for us more than others, the cocktails were respectable, and, perhaps most important of all, the food came in at an incredibly good value.
So if you want a reasonably priced Mexican restaurant, Camino has a lot to consider.
After visiting the stunning Hyeholde in Moon Township for our anniversary, we knew we would have to return for one of their prix fixe dinner experiences (either the chef's table or a periodic themed menu offering).
Shortly thereafter, we got our chance with Hyeholde's annual beer dinner with Altered Genius Brewing to celebrate the release of their collaboration house beer, the Hyeholde Grisette.
We were guests of Hyeholde for this beer pairing dinner with Altered Genius Brewing, and share more in this review from this incredible six-course feast!